The Year of the Prospect: In Review

With the Minor League regular season coming to a close yesterday, we thought it might be fun to take a look at what has been deemed “The Year of the Prospect” in Major League Baseball. From last year’s top 100 list, we have seen 20 of the top 27 prospects from a year ago in the majors this season. That list includes each of the one-time top seven in Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor, Addison Russell, Joey Gallo and Miguel Sano, as well as nine pitchers, highlighted by Noah Syndergaard with the Mets. Just outside of the top 10 were Corey Seager, who was just called up by the Dodgers last week, and Joc Pederson who has been with the team all season and put on a power display in this year’s Home Run Derby before struggling in the second half.

Bryant started the flurry with his call-up on April 17. Of course, the game was televised and Twitter was abuzz about the Cubs hot shot third baseman. Unfortunately, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his debut, but in the four games that followed Bryant went 8-for-20 (.400) with three doubles, six RBI, five walks and one strikeout. Since, Bryant has put up Rookie of the Year type numbers, batting .267 with a .368 on-base percentage, mashing 23 homers, driving in 86 and swiping 12 bags. At just 23, the Cubs new third baseman is providing hope to the fan base for the first time in ages.

Not far behind Bryant was Addison Russell, whom the Cubs acquired last season in the July 4th swap that sent Jeff Samardzija to Oakland. Chicago also wound up with Billy McKinney in that deal, who has hit .300 between High-A and Double-A, as well as Dan Straily, who turned into Dexter Fowler after a trade with Houston. The Cubs also included Jason Hammel in the Oakland deal, but he signed right back in the Windy City as a free agent. As for Russell, he’s shown some power this season with 12 homers and 41 RBI, but his batting average is a bit lower than we’re accustomed to, batting just .242 in Chicago. Still just 21, Russell is another building block for Chicago.

Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor have already started the conversation over which is the best shortstop in the American League, although with Troy Tulowitzki‘s trade from Colorado to Toronto, he may have something to say about that for the time being.