Double Top-15 Prospects Lists: Royals and Rays

Let me just clarify something first: I took two mid-terms this morning, turned in a paper this afternoon, and I have another paper to turn in a couple hours from now. So basically, my brain is fried. But I've been planning on getting this post up today for a while, and it should give you guys something to tide you over this weekend while Dave and I put the final touches on our top-100 lists that we plan to release early next week. But before we do that, let's get through the final two teams in our league-wide look at the top-15 prospects in each organization. Lucky for you, we saved the best for last. And don't forget that links to the other 28 top-15 lists are included at the bottom of the page, if you want to check out your team.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS (plus five!!!)

Satchel's Top 20	Dave's Top 20
1) 1B Eric Hosmer	1) 1B Eric Hosmer
2) OF Wil Myers	2) OF Wil Myers
3) 3B Mike Moustakas	3) 3B Mike Moustakas
4) LHP Mike Montgomery	4) LHP John Lamb
5) LHP John Lamb	5) LHP Mike Montgomery
6) LHP Danny Duffy	6) SS Christian Colon
7) SS Christian Colon	7) LHP Danny Duffy
8) RHP Jake Odorizzi	8) RHP Jake Odorizzi
9) LHP Chris Dwyer	9) LHP Chris Dwyer
10) RHP Jeremy Jeffress	10) 3B Cheslor Cuthbert
11) OF Brett Eibner	11) RHP Jeremy Jeffress
12) RHP Aaron Crow	12) RHP Aaron Crow
13) 3B Cheslor Cuthbert	13) RHP Yordano Ventura
14) 2B Johnny Giavotella	14) LHP Tim Collins
15) RHP Robinson Yambati	15) OF Brett Eibner
16) RHP Yordano Ventura	16) RHP Jason Adam
17) C Salvador Perez	17) C Salvador Perez
18) LHP Tim Collins	18) RHP Robinson Yambati
19) RHP Jason Adam	19) RHP Tim Melville
20) LHP Will Smith	20) 2B Johnny Giavotella

This is a ridiculously stacked system, arguably the best farm system we've seen in a very long time. They have numerous elite hitters, and numerous elite pitchers. They have exceptional depth, and numerous potential role players that could probably help out in other organizations. We could have probably gone 40 deep with this list if we wanted to, but I didn't want to get you guys too flustered so we just stuck with 20. In the end, it just seemed like limiting the list to 15 just wouldn't be fair to a farm system that's this strong. Yeah, the Royals suck now, but things could change a lot over the next couple years.

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Satchel's Top 15	Dave's Top 15
1) RHP Jeremy Hellickson	1) RHP Jeremy Hellickson
2) LHP Matt Moore	2) LHP Matt Moore
3) OF Desmond Jennings	3) OF Desmond Jennings
4) RHP Chris Archer	4) RHP Chris Archer
5) SS Hak-Ju Lee	5) LHP Jake McGee
6) LHP Alexander Torres	6) OF Josh Sale
7) LHP Jake McGee	7) LHP Alexander Torres
8) OF Josh Sale	8) SS Hak-Ju Lee
9) RHP Alex Colome	9) RHP Alex Colome
10) LHP Enny Romero	10) RHP Joe Cruz
11) C Justin O'Conner	11) C Justin O'Conner
12) RHP Alex Cobb	12) RHP Enny Romero
13) OF Drew Vettleson	13) OF Drew Vettleson
14) RHP Nick Barnese	14) RHP Jake Thompson
15) C Robinson Chirinos	15) 3B Derek Dietrich

I had a very, very tough time finishing off this list, so I thought that I would include my next five guys here: Jake Thompson, Brandon Guyer, Joe Cruz, Derek Dietrich and Tim Beckham. People don't go crazy about this system like they do with Kansas City's, but Tampa Bay probably has the brighter future once you factor in the talent they have at the MLB level. They have unreal pitching depth, reflected by the fact that their 7th-, 8th-, 9th- and 10th-ranked pitching prospects are Romero, Cobb, Barnese and Thompson- you have to wonder if a team like Milwaukee or Oakland would trade their four best pitching prospects for Tampa's #7-10 guys, which is kinda crazy. They got some great reinforcements by bringing in Archer, Lee, Chirinos and Guyer from Chicago in the Garza deal, which is really what puts this system over the top. It's not hard to absolutely adore what the Rays are doing down in Tampa.