Putting together a Top-100 prospect list is a massive undertaking and any site that takes on the challenge deserves to be recognized for their efforts. Since I had just over a week between S2S Team Prospect Lists, I wanted to do something a little different while I have this small window at my disposal. The team prospect lists are a grind and require a ton of research and writing time to put together and I thought that comparing various Top-100s would be a good way to change gears and provide a (hopefully) useful services to our readers
I’m not looking to be overly insightful with these six articles – one for each division – or draw any groundbreaking conclusions. Just looking for a way to compare the rankings and give some of the sites that took on the task of producing a Top-100 – like Nathaniel did for S2S – a little extra love.
The sources I have selected for this 6-part miniseries are:
- Baseball Instinct (BI)
- MLB.com (MLB)
- MLB Prospect Portal (Port)
- Project Prospect (Proj)
- Scout.com (SC)
- And of course the S2S rankings (S2S) are included.
So let’s turn to the NL Central – which had 35 players make a Top-100 – and see how each list stacks up next to the others on a team-by-team basis.
Chicago Cubs [7]
| Position | Player | S2S | BI | MLB | Port | Proj | SC |
| OF | Brett Jackson | #69 | #61 | #33 | #52 | #40 | #34 |
| 2B | Ronald Torreyes | #93 | #73 | ||||
| 1B | Anthony Rizzo | #30 | #37 | #30 | #46 | #48 | |
| SS | Javier Baez | #55 | #62 | #76 | #90 | #65 | |
| OF | Matt Szczur | #82 | #82 | ||||
| SS | Junior Lake | #84 | #95 | ||||
| C | Welington Castillo | #89 |
The Cubs lack a Top-30 guy and that’s not likely to change when the 2013 lists start coming out next offseason. Rizzo and Jackson will likely lose their prospect status this year and there aren’t a lot of guys in this system that appear ready or capable of stepping up to be that type of prospect. The two best bets to prove me wrong are Dillon Maples and Jeimer Candelario. Even if Baez has a solid season I don’t think he moves into that upper echelon group.
Most curious ranking(s): Thanks to our rankings, Rizzo and Baez are not consensus Top-100 selections, but Nathaniel explained his solid reasoning here.
Cincinnati Reds [5]
| Position | Player | S2S | BI | MLB | Port | Proj | SC |
| C | Devin Mesoraco | #12 | #25 | #14 | #28 | #13 | #12 |
| RHP | Daniel Corcino | #75 | #94 | ||||
| OF | Yorman Rodrigez | #79 | |||||
| 2B | Henry Rodriguez | #99 | |||||
| SS | Billy Hamilton | #73 | #34 | #48 | #70 |
It’s good to see Mesoraco get his due across the board. His turnaround as a prospect is a wonderful story and proof that you can’t write guys off because they scuffle in the minors for a few seasons.
Most curious ranking(s): Billy Hamilton at #34 … really? There’s more to baseball than stealing bases.
Houston Astros [3]
| Position | Player | S2S | BI | MLB | Port | Proj | SC |
| 1B | Jonathan Singleton | #65 | #63 | #44 | #33 | #67 | #39 |
| RHP | Jarred Cosart | #61 | #53 | #25 | |||
| OF | George Springer | #42 | #84 | #56 | #33 |
Houston did very well for themselves getting Singleton and Cosart – as well as Josh Zeid and Domingo Santana – in exchange for Hunter Pence. Springer very well could, and probably should, be a consensus selection on Top-100 lists next offseason.
Most curious ranking(s): Nothing really stands out as the team’s top 3 prospects are all represented and ranked appropriately when accounting for the methodology variables between the lists.
Milwaukee Brewers [6]
| Position | Player | S2S | BI | MLB | Port | Proj | SC |
| RHP | Wily Peralta | #50 | #49 | #46 | |||
| RHP | Tyler Thornburg | #78 | #93 | #85 | |||
| 2B/3B | Taylor Green | #96 | |||||
| RHP | Taylor Jungmann | #66 | |||||
| LHP | Jed Bradley | #97 | #62 | #73 | |||
| 2B | Scooter Gennett | #99 |
There’s not a single consensus player in the mix and only 3 players were named on half of the lists. Peralta’s #46 ranking by Scout.com is the best of the lot.
Most curious ranking(s): The omission of Peralta on 3 separate lists is stunning and might just make him the most under-appreciated prospect in the game.
Pittsburgh Pirates [6]
| Position | Player | S2S | BI | MLB | Port | Proj | SC |
| RHP | Jameson Taillon | #9 | #8 | #8 | #10 | #11 | #16 |
| RHP | Gerrit Cole | #15 | #13 | #11 | #11 | #18 | #10 |
| OF | Robbie Grossman | #61 | #90 | ||||
| 3B | Josh Bell | #72 | #48 | #69 | #75 | #54 | #97 |
| RHP | Luis Heredia | #88 | #80 | ||||
| OF | Starling Marte | #60 | #40 | #66 | #88 | #87 |
The talent drops off quite a bit after Taillon and Cole. That’s okay when you have 2 consensus top-20 talents in your organization. The Pirates spending spree in the draft and international markets will pay off for them and could lead to this list being very loaded and very crowed next winter.
Most curious ranking(s): Despite the SO/BB rate concerns, Marte was very deserving of a Top-100 spot on the S2S list. Nathaniel and I disagree on a lot of players and Marte certainly won’t be the last.
St. Louis Cardinals [8]
| Position | Player | S2S | BI | MLB | Port | Proj | SC |
| RHP | Shelby Miller | #8 | #4 | #5 | #7 | #5 | #6 |
| OF | Oscar Taveras | #28 | #33 | #39 | #63 | #35 | |
| RHP | Carlos Martinez | #37 | #12 | #30 | #14 | #50 | #19 |
| RHP | Maikel Cleto | #85 | |||||
| RHP | Trevor Rosenthal | #92 | #43 | ||||
| RHP | Tyrell Jenkins | #44 | #92 | ||||
| 2B | Kolten Wong | #53 | #55 | #76 | |||
| 3B | Zack Cox | #73 |
There’s little doubt that the pitching does the talking in this system right now, but there are plenty of position players worth keeping an eye on as well. Kolten Wong is a personal favorite of mine so you can look forward to some regular updates on him during the upcoming season.
Most curious ranking(s): Where is Oscar Taveras on the MLB.com list?
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For a truly great resource for all your prospect rankings be sure to check out Fantasy Rundown.
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