The Halo farm system is… well, let's be nice and just say it is interesting. The talent is there, it just takes a little digging to find it. And when you do, it is soooo worth it. Let's not forget that the Angels are a team built largely from their own homegrown products, even with the recent reputation for big spending. 13 of their projected 25-man roster members will all be guys the Angels cultivated themselves, so once the cash fountain in Moreno's backyard runs dry, the Angels better hope the farm system's crops are ready to be harvested.
To that end, me (The Monkey, aka Garrett Wilson) and Scotty Allen have combined to put together a list of the 30 best prospects in the Angel system using Scotty's in-person scouting and research and my own research and analysis.
Starting January 2nd, we will be rolling out the in-depth prospect profiles one-by-one. There will be a new profile every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until we get through all 30 players. You'll be able to access the list in the navigation menu at the top of the site, or by bookmarking this page where each player listed will have their name linked to their respective profile. Until then, if you just want to know who made the list and at what slot, here is official the MWAH Top 30 Prospects for 2013:
30. Carlos Ramirez
29. Reid Scoggins
28. Michael Roth
27. Cam Bedrosian
26. Andrew Taylor
25. Brandon Sisk
24. Michael Clevinger
23. Mark Sappington
22. Wade Hinkle
21. Zachary Wright
20. Steven Geltz
19. Arjenis Fernandez
18. Austin Adams
17. Eswarlin Jimenez
16. Austin Wood
15. Ryan Chaffee
14. Travis Witherspoon
13. Jose Rondon
12. A.J. Schugel
11. Eric Stamets
10. Daniel Tillman
9. Alex Yarbrough
8. R.J. Alvarez
7. Luis Jimenez
6. Randal Grichuk
5. Kole Calhoun
4. Taylor Lindsey
3. C.J. Cron
2. Nick Maronde
1. Kaleb Cowart
Also receiving consideration: Chevy Clarke, Jett Bandy, Ty Kelley, Abel Baker, Joel Capote, Matt Long, Mike Piazza, Nick Mutz
As you will surely notice, the list is littered with members of the Angels 2012 draft class. That certainly speaks well of the job the new Dipoto regime did in their first year, it also serves to show how barren the system they inherited was. In general, there are almost no players that project as potential stars other than Cowart. Maronde and Cron can both be good, but neither have the look of All-Star caliber players. To be fair, trading away Jean Segura, Johnny Hellweg and Ariel Pena didn't help in that area. There are definite wild cards in the bunch that could reach star level if everything goes right, but they could just as likely flame out in Double-A as well. Actually, that would be a blessing if it did happen because only a handful of these 30 prospects even reached Double-A or higher last season. That would certainly explain why Dipoto went so heavy on college players in his first draft since they are more likely to be big-league ready in a hurry, though he sacrifices upside in the process.
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