Archie Bradley Tops List of Arizona Diamondbacks Prospects

For the second consecutive year, right-handed pitcher Archie Bradley head a list of Arizona Diamondbacks prospects conducted by Baseball America.

Here’s the entire list from Baseball America.

"1. Archie Bradley, RHP2. Braden Shipley, RHP3. Aaron Blair, RHP4. Yasmany Tomas, 3B/OF5. Touki Toussaint, RHP6. Jake Lamb, 3B7. Brandon Drury, 2B/3B8. Pete O’Brien, C/1B9. Domingo Leyba, 2B/SS10. Nick Ahmed, SS"

It’s no surprise that the top three prospects and four of the first five are pitchers. This has been a big strength of this organization for several years now as five pitchers were on the list in 2014 and four were on it the year before. With all the moves made by the front office this winter, that seems like it will remain the case for several years ahead.

Despite having a down year in 2014, Bradley still deserves to be the D-Backs top prospect. Even with 3+ years of pro ball under his belt, Bradley is still only 22 and has the best overall stuff out of any guy in this group. He’ll be given a chance to earn a rotation spot during the spring.

The remaining arms on this group are pretty impressive as well.

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Shipley and Blair don’t have the flash or name recognition that Bradley has, but they both have a very good chance to make an impact at Chase Field in the not too distant future. With both having spent time at Double-A in 2014, there’s a real good chance that both righties begin the year at Reno and see time in Phoenix at some point in 2015.

The real wild card out of the group is Toussaint, last year’s first round pick. The 18-year-old really struggled in his first year of pro ball (8.48 ERA over 28.2 innings), but he has tremendous upside and the stuff to be an ace of a staff down the line.

As far as the position players, I’m not as high on them as I am with the pitchers.

Tomas will start the season off with the big league club, so I’m not entirely sure it’s fair to put him on this list with him having not played an inning of pro ball over here in America. Scouts always talk about his power, but some of them worry whether he’s going to hit for a high enough average and if he can find a position to field.

Lamb had a rough time of it after he was called up last season, so it’s too early to make a full judgment on him. He might not have a chance at making the roster though with Tomas moving to the hot corner.

O’Brien might be the guy to get most excited about. He’s hit a total of 66 home runs over his first three minor league seasons, including 34 last season. The former Yankees farm hand might have the fastest track to the big leagues as well with the D-Backs having only Tuffy Gosewisch and Oscar Hernandez on the 40-man roster at the moment.

The last two prospects are middle infielders, an area where the Diamondbacks already have quality depth. Leyba is a few years away from being ready, but the majority of scouts seem to like him. Ahmed has a great glove, but I don’t see how he’s going to hit enough to make any sort of impact.

This is a group that will largely judged by how well the pitchers turn out. If this organization can hit on most of these guys, they should be competitive in a highly competitive National League West. If not, they could be in a world of hurt.