Neftali Feliz 2009

Neftali Feliz is probably at least a year away from the major leagues, but he's probably the top pitching prospect that I haven't already discussed this offseason. After putting up dominant numbers at the Texas Rangers' A level affiliate (106 strikeouts and 28 walks in 82.0 innings), Feliz moved up to AA where he struggled a little with his control (47 strikeouts and 23 walks in 45.1 innings). That's still very good for a 20 year old in his first shot at AA, and I'm optimistic that he'll improve on both the strikeout rate and walk rate if he starts 2009 at AA. Although I don't have access to his groundball rate, I suspect that it's very good as he's only allowed 5 minor league home runs in almost 200 innings. Wherever he starts the season, Feliz should end up at AAA at some point this year and will likely go through a similar adjustment with his control as he did after his previous promotion.