Here are prospects 101-250. I created this a little quickly, but I wanted to go ahead and publish the second part so we can update a complete list. In a few weeks, we’ll publish the first version of the list we will use throughout the season that includes amateur and international prospects. As always, feedback is appreciated so let me know of any rankings that can improve.
New Dynasty League: Also, a few readers and I are starting a dynasty league. We discuss the rules in the forums, and it should be a lot of fun. We have several open spots, so if you are interested in playing, post your contact information here or email it to boneill@fko-law.com.
101.Jonathan Schoop—2B, Orioles
102.Chris Parmelee-1B, Twins
103.Garin Checcini—3B, Red Sox
104.Mason Williams—OF, Yankees
105.Addison Reed—P, White Sox
106.Jed Gyorko—OF, Padres
107.Garrett Richards—P, Angels
108.Casey Kelly—P, Padres
109.Tim Wheeler—OF, Rockies
110.Kaleb Cowart—3B, Angels
111.Deck McGuire—P, Blue Jays
112.Taylor Guerrieri—P, Rays
113.C.J. Cron-1B, Angels
114.Eddie Rosario—2B/OF, Twins
115.Jesse Biddle—P, Phillies
116.Jose Fernandez—P, Marlins
117.Oswaldo Arcia—OF, Twins
118.Trevor Story—SS, Rockies
119.Blake Swihart-C, Red Sox
120.Chad Bettis—P, Rockies
121.Robbie Grossman—OF, Pirates
122.Tyler Thornburg—P, Brewers
123.Norichika Aoki—OF, Brewers
124.Andrelton Simmons—SS, Braves
125.Robert Stephenson—P, Reds
126.Joe Panik—SS, Giants
127.Matt Adams-1B, Cardinals
128.Christian Colon—SS, Royals
129.Alex Colome—P, Rays
130.Mikie Mahtook—OF, Rays
131.Chris Archer—P, Rays
132.Robbie Ross—P, Rangers
133.Vince Caltricala—3B, Mariners
134.Christian Bethancourt-C, Braves
135.Dillon Maples—P, Cubs
136.Brandon Jacobs—OF, Red Sox
137.Drew Smyly—P, Tigers
138.Jeurys Familia—P, Mets
139.Alex Meyer—P, Nationals
140.Domingo Santana—OF, Astros
141.Matt Dominguez—3B, Marlins
142.Cody Buckel—P, Rangers
143.Aaron Hicks—OF, Twins
144.Brandon Nimmo—OF, Mets
145.Tommy Joseph-C, Giants
146.Austin Hedges-C, Padres
147.Dillon Howard—P, Indians
148.Derek Norris-C, Athletics
149.Joe Ross—P, Padres
150.Reese Havens—2B, Mets
151.Charlie Blackmon—OF, Rockies
152.Trey McNutt—P, Cubs
153.Levi Michael—SS, Twins
154.Neil Ramirez—P, Rangers
155.Dante Bichette, Jr.—3B, Yankees
156.Liam Hendriks—P, Twins
157.Austin Romine-C, Yankees
158.Matthew Purke—P, Nationals
159.Henry Owens—P, Red Sox
160.Brian Goodwin—OF, Nationals
161.Taylor Lindsey—2B, Angels
162.Chris Reed—P, Dodgers
163.Tim Beckham—SS, Rays
164.James Darnell—3B, Padres
165.Chad James—P, Marlins
166.Ravel Santana—OF, Yankees
167.Tyler Matzek—P, Rockies
168.Tyler Goeddel—3B, Rays
169.Sean Gilmartin—P, Braves
170.Anthony Ranaudo—P, Red Sox
171.Rougned Odor—2B, Rangers
172.Daniel Corcino—P, Reds
173.Jennry Mejia—P, Mets
174.Sebastian Valle—C, Phillies
