2012 Fish Watch: Introduction and Master List
By Wally Fish
The first thing you need to know about The Fish Watch is that it’s not a list of sleepers. It is instead a list of players at various points in their respective minor league journeys that for one reason or another have piqued my interest enough that I am watching their development more closely than the bulk of prospects out there.
Some of my choices are, in fact, sleepers but others are Top-10 prospects in their respective organizations. You’ll come across a healthy dose of guys who played college ball at the schools I gravitate toward (Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Creighton and the University of Minnesota). Others are on this list in part because of my Midwestern regional bias. You will find players on this list because that I have written about or profiled them in past articles and feel “vested” in them. Another chunk of players are on the list because of my general curiosity that stems from their 2011 statistical performance. Whatever my reason(s) for including a player in the 2012 Fish Watch, I will do my best to be transparent and explain why I picked them in the first round of columns.
Each of the 30 MLB organizations are represented by three players and I will provide an update on each player on a monthly basis (at least that’s my plan). To keep each section manageable, I will do the updates by division.
While my reasons for picking the following players are varied, in most cases I did make an effort to choose players more off the beaten path in an attempt to provide something more relevant and interesting to readers of this site than just covering the well known names. As you can imagine for some organizations that was much easier to do than it was for others, but I wanted to keep the list balanced and represent all systems.
Tomorrow I will start with the AL Central and intend to publish one division each day through Monday when the NL West will be covered. Tonight however is about setting up the project and revealing the list of 90 players that are a part of the 2012 Fish Watch:
Arizona Diamondbacks: OF Adam Eaton, RHP Evan Marshall, 1B Yazy Arbelo
Atlanta Braves: C Evan Gattis, 3B Kyle Kubitza, RHP J.R. Graham
Baltimore Orioles: 3B Jason Esposito, RHP Bobby Bundy, C Gabriel Lino
Boston Red Sox: C Christian Vasquez, LHP Manny Rivera, RHP Keith Couch
Chicago Cubs: 3B Jeimer Candelario, OF Reggie Golden, RHP Ben Wells
Chicago White Sox: C Kevan Smith, OF Jared Mitchell, SS Tyler Saladino
Cincinnati Reds: 3B David Vidal, LHP Tony Cingrani, RHP James Allen
Cleveland Indians: 1B Jesus Aguilar, OF Bryson Myles, C Jake Lowery
Colorado Rockies: C Will Swanner, LHP Edwar Cabrera, OF Corey Dickerson
Detroit Tigers: 3B Jason King, OF Danry Vasquez, SS Eugenio Suarez
Houston Astros: 3B/C Mike Kvasnicka, OF Javaris Reynolds, RHP Jonas Dufek
Kansas City Royals: OF Bubba Starling, 2B/SS Daniel Mateo, RHP Kyle Smith
Los Angeles Angels: 2B Taylor Lindsey, RHP Cam Bedrosian, C Abel Baker
Los Angeles Dodgers: 1B O’Koyea Dickson, RHP Garrett Gould, 3B Alex Santana
Miami Marlins: LHP Charlie Lowell, RHP Austin Brice, OF Jesus Solorzano
Milwaukee Brewers: SS Orlando Arcia, RHP Jorge Lopez, OF Benjamin McMahan
Minnesota Twins: RHP Angel Mata, SS Levi Michael, OF/C Chris Herrmann
New York Mets: LHP Darin Gorski, OF Travis Taijeron, OF Brandon Nimmo
New York Yankees: P Pat Venditte, OF Ravel Santana, 3B Tyler Austin
Oakland Athletics: OF Rashaun Dixon, 2B/SS Chris Bostick, LHP Ian Krol
Philadelphia Phillies: RHP Julio Rodriguez, UT Carlos Alonso, 3B Cody Asche
Pittsburgh Pirates: OF Aldaberto Santos, 1B Jose Osuna, RHP Luis Heredia
San Diego Padres: 2B Jonathan Galvez, SS Jace Peterson, RHP Cody Hebner
San Francisco Giants: OF Shawn Payne, LHP Adalberto Mejia, RHP Seth Rosin
Seattle Mariners: RHP Brandon Maurer, SS Martin Peguero, OF James Zamarripa
St. Louis Cardinals: LHP Hector Hernandez, RHP Boone Whiting, 2B Breyvic Valera
Tampa Bay Rays: SS Brandon Martin, OF Josh Sale, 1B Cameron Seitzer
Texas Rangers: RHP Nick Tepesch, C Jorge Alfaro, LHP Will Lamb
Toronto Blue Jays: SS Christian Lopes, OF Michael Crouse, RHP John Stilson
Washington Nationals: OF Kevin Keyes, RHP Cameron Selik, 3B Matt Skole