We are proud to announce The San Diego Padres Top 30 Prospects for 2012. Peter Friberg has been studying minor league and amateur baseball players for nearly 10 years and has been writing about Padres minor leaguers for approximately eight. Peter has compiled his top 30 prospects in the Padres system for 2012, we are now into the top 10, continuing with #5 Joseph Wieland

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View 26-30 here

2011 San Diego Padres Top 30 Prospects

5.

Good: Wieland was a guy who always put up solid numbers but was known as a command/control guy because his velocity topped out an ordinary 90-91. In the last year or two, Joe picked up a few ticks and now touches 93-94. Fortunately, his new-found velocity has not come at the expense of his control (21 walks in 155.2 innings). Before the velocity spike, Wieland was thought of as a #4 starter. Now he profiles as a #2-3.

Bad: While Wieland had always struck out hitters at a gaudy rate, he allows a fair number of hits… Additionally, after being promoted to AA, his K/9 rate fell from 10.1 in High-A to 6.9 in AA. A K/9 rate of 6.9 is completely respectable, but when he was striking out guys at 9+ in lower levels it causes people like me to wonder if his rates will fall further to below “acceptable” levels or will he revert to his more dominant levels by getting out of the hitter-friendly Texas League?

Outlook: Joseph, like Erlin, profiles as #2-3 starter. And like Erlin, it is most likely that he will be back in San Antonio next to begin the ’12 campaign.