Check back every Monday for the only regularly updated in-season prospect rankings on the internet | ||||||||||||||
No. | Player | Pos | Notes | Age | Org | Level | Pre. | |||||||
1 | Tim Lincecum | RHP | Very impressive through 6 big league starts: 39 K, 12 BB, 1.03 WHIP (40.0 IP) | 22 | SF | MLB | 1 ↔ | |||||||
2 | Phil Hughes | RHP | Injured his left ankle while rehabbing his left hamstring; Out for the season? | 20 | NYY | MLB | 2 ↔ | |||||||
3 | Yovani Gallardo | RHP | Continues to lead MiLB in strikeouts (98 in 67.1 IP); expect call-up any day | 21 | MIL | AAA | 3 ↔ | |||||||
4 | Billy Butler | LF/1B | Has played 1B 7 times, DH twice, and LF once in last 10 Triple-A games | 21 | KC | MLB | 4 ↔ | |||||||
5 | Jay Bruce | CF | Sarasota is favoring hitters; Bruce is just .288/.324/.439 on the road | 20 | CIN | A+ | 5 ↔ | |||||||
6 | Evan Longoria | 3B | For those who think Longoria can do no wrong: he's .245/.394/.500 vs. RHP | 21 | TB | AA | 6 ↔ | |||||||
7 | Justin Upton | CF | Up to .400/.452/.827 since arriving in Mobile, which has really favored hitters | 19 | ARI | AA | 10 ↑ | |||||||
8 | Clay Buchholz | RHP | It's funny when a 34K:9BB rate is a sign of a mild slump (over last 24.1 IP) | 22 | BOS | AA | 9 ↑ | |||||||
9 | Josh Hamilton | CF | Still think he's just been hot? How about 4 HR through 6 AAA rehab games? | 26 | CIN | MLB | 8 ↓ | |||||||
10 | Colby Rasmus | CF | Went 7-for-18 with 3 HR last week; struggling against lefties (.224/.381/.429) | 20 | STL | AA | 11 ↑ | |||||||
11 | Brandon Wood | 3B | Focussing too much on plate discipline? 0.49 BB/K in '07 vs. 0.36 BB/K in '06 | 22 | LAA | MLB | 7 ↓ | |||||||
12 | Homer Bailey | RHP | Maybe getting knocked around in the bigs will actually help his development | 21 | CIN | AAA | 12 ↔ | |||||||
13 | Ryan Braun | 3B | Got healthy then hot practically overnight; 5 XBH in his first 10 MLB games | 23 | MIL | MLB | 19 ↑ | |||||||
14 | Clayton Kershaw | LHP | 2.39 K/BB rate is mildly concerning, but 74 K through 55.0 IP is awesome | 19 | LAD | A | 15 ↑ | |||||||
15 | Andrew Miller | LHP | Amazing groundball rates + 17 K vs. 5 BB over last 22.2 IP = breaking out | 22 | DET | MLB | 29 ↑ | |||||||
16 | Jarrod Saltalamacchia | C | Braves decided they'd rather have him on their bench than in the minors? | 22 | ATL | MLB | 14 ↓ | |||||||
17 | Andy LaRoche | 3B | Sent back to AAA last weekend; .211/.436/.263 in 38 ab with the Dodgers | 23 | LAD | MLB | 13 ↓ | |||||||
18 | Hunter Pence | CF | .375/.403/.625 big league line puts him in thick of ROY race with Lincecum | 24 | HOU | MLB | 18 ↔ | |||||||
19 | Kevin Slowey | RHP | Pitched 6.0 innings of 1-run ball in MLB debut; 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K vs. the A's | 23 | MIN | MLB | 21 ↑ | |||||||
20 | Fernando Martinez | CF | 2-for-22 slump brings him to .279/.352/.374 season line; impressing overall | 18 | NYM | AA | 17 ↓ | |||||||
21 | Cameron Maybin | CF | His 2 HR last week (both on 5/29) ended a streak of 35 games without a HR | 20 | DET | A+ | 16 ↓ | |||||||
22 | Will Inman | RHP | Great example of our take on balancing tools and production; he's a stud | 20 | MIL | A+ | 23 ↑ | |||||||
23 | Travis Buck | RF | Demolishing lefties (.367/.441/.833); righties, not so much (.217/.339/.413) | 23 | OAK | MLB | 20 ↓ | |||||||
24 | Felix Pie | CF | Returned to the Cubs on Sunday and went 2-for-5 with a double and 2 Ks | 22 | CHC | MLB | 25 ↑ | |||||||
25 | Reid Brignac | SS | HR on Sunday ends 33-game homer-less streak; batted.216/.274/.261 in May | 21 | TB | AA | 26 ↑ | |||||||
Honorable Mentions: Joey Votto, Adam Miller, Adam Jones, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Gomez, Michael Bowden, and Andrew McCutchen. | ||||||||||||||
Graduated (last week's ranking): Elijah Dukes (24). | ||||||||||||||
Dropped Out of Top 25 (previous ranking): Michael Bowden. | ||||||||||||||
* Our rankings combine a player's ceiling with the odds that he'll reach it and favor recent production | ||||||||||||||
** Only players with less than 130 pro at-bats or less than 50 pro innings are considered for our rankings | ||||||||||||||
*** Ages are as of June 10th, 2007 | ||||||||||||||
**** Level is the highest level the player has reached | ||||||||||||||
***** Pre. is the player's rankings from last week's Top 50. | ||||||||||||||
<<< Click here to see our May 21st Top 50 Rankings |
Disclaimer
Our in-season Top 25 rankings are a tool that we’ve chosen to implement for the first time this season. We realize that this weekly exercise cannot be as thorough as creating a Top 100 prospect list – which involves months of thought and research. So why even bother publishing these rankings? For fun.
Just like any coaches poll or other in-season rankings, our rankings won’t be as concrete as the ones that can be made when you’re looking at something somewhat after the fact. (We’re still adjusting to the volatile nature of in-season rankings as well.) Lists will stray far from then maybe come back to looking like our previous prospect lists. A few odd names will work their way into the rankings--emphasis is on recent performance.
Think of these rankings like a giant coliseum battle. Everyone will be going after everyone; the air will be cluttered with dust. Then our Top 100 prospect list will be our take once the dust settles. Until then, just remember that's we're trying to judge a battle while it's still in progress.
We hope to provide an entertaining glimpse of our thought process, and a snapshot of how the prospect scene changes throughout the season.
A few other important notes: 1) More than ever, we’re going to begin relying on numbers for our rankings. Perhaps we could make better lists by regularly talking to people in the industry, but that’s not our style. 2) We’ll be balancing 2006 and 2007 numbers in order to draw upon the best sample that we see fit – the same methods will be applied to each prospect.
I am prepared to answer questions in more detail upon email request,
Adam Foster
Project Prospect Founder
adamwfoster@gmail.com