Project Prospect recently published a list of its top Low-A prospects and former first round pick Jiovanni Mier found himself seventh. After beginning his career with an excellent short-season experience, Mier has lacked power and had problems defensively. He repeated Low-A this season and improved some, but struggled once promoted to High-A.
↵Most prospectors are down on him because of those struggles. He's always been more about potential than production, but it's easy to overlook him. Mier was drafted out of high school and may just take some time to develop. The PP list was set up based on scouting and things like walk rate, isolated power, position, etc. Mier still plays a premium position and had some encouraging peripheral stats.
↵However, he may have fallen victim to the success and infusion of talent in the Astros farm system. With all the pitching Houston picked up at the trade deadline, plus big-time prospects like Jonathan Singleton and George Springer, Mier will drop down lists as a result. Slow-developing prospects don't get respect on prospect lists, which is fine.
↵You just can't forget about Mier. He's still young and succeeding at a level with guys much older than him. He may not be as good a prospect as Jonathan Villar, but he still could surprise. Thanks to Project Prospect for reminding me of that.
↵UPDATE: Thanks to PP for clarifying that the rankings are not based on scouting information. Which makes more sense, since my sense is that Mier would suffer from those reports more than benefit from them.