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.

Taylor Green / 3B / 5’10” 180 LBS / 11/2/86

Taylor Green is the prototypical Brewer hitting prospect in a lot of ways. Taken out of Cypress College in California in the 25^th round of the 2005 draft, Green is Canadian by birth. Like so many Brewer positional prospects, his calling card is his bat and the position he’ll eventually play is in question because of his sub-par defense at the hot corner. Still, his bat is good enough that he’ll almost certainly find somewhere to play in the major leagues.

Green’s pro career didn’t get off to a rip-roaring start in rookie ball in 2006, as he OPS’ed .636. When he moved to West Virginia in 2007, that all changed. He hit (.327/.406/.516/.922) with 29 2B, 2 3B and 14 HR while posting an impressive K:BB ratio 65:51 in 397 AB’s. That performance won him the systems player of the year award and rocketed him onto the prospect radar screen for 2008. Moving to the power suppressing FSL, he hardly missed a beat at the late, accumulating a (.289/.382/.443/.825) line. His power suffered a bit (19 2B and 15 HR) but that happens when guys move to Brevard. His plate discipline, which was already good, got even better in 2008, as he walked more times (61) than he struck out (59). His trip to the Arizona Fall League was cut short when he was hit in the face by a pitch, breaking his nose. In 24 AB’s he racked up a .990 OPS, so he wasn’t having any trouble hitting the ball.

Green has good power for a player of his stature, and he’s a left-handed hitter, which is something the Brewers could use at the major league level. He doesn’t have the classic HR power you like to see at third, but his overall hitting game is rounded enough that his power could definitely be playable there. The problem is that like Ryan Braun and Mat Gamel before him, Green is having trouble at the hot corner. He isn’t racking up the error totals that those two did in their time in the minors, but a .929 career fielding percent is still way below average for a 3B. There has been some talk of moving him to 2B, but the Cleveland Indians reportedly took Michael Brantley as the PTBNL in the LaPorta trade over Green because they weren’t convinced that he could play 2B.

If Green cannot play second or third base on a regular basis passably, that is going to limit him to a super utility role. He may well end up in a platoon where someone else hits against lefties and replaces him late in the game defensively, which wouldn’t be the end of the world, but would limit his value. His plate discipline and left-handed bat would make him an ideal and cheap pinch hitter in that sort of scenario. He is still young, though, and there is time for him to improve defensively and be at least playable in a few positions. He should move to AA in 2009, and it will be interesting to see if he has a power spike comparable to other players who left Brevard for Huntsville. If he does improve his defense and keeps on hitting, the Brewers could start looking for ways to get him in the big league lineup as soon as 2010. Watch his power numbers and fielding percent for signs of improvement.

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

#9: Cole Gillespie

#8: Lorenzo Cain

#7: Brett Lawrie