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.

Cole Gillespie / OF / 6’1” 205 LBS / 6/20/84

I’ll admit up front that Gillespie has been a favorite of mine since he was selected by the Brewers in the third round of the 2006 draft. He was a team leader on a national championship squad at Oregon State, he possesses extremely advanced plate discipline, decent power and hit from the very beginning of his pro career. The question is, as it was then, what place could he find to play at the major league level for a Brewers team trying to contend for a title?

Like nearly every other hitter that put on a Huntsville Stars uniform in 2008, Gillespie had a fantastic year at the plate. He posted an overall line of .281/.386/.472/.858 in 462 AB’s. After the standard Brevard power outage in 2007, he was back to hitting doubles (38) at a good clip while mixing in some triples (4) and knocking a few more (14) out of the park in 2008. He walked 75 times while striking out 102, which is an outstanding ratio for a prospect. He also stole 17 bases in 18 attempts, which indicates that he has a pretty good idea of what he’s doing on the basepaths, even though he doesn’t posses great speed.

The problem for Gillespie, as it is with numerous other Brewer prospects, is positional. Despite the solid steal numbers, he doesn’t have the speed or defensive chops to play CF on a daily basis. He also doesn’t have a strong enough arm to play RF regularly, which means he would probably be limited to LF as an everyday player, where his home run power is well below average. In the short term, the team could probably get by with his mix of discipline and doubles power in LF because the team currently gets plenty of homers up the middle. Barring an emergency, however, he probably won’t be ready to be an everyday player for a few more years, by which time that power up the middle will have likely dissipated some. More likely, his ability to play all three OF positions passably (at least for a short time) along with his advanced plate discipline and useful power will make him an ideal and cheap 4^th OF option for a few years. Teams often hesitate to use young players as bench options, but if anyone is likely to be able to handle the demands of sporadic playing time early in their career, it’s someone with Gillespie’s makeup.

The Brewers have a bevy of potential 4^th OFs in their system at the moment, but Gillespie is the closest to the majors and it isn’t outside of the realm of reason that he could pass in LF for a contender in the right lineup. His discipline could allow him to be a leadoff hitter, if a team is willing to look past his lack of classic leadoff speed. He should open 2008 in AAA Nashville and could be in line for a callup in the event of an injury to Braun or Hart. There is plenty to like about Gillespie, even if it doesn’t come in an ideal package, and he probably can look forward to a very respectable major league career.

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

#10: Jake Odorizzi