175.Grant Green—OF, Athletics
176.Marcell Ozuna—OF, Marlins
177.Elier Hernandez—OF, Royals
178.Jon Pettibone—P, Phillies
179.Tyler Anderson—P, Rockies
180.Casey Crosby—P, Tigers
181.Jonathan Galvez—2B, Padres
182.Adeiny Hechavarria—SS, Blue Jays
183.Tom Milone—P, Athletics
184.Eric Surkamp—P, Giants
185.Brandon Guyer—OF, Rays
186.Travis Harrison—3B, Twins
187.Andy Oliver—P, Tigers
188.Lance Lynn—Cardinals
189.Jorge Alfaro—C, Rangers
190.Hudson Boyd—P, Twins
191.Ronald Torreyes—2B, Cubs
192.Chris Carter-OF, Athletics
193.Aaron Sanchez—P, Blue Jays
194.Jake Hager—SS, Rays
195.Jose Iglesias—SS, Red Sox
196.Alex Liddi—3B, Mariners
197.Andrew Chafin—P, Diamondbacks
198.Sean Coyle—2B, Red Sox
199.Brody Colvin—P, Philles
200.Ronald Guzman—1B, Rangers
201.Kyle Gibson—P, Twins
202.Tyler Pastornicky—SS, Braves
203.Roman Mendez—P, Rangers
204.Francisco Martinez—3B, Mariners
205.Miles Head-1B, Athletics
206.Anthony Meo—P, Diamondbacks
207.Juan Oramas—P, Padres
208.JT Realmuto—C, Marlins
209.Jordanny Valdespin—SS, Mets
210.Brian Dozier—SS, Twins
211.Garrett Gould—P, Dodgers
212.Wilmer Flores—SS, Mets
213.Enny Romero—P, Rays
214.Dan Vogelbach—1B, Cubs
215.Stetson Allie—P, Pirates
216.Kyle Weiland—P, Astros
217.John Lamb—P, Royals
218.Sammy Solis—P, Nationals
219.Christian Vazquez—P, Red Sox
220.Paul Clemens—P, Astros
221.Jackie Bradley, Jr—OF, Red Sox
222.Tony Sanchez—C, Pirates
223.Will Swanner—C, Rockies
224.Trevor Rosenthal—P, Cardinals
225.David Holmberg—P, Diamondbacks
226.Drew Vettleson—OF, Rays
227.Yordano Ventura—P, Royals
228.Parker Birdwell—P, Orioles
229.Jaff Decker—OF, Padres
230.Eugenio Suarez—SS, Tigers
231.Kevin Comer—P, Blue Jays
232.Ronny Rodriguez—SS, Indians
233.Ryan Brett—2B, Rays
234.Luke Jackson—P, Rangers
235.Jonathan Villar–SS, Astros
236.Adonis Cardona—P, Blue Jays
237.Delino Deshields—2B, Astros
238.Eduardo Sanchez—P, Cardinals
239.Kyle McPherson—P, Pirates
240.Josh Sale—OF, Rays
241.Jeff Ames—P, Rays
242.Nomar Mazara—1B, Rangers
243.Alex Wimmers—P, Twins
244.Zach Cates—P, Cubs
245.Noah Perio—2B, Marlins
246.Jesus Aguilar—1B, Indians
247.Tomas Telis—C, Rangers
248.Brett Marshall—P, Yankees
249.Derek Dietrich—SS, Rays
250.Michael Kelly—P, Padres
Hi,
Can anyone speak about the following players, and their future prospect potential?
Alen Hanson
Jesus Aguilar (#246 on this list)
Josh Sale (#240 on this list)
Tony Cingrani
Jason Adam
Elvis Araujo
Hudson Boyd
Thanks for any info you can provide!
Barrett Loux?
Kyle Crick?
Bradley, not sure if this is the current thread to use, but I will comment on Pitching!!
Do you see what the Jays are using for pitchers on their low A team, the Lancing Lugnuts? Do you see the ERA!?!?! Syndegaard, Nicolino and Sanchez as their 1-2-3…0.00 era!! I know the season just started but WOW!!
