Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects

[Seth Stohs]

Tonight on MLB Network, the folks from Baseball America - Specifically JJ Cooper and John Manuel - will be counting down Baseball America's Top 50 Prospects... This morning, maybe to tease tonight's show, they posted their list for prospects 51-100. 

 

Update this thread as BA announced their Top 50 tonight.

 

Three Twins players were in that 51-100 range:

 

#53 - Nick Gordon

#80 - Tyler Jay 

#99 - Jorge Polanco

[bluechipper]

I'd have to assume Kohl Stewart missed out on this list then.

[gunnarthor]

Sounds like we'll have 6 or 7 (depending on Park).  I assume the top 50 would have Buxton and Berrios and probably Kepler.

[Seth Stohs]

 

I'd have to assume Kohl Stewart missed out on this list then.

I would assume that as well. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Sounds like we'll have 6 or 7 (depending on Park).  I assume the top 50 would have Buxton and Berrios and probably Kepler.

 

I'm going to agree with you. Buxton, Berrios and Kepler are givens. Just depends on what BA decided to do with Park. They have included players from foreign professional leagues in the past, so he could fit in there. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Just depends on what BA decided to do with Park. They have included players from foreign professional leagues in the past, so he could fit in there. 

They didn't rank Kang in last year's top 100.  I'd be shocked if they ranked 1B Park in their top 50 this year, he's not regarded nearly as well as Abreu, Puig, Ryu, etc. (which is evident in his contract too).

[Thrylos]

Some of their ETAs are out of whack:

 

Jay: 2017 as a starter?  Nuts.

Polanco: 2016.  Last time I checked it was 2014, so there is data for this one.

[bluechipper]

 

Some of their ETAs are out of whack:

 

Jay: 2017 as a starter?  Nuts.

Polanco: 2016.  Last time I checked it was 2014, so there is data for this one.

Jay will have a decent chance to finish this year at double-A, and it's not like he has to dramatically tighten up his control or change his mechanics or something like that. It sounds like he's already got three plus pitches and just has to make some adjustments to starting. 2017 doesn't seem too unreasonable for a top 10 pick coming out of college.

[drjim]

If the Twins are as competitive as we hope, I wouldn't be surprised if Jay gets some run in the bullpen down the stretch, starts 2017 back in the minors as a starter and comes up about halfway through the season in the rotation.

[gunnarthor]

Interestingly, the Twins are only ranked 10th in their minor league systems ranking.  

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/organization-talent-rankings-list/

 

Maybe they don't have Kepler and Park in the top 50?  I think it'd be strange for a team with 6 or 7 top 100 guys not to be better than #10.  Heck, even with 5, it's hard to think there would be 9 systems ahead of the Twins.

[bluechipper]

 

Interestingly, the Twins are only ranked 10th in their minor league systems ranking.  

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/organization-talent-rankings-list/

 

Maybe they don't have Kepler and Park in the top 50?  I think it'd be strange for a team with 6 or 7 top 100 guys not to be better than #10.  Heck, even with 5, it's hard to think there would be 9 systems ahead of the Twins.

Especially when the Twins have a probable top two prospect and almost for sure three total top 50 guys. The one I really don't get is the Brewers ahead of them. They've got Arcia, but then I would assume Brett Phillips is there next guy, and BA has him at 57.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

If the Twins are as competitive as we hope, I wouldn't be surprised if Jay gets some run in the bullpen down the stretch, starts 2017 back in the minors as a starter and comes up about halfway through the season in the rotation.

I'd be surprised by that.  Remember, Jay has yet to start a game or pitch a "full" (6 month) season.  I would be surprised if they didn't plan to shut him down by September 1st in his first season starting.  Had he been a starter in college, it would be a different story, obviously, but I can't see them promoting that aggressively during the first year of the conversion process.

 

Thus, I'd read the ETA more as late 2017, when the conversion is further along and he's clear to pitch the whole year.

[Seth Stohs]

Is anyone watching this on MLB Network tonight? Feel free to update us on who is in the top 50.

[drjim]

 

I'd be surprised by that.  Remember, Jay has yet to start a game or pitch a "full" (6 month) season.  I would be surprised if they didn't plan to shut him down by September 1st in his first season starting.  Had he been a starter in college, it would be a different story, obviously, but I can't see them promoting that aggressively during the first year of the conversion process.

