Check back every Monday for the only regularly updated in-season prospect rankings on the internet | ||||||||||||||||
No. | Player | Pos | Notes | Age | Org | Level | Pts. | Pre. | ||||||||
1 | Phil Hughes | RHP | Solid but unspectacular last week: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; .240 BAA in MLB | 21 | NYY | MLB | 97.8 | 1 ↔ | ||||||||
2 | Justin Upton | CF | Went 3-for-19 w/ 0 XBH & 0 BB vs. 8 K last week; starting to look overmatched | 20 | ARI | MLB | 95.0 | 2 ↔ | ||||||||
3 | Joba Chamberlain | RHP | 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K = pretty stellar, though his line is padded in the pen | 21 | NYY | MLB | 94.9 | 5 ↑ | ||||||||
4 | Jay Bruce | CF | A 3 XBH week = slump for him; .297/.329/.527 in Aug.; worst AAA month so far | 20 | CIN | AAA | 94.8 | 3 ↓ | ||||||||
5 | Clay Buchholz | RHP | Made MLB debut on Fri.: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K; sent back to Triple-A after | 23 | BOS | MLB | 94.8 | 4 ↓ | ||||||||
6 | David Price | LHP | No. 1 overall draft pick in 2007; he K'd 38.2% of the hitters he faced this season | 22 | TB | NCAA | 94.3 | NR | ||||||||
7 | Colby Rasmus | CF | Coming off a monster week in the midst of a monster month: .396/.522/.830 | 21 | STL | AA | 94.0 | 6 ↓ | ||||||||
8 | Evan Longoria | 3B | Proving patient and consistent in AAA; 9 BB vs. 9 K last week, but just 3-for-19 | 21 | TB | AAA | 93.7 | 7 ↓ | ||||||||
9 | Cameron Maybin | CF | Made MLB debut Fri. just 9 days after leaving A+; homered in 2nd game w/ DET | 20 | DET | MLB | 91.6 | 10 ↑ | ||||||||
10 | Adam Jones | CF | Registered just 7 ab last week (1-for-7, single, 3 K); hasdn't played since 8/15 | 22 | SEA | MLB | 91.5 | 9 ↓ | ||||||||
11 | Brandon Wood | 3B | While Wood continues to tumble, take a glance at the huge points drop after him | 22 | LAA | MLB | 91.1 | 8 ↓ | ||||||||
12 | Andy LaRoche | 3B | A back injury has kept him out of action since 8/6; .306/.391/.591 overall in AAA | 23 | LAD | MLB | 87.7 | 11 ↓ | ||||||||
13 | Homer Bailey | RHP | Close to a return after enduring his second strained groin of the year on 7/17 | 21 | CIN | MLB | 86.7 | 13 ↔ | ||||||||
14 | Clayton Kershaw | LHP | Only 8.1 IP but his 7 K vs. 8 BB in AA show exactly why I'm cautious w/ him | 19 | LAD | AA | 86.5 | 12 ↓ | ||||||||
15 | Andrew McCutchen | CF | Made AAA debut Fri.; 4-for-12 w/ a 2B & HR so far; was .258/.327/.383 in AA | 20 | PIT | AAA | 86.5 | 16 ↑ | ||||||||
16 | Jeff Clement | C | 5-for-22 week somewhat masked by his 7 BB vs. 5 K in my ranking program | 24 | SEA | AAA | 86.1 | 17 ↑ | ||||||||
17 | Reid Brignac | SS | After going .254/.347/.413 before the break, he's .255/.340/.447 (141 ab) since | 21 | TB | AA | 85.8 | 15 ↓ | ||||||||
18 | Jacob McGee | LHP | Rebounded after he got rocked in AA debut w/ this: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K | 21 | TB | AA | 85.6 | 20 ↑ | ||||||||
19 | Rick Porcello | RHP | 07's 27th overall pick may have gone as high as No. 2 without bonus demands | 18 | DET | HS | 85.1 | NR | ||||||||
20 | Travis Snider | RF | Hit 5 HR in his first 204 at-bats this season; now he has 10 HR in his last 199 | 19 | TOR | A | 85.1 | HM | ||||||||
21 | Matt Wieters | C | Selected 5th overall in '07; soid bet to stick behind the plate, potential impact bat | 21 | BAL | NCAA | 84.8 | NR | ||||||||
22 | Johnny Cueto | RHP | Sent down to AA to help in playoff run; responded by imploding in 8/18 outing | 21 | CIN | AAA | 84.7 | 19 ↓ | ||||||||
23 | Will Inman | RHP | Decent sample of AA IP (64.0): 21.5% K, 2.0 K/BB, 1.25 WHIP, and .225 BAA | 20 | SD | AA | 84.6 | 21 ↓ | ||||||||
24 | Asbrubal Cabrera | SS | Playing 2B regularly in bigs; 7-for-23 (.304) w/ 3 XBH and 1 BB vs. 3 K in 23 ab | 21 | CLE | MLB | 84.7 | NR | ||||||||
25 | Fernando Martinez | CF | Hand contusion is now being reported as fractured hamate bone; sugery likely | 18 | NYM | AA | 84.5 | 14 ↓ | ||||||||
Honorables: Wladimir Balentien (84.48), Ian Kennedy (84.44), Jacoby Ellsbury (84.44), Carlos Gonzalez (84.39), and Daric Barton (84.36). | ||||||||||||||||
Graduated (final ranking): None. | ||||||||||||||||
Dropped out of Top 25 (previous ranking): Daric Barton (18), Ian Kennedy (22), Carlos Gonzalez (23), Wladimir Balentien (24), Neil Walker (25) | ||||||||||||||||
* Our rankings combine a player's ceiling with the odds that he'll reach it and favor recent production | ||||||||||||||||
** Only signed professional players with less than 130 pro at-bats or less than 50 pro innings are considered for our rankings | ||||||||||||||||
*** Ages are as of August 26th, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||
**** Level is the highest level the player has reached | ||||||||||||||||
***** Pts. Is the player's score from my prospect ranking program | ||||||||||||||||
****** Pre. is the player's rankings from last week's Top 25. | ||||||||||||||||
<<< Our August 13th Top 25 Rankings | ||||||||||||||||
<<< Discuss these rankings | ||||||||||||||||
<<< How our rankings work |
Disclaimer
Our in-season 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 pre-season 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 preseason 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
adamf@projectprospect.com