Joe Benson was a clear winner as our Sixth prospect with 229 of 402 votes (56%). Oswaldo Arcia was a distant second with 36 votes while Anthony Slama and Max Kepler-Rozycki were next with 28 and 27 votes, respectively.
Only two players received less than two percent, Adrian Salcedo and Daniel Osterbrock. This was the first round for Osterbrock, thus he will remain in the next round of voting, Salcedo will not.
The two players added to the next round will be Luke Hughes and Billy Bullock. Hughes has one of the more exciting right handed bats in the organization, however, misses to much time with injuries. We all remember his brief appearance last summer when he hit a home run in his first official big league at bat. Bullock is a hard throwing closer who led the organization in saves at Ft. Myers and New Britain.
With the signing of Tsuyoski Nishioka perhaps as early as later today, some of you are asking if he can become part of this process. Unfortunately, until he is signed we can't include him. I have been thinking of doing a separate ballot for him over the holidays. Perhaps a two round process to slot him in rounds 1-5, 6-10, etc., then place him in a specific slot. We could then adjust our ranking or include him as something like 3A. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.
Voting for the seventh ranked prospect will remain open through 3pm, Friday, December 17th.