Dam, even the AA team has great pitching, although they are “cheating” with Cecil there.
When is the top 250 prospect list coming?
Any chance of posting a top 250 update before opening day?
Perhaps. Assuming that’s true, not taking the medical exam is never a good sign before making a huge investment.
What do y’all think about the Rangers signing Jairo Beras? Really interesting b/c he received a huge bonus, but apparently, other teams were angry b/c they did not realize he was eligible. I think the ‘stros are one of the teams that were upset about the signing. I’m curious to see whether the other teams’ argument has any merit. I guess it comes down to whether they were mislead into believing he was ineligible. If we could have discovered he was eligible w/ reasonable dilligence, then IMO, it’s hard to fault the Rangers for getting the player.
http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/03/astros-gm-takes-shot-at-ranger.html
It was announced that Tyler Beede refused to take medicals when AA asked him to before they increased the signing amount and that is possibly why they did not sign him according to Keith Law. It all makes sense why Tyler decided to go to college, he was possibly injured? In Tyler’s first start over a month ago, he pitched 3 innings, gave up 9 runs and hasn’t pitched since. Looks like AA may have made the right move not to sign his 1st rd pick. We get that pick back this year and now have a total of 5 first rd picks in this years draft.
Blessing in disguise?
Sorry about the slow response, Geo! Been really tied up w/ work, and plus, we are doing our auction for the new dynasty league which has occupied the majority of my baseball time.
The Blue Jays have done an amazing job using the various rules to their advantage to pickup greater value. I am really optimistic about the new group running the ‘stros, and ideally, we’ll start making some similar moves. Based on our team’s situation and things we were doing well (and not so well), I think Luhnow was the perfect candidate to become our GM. I think the biggest advantage the new staff will provide is a greater focus on various cutting edge methods which seemed to be lacking in recent years.
When you allow people applying advanced methods and traditional scouts to compliment one another, you can get terrific results b/c both methods give you lots of information about which players to avoid. Even though it’ll take patience, I am really optimistic Luhnow working w/ our current group has the potential to yield great results in the draft which will lead to improvement in a few years.
The ‘Stros need to stockpile more draft picks if they want to rebuild quicker!! Getting older players NOW on a 1 year contract that will be group B free agents should be a priority for next years draft!
Not to compare the Jays, but AA has done it again! Getting an additional 3 picks in the 1A position of the draft. Rauch, Fransisco and Molina have easily been replaced and we reap the benefit of having these additional draft pics! We have 5 picks before the second round even starts, now that’s building a farm system!! (even though 1 is from Beede not signing)
Thanks Bradley,
I’ll take a closer look at Norris. I have 3 draft picks in our AL league (#2, #3 and #14) so I am hoping to land three out of these five: T.d’Arnaud, T.Walker, B.Starling, J.Marisnick or X.Boegaerts.
Alfaro is an interesting prospect. At this point, he’s so young it’s difficult to project his future. His strongest attributes are power and arm strength. A catcher w/ elite power is a rare commodity, meaning he could become a great prospect in time. But at this point, it’s too early to project him as a franchise player. Most importantly, the plate discipline totals are not good. I valued him at #189 based on his upside, and in leagues that place a huge premium on ceiling, he clearly offers more value.
If you are looking for a catcher, I think Derek Norris is a good candidate switching over to Oakland. Despite the combination of power and walks, Norris’ batting averages have been low the past two seasons. Nevertheless, assuming you can draft Norris at about the value I listed, I would take him over Alfaro b/c he gives you similar upside (albeit w/ similar risk for different reasons) and much better proximity.
Excited about Spring Training also, Geo! The Jays are going to be fun to watch this season. Even if it ends up taking another year or two, it’s a great time to be a Toronto fan b/c there are lots of reasons to be optimistic. For the first time in awhile, I’m actually excited about the ‘stros too! I think the new owner & front office will do a great job turning around the team, but at this point, I am perhaps getting excited too early considering we are still early in the process of bringing in the players we’ll need. I thought about finally making a big purchase and getting my own season tickets! But I decided against it. As long as the team is bad, it’s pretty easy to get good seats for free from people who never use their tickets. Hopefully, by the time the team is good again, I’ll be able to afford my own good seats!
