FirstInning.com Midseason Top 100 Prospects

By admin
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

This list was compiled by several of the writers on the site. Each writer submitted a Top 100 and each position on the list was weighted at a 4 point scale (#1 was worth 400 points, #2 worth 396 points and so on). Due to that reason, it will make it a little more difficult for any one writer to explain the reason for player X over player Y.  Anyways, here is the list.


Rank Player POS
1 Matt Wieters C
2 Tommy Hanson P
3 Jason Heyward OF
4 Madison Bumgarner P
5 Buster Posey C
6 Brian Matusz P
7 Justin Smoak 1B
8 Chris Tillman P
9 Gordon Beckham 3B
10 Carlos Santana C
11 Jesus Montero C/1B
12 Desmond Jennings OF
13 Jarrod Parker P
14 Mike Stanton OF
15 Neftali Feliz P
16 Matt LaPorta OF
17 Tim Beckham SS
18 Jhoulys Chacin P
19 Pedro Alvarez 3B
20 Brett Wallace 3B/1B
21 Dominic Brown OF
22 Tim Alderson P
23 Alcides Escobar SS
24 Jake Arrieta P
25 Mat Latos P
26 Wade Davis P
27 Michael Taylor OF
28 Kyle Drabek P
29 Jenry Mejia P
30 Aaron Hicks OF
31 Yonder Alonso 1B
32 Christian Friedrich P
33 Jason Castro C
34 Michael Saunders OF
35 Carlos Carrasco P
36 Aaron Poreda P
37 Lars Anderson 1B
38 Martin Perez P
39 Austin Jackson OF
40 Hector Rondon P
41 Freddie Freeman 1B
42 Josh Vitters 3B
43 Michael Bowden P
44 Fernando Martinez OF
45 Mike Moustakas 3B
46 Logan Morrison 1B
47 Eric Hosmer 1B
48 Jeremy Hellickson P
49 Jemile Weeks 2B
50 Ben Revere OF
51 Tyler Flowers C/1B
52 Brett Lawrie 2B/OF
53 Junichi Tazawa P
54 Jaff Decker OF
55 Chris Carter 1B
56 Todd Frazier OF
57 Jason Knapp P
58 Lonnie Chisenhall 3B
59 Ethan Martin P
60 Adrian Cardenas 2B
61 Matt Moore P
62 Nick Weglarz OF
63 Jordan Lyles P
64 Angel Villalona 1B
65 Dee Gordon SS
66 Chris Heisey OF
67 Wilmer Flores SS/3B
68 Derek Norris C
69 Jordan Walden P
70 Reid Brignac SS
71 Scott Elbert P
72 Daniel Bard P
73 Casey Kelly P
74 David Hernandez P
75 Zach Stewart P
76 Kyle Blanks OF
77 Phillippe Aumont P
78 Logan Forsythe 3B
79 Brad Holt P
80 Zach McAllister P
81 Trevor Reckling P
82 Casey Crosby P
83 Michael Ynoa P
84 Brad Lincoln P
85 Matt Dominguez 3B
86 Josh Lindblom P
87 Jon Niese P
88 Jordan Danks OF
89 Thomas Neal OF
90 Andrew Lambo OF
91 Arodys Vizcaino P
92 Chris Marrero 1B
93 James Darnell 3B
94 Eric Young Jr 2B
95 Daryl Jones OF
96 Bud Norris P
97 Anthony Swarzak P
98 Aaron Cunningham OF
99 Mike Montgomery P
100 Austin Romine C
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13 Responses to “FirstInning.com Midseason Top 100 Prospects”

  1. Jonathan says:
    July 14, 2009 at 7:47 am

    I like this list alot..I think when you average out spots you get a better list than just one person going off their own opinion.

    In my opinion, Andrew Lambo is a top 60 guy, and Friedrich is way to high in the 30s.

    And overall question is, why do people still like Dominic Brown over Taylor? Taylor has outproduced him and has done it at a higher level.

  2. Matt says:
    July 14, 2009 at 11:39 am

    Jonathan: Dominic Brown is 2 years younger and only 1 level below Taylor. That’s why Brown is arguably the better prospect.

  3. Doug Gray says:
    July 14, 2009 at 11:49 am

    Jonathan,
    I have Brown higher because his defense and tools are better than he still is producing at a high level while at a young age.

  4. John Breig says:
    July 14, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Santana over Montero? Is that a position thing? Most people seem to think Montero isn’t an MLB backstop.

    Alderson over Latos? Word is that Alderson is a projected #3 starter in the majors while Latos supposedly has what it takes to be an ace.

    Good list though. Big fan of the site. Keep up the good work.

  5. Matt says:
    July 14, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    I think Neftali Feliz is overrated since he is now projected as a reliever. I think Martin Perez is underrated since even the Rangers seem to prefer Perez as a starter over Feliz. Age also favors Perez who is only 18 years old while Feliz is 21.

    I understand the Santana over Montero thing because most feel Montero will be a 1B or a DH and not a Catcher.

    I think you might want to drop Cardenas out of the top 100 altogether for two reasons. First reason is because he has struggled in AAA to the point their leaving him in AA. Second reason is the announcement the A’s are gonna make him a 3B.

    Those are the only true arguments I have with the list. The rest of the rankings seem to be matter of opinion of talent ranking. Weglarz I the biggest rise and fall in the prospect lists that update year round. I’ve seen him as high as top 15 even.

