OF Prospects

[pungent]

Which prospect outfielder do you think has the highest ceiling as of right now. We'll just look at a couple 19 year olds.

Josh Bell - Pit
Oscar Taveras - Stl
Bubba Starling - KC
Jorge Soler - Unsigned


Add to the list if you feel there's better options for 19 year olds and let the debate begin!!

[RedHopeful]

Taveras is clearly head and shoulders above the rest. Starling largely remains unchanged in that he still has a high ceiling but his floor is still cellar low. Can't say anything about Soler since he's still in limbo. Josh Bell had knee surgery last month but wasn't impressing so meh.

[KoolPapaBell]

I think it's true that OT is head and shoulders above at the moment, but the consensus in the scouting community is certainly that Bubba Starling has the highest ceiling of the guys you listed.

That said, OT is making more believers every day.

[cardinal1975]

KoolPapa is right....when we are discussing ceiling it is Starling without a question due to a 30 hr/30 steal upside. Being a Cardinal fan I am rooting for Taveras, but am still skeptical about the swing. I think at best he is a higher average (300ish) with 20-25 hr potential which is a good player although not on par with Starling's ceiling.

[RedHopeful]

Theoretically, Starling's ceiling is high, but he has such a LONG way to go that it should scare prospective owners. Add the fact that he was almost 19 when drafted and that football was reportedly his first love, dude could end up disappointing.

[cardinal1975]

The question was which OF had the highest ceiling and I don't think it can be much of a debate that the answer is Starling. We can debate how likely he is to reach that ceiling, but most prospects do not reach their ceiling. I agree with that Starling has a long way to go to reach that ceiling. I would say that in fantasy, the prospects with the highest ceilings tend to be difference makers. Difference makers are the players that win leagues in my opinion. While taking prospects with high ceilings that are further away is more risky than taking a "safe" prospect with a lower ceiling, the high ceiling prospects can become truly special where as safe prospects are solid.

It is really two schools of thought of which I fall on the high ceiling side. Starling may take a few more years to develop than Taveras will, but the ceiling is higher and of course we should remember that many top prospects hit well in AA and AAA while taking a long time to adjust to the majors (Brandon Wood, Ian Stewart, Travis Snider, etc.). "Safer" prospects are hardly a guarantee to perform at the major league level either...but they do get there sooner sometimes.