Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus released his top 101 prospects on Monday morning, and also held a chat to discuss some of his rankings on Monday. He's one of my favorite follows on Twitter, and you can find him @kevin_goldstein. Here's some of the excerpts, along with my thoughts as well.
Ryan (GR): Gerrit Cole over Shelby Miller. First time I've seen someone do that. Could you give me a one sentence explanation? Thanks
Kevin Goldstein: Way more stuff.
I'm pretty sure that his is the first list where I've seen Cole ahead of Miller, but we're talking about #9 and #10, so how much of a difference is up for debate.
Steve (PB): Take 2 prospects, one plays 1B and one plays SS (both field respective positions equally). What would the 1B's slash line need to look like to equal the SS line of .260/.330/.400?
Kevin Goldstein: .280/.365/.490
Obviously, this is taking into account that the defense has value, but it's an interesting exercise to see how much more offense a 1B prospect would need to produce to equal the value of the SS prospect's defense.
Peter7899 (Coeur d'Alene): With no real defensive value and questions about his plate discipline, what makes you bullish on Matt Adams?
Kevin Goldstein: Plus-plus power and excellent contact ability for a player with plus-plus power.
I keep hearing raves about Matt Adams, and it's at this point that I may have to believe in the potential a bit more. Having the ability to make solid contact with elite level power could be a 30+ HR hitter with a decent average in the Majors.
Zooey (LA): Have you ever been contacted by a player regarding your Top 101 list? For example they didn't like their ranking or wonder why they were left off the Top 101 list.
Kevin Goldstein: Yes. But I hear from player's parents (already have this year 2x) more often.
I know we all try to pick apart the rankings produced by the big names in minor league prospecting, but I have to imagine that some of those emails have to be difficult to deal with sometimes. Just part of the job I imagine, but still.
Ace (Montreal): Who is a good MLB comp for Anthony Gose?
Kevin Goldstein: Devon White.
I remember always thinking how good of a player Devon White was in his prime, This was a player who routinely hit double-digit home runs, stole 25-30 bases, scored a bunch of runs, and would usually hit for at least a decent average.
Sean (San Francisco): Can George Springer make a jump to the top 25 with a strong year in 2012? Does he have that type of ceiling?
Kevin Goldstein: He does have that kind of ceiling.
Springer doesn't seem to get as much chatter surrounding him as some of the other 2011 draftees, but there's seems to be a general consensus that he could not only move fast through the system, but that he could almost be a steal where he was drafted last year.
Gusta (Sweden): Do you only take into account age and on field performance when creating your Top 101 list? Would you ding a player if you found out a player had drug or drinking problems but it wasn't known to the public?
Kevin Goldstein: Wow. That's a pretty fantastic question. I'd probably have to ding them.
I just thought this one was an interesting question - it's hard to remember sometimes that even though we end up looking just at the numbers, there are real people with real life things going on behind the numbers.
Swarly (VA Beach): Which is the more likely scenario with Anthony Rendon? Espinosa to SS, Rendon to 2b or, Zimmerman to 1b, Rendon to 3b
Kevin Goldstein: The second one. Can't see Rendon playing 2B, and Zimmerman's arm might move him to 1B.
While I've been pretty consistent in ranking Rendon right behind Nolan Arenado, I think it's interesting that Goldstein seems Zimmerman being moved off the position rather than Rendon.
mattseward (Cardiff, UK): Kevin, what is your criteria regarind International exclusions on the list such as Yu Darvish?
Kevin Goldstein:Yu Darvish needs ZERO development. Nobody thinks he needs any time in the minors at all. Some think Cespedes does, but I don't think Oakland is one of those teams.
Earlier in the chat, he stated that he would have had Darvish as top 4 if he had ranked him, and Cespedes would have fallen at #20 overall as well. It seems like Cespedes will need at least a little bit of time just to make sure he has his timing down, but that could happen in Spring Training.