Top 87, technically.
It’s midseason prospect list time. With the release of Keith Law’s top 50 today, a majority of the mavens have now released their midseason updates. I took a look at as many of them as I could,* and combined them to produce a consensus list.
*I omitted Bleacher Report, but if someone would like to go through their slideshow and send me a readable list, I would be happy to include it if and when I update the list.
Since the majority of these lists are top 50’s, I assigned 50 points for a first place vote, 49 for a second, etc… and summed them all up. I am also showing a rating, which is simply the fraction of votes a prospect received as compared to a hypothetical unanimous #1 overall prospect. This should produce a better overall reflection of a prospect’s value than a simple ordinal ranking would.
Rk | Player | POS | Team | Rtg | High | Low |
1 | Byron Buxton | OF | MIN | 98.9 | 1 | 3 |
2 | Kris Bryant | 3B | CHC | 98.6 | 1 | 3 |
3 | Carlos Correa | SS | HOU | 95.7 | 2 | 5 |
4 | Addison Russell | SS | CHC | 92.6 | 4 | 6 |
5 | Francisco Lindor | SS | CLE | 90.3 | 3 | 9 |
6 | Javier Baez | SS | CHC | 85.4 | 5 | 15 |
7 | Jon Gray | RHP | COL | 80.6 | 7 | 23 |
8 | Dylan Bundy | RHP | BAL | 80.0 | 7 | 16 |
9 | Lucas Giolito | RHP | WSN | 79.7 | 7 | 17 |
10 | Archie Bradley | RHP | ARI | 78.9 | 6 | 18 |
11 | Joey Gallo | 3B | TEX | 78.0 | 4 | 21 |
12 | Miguel Sano | 3B | MIN | 76.3 | 9 | 20 |
13 | Corey Seager | SS | LAD | 75.7 | 5 | 19 |
14 | Noah Syndergaard | RHP | NYM | 72.0 | 9 | 19 |
15 | Robert Stephenson | RHP | CIN | 63.7 | 10 | 36 |
16 | Joc Pederson | OF | LAD | 62.9 | 14 | 29 |
17 | Julio Urias | LHP | LAD | 61.4 | 13 | 36 |
18 | Blake Swihart | C | BOS | 56.0 | 14 | 29 |
19 | Henry Owens | LHP | BOS | 54.3 | 15 | 40 |
20 | J.P. Crawford | SS | PHI | 53.1 | 15 | 36 |
21 | Tyler Glasnow | RHP | PIT | 52.6 | 16 | 34 |
22 | Alex Meyer | RHP | MIN | 52.0 | 12 | 42 |
23 | Hunter Harvey | RHP | BAL | 47.7 | 13 | UR |
24 | Kohl Stewart | RHP | MIN | 38.6 | 19 | UR |
25 | David Dahl | OF | COL | 37.7 | 17 | UR |
26 | Daniel Norris | LHP | TOR | 37.1 | 22 | UR |
27 | Arismendy Alcantara | 2B | CHC | 36.6 | 18 | 50* |
28 | Taijuan Walker | RHP | SEA | 35.7 | 7 | UR |
29 | Raul A. Mondesi | SS | KC | 32.9 | 22 | UR |
30 | Austin Hedges | C | SDP | 32.3 | 17 | UR |
31 | Aaron Sanchez | RHP | TOR | 32.0 | 13 | UR |
32 | Jose Berrios | RHP | MIN | 28.6 | 24 | 50 |
33 | Braden Shipley | RHP | ARI | 28.6 | 23 | UR |
34 | Oscar Taveras | OF | STL | 27.1 | 3 | UR |
35 | Jameson Taillon | RHP | PIT | 26.3 | 24 | UR |
36 | Jorge Alfaro | C | TEX | 23.4 | 25 | UR |
37 | Kyle Zimmer | RHP | KC | 22.6 | 21 | UR |
38 | Mookie Betts | 2B | BOS | 22.0 | 9 | UR |
39 | Jorge Soler | OF | CHC | 20.3 | 24 | UR |
40 | Carlos Rodon | LHP | CHW | 20.0 | 10 | UR |
41 | Josh Bell | OF | PIT | 19.1 | 29 | UR |
42 | Jesse Winker | OF | CIN | 18.9 | 29 | UR |
43 | Mark Appel | RHP | HOU | 18.0 | 33 | UR |
44 | Jimmy Nelson | RHP | MIL | 16.0 | 24 | UR |
45 | Andrew Heaney | LHP | MIA | 12.9 | 11 | UR |
46 | Luis Severino | RHP | NYY | 12.0 | 34 | UR |
47 | Brandon Nimmo | OF | NYM | 11.7 | 34 | UR |
48 | Raimel Tapia | OF | COL | 10.3 | 31 | UR |
