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BP Unfiltered: Top Minor League Prospects Compilation

November 27, 2010

I've been accumulating top prospect rankings from various sources across the Internet since 2007. Each year, I'd take the rankings of different sites and organize them within a master Excel workbook so readers could compare one list to the next. At first I prepared the worksheets for a handful of friends and colleagues, but before long, dozens of readers and analysts (including many here at BP) were asking to download the compilations.

This year, instead of sending the 2010-2011 compilation out by email, I've decided to make the file available right here at Baseball Prospectus.
 
While I fully endorse the rankings of our own Kevin Goldstein, and don't believe anyone really needs more analysis than that provided by KG, we at BP also believe that knowledge equals power. The more information we have, the better.
 
I have linked below to the new top prospects compilation file. The Excel workbook contains several tabs at the bottom representing each of the league’s divisions as well as a tab for top 100 lists and positional analysis. My goal is to update the file at least once a week through April.
 
If you find any errors or omissions, would like to recommend a ranking source, or have any other comments or suggestions, please email me at jhamrahi@baseballprospectus.com.
 
Thanks!
 
 

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Joe Hamrahi

 

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pobothecat
11/28
Love the idea. Any chance of getting this in Acrobat form?
Reply to pobothecat
BillJohnson
11/28
Small typo in the AL Central: one of Detroit's lists got placed under the Cleveland heading. Or was there a real whopper of a trade that I'm unaware of? :-)
Reply to BillJohnson
rawagman
11/28
Joe - I like the idea. I assume the rankings are meant to be in order for each team/source combo. If that is the case, you might want to fix Sickels on the Jays. Eric Thames is 10th, not 2nd.
Reply to rawagman
lloydecole
11/28
I've been doing this myself for a few years, and it is interesting. I do wonder how many of the other sources are doing as much original research as KG does. The high degree of correlation between all of these lists could be because it's very clear who the top prospects are. Or, it could be because many of the compilers of the lists are talking to the same people (scouts) or using the same numbers (MLEs) to come up with their results. What do others think about this?
Reply to lloydecole
fawcettb
11/28
Thanks for this. Very useful tool.

Reply to fawcettb
BillJohnson
11/28
Another small thing, the fixing of which might help Kevin, Joe and readers alike: Carlos Matias, #3 Cardinals prospect on the one Cardinals compilation in the first version of the spreadsheet (which puzzles me -- what happened to Matt Carpenter?), is now known as Carlos Martinez. He was raised by an uncle, IIRC, and used the name Matias growing up, since it was the uncle's name. However, to get the work visa for the US, he had to revert to his birth name. Because there is another pitching prospect in the Cardinals organization named Martinez (Bryan), it may get difficult to follow this guy's progress. However, he is reputed to be worth keeping an eye on, so being aware of the name change is a good idea.
Reply to BillJohnson
wonkothesane1
11/28
Just a thought. You might want to consider import the spreadsheet to google docs. That would make it a little more portable for the user base.

If not, then I guess I'll just wait until its complete and do it for myself.
Reply to wonkothesane1
joechris96
11/28
Thanks everyone for the comments and corrections. I'll get the errors corrected shortly. As for the other suggestions, let me see what I can do to accommodate everyone. Thanks again. JH
Reply to joechris96
pobothecat
11/29
Thank you Joe. I'm looking forward to getting into this. Whatever you can do is appreciated.
Reply to pobothecat
joechris96
11/28
I fixed all the errors mentioned above (thanks again for bringing them to my attention) and uploaded a corrected file.
Reply to joechris96
rjblakel
11/28
This is fantastic. Any chance you can keep this going throughout the season as sites update their rankings?
Reply to rjblakel
joechris96
11/29
Most of the publishers don't alter their lists until after the season. So it's more or less a once a year activity for most sites. I will be updating the lists, though, each week until at least March/April. Time permitting, I also hope to add some bells and whistles as well, like player links and commentary.
Reply to joechris96
ostrowj1
11/29
Thanks Joe, I appreciate the hard work. If I can ask for one thing though, can you mention when the rankings were posted? It would be nice to have a way to compare lists after the inevitable trades and priesthood enrollments.
Reply to ostrowj1
joechris96
11/29
Let me see if I can squeeze that in. The majority of the lists were published in October and November. The only exception I can remember is Project Prospect which had a few in late August and September.
Reply to joechris96
nfkrueger
11/29
Nice, I guess, but not if you're A Reds fan. One list?

Seriously, can BP not be like ESPN & spend endless coverage of Yankees/Red Sox? Somehow THEY get all the lists posted...

(And, yes, the world needs a loooong moratorium from slavish devotion to all things NY/Boston. Lead the way, BP!)**



** yes, I know KG is a Yankees guy but we all have hopes for his evolution, LOL
Reply to nfkrueger
joechris96
11/29
I'm publishing the lists as they become available. If you can find me other sites that write about Reds prospects (or any other team for that matter), I'll be happy to include them in the compilation. And actually, KG is a Mets guy, not a Yankees guy :)
Reply to joechris96
mibush
11/30
Joe,

There actually is a good Reds minor league website that does rankings of the Reds prospects, etc:

www.redsminorleagues.com
Reply to mibush
mibush
11/30
I missed that you had it on there, it was off the edge of the screen! BTW thanks for this work, it is helpful and looks like a good tool for my deep DMB league drafts coming up next month.
Reply to mibush
nfkrueger
11/30
for Joe & mibush:

Doug Gray [@dougdirt24] does a KILLER job on www.redsminorleagues.com - and the KG crack was intended as a joke (my bad)

Doug G can point you toward what he's identified as the best lists.
Reply to nfkrueger
kgoldstein
11/29
I'm a Yankees guy?
Reply to kgoldstein
nfkrueger
11/30
That was supposed to be a joke.. oops!

My bad... needed a "TIC", I guess...

Still too much NYC/BOS noise on sports sites, LOL

Reply to nfkrueger
Ogremace
11/29
Neither the Yankees nor the Sox have the most lists and Cincy is not the only one with only one out. All the sites make lists for all the teams, so I'm not really sure what you're complaining about.
Reply to Ogremace
Gordon
11/30
How about adding Kevin Goldstein's star ratings for each? It adds more context to the list (just like the grades for John Sickels' list.
Reply to Gordon
joechris96
12/01
Thanks. That's on my list for the next update. I'm going to add as much free content from various sites as I can without making it too cluttered.
Reply to joechris96
dduggan
12/01
This is freakin awesome!! I have been doing something similar to this in my own format for a keeper roto league I am in. My wife thanks you for giving some hours back to work around the house.
Reply to dduggan
BBPAlan
12/17
Hi John,

Great tool, many thanks for the hard work!

Do you still plan to post updates? I hope so.

Al
Reply to BBPAlan