Yesterday, Baseball America released their pre-season Top
100 prospect list. Despite graduating guys like Clint Frazier to the Big
Leagues and trading away James Kaprielian, Dustin Fowler, Jorge Guzman, and
Jorge Mateo, the Yankees still landed six prospects in the top 100:
6. SS Gleyber
Torres
38. OF Estevan Florial
41. LHP Justus Sheffield
59. 3B Miguel Andujar
77. RHP Albert Abreu
81. RHP Chance Adams
38. OF Estevan Florial
41. LHP Justus Sheffield
59. 3B Miguel Andujar
77. RHP Albert Abreu
81. RHP Chance Adams
What’s
interesting here is that at least four of them could help the Yankees in 2018
(Torres, Sheffield, Andujar, and Adams), while Florial and Abreu are a little
further off.
As exciting as
that is, it’s hard not to be reminded that prospects will, without fail, break
your heart. I’d love for each of the six guys mentioned above to be All-Stars,
but that’s just now how life in baseball works. If the Yankees get one All-Star
(Torres?) and a few solid major league contributors from this list, it’s successful.
Heck, one All-Star alone is successful.
That’s not to poo
poo on these guys or rain on their parades. I hope they all develop into
something. But looking back over the course of this blog from its start in
2011, I can count handfuls of guys I was excited about. Looking back, it’s hard
to image that excitement now.
Each of these
guys were highly regarded at one point or another, especially through the early
stages of this blog. Some were probably built up a little too much as a result
of a poor farm system for a few years.
That’s not to say
any of these guys are bad players. They just didn’t make it (or haven’t yet),
like many others who came before them. Montero was huge prospect ranked right
alongside Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Banuelos was the little lefty that could
that ran into injury problems. Mason Williams had a few cups of coffee. Bichette
came out of the gates strong but never could replicate that early success.
Refsnyder hit in the minors but never got regular opportunities in the Majors.
It seems like
forever ago that these guys were the next big thing, and I’m curious what I’ll
be writing about the six guys on this year's Top 100 list in another six years.
It's crazy how the top prospects from a few years ago didn't get very far. On the other hand, any team would be lucky to have even one player out of around 10 good prospects turn into a Gary Sanchez. It's like something clicked in 2013 and the team suddenly got better at developing.
ReplyDeleteI keep an Excel file of the Cubs' top prospects so I can review them from time to time. It's a fun activity, but also a little depressing (at least until recently).
ReplyDeleteI just can't get into prospecting. Way too much research and I'm sure a little bit of luck involved. I already struggle keeping up with the guys who make it the Bigs.
ReplyDeleteThere have been way too many prospects that have broken my heart.
ReplyDelete