Community Question: Is Heliot Ramos the Giants Top Prospect?

It's a question that is always fun to ask after a draft.  Is team X's first round draft pick now their top prospect?  BA always gets a bunch of these questions and sometimes the answer is yes.  It's a complicated question because it depends as much on who is already in a given farm system as it does the top draft pick.  There is always the balance between ceiling and proximity to the majors.

Heliot Ramos is a prospect who I thought was underrated by most pre-draft rankings.  When I saw several mock drafts with him going to the Dodgers, I was not happy.  I could easily envision him shooting up prospect rankings in the Dodgers organization while us Giants fans had to be content with Logan Warmoth, a very good prospect and a lot closer to the majors, but with nowhere near Ramos' ceiling.  Ramos is a prospect with 5 true impact tools.  Those don't come around very often, especially in the Giants organization.

Young toolsy prospects often struggle in their first couple of years of pro baseball and Heliot Ramos is younger than most, still just 17 yo.  I think we can all agree rookie league stats don't mean much.  The landscape  is littered with kids who blow down the doors in their pro debut, tank and then never recover.  There are also more than a few MLB stars who struggled in their first pro season.  All things being equal, though, I think we are all happy when our favorite team's draft picks get off to good starts.  To say Ramos has gotten off to a good start is an understatement.  He and second rounder, Jacob Gonzalez, both made BA's Hot Sheet today and I don't remember the last time 2 draft picks from the same team made the Hot Sheet this soon after the draft, let along both making top 10!  In addition to the great SSS numbers, the raves about his tools are starting to roll in not that more folks are seeing him play in Arizona against pro competition.

The immediate question the Hot Sheet brings to mind, is Heliot Ramos now the Giants top prospect?  To help with that question, let's quickly review DrB's 2017 Top 50 Giants Prospects, at least the top 10:

1.  Christian Arroyo IF- There is some question whether Arroyo still qualifies as a prospect.  He has 125 MLB AB which is still 5 AB's under the limit for graduation but I saw a note that he was not eligible for BA's midseason top 100.  Even if he is still eligible for prospect status, he almost certainly won't be by the end of September assuming his hand heals as expected.  Arroyo stumbled a bit in his first MLB experience, but he's still very young with plenty of time to adjust.  I don't know about you, but although the hit tool is still impressive, the rest of his game seem just a bit limited for a top prospect.  Stock- Stable.

2.  Tyler Beede RHP- Beede still has the tools and the PCL is a very tough pitching environment but his performance this season in Sacramento has to raise doubts about whether he can take it to the next level.  Stock Down.

3.  Bryan Reynolds, OF- Reynolds has tools and has had a strong season for SJ.  He's the Giants lone representative to the Futures Game.  He's played both CF and RF for San Jose.  At this point, though, it looks like Reynolds speed tool is average at best as is power.  Stock up, slightly.

4.  Ty Blach, LHP-  Gotta say, Blach deserved this ranking and maybe higher, but he's now graduated.  Stock up, but graduated.

5.  Austin Slater OF- Slater is still a prospect and got off to a great MLB start, so you could make a case for him being #1.  He may be coming out of the "honeymoon" phase of rookiedom and he's probably not a CF at the MLB level.  He also will almost certainly lose prospect eligibility by the end of the season.  Stock up.

6.  Steven Duggar OF-  Dugger has 5 tools and had high expectations coming into the season but is just now starting to rehab a spring injury.  Stock slightly down due to injury.

7.  Andrew Suarez LHP- Great season so far for Sacramento.  May have passed Beede as the Giants top pitching prospect, but ceiling is limited by size and velocity.  Stock up.

8.  Chris Shaw 1B/LF- Giants top power hitting prospect who has raked at both AA and AAA this season.  BA has him as the only Giants prospect in their midseason top 100 at #86.  By inference, BA staff must think Shaw is the Giants current top prospect.  Despite his impressive power, Shaw is going to be limited to either 1B and LF and there are still major questions about whether he can play either position adequately at the MLB level.  Stock way up.

9.  Heath Quinn OF-  Quinn's season was delayed due to a spring injury.  He's hit well and with power for San Jose but is now back on the DL(maybe just off). Stock stable.

10.  Sandro Fabian OF-  Got some impressive buzz last year in the AZL.  Some would say he is struggling in Augusta this year but he's very young and Augusta is a very tough hitting environment.  Although his hit tool is now more established than Ramos' but Ramos other tools are on a significantly higher level.  Stock stable to slightly down.

So there it is.  Is Heliot Ramos the Giants current top prospect?  If not, who is?