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Welcome to top-100 prospect list season
Saturday’s Say Hey includes the start of prospect season across the Internet, the Rockies being weird again and Mike Trout’s awesome new baseball card.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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Baseball is getting closer, with pitchers and catchers officially reporting to camps in less than three weeks. One fun side effect of a new baseball season is the annual tradition of rolling out of top prospect lists from every corner of the Internet. That process started yesterday, with Baseball Prospectus releasing their top 101 list in the morning, and MLB Pipeline following up with theirs in the evening. Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager occupies the top spot on both lists. In fact, the two lists form a consensus on the top three prospects. Of course, the same caveats apply to this year’s editions as any other. Specifically, even the highest ranking players can end up producing little-to-no value at the major league level.
With that being said, the league is starting to skew younger and younger, both in terms of pure production and payroll efficiency. That shift was never more apparent than in 2015, when numerous young players from last year’s lists came up and had an immediate affect on the league. Carlos Correa, Kris Bryant, Noah Syndergaard and Francisco Lindor are just a few examples. As a result of that enormous impact, this year’s list is comparatively weak.
Even with the lesser overall talent on this year’s list, there is still a tremendous amount of potential here. Byron Buxton, for example, has long been one of the game’s top prospects and will finally get a chance to prove it this year. On the pitching side of things, Lucas Giolito has a chance to have a late-season influence in Washington. These lists are entirely subjective and often look funny in hindsight, but it’s always fun to dream on prospects. There’s no better time to do it than late January.
- On Thursday, the Rockies continued being weird by finally trading one of their outfielders for a reliever, albeit a very good one. To be fair to them, though, they kind of need to be weird.
- As for the Rays’ side of things, they added Corey Dickerson to their lineup. Although there’s reason to worry about a hitter moving on from Coors, it’s often an overblown concern.
- The Dodgers continued to build up their depth, this time bringing Howie Kendrick back on a two-year deal.
- Dellin Betances had a great overall season in 2015, but he suffered a bit of a decline in the second half.
- Add “being on awesome baseball cards” to the list of things Mike Trout is great at.
- When used with discretion, platoon combinations can be one of the most undervalued parts of a baseball team. Which teams project to have the best pairs in 2016?
- The Astros’ deal with Doug Fister could very easily end poorly, but it’s a small deal that won’t be too damaging to Houston.
- Generally speaking, opt-outs are player-friendly and hurt the team. In the case of Justin Upton’s, however, the Tigers could benefit.
- A.J. Preller has created a confusing situation in San Diego, but he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
- When the Nationals traded for Trea Turner months before they could officially acquire him, it sparked a rule change for the league. At some point this year, he’ll be able to make an impact with the big-league club.
- Which players are looking at bounceback campaigns after a rough 2015?
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