Just wanted your take on J.Alfardo (#189 on your list) The experts seem to alternate from him being a future “franchise player” to a “fringe” prospect. I’m confused. Kevin Goldstein has him rated as the #101 ranked prospect and Baseball America have him predicted as the starting catcher for Texas in 2015. I am in a very aggressive AL only 5×5 league and hot shot catchers and SS get gobbled up very quickly.
PITCHERS AND CATCHER REPORT NEXT WEEK!! WOO-HOO!!
For sure! They have a great system, and it’s amazing how quickly they progressed. For the most part, I think K-Law did a good job w/ his system rankings. Most importantly, I like how he places a little more emphasis on depth.
What did y’all think of his Top 100 on ESPN? I disagree w/ certain rankings, but on the whole, I liked the list. For fantasy purposes, I think it’s worth noting the players he values higher than the other lists (ex: he did a great job ranking Trout a few years ago). This year, the best examples are: Mason Williams, Joe Ross, Daniel Corcino, John Hellweg, Matt Davidson, Enny Romero, and Aaron Sanchez.
Keith Law ranks Padres as #1 Farm System!
I predicted top 3 if you recall Bradley……..this validates my prediction I would say?!
This is pretty amusing.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/02/08/former-red-soxoil-can-boyd-admits-to-pitching-under-influence-of-cocaine/
My favorite part is Oil Can saying “I was told that, yeah, if you don’t stop doing this we’re going to put you into rehab, and I told them (expletive) that (expletive).”
how is a 7×7 H2H remedial? what exactly is a non remedial league then?
Oh man I would take the Reds in that league if it were not a remedial H2H. Way too much luck in H2H leagues.
I could be too low on Salcedo? He posted decent numbers last season for a 19-year old showing a decent combination of power and speed (the k-rate seems manageable), and the scouting reports seem positive. Moving to third base does not help his value, but the switch was not particularly unexpected.
Jed, you should be getting an email w/ the signup info. Do you still use hotmail? Saw an old email you sent awhile back, but if you do not get an email, email me your contact info so I can give you the signup info.
Brad, Andy,
Sign me up for your league. I wasn’t able to register a user account on your forum and I’m not sure why.. but ill try it again tonight. I’d like to be the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately some one took my Twins!
Jed
Salcedo is not really a deep sleeper. I’m surprised he wasn’t included on the list – I would have him somewhere in the middle of this section. He has power, and can steal a base or two, and he made quite a lot of progress in reducing his K-rate. If he continues to develop he should be a pretty decent prospect in a year or two, although there are still a number of issues to iron out.
Antigua is a lot deeper, and doesn’t have that high a ceiling. Stuff is no better than reasonable, and although his command is not bad, he’ll probably never be more than a 4-5, and quite possibly end up in long relief.
Bradley, what are your thoughts on these deep sleepers:
- Jeffry Antigua P Cubs
- Edward Salcedo 3B Braves
No entry fee! You should absolutely play. I’ve never played in this style format either (long term contracts, etc), so a bunch of people will be learning.
Andy/Brad,
I’d be more than interested in joining you guyses new league, however I have never taken part in any Salary Cap based leagues. So this would be a new challenge to me. I’m a die hard fantasy baseball guy.. just out of curiosity ..whats the entry fee?
Jed
Its a 20 team h2h 7×7 with 40 man minors and contract/salary set up. All rosters drafted/auctioned from scratch.
Hellweg is a great suggestion. He posted solid numbers last season in the California League, and it’s amazing he’ll reach AA having only surrendered 5 HR’s in his milb career. To some degree, he is not a player I have followed as closely as I should. But I update the lists regularly, and I’ll take a closer look at him for the next list.
