<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dingers are BACK. ��<br><br>Thanks, <a href="https://twitter.com/solerpower12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@solerpower12</a>. �� <a href="https://t.co/J6EGgZkFkv">pic.twitter.com/J6EGgZkFkv</a></p>&mdash; MLB (@MLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1230976260739825666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Keith Law posted his top 100 on The Athletic. Good stuff on Lynch (his #13 prospect, ahead of Forrest Whitley and Casey Mize, among others. Only
Mackenzie Gore, Dustin May, and Nate Pearson ahead of him as pitchers.

His write-up of Witt talks about a tendency to collapse his back leg to sell out for power, but Law likes his general approach. He typically is VERY hard on toolsy guy with shit approaches, so I was really encouraged by that. Slight mechanical adjustment could really sky rocket Witt forward.

Were any others on his top 100?

No more Royals, just Lynch and Witt.

While I loved Cain, he also seemed to frequently have small nagging injuries that would keep him out of the lineup.

To add to that, he has (arthritis?) in his thumb that really impacted his performance at the plate last season. He grinded it out, though, I was stoked to see him finally take home the Gold.

I think that 2015 defense now has 18 gold gloves to their name. That was an all time D for sure.

Remember when the Royals were GREAT just a few years ago?

If Law was correct Lynch would be our highest rated pitcher in 35 years of rankings. I read he reached 98 mph in Arizona.


Looking at the BBAmerica database which begins in 1981, we have only had 4 pitchers in the top 20 of the Top 100 annual prospect ranking. #14, #18, #19, #19. Two were in the same season.


Name them. (Kyle Zimmer 2012 just missed at #23)

Mike Montgomery
John Lamb
Mark Gubicza
Zack Greinke

Yes
Yes
No
Yes


Very good. The other was in 1994.

David Cone?

Well, shit. He or Jeff Austin would have been my next guesses.

I think I remember that Gubicza was the highest touted member of the group that debuted in 84 and carried the teams in 85. That Saberhagen was the real star of the group was somewhat of a surprise, I think.

I was thinking about Daniel Lynch compared to Montgomery and Lamb the other day.

Size and fastball velocity are similar. Main difference is that Lynch’s second pitch is a VERY snappy slider. I think being a college guy also gives him a leg up on the other two.

Lamb is probably my biggest disappointment from that 2011 farm system. Before the injury, he was 94-95 with the fastball with a crazy-good changeup and supposedly a really good slider the team was trying to turn into a curveball.

Then he had TJ, did a shitty job of rehabbing after, lost 2 mph on his fastball, lost his feel for the changeup (and action, and separation from the fastball) and never really found a breaking ball again.

It’s just too bad. It doesn’t surprise me that only one of those 4 lefties has been - at times - a very good MLb starter. It does surprise me it wasn’t Lamb.

But TINSTAAPP always rules the day...

In DM’s book “if these walls could talk” of whatever it was called, Bob Boone met Granger after he signed, being pick #5. He was told Granger had a slider like Steve Carlton whom Boone had once caught in Philly.


He did a bullpen session with him and said afterwards “More like Chris Haney” (a soft tossing journeyman we had at the time)