Top-100 Prospect Showdown: NL West

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 West – which had 32 players make a Top-100 – and see how each list stacks up next to the others on a team-by-team basis.

Arizona Diamondbacks [5]

Position	Player	S2S	BI	MLB	Port	Proj	SC
LHP	Tyler Skaggs	5	17	21	15	21	26
RHP	Trevor Bauer	14	7	9	9	10	36
LHP	David Holmberg	31				47
RHP	Archie Bradley	63	29	20	41	27	38
LHP	Pat Corbin	83

In July of 2010 Arizona dealt Edwin Jackson to the White Sox and Dan Haren to the Angels. Those deals brought back Holmberg from Chicago and the combo of Corbin and Skaggs from Los Angeles. They then used the 3rd and 7th overall picks to land Bauer and Bradley. Those five alone have a chance to form a formidable major league rotation and help make Arizona a no-doubt Top-1o farm system.

Most curious ranking(s): Holmberg broke into the top-50 on the S2S and Project Prospect lists but failed to make the cut on the other 4 lists.

Colorado Rockies [6]

Position	Player	S2S	BI	MLB	Port	Proj	SC
LHP	Drew Pomeranz	29	38	24	22	28	14
OF	Tim Wheeler	56
3B	Nolan Arenado	87	14	22	20	12	18
RHP	Chad Bettis	91	71	66	77	69
C	Wilin Rosario			63	70	32
SS	Hector Gomez					78

If Nathaniel redid the S2S rankings today, Arenado would rank significantly higher. As it is our ranking is the extreme outlier of the six.

Most curious ranking(s): Tim Wheeler appearing on only one Top-100.

Los Angeles Dodgers [3]

Position	Player	S2S	BI	MLB	Port	Proj	SC
RHP	Zach Lee		72	45	49	58	59
RHP	Nathan Eovaldi			70			95
RHP	Allen Webster		77	79			78

No Dodgers cracked the S2S Top-100. For me, Lee is the only one who is legitimately in the conversation right now but there are a number of guys that I’ll be watching in 2012 including Kansas native RHP Garret Gould and OF Joc Pederson.

Most curious ranking(s): On the three lists that included him Webster ranked 77th, 78th and 79th. File that tidbit in the fun and worthless fact folder.

San Diego Padres [14]

Position	Player	S2S	BI	MLB	Port	Proj	SC
LHP	Robbie Erlin	11	85		69	38	83
RHP	Joe Wieland	24				49
C	Yasmani Grandal	36	68	68	61	30	91
OF	Rymer Liriano	48	89	60	81	77	100
2B/SS	Jonathan Galvez	58
RHP	Keyvius Sampson	62	97		65
RHP	Matt Lollis	74
1B	Yonder Alonso	97	54	39	51	26	98
RHP	Casey Kelly		91	50	71	48	88
3B	Jedd Gyorko			71	59	99	86
2B	Cory Spangenberg			81
OF	Jaff Decker						85
RHP	Joe Ross						86
3B/OF	James Darnell		46				87

Ladies and gentleman the San Diego Padres are your showdown “champion.” With 14 players listed on at least one Top-100 list they surpass the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rangers who were all tied with 11.

Most curious ranking(s): Yasmani Grandal at #91 and the omission of Erlin on one list.

San Francisco Giants [4]

Position	Player	S2S	BI	MLB	Port	Proj	SC
LHP	Eric Surkamp	64
OF	Gary Brown	76	65	48	42	34	57
OF	Francisco Peguero			98
SS	Joe Panik				82	94

Gary Brown, the Giants only consensus selection, had a fantastic season in 2011 but it came in the California League. How he handles a different environment and Double-A pitching will definitely be something to watch in the upcoming season.

Most curious ranking(s): The lack of love for Surkamp. I get that his 6 start stint in the majors at the end of the season was pretty rough – the last two starts in particular – but what we saw in San Francisco was a worn down and overwhelmed version of the talented lefty.

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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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