Baseball America: Carolina League Top 20

Braves development is well recognized with the Carolina League best prospects of 2007.

1. Jordan Schafer, of, Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Braves)

3. Elvis Andrus, ss, Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Braves)
4. Max Ramirez, c, Kinston Indians

8. Tommy Hanson, rhp, Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Braves)

18. Jairo Cuevas, rhp, Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Braves)

...

Schafer has quietly climbed up the rankings from near-unknown to possible long-term center fielder in the span of, oh, a year. Schafer is a former Top 13 year-old in the country, according to Baseball America, who the Braves selected in the 3rd round of 2005. A former top prep pitcher who had a scholarship to Clemson, Schafer was quickly moved to the outfield by the Braves.

He struggled in the Gulf Coast League in 2005 and didn't show much more talent in 2006, but this year, the player who has been compared to Mark Kotsay, J.D. Drew, and Shawn Green absolutely took off. He reached double digits in 2B-3B-HR, stole 23 bases, and posted a clip of .312/.374/.513. By the way, he played most of the season in the Carolina League (after a month with Rome to get going) and the Carolina is a tough league to hit in, especially his home park in Myrtle Beach.

I didn't even rank Schafer when I did a top 30 prospects last year for chopnation. He is probably a year-and-a-half away (making a stopgap in center field all the more likely as opposed to a long-term contract). Before the season, Brandon Jones was the only major outfield prospect the Braves had. That much has changed.

Of the others ranked, of course Andrus is with the Rangers organization now and Max Ramirez was traded to the Indians for Wickmoo last year. Hanson's the guy I really like. In his first full professional year, he started at Rome and finished with Myrtle Beach. All told, his record of 5-9 is deceptive. Neither team hit for him. Solid ERA, but what grabs my attention is the 154 K's in 133 innings. He gave up a lot of homers, but if you can keep the K/9 rate high, you got a lot of good things going.

Jairo, or J.C., Cuevas is a bit of a surprise. I don't really see him one of the top 20 prospects in the Braves organization...not even sure he's in the top 30...so him making the top 20 for the league grabbed my attention. He has a good arm, probably projects to be a reliever though he started this year. Needs to do something about the walks (71 in 132 innings), though.