(P.S. Alex Serrano is a Venezuelan pitcher, but to be honest, every time I hear his name, I think of Pedro Cerrano!)

Around that time, I recall that Luhnow and Law had a snarky exchange via Twitter about the rankings. One long-time poster on the main site attached so much importance to that, he actually suggested it was part of what was behind Luhnow “getting his wings clipped” by giving up day-to-day management of the farm system months later. I don’t believe that for a second, but if so, Luhnow recovered quite nicely, as has Law in the eyes of Cardinals fans. However, when the Cardinals drop again, and at some point they will, Law will go back to being a bum.

For subscribers on the main site, I prepare an annual analysis of what the various raters have to say about the Cardinals system and top prospects – this year and over time. As soon as a couple of others announce, I will run that again.

I still think he’s brilliant.

It must be the whole Mayan 2012 apocalypse rapture thing…I dunno.

Tip the cap to Luhnow and his team, they scouted, they drafted, they signed, they produced. Cornered the Draft and the Caribbean. A system once in the bottom of the barrel has seen its cream rise to the top.

Law 2012 rankings

Miller 5
Martinez 22
Taveras 53
Cox 66
Jenkins 74
Swagerty 92

Rosenthal made his “10 that just missed the top 100″

Lowest I’ve seen is a 12th ranking for our system in perusing several baseball prospective lists

Note ~ there is perception out there that Mr. Law doesn’t like the Cardinals, Cardinals fans, TLR, etc, etc. Whether it’s misconceived or not, his rankings and praise are quite a change in tone from a few of his previous thoughts, words, posts, etc.

Reggie Cleveland was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. This place name sounds authentically Canadian.
The Cards signed him after the first June draft, held in 1965. So he was an undrafted free agent, which groups him with Tom Herr and Bernard Gilkey, also undrafted after high school. The Cards were pretty good in those days at signing amateurs who became effective ML starting pitchers. Cleveland was NL rookie pitcher of the year in 1971, or so I believe.

The Cards signed Rheal Cormier, but IIRC this was after college ball in the States. How Reggie came to the attention of the Cards might be an interesting story.

Let’s hope Mo’s new wonks are even better than the crusty old wonks he foisted off on Houston.

I know that early on in his career, I was impressed by how quickly he always got down behind first to back up the throw on every infield grounder. Not sure how well he’s done with that lately.