49 | Clint Frazier | OF | CLE | 10.0 | 38 | UR |
50 | Albert Almora | OF | CHC | 10.0 | 33 | UR |
51 | Matt Wisler | RHP | SDP | 10.0 | 28 | UR |
52 | Nick Gordon | SS | MIN | 10.0 | 25 | UR |
53 | Brady Aiken | LHP | HOU | 8.9 | 20 | UR |
54 | Nick Kingham | RHP | PIT | 8.6 | 37 | UR |
55 | Stephen Piscotty | OF | STL | 8.6 | 30 | UR |
56 | Hunter Dozier | 3B | KC | 7.4 | 37 | UR |
57 | Michael Conforto | OF | NYM | 7.4 | 32 | UR |
58 | A.J. Cole | RHP | WSN | 7.1 | 32 | UR |
59 | Alex Jackson | C | SEA | 6.9 | 35 | UR |
60 | Tyler Kolek | RHP | MIA | 6.3 | 30 | UR |
61 | James Paxton | LHP | SEA | 6.0 | 30 | UR |
62 | Kyle Crick | RHP | SFG | 5.7 | 31 | UR |
63 | Austin Meadows | OF | PIT | 5.4 | 40 | UR |
64 | D.J. Peterson | 3B/1b | SEA | 4.9 | 40 | UR |
65 | Dalton Pompey | OF | TOR | 4.3 | 40 | UR |
66 | Tim Anderson | 2B | BOS | 3.7 | 38 | UR |
67 | Hunter Renfroe | OF | PIT | 3.7 | 44 | UR |
68 | Jose Peraza | SS | ATL | 3.4 | 39 | UR |
69 | Kevin Plawecki | C | NYM | 3.1 | 40 | UR |
70 | Gary Sanchez | C | NYY | 2.9 | 45 | UR |
71 | Ryan McMahon | 3B | COL | 2.9 | 41 | UR |
72 | Joe Ross | RHP | SDP | 2.9 | 41 | UR |
73 | Nick Williams | OF | TEX | 2.6 | 46 | UR |
74 | Maikel Franco | 3B | PHI | 2.6 | 43 | UR |
75 | Michael Taylor | OF | WSN | 2.6 | 42 | UR |
76 | Aaron Blair | RHP | ARI | 2.0 | 44 | UR |
77 | Eddie Butler | RHP | COL | 2.0 | 44 | UR |
78 | Taylor Guerrieri | RHP | TB | 2.0 | 44 | UR |
79 | Aaron Judge | OF | NYY | 1.7 | 45 | UR |
80 | Rafael Montero | RHP | NYM | 1.4 | 46 | UR |
81 | Michael Lorenzen | RHP | CIN | 1.1 | 47 | UR |
82 | Rio Ruiz | 3B | HOU | 1.1 | 47 | UR |
83 | Lance McCullers | RHP | HOU | 0.9 | 48 | UR |
84 | Lewis Brinson | OF | TEX | 0.9 | 48 | UR |
85 | Alex (Chi Chi) Gonzalez | RHP | TEX | 0.6 | 49 | UR |
86 | Dominic Smith | 1B | NYM | 0.6 | 49 | UR |
87 | Miguel Almonte | RHP | KC | 0.3 | 50 | UR |
Technical Notes
Most of the lists omit players currently in the majors. That has changed for some prospects based on differences in publication date. Most also choose not to rank recent draftees. I have dealt with these on a case-by-case basis.
- Oscar Taveras, Mookie Betts, and Andrew Heaney were left off of the majority of the lists. Their position on the consensus list shouldn’t be taken as indicative of anything.
- Likewise, only two lists included draftees (Keith Law and Prospect 361). Don’t read much into the positioning of Carlos Rodon, Alex Jackson, Tyler Kolek, and Brady Aiken.
- For Arismendy Alcantara and Jimmy Nelson, on the other hand, I have made adjustments. Both were considered by most lists. Keith Law omitted them, but indicated that both would have made it. I gave both a #50 overall ranking for Law. Likewise, Marc Hulet indicated that Alcantara would have made his list, so I have ranked him #25 overall for Fangraphs. Both probably would move a few spots had all the lists considered them.
Sources
To get a better understanding of each prospects strengths and weaknesses, please check out comments from the authors of these lists. Consensus ranks were based on seven sources.
Minor League Ball (John Sickels)
The Baseball Haven (Evan Vogel)