BA Releases Top NY-Penn League Ranking, Williams, Culver Among Prospects Ranked

Baseball America released their Top-20 NY-Penn League ranking this week. The Yankees on the list:

1. Mason Williams, of, Staten Island Yankees
6. Cito Culver, ss, Staten Island Yankees
8. Tyler Austin, 3b, Staten Island Yankees
14. Angelo Gumbs, 2b, Staten Island Yankees
19. Branden Pinder, rhp, Staten Island Yankees

Everyone knew that Mason Williams was a no-brainer for the #1 spot. That was hardly news. However, Cito Culver’s relatively high #6 ranking is great news for Yankee fans. Culver didn’t put up eye-popping numbers last year, wasn’t lauded at the draft, and for the most part hasn’t made any news since the Yankees signed him. That makes his overall prospect status very difficult to judge. Aaron Fitt gets his information from calling around to scouts and coaches in the league and asking people for their opinion on players. His ranking reflects significant praise for Culver coming from people outside the Yankee organization.

We have a pretty good idea of what Cito Culver offers right now. He’s got good-to-great defensive skills and average-for-a-shortstop offensive skills. Do the math and you have the potential for a solid player. However, due to his relative obscurity in upstate New York and his surprise 1st round select at the draft, he has a few extra question marks attached to his prospect status. I don’t think he’ll ever be a top-100 prospect, but he could very well be a major league starting shortstop. Yankee fans (some of whom expect the Yankees to sign a $4 million signability case with every top pick) will selectively complain about him for awhile, because he seems so boring for a 1st round pick. This ranking doesn’t make him any less boring, but augurs well for the young shortstop.

The other rankings give us some information, although not much. I’m not sure what expectations were for Angelo Gumbs this year. He’s got crazy tools, but not a lot of refinement. He held his own at the plate while playing a new position, stayed healthy, and generally looks right on track with other top Yankee position prospects. That said, given all of that, he probably should be rated closer to Cito Culver than Branden Pinder. People in the league were intrigued, but not necessarily impressed.

Overall, the Yankees pretty much owned the GCL/NY-Penn rankings. You could easily make a case that Ravel Santana, Mason Williams, and Dante Bichette are the 3 best prospects in the two leagues combined right now. I said this before, but seriously: Charleston is going to be stacked next year.