Diamondback Journal

Baseball America recently unveiled their top ten Diamondback prospects and man is there some talent in this system.  2005 first round pick Justin Upton comes in at number one after a solid season at Low A. He’ll move up to High A in 2007 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he got bumped up to Double A at some point in the season.  Upton is still at least a year and a half away though, so don’t expect much from the 19 year old yet.

Coming in at number two is Chris Young, who should start for the Diamondbacks in 2007 after a solid season at Triple A and a cup of coffee in 2006.  Young is potential 30/30 guys and it’ll be interesting to see how he does with a full season in Arizona.

Number three is outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who had a very nice year in High A but struggled once he got bumped up to Double A.  Gonzalez’s biggest problem may be that he’s also an outfielder but if all three of these guys work out right, Upton, Young and Gonzalez could provide a cheap, talent filled outfield in 2009.

Alberto Callapso comes in at number four and like Young, he should spend most of his time with the Diamondbacks in 2007.  He’s a solid second baseman but he can play anywhere in the infield so he’ll probably be the teams utility infielder.  On the face of things, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of power with only seven homers last year, but he also belted 24 doubles and 12 triples at Triple A and finished with a .478 slugging.  It’d be nice to see some of those doubles and triples carry over the fence as he ages.

Rouding out the top five is catcher Miguel Montero.  The Diamondbacks catcher of the future, Montero had a nice season at Triple A and while he might start as the Diamondbacks backup catcher in 2007, this guy will be the starter at some point in the near future.

The problem is pitching.  The top pitching prospect doesn’t come up until number six (Micah Owings) who will probably see time with the Diamondbacks in 2007 if someone goes down, but in Triple A, his batting average against was .291 (somehow, he went 10-0 though).

So the outfielders are there as well as a couple of other parts, but the Diamondbacks will probably have to look outside the organization for pitching help.  Still, there’s some star talent on this list.