Geo, any interest in joining the dynasty league we are setting up? The Blue Jays need an owner! I am running the ‘stros, so I was happy to hear all rosters are starting fresh. Some of the posters are doing a great job setting up rules, and anybody interested should register on the board Andy created to organize the league.
http://www.deepleaguesfranchise.proboards.com/
Random answer to your random question: I would stay away from is Anthony Gose (Toronto Blue Jays) IMO, unless he gets his KK down, he has Carlos Gomez written all over him! This season will be a big year in determining whether or not he’s going to produce with plate discipline.
Also, I would tend to stay away from any prospect on your favourite team, as you tend to over value them especially in trade. Sleepers in you favourite team prospects are good, because you know more about their farm system then others (Geoo007 = Jays fan, see Nestor Molinan now CWS)
hellweg not making the top 250 is borderline criminal
Sure. Whitson would have been on every prospect list had he signed w/ the Padres, and by most accounts, he did not hurt his value last season.
Even if he is not draft eligible until 2013, I would absolutely keep him. I plan to value him near the end of our Top 250 list once we incorporate amateur players, but subjectively, I think he could be a little more valuable.
Which amateur players do y’all think should be ranked? I’m going to do a little more research, but at first glance, my thought is to rank these players: Mark Appel, Mike Zunino, Lucas Giolito, Deven Marrero, Karsten Whitson, Tyler Beede, and Byron Buxton.
Other possibilities: David Dahl, Max Fried, Kenny Diekroeger, Alfredo Despaigne, Jose Dariel Abreu.
Any chance that Karsten Whitson shows back up on your radar? He was drafted #9 overall in 2011 out of high school but didn’t sign so that he could go play for Florida where he has excelled so far. Will he be draft eligible in 2012 or have to wait until 2013? Obviously if it’s 2013, that definitely hurts his chance of being ranked.
I ask because I have him in a dynasty league because I drafted him after he was drafted by SD, but of course didn’t sign so I’m not really sure what to do with him. He has four more running years left on his contract.
Yeah, Soler could easily bust. I watched him play in a webcast of a Cuban League game last season against Gourriel’s team, and honestly, I was not that impressed. But it’s hard to base much on one game b/c he was much younger than the other players. The benefit of Soler is he was the best hitter on Cuba’s 18U team for two seasons, which is pretty uncommon.
I would argue the difference between Soler and Sale is that Sale posted those awful numbers last season. Part of me wonders if those numbers are misleading based on information we don’t know, but regardless, I would take my chances w/ no recorded statistics over Sale’s performance last season.
Another Cuban to watch is Omar Luis Rodriguez. He was the Top pitcher on Cuba’s Junior Team, and he defected pretty recently. In a super deep league, he’s not a bad late-round flyer even though the information is limited.
You know, I’d probably say to stay away from Soler, because he’s so young and raw. I see him really not a whole lot different from Josh Sale power wise, but Sale is 240 and Soler is top 50. Soler will probably end up in RF just like Sale too. However I don’t think that the increase in speed from him to Sale will really be worthy of a top 50 prospect v. a top 250 prospect.
For sure! A few other teams offer impressive depth as well (Toronto, Texas, KC, Boston, San Diego), but the number of potential major leaguers in TB’s system is so impressive they are the system I would pick to outperform its current ranking. They have a lot of players whose backgrounds indicate they perhaps offer more talent than last season’s numbers (ex: Josh Sale, Justin O’Connor, etc). Plus, even if they were not all marquee names, they picked up so many players in last year’s draft!
Random question: If y’all had to pick the prospects you would be most likely to stay away from at where I have them valued, who would you pick? The prospects I tend to stay away from are: (1) guys who on the verge of arriving in the major leagues w/ a number that cannot afford to get worse (ex: as much as I like Rosario’s combination of power & defense, the .294 OBP in AA makes me nervous); and (2) when a prospect has produced mediocre numbers but the rankings do not really reduce the player’s value based on information that is difficult to verify.
