Top 25 Rankings

August 20, 2007
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.
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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