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	Giants: Top 6 Prospects by Michael Duca The Giants have many premium prospects in the organization. Here are six prospects to watch: Carlos Valderrama (pictured left) Ryan Vogelsong (pictured right) Jerome Williams Kurt Ainsworth Lance Niekro Tony Torcato The good news: 3 of those guys are position players. With the serious concentration on pitching in the most recent drafts, it’s very nice to see the Giants actually developing some position players, as well. The bad news: 2 of those 3 position player prospects are third basemen. Carlos Valderrama: a 6-year organizational player, he’s made the 40-man roster for the first time. He’s only 23 years old. Out of Bachaquero, Venezuela, the all-righthanded player is a true 5-tool outfielder. He’s rather slight, at 5-11, 175 pounds, but he’s developing pop in his bat. He stole 54 bases in 66 attempts last season. Injuries have slowed his progress; until last season, he’d never played more than 46 games in a season. He has showed flashes of absolute brilliance this spring, including a throw from the right-field line in Phoenix that nailed an astonished Terrence Long at second base. Ryan Vogelsong: Most likely the first call-up if the Giants need relief help. Vogelsong’s development was somewhat delayed by a bout of tendonitis when he was in Class A, but he has continued to develop each year. He’s got a full compliment of pitches (fastball, curve, slider and changeup), but the mechanics of his delivery suggest that he will have a better career relieving than starting - his delivery is described as “maximum effort” by the coaching staff. With a 2-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio, and nearly a whiff an inning, he’s a 23-year old righty power pitcher who should start the year in Fresno. Jerome Williams: Here’s the sleeper, the one you’ve never heard of. Believe me, you will. He just turned 20 in December. A “sandwich pick” in the June, 1999 Draft (compensation for loss of a Class-A free agent), he was a dominating pitcher at Waipahu High School in 1999, with whiffs accounting for nearly 2/3 of the outs he recorded. Scouts wondered if he was “for real” because he didn’t face tremendous opposition in Hawaii, but the secret’s out now. A polished, compact-delivery complements 4 Major League quality pitches. He throws in the mid-90’s, has a ;lus curve, a major league slider, and an above-average changeup. He struck out 34 in 37 innings in his 7 starts in rookie ball, then spent a full year at San Jose last season. His minor league ERA is 2.77 in 30 games, and he’s struck out nearly 3 times as many hitters as he has walked. Scouts describe him as reminding them of Dwight Gooden, with great poise on the mound. Kurt Ainsworth: No surprise here, the Giants took a chance on a pitcher who had “Tommy John” surgery after his freshman year at LSU. The way that surgery is being done now, they double-wrap the tendon before attaching it, and a lot of players, particularly the younger ones, come back with more arm strength than they started with. Ainsworth is in that category. Bright, articulate (he actually attended classes at LSU), he would be in the rotation of almost any other Major League team that owned him. He’s good enough to start today, but he will begin the year at AAA Fresno. Expect to see him whenever a starter gets hurt. Solid control, Olympic experience, and maturity beyond his years make him one of the top 2 prospects in the organization (along with Williams). Lance Niekro: The real deal. Thirdbaseman who can field well. And that is not what people are excited about. Signed out of Florida Southern University, the son of former Major League pitcher Joe Niekro has size (6-3, 210 pounds), and the bat speed to go with it. In the summer of 1999 he played in the Cape Cod league, a league for college players to learn to use wooden bats, and was named MVP of that league. He hit .362 for short-season Salem-Keizer, the Giants rookie league team, last year, with 23 extra-base hits and 44 RBI in 49 games. He could learn a bit more plate discipline with only 11 walks, but he only struck out 25 times. Tony Torcato: You want to see this young man hit. 21 years old, a left-handed hitter and right-handed thrower, he’s recovering from arthroscopic surgery to his right shoulder, and is being called a “medical miracle”. He’s hitting and throwing only 10 days after the surgery, and his swing is sweet and pure, much like Will Clark’s was, although without the signature follow-through. Signed from Woodland High School in the Central Valley, he was 3 base hits shy of being the first teenager to hit .300 in the Northwest League since Junior Griffey. At Class A last season he hit .324 with 37 doubles and 88 RBI, and only 62 strikeouts in over 530 plate appearances. He will most likely be moved to first base this year, both to take strain off that shoulder, and because Niekro will probably be the third baseman of the future for the team, but he’s a very solid prospect, named Organizational Player of the Year last year by USA Today.