Baseball America has listed it's top 20 Northwest League prospects (subscription required) and there are 5 Vancouver Canadians on the list and most of our guys are high on the list. They are:
1. Franklin Barreto
3. Jairo Labourt
4. Miguel Castro
8. Max Pentecost
20. Roemon Fields
And they included short scouting reports on each. i'll borrow a small part of each:
On Barreto:
Observers struggled to agree on Barreto's best tool. He uses all fields, hits for power and for average. His bat is ahead of his defense, as he committed 26 errors, but played nearly 600 innings at short, and he's athletic. "He's a whole package," Vancouver hitting coach Dave Pano said.
On Labourt:
Some NWL observers want to see how Labourt responds to batters who can turn around his fastball, but he did not allow a home run in the NWL. He also has a solid changeup, which he uses to keep batters off-balance, and a clean arm action. His breaking ball remains a work in progress.
Labourt had wild streaks and at times showed an unwillingness to back down. "He's got big leaguer written all over him," Boise manager Gary Van Tol said.
On Castro:
Tall and projectable, Castro throws consistent strikes with a downward plane to his pitches, allowing him to work down in the zone. His easy delivery belies his consistent mid-90s fastball (which touched 98 mph), giving him natural deception. He relies more on a slurvy breaking ball than he did his changeup, which has flashed potential.
On Pentecost:
NWL managers who saw Pentecost knew his reputation from their amateur scouting departments and were impressed by his athleticism. Some project him as a prototype catch-and-throw receiver, with his offensive development being a bonus.
Pentecost showed some skill with the bat in limited time, though his power didn't show up and he swung and missed more against advanced pitching. Managers agreed that a healthy Pentecost could move quickly.
On Fields:
Fields developed at the plate, learning to use the whole field, get in good hitter's counts and stay through the ball. He must work on his short game, particularly bunting, and make much more consistent contact to take advantage of his wheels. He has enough pop to keep pitchers honest but isn't expected to hit for home run power.
Great to see so many Jays earn notice. I guess hoping that they all move through the system as quickly as Sanchez, Norris and Pompey is a bit too hopeful, but we really could use Barreto, you know, very very soon. Not to mention Pentecost