#50 Francisco Lindor

Cleveland Indians

Previous Rank: N/A

DOB: November 14, 1993

ETA: 2015

As the first guy off the board in this year’s Sombrero Top 50, Francisco Lindor, the 8^th overall selection from the 2011 draft just squeezed in.  The main knock on him and why he isn’t a little higher is the fact that he signed late and collected less than 20 at-bats as a professional in 2011.  His place among the Top 50 is based solely on who he was as an amateur; he is young (still just 17), was without a doubt the best up-the-middle player in his draft class, and grew up in a phenomenal baseball environment after immigrating to Florida from Puerto Rico.

He has across-the-board tools with a chance to be at least a 50 in each of the five traditional areas and very little downside.  He is listed at 5-foot-11 and 175-pounds, but probably has an inch or two left to grow and should approach 200-pounds by the time he gets makes his big-league debut.  His power tool blossomed a lot during his senior year at Montverde, but still is what scouts like to call in the “doubles” or “gap” range.

Whatever you want to call it, Lindor is a guy with easy athleticism who has a chance to be an impact bat at the toughest position, and has age on his side.  He should rise quickly and may realistically be on a 25-man by his 20^th birthday.

On Tuesday afternoon, Major League Baseball and the Arizona Fall League announced this year’s participants for the 2011 Rising Stars Game.  The game, which will played on Saturday, November 5 at Surprise Stadium, will house many of baseball’s top prospects, players who will be appearing on the Sombrero’s Post-2011 Top 50 Prospects list.

Several of the top pitchers from the 2011 draft class will make their professionally televised debut, including Gerrit Cole (No. 1 overall, Pittsburgh Pirates), Danny Hultzen (No. 2 overall, Seattle Mariners), and Jed Bradley (No. 15 overall, Milwaukee Brewers).

Of course, the Rising Stars game would not be complete without the likes of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, who will man the outfield for the East along with Robbie Grossman, Xavier Avery, and Tim Wheeler.

Who am I most excited to watch? Well, here’s a brief list with absolutely zero explanation as to why: East: Terry Doyle (CWS), Trey McNutt (CHC), Nolan Arenado (COL), Junior Lake (CHC), Joe Panik (SF); West: J.J. Hoover (ATL), Christian Colon (KC), Nick Franklin (SEA), Anthony Gose (TOR), and Wil Myers (KC).

The game will be played at 7 pm eastern and will be broadcast live on both MLB.com and the MLB Network.

RISING STARS ROSTERS

Perhaps the most accomplished position player in the history of San Juan County, Piedra Vista HS and Strike Zone Cardinal CF, Shilo McCall, has verbally committed to Arkansas.  McCall is an excellent student with elite tools across the board.  At 6-foot-1 and 210-pounds, and just 17 years of age, Shilo is one of the more imposing players on any diamond he plays.  His mechanics have always been sound as he takes a very direct path to contact with excellent weight transfer.  Everything Shilo does on the offensive side of the ball is exceptional as he also has run 60’s in the 6.5 to 6.6 range.

Shilo still has room to grow as a player, particularly on the defensive end.  His actions in the outfield are representative of a player who is still somewhat new to an everyday outfield role.  Some have suggested that his tools play better in left, but with obvious speed and the ability to improve in terms of jumps on the ball, there is no reason that Shilo cannot stay in center.  There is also no reason that his arm can’t tick up to a point that he can be an everyday right fielder.

I’ve heard from pretty reliable sources that Shilo has a chance to get inside the top three rounds of the draft, so hopefully he is left with a very difficult choice to make this summer.  Now that he has a career in the SEC as leverage, something tells me that his stock is rising.  Good luck and congratulations!

If you want to read one of the best and most entertaining posts you’ll read all year, head over to Diamond Hoggers for The Ups and Downs of an Epic, Last Minute Trip to Game Seven of the World Series. (Yes, it’s absolutely deserving of the bold font.) Franco, who runs Next Level Ballplayer and made a guest post here on the Sombrero just before the start of the 2011 season, tells the fantastic story of he and two other friends’ adventure from Nashville to St. Louis with the hope of catching Game Seven in the flesh.  Even though it’s long, reading it in its entirety is worth every damn minute.

The hitters in the Arizona Fall League haven’t been kind to Matt Purke.  After allowing an earned run over two innings in his AFL debut on October 15^th, the left-hander has surrendered 10 earned runs over his last inning and a third.

Making his first start against Surprise on October 21^st, Purke couldn’t escape a disastrous first inning. He allowed seven runs on five hits and walk, and managed to record only one out.  He followed it up with another brutal appearance nearly a week later in a relief appearance against Mesa.  Although Purke successfully made it through the inning, he still gave up three earned on four hits.

Just as it was towards the end of last season following several months of arm problems, Purke’s stuff has been flat this fall, and the 2010 velocity that once garnered No. 1 overall pick consideration is nowhere to be found.

According to Amanda Comak of The Washington Times:

Purke faced eight batters, he retired one. The one out he did get was a rocket high and deep to right field — but foul — that Phillies’ right fielder Tyson Gillies ran down and leapt for. He threw 22 pitches — 12 balls, 10 strikes — and fell behind to almost every single batter he faced. He walked one, Kansas City’s Wil Myers, on four pitches and hit another, Atlanta’s Todd Cunningham. His velocity reached 92 once but sat mostly in the 89-91 range and he didn’t seem to have great feel for his breaking stuff.

Sure Purke hadn’t faced hitters—let alone quality ones—since last spring before pitching in the AFL, but he has immediately emerged as the pitcher that no team wanted to touch with a 20-foot pole last June.

Here is some video of Purke during his breakout, red-shirt freshman season at TCU in 2010:

And here’s a video of Purke warming up before to his first AFL appearance: