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We have reached the point in the season where updated prospect lists are coming out and we are no exception. Here at Fake Teams, we strive to provide excellent fantasy baseball coverage, including the minor leagues. With that in mind, below you will find the midseason top 100 fantasy prospect lists from our prospect writers, Jason Hunt and Alex Bell
There are three key things to remember when looking at our prospect lists. First, these rankings represent the long-term view, and as such does not include only the production expected this year, but also the overall long-term projection. With this, you're going to see a player like Lucas Giolito who is unlikely to have any impact at all in 2015 and potentially even 2016 ranked highly, as he can potentially be a top 10 starting pitcher in the majors once he does arrive. Second, prospect rankings are always a snapshot in time, as they represent how we view the player at the moment the list is published, based on the information available at that time. While we try to make our best estimate of what we expect in terms of a player's development, each new report or bit of information found over time continues to update the prospect's story. Player development is not linear, and so there are undoubtedly going rankings that are going to look amazing in the future, and others that will look absolutely terrible. Finally, each ranker will value different things higher (or lower) than other rankers. Some tend to value prospects with higher floors even if they have lower potential upsides, and I know that I can have specific biases towards certain profiles as well. These things don't necessarily make us right or wrong, just different.
The State of the Minors
2015 has arguably provided one of the best crop of graduating prospects in recent memory, both in terms of elite prospects and in overall quantity of prospects. We've seen top prospects like Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, and Joc Pederson all providing meaningful contributions for both their teams and our fantasy ones, to the point where prospects like Noah Syndergaard, Lance McCullers, and Chris Heston may be on the outside looking in for Rookie of the Year votes despite strong showings of their own. These things are cyclical in nature, but the number of potentially elite options coming up and producing like this in the same season is rare.
With that in mind, the overall talent level in the minor leagues appears to be less top heavy than at the start of the season. By no means does that mean that the minors are down, but rather that we are waiting to see the next group of potential elite talents to emerge from the lower minors and this year's draft. There are many interesting prospects in the lower minors right now that could take the the next step forward, and jump up even further in the offseason prospect rankings.
The Details and the Process
Our rankings are based on a standard 5x5 scoring format, and rather than providing a consensus list of our rankers, we provide the individual rankings for each person. This is done in part because with just two rankers, the consensus can look rather unusual on some prospects.
Our process is for each of our rankers to produce their own individual lists, which are then send to the other rankers for review and discussion. The goal of this review is not necessarily to make statements about a player's ranking being right or wrong, but rather to get an understanding of how a ranking was reached, and whether a change may be warranted with additional information or discussion. At the end of this, are the lists you find below.
Some specifics to be aware of:
1. We are including any prospects who are in the majors but have not surpassed their rookie eligibility. That means players like Byron Buxton and Steven Matz remain on the list, while Carlos Correa and Noah Syndergaard are not any longer.
2. We have removed both Hector Olivera and Rusney Castillo from our lists, as both are not prospects in the standard mold given their professional experience from Cuba. Both would fall in the top 20 for me were they eligible.
3. We have included 2015 draftees who have signed as of Sunday as eligible players, so that means that top pick Dansby Swanson wasn't eligible, but Alex Bregman and Brendan Rodgers were.
We will be around throughout the next couple days to answer questions as well, so if you have a specific player you're interested in hearing about, let us know. And to get this out of the way, yes, it's very possible that we don't like your favorite team's prospects (Ok, maybe not).
Jason | Alex | |||||
Player | Pos | Team | Rank | Player | Pos | Team |
Byron Buxton | OF | MIN | 1 | Julio Urias | LHP | LAD |
Corey Seager | SS | LAD | 2 | Corey Seager | SS | LAD |
Lucas Giolito | RHP | WAS | 3 | Byron Buxton | OF | MIN |
Kyle Schwarber | C/OF | CHC | 4 | Jose Berrios | RHP | MIN |
Miguel Sano | 3B | MIN | 5 | Jose Peraza | SS | ATL |
Julio Urias | LHP | LAD | 6 | Luis Severino | RHP | NYY |
Joey Gallo | 3B | TEX | 7 | Tyler Glasnow | RHP | PIT |
Nomar Mazara | OF | TEX | 8 | Manuel Margot | OF | BOS |
Steven Matz | LHP | NYM | 9 | J.P. Crawford | SS | PHI |
J.P. Crawford | SS | PHI | 10 | Joey Gallo | 3B | TEX |
Yoan Moncada | 2B | BOS | 11 | Lucas Giolito | RHP | WAS |
Francisco Lindor | SS | CLE | 12 | Alen Hanson | 2B | PIT |
Tim Anderson | SS | CHW | 13 | Aaron Nola | RHP | PHI |
Brendan Rodgers | SS | COL | 14 | Steven Matz | LHP | NYM |
Aaron Judge | OF | NYY | 15 | Jameson Taillon | RHP | PIT |
David Dahl | OF | COL | 16 | Andrew Benintendi | OF | BOS |
Jeff Hoffman | RHP | TOR | 17 | Yoan Moncada | 2B | BOS |
Rafael Devers | 3B | BOS | 18 | Dillon Tate | RHP | TEX |
Aaron Nola | RHP | PHI | 19 | Nomar Mazara | OF | TEX |
Tyler Glasnow | RHP | PIT | 20 | Alex Reyes | RHP | STL |
Trea Turner | SS | WAS | 21 | Francisco Lindor | SS | CLE |
Nick Williams | OF | TEX | 22 | Ozhaino Albies | SS | ATL |
Jose Berrios | RHP | MIN | 23 | David Dahl | OF | COL |
Alex Reyes | RHP | STL | 24 | Ian Happ | OF | CHC |
Daniel Norris | LHP | TOR | 25 | Franklin Barreto | SS | OAK |
Manuel Margot | OF | BOS | 26 | Orlando Arcia | SS | MIL |
Bradley Zimmer | OF | CLE | 27 | Bradley Zimmer | OF | CLE |
Robert Stephenson | RHP | CIN | 28 | Rafael Devers | 3B | BOS |
Archie Bradley | RHP | ARI | 29 | Jesse Winker | OF | CIN |
Jose De Leon | RHP | LAD | 30 | Daniel Norris | LHP | TOR |
Dansby Swanson | SS | ARI | 31 | Matt Wisler | RHP | ATL |
Dalton Pompey | OF | TOR | 32 | Brett Phillips | OF | HOU |
Raimel Tapia | OF | COL | 33 | Miguel Sano | 3B | MIN |
Brett Phillips | OF | HOU | 34 | Dylan Bundy | RHP | BAL |
Matt Wisler | RHP | ATL | 35 | Alex Bregman | SS | HOU |
Chi Chi Gonzalez | RHP | TEX | 36 | Raul Mondesi | SS | KCR |
Jose Peraza | SS | ATL | 37 | Raimel Tapia | OF | COL |
Jake Thompson | RHP | TEX | 38 | Kyle Schwarber | C/OF | CHC |
Michael Conforto | OF | NYM | 39 | Ariel Jurado | RHP | TEX |
Grant Holmes | RHP | LAD | 40 | Michael Kopech | LHP | BOS |
Austin Meadows | OF | PIT | 41 | Nick Gordon | SS | MIN |
Sean Newcomb | LHP | LAA | 42 | Stephen Gonsalves | LHP | MIN |
Ryan McMahon | 3B | COL | 43 | Brady Aiken | LHP | CLE |
Clint Frazier | OF | CLE | 44 | Antonio Senzatela | RHP | COL |
Alex Bregman | SS | HOU | 45 | Rio Ruiz | 3B | ATL |
Josh Bell | 1B | PIT | 46 | Garrett Whitley | OF | TAM |
Rymer Liriano | OF | SD | 47 | Jacob Faria | RHP | TAM |
Andrew Benintendi | OF | BOS | 48 | Brendan Rodgers | SS | COL |
Stephen Piscotty | OF | STL | 49 | Dalton Pompey | OF | TOR |
Gleyber Torres | SS | CHC | 50 | Aaron Blair | RHP | ARI |
Ozhaino Albies | SS | ATL | 51 | Nate Smith | LHP | LAA |
Dan Vogelbach | 1B | CHC | 52 | Gleyber Torres | SS | CHC |
Jon Gray | RHP | COL | 53 | Trenton Clark | OF | MIL |
Willy Adames | SS | TAM | 54 | Daz Cameron | OF | HOU |
Jorge Alfaro | C | TEX | 55 | Kyle Tucker | OF | HOU |
Hunter Renfroe | OF | SD | 56 | Roman Quinn | OF | PHI |
Luis Severino | RHP | NYY | 57 | Dustin Fowler | OF | NYY |
Brady Aiken | LHP | CLE | 58 | Nick Plummer | OF | STL |
Billy McKinney | OF | CHC | 59 | Chance Sisco | C | BAL |
Jesse Winker | OF | CIN | 60 | Brett Honeywell | RHP | TAM |
Mark Appel | RHP | HOU | 61 | Rob Kaminsky | LHP | STL |
Jameson Taillon | RHP | PIT | 62 | Trea Turner | SS | WAS |
Dylan Bundy | RHP | BAL | 63 | Mallex Smith | OF | ATL |
Hunter Harvey | RHP | BAL | 64 | Robert Stephenson | RHP | CIN |
Ian Happ | OF | CHC | 65 | Max Kepler | OF | MIN |
Franklin Barreto | SS | OAK | 66 | Omar Carrizales | OF | COL |
Daniel Robertson | SS | TAM | 67 | Zach Davies | RHP | BAL |
Wilmer Difo | 2B | WAS | 68 | Nick Williams | OF | TEX |
Sean Manaea | LHP | KCR | 69 | Cole Tucker | SS | PIT |
Derek Fisher | OF | HOU | 70 | Ashe Russell | RHP | KCR |
Kyle Tucker | OF | HOU | 71 | Willy Adames | SS | TAM |
Marco Gonzales | LHP | STL | 72 | Darnell Sweeney | 2B | LAD |
Joe Ross | RHP | WAS | 73 | Duane Underwood | RHP | CHC |
Alex Jackson | OF | SEA | 74 | Jorge Polanco | SS | MIN |
Brett Honeywell | RHP | TAM | 75 | Tyler Jay | LHP | MIN |
Blake Snell | LHP | TAM | 76 | Mauricio Dubon | SS | BOS |
Duane Underwood | RHP | CHC | 77 | Sam Travis | 1B | BOS |
Dillon Tate | RHP | TEX | 78 | Stephen Piscotty | OF | STL |
Tyler Beede | RHP | SF | 79 | Brady Lail | RHP | NYY |
Vince Velasquez | RHP | HOU | 80 | Zach Eflin | RHP | PHI |
Henry Owens | LHP | BOS | 81 | Jake Thompson | RHP | TEX |
Orlando Arcia | SS | MIL | 82 | Corey Black | RHP | CHC |
Jorge Mateo | SS | NYY | 83 | Henry Owens | LHP | BOS |
Raul Mondesi | SS | KCR | 84 | Trevor Story | SS | COL |
Reynaldo Lopez | RHP | WAS | 85 | Michael Conforto | OF | NYM |
Luis Ortiz | RHP | TEX | 86 | Casey Meisner | LHP | NYM |
Nick Plummer | OF | STL | 87 | Hunter Harvey | RHP | BAL |
Alen Hanson | 2B | PIT | 88 | Grant Holmes | RHP | LAD |
Sean Reid-Foley | RHP | TOR | 89 | Jose Rondon | SS | SD |
Brandon Nimmo | OF | NYM | 90 | Auston Bousfield | OF | SD |
Nick Gordon | SS | MIN | 91 | Cornelius Randolph | OF | PHI |
Roman Quinn | OF | PHI | 92 | Jacob Nottingham | C | HOU |
Francelis Montas | RHP | CHW | 93 | Carlos Tocci | OF | PHI |
Tyler Kolek | RHP | MIA | 94 | Raisel Iglesias | RHP | CIN |
Alex Verdugo | OF | LAD | 95 | Tim Anderson | SS | CHW |
Forrest Wall | 2B | COL | 96 | Devin Williams | RHP | MIL |
Phil Ervin | OF | CIN | 97 | Tyler Mahle | RHP | CIN |
Garrett Whitley | OF | TAM | 98 | Greg Harris | RHP | TAM |
Amir Garrett | LHP | CIN | 99 | Jorge Mateo | SS | NYY |
Michael Kopech | LHP | BOS | 100 | Jeff Hoffman | RHP | TOR |