    I’ll be honest though, I don’t trust rankings where the top prospects are always placed at the top of each list. And frankly the preseason list killed a lot of credibility for me. Price should’ve never been placed in the top 5. A guy who is almost 24 that struggles in AAA has no business being that high. Top 10 maybe but not top 5. And no I’m not dissing Price just since he struggled, I said he was overrated before the season started. Specially seeing all these sites thinking he is better than guys like Kershaw solely because Price did well as a reliever last year. I thought Gagne taught people a lesson that just because your a good reliever that doesn’t mean you will be a good starter. I have no doubt Price can be a top 10 starter but he will never be as good as Kershaw. And at the moment Price seems better suited as a reliever, he shows zero consistency as a starter.

  6. Doug Gray says:
    July 14, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    John,
    While I can only speak for myself I will try to get to your issues. I ranked Carlos Santana at #5 and Jesus Montero at #9. I see Montero as a corner guy or a DH. That hurts his overall value. However his bat is simply incredible, so its still a lot of value. Santana on the flip side will stick behind the plate and I think he can be at least average defensively back there with the potential to be above average behind the plate. As a hitter, I think he can be a top 5 hitting catcher in baseball and soon. Just a more valuable overall package with him. With Alderson and Latos, I had Alderson ahead at 27th and Latos at 36th. Latos has a long way to go before he will be ready to throw 180 innings at the big league level because you don’t want to increase guys innings by more than 30 or so innings a year and he is probably 2 full years away before being able to hit that range of innings pitched. The stuff is there, but he has a ways to go still to get there. With Alderson, while his ceiling isn’t as high I think he has an incredibly high floor with a ceiling that is still pretty good. In my mind they are in the same grouping of prospects, so the difference is fairly minute.

    Matt,
    I don’t think that Feliz is projected as a reliever at this point. I think he is just being used as one right now. I would be surprised if Neftali Feliz is still in the bullpen in 2 years. Having talked to a Texas guy in Jason Parks over at BBTIA.com about the two, he doesn’t seem to have any feelings that Feliz isn’t better than Perez. I will take his word on it for now, especially since what I have seen backs it up as well. As for Cardenas, I agree completely. He didn’t make my top 125. Other writers seemed to disagree with me though. As for your concerns with David Price and his AAA line…. well, I think that a prospects ranking should be based upon what they can be one day, not entirely what they are right now. Price may have struggled in AAA some, but that doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t dominate in the Majors one day. My issue with Price coming into the season was that he had troubles locating his fastball where he wanted to. I believe though that it will improve in time.

  7. Wednesday News and Notes | redsminorleagues.com says:
    July 15, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    [...] FirstInning.com put out its Midseason Top 100 prospect list. Yonder Alonso was the highest rated Red on the list at #31. Underrated in my opinion. I had him 12th. Todd Frazier came in at 56th overall. Chris Heisey was ranked 66th overall and Zach Stewart was 75th on the list. Drew Stubbs and Travis Wood each got a vote or two in the top 100 but didn’t have enough to get into the top 100. [...]

  8. jaybird says:
    July 16, 2009 at 1:11 am

    Thanks for your work - just curious about Ethan Martin over Jordan Lyles - Lyles putting up much better numbers, but what is the argument for Ethan?

  9. Brian Snethen says:
    July 16, 2009 at 11:02 am

    Jaybird,

    Thanks for your input, much appreciated. I had Martin at 56 and Lyles at 69, with 4 other pitchers in between the two. While there is no arguing the fact that Lyles has much better numbers so far this year, Ive basically left Martin where he was to begin the season and have bumped Lyles up from the mid-100’s to his spot in the top 75. I see both as having similar upside when all is said and done.

    Jonathan,

    I’m with you as far as the Phillie outfielders go, as I had Taylor at 24 and Brown at 34, for the sole reason that Taylor is killing AA pitching. The whole one in the hand is worth two in the bush thing. Love both guys and think one of them should be used as Doc bait. As for Friedrich, I have him at 28 as I’m a complete fool for tall lefties and his numbers haven’t waivered a bit in his pro career, and is now the clear cut #1 prospect in the California League. I also think the Rockies are being sold short when best pitching combos in the minors are discussed, as I have Chacin at 19 and Esmil Rogers at 80.

    John,

    I have Montero at 6 and Santana at 17 based primarily on the fact that I’ll take the great hitting 1b/dh over the very good hitter at the more premium position every day of the week, knowing that I seem to ne in the minority with that sentiment.

  10. Analyzing FirstInning.com’s Mid-Season Top 25 Prospect List ON MLNW says:
    July 20, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    [...] episode of Minor League Notebook Weekly. FirstInning.com recently released its Mid-Season Top 100 prospect list. A team of staff writers from the site all submitted their own ballots, with a lot of diverse [...]

  11. e says:
    July 29, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    The Indians now have 7 of the top 62 prospects…which organization has the best talent?

  12. Doug Gray says:
    July 29, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    Its tough to say who has the best talent because without going through the depth of every team (which I haven’t done at this point), it doesn’t get far enough down the line. With that said, the Indians and their fans have to really like the way that the future is looking. With that said, if I hear one more person call Lou Marson the heir apparent to Victor Martinez I might scream though. Have the people saying that ever heard of Carlos Santana?

  13. Jordan Lott says:
    August 3, 2009 at 10:05 pm

    James Darnell over Logan Forsythe?

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