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Each winter, the baseball publishers from the Scout.com network get together
and hash out the top prospects in the game. Not only do they analyze their
respective team's prospects, but they consider just how their team's prospects
rank against the best from other clubs. After all, the Scout.com publishers are
at games all over the country, watching not just their players, but keeping an
eye on the competition. That knowledge goes into building the most comprehensive
list of prospects that baseball fans will find: the Scout.com Top Prospects
list.
So, who made the elite part of the rankings this year? Who's in the Top 100?
|
Prospects by League |
| National League |
51 |
| American League |
49 |
|
Prospects by Division |
| AL East |
18 |
| AL West |
18 |
| NL East |
18 |
| NL Central |
17 |
| NL West |
16 |
| AL Central |
13 |
|
Prospects by Team |
| Oakland A's |
6 |
| Texas Rangers |
5 |
| Atlanta Braves |
5 |
| Baltimore Orioles |
4 |
| Cleveland Indians |
4 |
| Florida Marlins |
4 |
| Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim |
4 |
| Milwaukee Brewers |
4 |
| New York Yankees |
4 |
| San Diego Padres |
4 |
| San Francisco Giants |
4 |
| St. Louis Cardinals |
4 |
| Tampa Bay Rays |
4 |
| Washington Nationals |
4 |
| Boston Red Sox |
3 |
| Chicago Cubs |
3 |
| Colorado Rockies |
3 |
| Kansas City Royals |
3 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers |
3 |
| Philadelphia Phillies |
3 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates |
3 |
| Seattle Mariners |
3 |
| Toronto Blue Jays |
3 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks |
2 |
| Chicago White Sox |
2 |
| Cincinnati Reds |
2 |
| Detroit Tigers |
2 |
| Minnesota Twins |
2 |
| New York Mets |
2 |
| Houston Astros |
1 |
The Oakland A's took the crown as the system with the most players in the top 100 with six. They were followed closely by the division-rival Texas Rangers and the Atlanta Braves, which each had five. At the top of the list, there are few surprises. While the big prospect name during the
winter was Baltimore's Matt Wieters, Tampa Bay's David Price came out on top.
"Fresh off a sterling postseason performance, Price is a lock to crack the
Rays rotation in spring training," said RaysDigest.com's Tyler
Hissey. The big left-hander made his major league debut last season, but still
qualifies for Rookie of the Year honors and will likely fight it out with
Baltimore's Wieters, who is set to take over behind the plate for the Orioles.
Price and Wieters finished just ahead of the Detroit Tigers' Rick Porcello,
who went from being a high school pitcher to Detroit's High-A team in Lakeland
and wound up leading the Florida State League with a 2.66 ERA. The highest
ranked National League prospect is Tommy Hanson from the Atlanta Braves, who
will be battling for a spot on the club's rotation.
While the American League took six of the top seven prospect spots, the
overall ranking between the two leagues came out pretty close, with 49 of the
prospects coming from the American League and 51 coming from National League clubs.
With teams always looking for pitching, the good news is that there are 44 young pitchers
(13 left-handed, 31 right-handed) among the top 100 prospects. As
for position players, outfielders, of course, led the way with 20 prospects,
while there was just one second base prospect - Oakland's Adrian Cardenas - among the top 100.
|
Prospects by Position |
| RHP |
31 |
| OF |
20 |
| LHP |
13 |
| C |
11 |
| 1B |
10 |
| SS |
8 |
| 3B |
6 |
| 2B |
1 |
As for new arrivals, the highest ranking arrival was 14th ranked Orioles
left-hander Brian Matusz, who the Orioles drafted with the fourth overall pick in
last year's draft. Also from last year's draft, first overall pick Tim Beckham
(Tampa Bay) ranked 21st, second pick Pedro Alvarez (Pittsburgh) ranked 19th,
third overall pick Eric Hosmer (Kansas City) ranked 43rd and fifth overall pick
Buster Posey (San Francisco) ranked 26th.
If you want to find out more about the Top 100 players on the list, be sure
to take advantage of our Top 100 Database, where you'll find a complete list of
the Top 100 prospects and more information on each of the players.
And for the
full list of the Top 300 Prospects, look for the Scout.com Prospect Guide. The
guide not only presents the rest of the list, but also gives readers insight about the top
players, sleepers and players in each of the 30 major league clubs'
organizations. Plus, this year's Prospect Guide also includes the FOXSports.com Fantasy
Guide, ranked by many as the best fantasy baseball publication around.
You can
find the Scout.com Prospect Guide at various newsstands and book stores in the
magazine section. And if you want to be among the first to receive your copy of
the 2010 Prospect Guide next year, sign up for an annual subscription and not
only will you get the Prospect Guide free, but between now and then, you'll have
coverage of your favorite major league team, complete with scouting reports,
updates and interviews with top prospects. You'll also have full access to all
of the other major league team sites so you can keep up with their prospects and
find out about players that your team may be battling in the not-too-distant
future. And if you want even more sports news and insight, you'll have it, with
access to all of the Scout.com NFL, college and high school sites.Look for
the Scout.com Prospect Guide at newsstands and sign-up for your premium
subscription today!