Poll Results: Diamondbacks Best Farm, Brown Giants Top Prospect

So, with the polls now closed, I figured it would be nice to recap some of the polls and kind of throw my own two cents on the results. A couple of new polls will be up this week, so it'll be more fodder for people to play with here on the blog.


Question 1: Who has the Best Farm System in the NL West?

San Francisco Giants: 8 votes (30 percent)
Arizona Diamondbacks: 10 votes (38 percent)
Colorado Rockies: 2 votes (7 percent)
Los Angeles Dodgers: 0 votes (0 percent)
San Diego Padres: 6 votes (23 percent)

Total votes: 26

OTF's Take: With pitchers Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs and Archie Bradley heading the list, it makes sense why the Diamondbacks were voted with having the best system in the NL West. Initially, I put the Padres because I liked the Yonder Alonso-Yasmani Grandal combo, but in terms of top-end talent, the Padres do compare in comparison to the Diamondbacks. Considering the need for pitching and the ballpark factors that favor hitters, legitimate pitching prospects are a need in the Arizona system, and they seem to have that in the three-headed monster of Bauer, Skaggs and Bradley.

The Giants got a lot of votes, but I'm not sure they would have gotten so many had this been a neutral-site. I like Gary Brown and Joe Panik, but beyond that and the system is very questionable. I would argue that the Rockies have the third best system in the NL West with the Giants following very closely behind. That being said, a lot of the prospects in the Giants system are pretty raw, so I think the Giants could pull into third place should they get some solid performances from some guys in the lower minors.

As for the Dodgers, they're the best team in the NL West right now (no thanks to Matt Kemp), but the system is looking thin with the graduation of Kenley Jansen, Javy Guerra and Dee Gordon. Zach Lee is a legit prospect, but he seems a few years away and after Lee, their system is pretty questionable. With a new ownership group though, I expect that to change dramatically in the next couple of years.


Question No. 2: Who is the Giants' No. 1 Prospect in 2012?

Gary Brown: 31 votes (72 percent)
Joe Panik: 2 votes (4 percent)
Tommy Joseph: 2 votes (4 percent)
Heath Hembree: 3 votes (6 percent)
Andrew Susac: 1 vote (2 percent)
Francisco Peguero: 0 votes (0 percent)
Kyle Crick: 1 vote (0 percent)
Eric Surkamp: 2 votes (4 percent)
Other: 2 votes (4 percent)

Total votes: 43


OTF's Take: Not a big surprise here considering Brown is the consensus top prospect according to almost every publication and blog (with Seedlings 2 Stars being the lone exception; they rank Surkamp higher than Brown which to me, is ridiculous). At 72 percent, it is obvious that Giants fans are as hopeful as most analysts out there when it comes to Brown's future. He's off to a slow start, but even now, Brown still remains the Giants' best prospect by a wide margin.

Hembree comes in at second with three votes and with the injury to Brian Wilson, Hembree could see some time in the Giants bullpen by June. He already made the transition to Fresno a couple of weeks ago, so it's obvious that the Giants are looking for him to contribute to the Big League club sooner rather than later. Panik, Joseph and Surkamp come in at second with two votes each and Susac and Crick follow with one vote. The most surprising non-vote getter was Peguero who received none. I find this surprising because Jonathan Mayo ranked Peguero No. 99 in his Top-100 MLB prospects list going into 2012.

In terms of the other, I'm guessing Ehire Adrianza and Hector Sanchez were the one who garnered the votes. I like both of them, but at the same time, they aren't in the same tier as Brown and not even in the same tier as Hembree, Panik and Joseph. That being said, Sanchez is holding his own as the Giants' backup catcher, so he's off to a good start to begin 2012, even if he is now technically graduated as a prospect.