This year we’ll be releasing our top 25 list in conjunction with the people over at Bernie’s Crew, which means the list is going to posted somewhat out of order to match up with what Jim has for his Top 25. An up-to-date list of the Between the Green Pillars Top 25 can be found at the bottom of the page.

Jake Odorizzi / RHP / 6’2” 175 LBS / 3/27/90

The Brewers may have gotten the steal of the draft when they popped Odorizzi with the 32^nd selection in the 2008 draft, a pick they acquired as compensation for losing CoCo Cordero to the Reds. As a high school pitcher in Illinois, he landed on numerous all-America lists and was named the USAToday National Player of the Year. His selection was widely praised on draft day by those in the business and many feel that he could turn out to be the best pitcher taken in the 2008 draft.

Odorizzi has a diverse and advanced repertoire for a guy fresh out of high school. He throws both two and four seam fastballs, the latter tops out in the mid 90’s and the former is a pitch that he can move to both sides of the plate. He also has two plus breaking balls in the making, a curve that is already a plus out pitch at times and a slider that has great potential. As it is with most young pitchers, his changeup is a work in progress.

The Brewers were careful with Odorizzi in his first exposure to professional hitters, only allowing him to throw 20 2/3 innings over the month and a half or so after he signed. On the plus side, he struck out 19, held hitters to a .220 average and posted a 3.48 ERA. Less encouraging is the fact that he walked 9 and allowed 2 HR, neither of which is a particularly good number. He also showed a pretty big platoon split, allowing a .294 average against LHB. All in all, that performance isn’t much to get excited about or get concerned about, especially when you figure it was only about 20 innings and that just isn't a big enough sample to read too much into.

Odorizzi has the stuff to be a #1 starter and could move quickly if he improves his command from what he showed in his pro debut, which seems likely given what all the scouting reports said about him. He’ll need to do a little “filling out”, but that is normal for a guy fresh from high school. The team may send him to extended spring training to keep him away from the cold Appleton spring, but if he’s healthy he should find his way there before the end of May. Pay close attention to his walk rate, if that improves the sky is the limit for Odorizzi.

Between the Green Pillars Top 25 Prospects:

# 25: Evan Frederickson

# 24: Cody Adams

#23: Alex Periard

#22: Brent Brewer

#21: Brad Nelson

#20: RJ Seidel

#19: Tim Dillard

# 18: Seth Lintz

# 17: Efrain Nieves

#16: Erik Komatsu

#14: Omar Aguilar

#13: Cutter Dykstra

#12: Zach Braddock

#11: Caleb Gindl