 

Thus, I'd read the ETA more as late 2017, when the conversion is further along and he's clear to pitch the whole year.

 

This wouldn't surprise me either.

 

But, contra Berrios, they could theoretically have a plan to stretch him out as a starter from day one this year and then manage his innings late by letting him finish in the pen. He might do that in the minors anyways. It would make more sense because Jay obviously has experience as a reliever and it would be built into a plan from the beginning.

[bird]

 

Especially when the Twins have a probable top two prospect and almost for sure three total top 50 guys. The one I really don't get is the Brewers ahead of them. They've got Arcia, but then I would assume Brett Phillips is there next guy, and BA has him at 57.

 

Yeah, Milwaukee is the best example of it, but there are quite a few teams who made quantum leaps. Curious.

[PseudoSABR]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/top-100-prospects/

Buxton - 2

Berrios - 28

Kepler - 30

[Seth Stohs]

Again, hard to complain about any of these rankings.

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

Maybe the Twins are only 10th in organization rankings because the rankings take the whole system into account, and the evaluators don't like the Twins' depth beyond the top 100 guys as much as other organizations'....?

[big dog]

# of prospects in their top 20:

Boston- 4

LA, Houston, Texas, Washington- 2

 

# of prospects in their top 30:

Bos- 4

LA, MN, Texas- 3

Washington, Phil, Houston, Pitt, Atlanta- 2

St Louis, Milw, TB, Toronto, Mets, Yankees, KC- 1

 

[beckmt]

Just looks like BA does not like Twins lower ranked players.  This may have to do with the influx from Latin America and the amount of money teams have spent to upgrade their talent.  Press may be better on many of those players than the talent.  BA seems to rank based on the top 30, and Twins lack of spending on Latin American talent may be hurting them. 

Hope the Twins plan to bust the budget this year or we may not be looking at any of the good Latin American talent in this period, as I feel there will be a rush to sign as many players as possible before the CBA changes.

[bird]

 

Maybe the Twins are only 10th in organization rankings because the rankings take the whole system into account, and the evaluators don't like the Twins' depth beyond the top 100 guys as much as other organizations'....?

 

I would think the evaluators would believe just the opposite. In addition to the seven prospects who have made the lists, we have a few that have made past lists and are still extremely viable prospects (Meyer, Thorpe, Burdi), and we have maybe a couple more who were fairly close to making it, Walker comes to mind. I'd have to think this system, depth-wise, is certainly in the top five or so.

[clutterheart]

Interestingly, the Twins are only ranked 10th in their minor league systems ranking.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/organization-talent-rankings-list/

 

Maybe they don't have Kepler and Park in the top 50? I think it'd be strange for a team with 6 or 7 top 100 guys not to be better than #10. Heck, even with 5, it's hard to think there would be 9 systems ahead of the Twins.

Braves have an odd progression.

'13 - 21

'14 - 26

'15 - 29

'16 - 3

 

BA must have loved the Miller trade

[Seth Stohs]

 

Braves have an odd progression.
'13 - 21
'14 - 26
'15 - 29
'16 - 3

BA must have loved the Miller trade

 

I would say everyone loved the Miller trade for the Braves, but yeah, that's a very significant jump!

[blairpaul715]

 

Braves have an odd progression.
'13 - 21
'14 - 26
'15 - 29
'16 - 3

BA must have loved the Miller trade

It wasnt just the Miller trade.......Since last yrs Baseball America book came out, the Braves have added thru trades, Swanson(#1 Braves ranking according to one persons ranking) and Blair(7) , that you refer too, but also Sean Newcombe(2), Max Fried(8), Mallex Smith(9), Touki Toussaint(10), Rio Ruiz(14), John Gant(15), Ricardo Sanchez(16), Zach Bird(17), Chris Ellis(18).......and a couple others........plus thru trading a player for a supplemental pick in 1st round they recieved Austin Riley(6), highly touted young prospect, and signed 2 of the top 30 international FA, and top pick this last yr in Kolby Allard(4)...........I would say their prospect tree is pretty large, but one downside would be alot of these guys are very young and most will likely not reach their lofty expectations, so I would guess alot of high ceilings, but also low floors.