Top-100 Showdown Redux: NL East
By Wally Fish
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:
- Baseball America (BA)
- Baseball Prospectus (BP)
- Bullpen Banter (Bant)
- Minor League Ball (JS)
- Full Spectrum Baseball (Spec)
- MLB Dirt (MD)
- Top Prospect Alert (TPA)
The NL East had 24 players make at least one of the seven Top-100 lists while 9 of the 24 were consensus selections.
Atlanta Braves [7]
Position | Player | BA | BP | Bant | JS | Spec | MD | TPA |
RHP | Julio Teheran | 5 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 5 | 4 |
RHP | Arodys Vizcaino | 40 | 62 | 58 | 32 | 20 | 55 | 52 |
RHP | Randall Delgado | 46 | 41 | 52 | 41 | 15 | 64 | 56 |
SS | Andrelton Simmons | 92 | 76 | |||||
SS | Tyler Pastornicky | 31 | ||||||
C | Christian Bethancourt | 66 | ||||||
3B | Edward Salcedo | 80 |
Atlanta’s farm system is far and away the class of this division. Teheran, Vizcaino and Delgado made all 13 lists overall and while you wouldn’t know it from the above, Bethancourt represented well landing on 6/13. Shortstops Simmons (4) and Pastornicky (3) also made multiple Top-100s. Full Spectrum may have been a bit ahead of the curve by including Salcedo but he’s certainly plenty talented and will most likely be well represented on the majority of the lists a year from now if he performs like I believe he will.
Most curious ranking(s): Pastornicky ranked 31st sticks out considering he missed the cut on most lists and was ranked #100 and #84 on the other two Top-100s that saw fit to include him.
Miami Marlins [4]
Position | Player | BA | BP | Bant | JS | Spec | MD | TPA |
OF | Christian Yelich | 41 | 33 | 44 | 34 | 50 | 36 | 40 |
RHP | Jose Fernandez | 80 | ||||||
3B | Matt Dominguez | 82 | ||||||
LHP | Chad James | 98 |
Yelich is the unquestioned prospect-standard barer for the Marlins system. He made all 13 lists overall and was typically found ranked in the 30s or 40s. Fernandez and Dominguez were each included on two lists while James and Marcell Ozuna each made just one.
Most curious ranking(s): The complete disrespect sent Ozuna’s way continues, but that’s okay. He’s loved and appreciated in these parts as he made the S2S Top-1oo at #71.
New York Mets [4]
Position | Player | BA | BP | Bant | JS | Spec | MD | TPA |
RHP | Zack Wheeler | 35 | 30 | 23 | 36 | 63 | 37 | 47 |
RHP | Matt Harvey | 54 | 25 | 26 | 35 | 30 | 39 | 53 |
RHP | Jeurys Familia | 89 | 95 | |||||
OF | Brandon Nimmo | 93 | 99 |
When covering the Mets last time I commented in the most curious section, “I thought it would be a given that at least one source would toss Bradon Nimmo onto the back end of of their list.” Well it looks like I got my wish thanks to John Sickels and Top Prospect Alert. Wheeler and Harvey were once again ranked on all lists making both of them a perfect 13/13. As for the other player to make the above let’s move to the most curious section …
Most curious ranking(s): Familia was named on 5/6 lists last time around and in addition to making it as high as #54 (S2S), he also was ranked #66 (Baseball Instinct) and was also in the 70s on two lists (Project Prospect and MLB Prospect Portal). It’s a bit curious then that only 2/7 above included him and both of those just barely had him in their Top-100s.
Philadelphia Phillies [2]
Position | Player | BA | BP | Bant | JS | Spec | MD | TPA |
RHP | Trevor May | 69 | 51 | 57 | 40 | 86 | 68 | 68 |
LHP | Jesse Biddle | 84 | 71 | 76 |
Hey where did all the prospects go?
That’s a rhetorical question as it’s well known that the Phillies have jettisoned much of their top minor league talent to acquire quality major league players in the last several years. As a result of that activity, May stands alone as the team’s only consensus prospect while Biddle made 6/13 lists and fell into the 60-90 range. While no other Philly prospects made the above table, Julio Rodriguez and Brody Colvin each made one of the six lists I examined last time.
Most curious ranking(s): There’s not much to choose from and nothing that demands attention. The rankings on May go as high as #28-34 range (Baseball Instinct, MLB Prospect Portal and Seedlings to Stars) and as low as the #82-86 range (Full Spectrum and Project Prospect).
Washington Nationals [7]
Position | Player | BA | BP | Bant | JS | Spec | MD | TPA |
OF | Bryce Harper | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
3B | Anthony Rendon | 19 | 26 | 6 | 20 | 14 | 11 | 19 |
LHP | Matt Purke | 91 | 100 | |||||
2B | Steve Lombardozzi | 76 | ||||||
LHP | Sammy Solis | 100 | ||||||
OF | Brian Goodwin | 78 | ||||||
RHP | Alex Meyer | 87 |
The Nationals did have seven players make at least one of the seven above lists but that number is a little misleading. After Harper and Rendon things thin out considerably. Purke, Goodwin and Meyer joined the organization via the 2011 draft and have yet to make their MiLB debuts (same can be said for Rendon). While it’s certainly reasonable to include them in the 75-100 range of a Top-100, there’s no telling how they will handle the transition to professional baseball and they don’t have the elite, can’t miss profile that Rendon does. Solis underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this month delaying his timetable and will cost him his age 23 season.
Harper and Rendon were consensus selections making all 13 lists across the two NL East installments. The other Nationals prospects to receive votes were: Purke (2), Lombardozzi (2), Solis (2), Meyer (2), Goodwin (1) and LHP Robbie Ray (1).
Most curious ranking(s): It’s paramount to arguing minutia but Bullpen Banter’s ranking of Rendon as the 6th best prospect in all of baseball is probably a little over zealous. I stress a little cause slotting him anywhere in the 10-20 range makes sense to me.
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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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