Top-100 Showdown Redux: AL 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. Just about a month ago I did a 7-part series comparing the lists of six sources – Baseball Instinct, MLB.com, MLB Prospect Portal, Project Prospect, Scout.com, and S2S.

Now that I’m done with my portion of our team prospect lists, I can revisit this comparative series by looking at another grouping of Top-100 lists from seven new sources. Just as I did the first time around I will tackle one division at a time and then cap it off with a conclusion piece with some final thoughts and system rankings. The sources I have selected for the showdown “redux” series are:

The AL West had 26 players make at least one of the seven Top-100 lists while 13 of the 26 were consensus selections.

Los Angeles Angels [4]

Position	Player	BA	BP	Bant	JS	Spec	MD	TPA
OF	Mike Trout	3	3	1	3	2	1	3
SS	Jean Segura	55	67	34	66	85	60	96
RHP	Garrett Richards	83		42	96
3B	Kaleb Cowart			89

Here we have the same four players that were listed on the first six lists I looked at. Once again Trout and Segura are consensus selections and once again Cowart slipped onto the back end of one list. Richards made just one list last time around – #67 on the MLB.com’s Top-100 – but three in this grouping.

Most curious ranking(s): Nothing really out of the ordinary but based on the rankings, Bullpen Banter clearly thinks more highly of the Angels group as a whole than any other source.

Oakland Athletics [9]

Position	Player	BA	BP	Bant	JS	Spec	MD	TPA
OF	Yoenis Cespedes*	14			17
RHP	Jarrod Parker	26	50	20	22	29	29	25
RHP	Brad Peacock	36	64	66	84	79	62	48
RHP	A.J. Cole	57	60	33	52	48	48	61
RHP	Sonny Gray	65	72	88	85	89		55
OF	Michael Choice	80	39	64	53	91	50	57
C	Derek Norris		96	73	88	25
OF	Grant Green		100			87		91
LHP	Tom Milone					84

*Cespedes signed after some lists were published.

Parker, Peacock, Cole and Choice made all seven lists and three of them made 13/13 lists overall. Only Nathaniel’s distaste for Parker kept him from being a consensus selection. Gray also had a strong showing landing on nine lists while Green made six.

Most curious ranking(s): After not making a single one of the first six list I examined, Norris landed on four this time around while peaking at #25.

Seattle Mariners [5]

Position	Player	BA	BP	Bant	JS	Spec	MD	TPA
C	Jesus Montero	6	7	18	9	5	10	5
RHP	Taijuan Walker	20	14	16	15	18	15	17
LHP	Danny Hultzen	21	35	11	25	8	21	20
LHP	James Paxton	52	59	28	29	72	40	65
SS	Nick Franklin	77		62	63	34	58

These same five were consensus selections last time and nearly pulled off the same feat here. With this in mind, there is no doubt that the top of the Mariners system is as strong, if not stronger, than anyone else’s.

Most curious ranking(s): Franklin’s omission on two lists here is more than a bit surprising given that he reached Double-A at 20-years old in 2011 and has hit well, especially for a SS, at every stop.

Texas Rangers [8]

Position	Player	BA	BP	Bant	JS	Spec	MD	TPA
RHP	Yu Darvish*	4			4			6
SS	Jurickson Profar	7	4	4	5	7	6	8
LHP	Martin Perez	31	36	22	83	22	18	24
3B	Mike Olt	43	45	40	65	83	63	69
OF	Leonys Martin	79		50		28	67	90
3B	Christian Villanueva	100
RHP	Neil Ramirez		77	91				95
C	Jorge Alfaro			83			83

*Darvish signed after some Top-100 lists were published.

The Rangers bring another strong system to the table giving the AL West one of the best collections of prospect talent despite having only four teams to pull from. Profar, Perez and Olt made all seven lists and Darvish would surely join them if he had signed prior to the others being published. Beyond the upper echelon talent, the Rangers also have a great deal of quality depth as evidenced by the fact that 12 of their prospects made at least one of the 13 lists I’ve examined.

Most curious ranking(s): I knew Nathaniel’s ranking of Cody Buckel (#19) on the Seedlings of Stars Top-100 was very aggressive. What surprised me was that he failed to make a single list outside of ours.

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