Brad,
Regarding BA report on TB: I remember having a back and forth with you on systems having too many prospects, if there is such a thing. I wrote that prospects get lost in the shuffle and don’t get the 1 on 1 or having position blocks not getting promoted. But now I am starting to see your side of things, which was how more prospects are likely to fail then succeed so depth in a system is great to have.
I think TB’s ranking in BA’s report is suffering from their own success. Despite that they have tons and I mean TONS of prospects, their depth is excelling far more then what they are producing. They are not getting the top 5 picks either which doesnt help them securing high end talent. Last years draft was a perfect example of that, they had 10 picks and drafted solid picks, but nothing too risky with unlimited ceiling potential.
I guess if you have faith in your developmental staff, and feel you can produce MLB players, it’s better then risking high return/high failure type players. TB has a solid movement of players at all levels and have a very healthy farm system. One all MLB teams would love to have!!
Good suggestion re: Pimentel. He has huge power potential, but at this point, I believe there are some concerns re: plate discipline. I think he offers more upside than many of the players we listed, and at this point, it’s a matter of seeing whether he can turn that upside into production.
I am a huge fan of Jackie Bradley, Jr. Subjectively, I would actually rank him much higher but I’m not sure how much my “gut instinct” would help fantasy teams. Even though it doesn’t help much in fantasy, I think he is one of the best defensive OF’s in baseball. He’s an incredible athlete, and I think the power and plate discipline numbers will be much better than people expect. My hope is a .300 batting average w/ close to 20/20, solid plate discipline (maybe 80 k’s and 65 BB’s) while finishing the season in AA. But fantasy teams should know he is the exact type of player I tend to overvalue from year-to-year. For example, even though I was happy w/ my sleeper list last season, a lot of my bad calls were based on this type of profile.
I am a fan of Rosenthal and Santana too. Both players have upside, and don’t get too much consideration. Purke is another good call…posted insane numbers his freshman season and the concerns last year might be overblown. I hope Santana breaks out! He’s an incredible athlete, and with a little more plate discipline, the potential for a breakout is there.
I just got my BA prospect handbook, and it’s been fun reading through the teams’ systems. IMO, the most undervalued system in baseball is Tampa Bay. Most analysts are ranking them 10-15 based on the team lacking too many big name prospects behind Moore, and to a lesser degree, Lee. But the depth the system offers is incredible! For example, some guys who did not make Tampa’s Top 30: Josh Sale, Yoel Araujo, Granden Goetzman, Cole Figueroa, Jeff Malm, Hector Guevera, Oscar Hernandez, Robinson Chirinos, Josh Lueke, Grayson Garvin, Ryan Carpenter, Nick Barnese, etc, etc. Not necessarily b/c the system was misranked…it’s just ridiculously deep.
Fastest mover? SP Trevor Rosenthal STL. I think he has the tools to be a #2 and I think he’s got a real nice floor as well. I want to throw an honorable mention to Revel Santana of NYY. This guy is the “toolsy” type with 5 superstar potential tools. If he clicks, you could see him top 50 prospects next year, especially when you factor in the NY hype machine.
Ill be “Brave” and say that Jason Hayward wins the NL MVP this year… fastest mover..hmm.. Ill say its Domingo Santana! And for the good.. peter gammons said the other day on MLB network that he thinks Santana is Houston’s best prospect hands down..and gammons is never slight on baseball knowledge.
Here’s a bold prediction: Matthew Purke will be the fastest mover this season. But i won’t predict which way!!
I’m wondering about Jackie Bradley Jr. Before his injury he was at least a top 10 player in college. Do you think he can get back up to where he was and have the potential to be a star in the majors?
One name I don’t see here that I thought I may is Guillermo Pimentel. I’m curious about everyone’s thoughts on Pimentel. I know his power potential is huge, but what do you think the chances are he reaches his ceiling? I’m on the fence about hanging onto him in my league or throwing him back for another pick. Based on rankings, it would seem I would definitely be able to pick up someone with better potential/better chance to reach that potential with the extra pick to fill the roster spot.