What is your opinion on Estevan Florial? How far away is he and is he really the Yankees 2nd most valuable prospect?
I see Florial as one of the 50 or so best prospects in baseball, so my opinion of him is fairly high. He has four above-average or better tools, in his power (raw might be 65), speed, glove, and arm, and he has the all-around talent to be an All-Star caliber center-fielder. I compared him to Curtis Granderson before, and I think that should give you an idea of how special he can be.
The strikeouts are a concern, but I think that's more a product of him being aggressive than it is of him having holes in his swing. He's also semi-willing to work the count, and he doesn't swing at truly bad pitches all that often. His hit tool might only be average - but if he can hit .250 or .260, everything else will make him a first division regular.
And I do think he's the Yankees second best prospect. I wouldn't expect to see him in the majors until 2019, though.
After a strong first stint in the majors, will Jesse Winker's hit tool combined with Cincinnati's ballpark and a juiced ball mask his long underlying weakness, power, enough to make him a decent regular player?
What happened to Corey Ray man?
Any Mariners 'prospects' you like besides an obvious Kyle Lewis?
I see a lot of similarities between Winker and Alex Verdugo - the key difference, though, is that Verdugo is a good defender in CF, whereas Winker is a passable corner outfielder. That gap in defensive value puts them in completely different categories as prospects, and significantly hinders Winker's value if he doesn't find more power in his swing ... and not just artificially inflated power numbers. As you said, that would certainly mask his lack of pop - but it wouldn't make him better in a comparative sense, when he's merely doing what everyone else is doing.
Winker reminds many people of Nick Markakis, for whatever that's worth.
As for Corey Ray, his bat speed seems to have vanished. I don't really know what the cause of it is, but he has changed his stance several times since turning pro - he added a toe tap, took it away, lengthened his stride, raised and lowered his hands, etc. Is that him? Or the coaches? Or some combination of both? Who the fuck knows ... outside of Ray and the Brewers, I suppose. But the effect is that he can't catch up to good velocity, and he has increasingly large holes in his swing.
Ray has a great deal of work to do, and it'll all start with sorting his swing and stance out. That's not easy, though, so the hope is that his elite athleticism helps.
And do I have to talk about Mariners?
Evan White is an interesting prospect. He's already an elite defensive first baseman, and I think he would be a damn good defender in LF or RF if the Mariners moved him back out there (there's no indication that he will). He's a very good athlete with 55 or 60 grade speed, and a 60 hit tool. Will he hit for power, though? I don't know. I like his swing, but he's another guy that simply lacks loft. A great defensive 1B that hits 15 HR and steals 15 bases could be interesting, though.
I'm also semi-intrigued by Rule 5 pick Mike Ford, formerly of the Yankees. I'd throw a 55 or 60 on both his hit and power, and he has a great approach at the plate (he has more walks than strikeouts in his pro career, and the gap has increased in the upper minors). The problem is that he's a 1B-only guy, and he's not a particularly good one at that. I'd definitely give him the shot over Healy if I was the Mariners, though.
And I like everything I've read about their 2nd round pick last year, Sam Carlson. He's super advanced for a high school pick, with a surprisingly polished change-up. I haven't seen much of him, though.
