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2014 Consensus Top 160 Prospects

It's time to see how top prospects fared when comparing 20 different top prospect lists. Who is high, and who is low?

Twins outfield prospect Byron Buxton heads an impressive list of prospects
Twins outfield prospect Byron Buxton heads an impressive list of prospects
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Finally, it's consensus top prospect time -- my favorite time of the year. What's better than a top 100 prospect list? Twenty of them! Every time a player appears on a list, he is given 151 minus his ranking number of points (A ranking of No. 1 gives 150 points). All of the points are added up and the player with the highest total is ranked at the top. The reason I do this instead of taking the average ranking is very simple: It's better. Take Braden Shipley for example. He appears on eight lists with an average ranking of 54. However, his total points ranking is 69. We must take into account the fact that not all players are ranked by all lists, so an average ranking is misleading.

This year, for the first time, I have split the list into two - regular and fantasy. Each type of list focuses on different parts of a player and they should be separate. Thankfully, there are enough types of each lists to make this worthwhile. I found 11 regular lists and nine fantasy lists.


Unfortunately, not all lists have the same criteria and as a result, many did not rank Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Abreu, or Carlos Martinez. Kiley McDaniel at Scout went one further and didn't rank any prospect with a good shot at a major league job. In order to keep a good ranking system, I placed the average of each of these player's rankings from the other lists in those empty slots. This is how Tanaka placed as the number five prospect, even though he was only ranked on seven of the 20 lists. Alex Guerrero and Miguel Gonzalez were in a different category and were not even ranked by all lists where they were eligible. I did not include any extra rankings for them.

Here is a spreadsheet with all lists together (excluding Keith Law's as his listing is for ESPN insiders only). In the list below, I put 200 (NA) for those players unranked in each type of list. This was in order to make the sorting work for each column.

Regular Lists

Baseball America

Baseball Haven

Baseball Prospectus

Bleacher Report

Fangraphs (Marc Hulet)

John Sickels (Minor League Ball) (I used Sickels' end of season update list as he has yet to put out an offseason one.)

Keith Law (ESPN)

Major League Baseball (Jonathan Mayo)

MLB Draft Insider

MLB Prospect Guide (I only took the top 100 from this top 300 list)

Prospect Digest

Scout

Fantasy Lists

CBS Sports

David Gonos

Deep Leagues

Dynasty Sports Empire

Fantasy Assembly

Fantasy Squads

Prospect 361

Rotoanalysis

The List

Rank FRank Player POS Team
1 1 Byron Buxton OF MIN
2 2 Xander Bogaerts SS BOS
3 3 Oscar Taveras OF STL
4 10 Carlos Correa SS HOU
5 5 Masahiro Tanaka P NYY
6 7 Javier Baez SS CHC
7 7 Archie Bradley P ARI
8 6 Miguel Sano 3B MIN
8 15 Francisco Lindor SS CLE
10 9 Addison Russell SS OAK
11 4 Taijuan Walker P SEA
12 12 Kris Bryant 3B CHC
13 20 Gregory Polanco OF PIT
14 21 Jonathan Gray P COL
15 14 Noah Syndergaard P NYM
16 18 Kevin Gausman P BAL
17 31 Dylan Bundy P BAL
18 16 Robert Stephenson P CIN
19 11 George Springer OF HOU
19 35 Lucas Giolito P WAS
21 44 Albert Almora OF CHC
22 22 Mark Appel P HOU
23 13 Jameson Taillon P PIT
24 19 Kyle Zimmer P KAN
25 17 Nick Castellanos OF DET
26 25 Carlos Martinez P STL
27 33 Eddie Butler P COL
28 23 Jose Abreu 1B CHW
29 40 Austin Hedges C SDP
30 24 Yordano Ventura P KAN
31 29 Travis d'Arnaud C NYM
32 45 Corey Seager SS LAD
33 49 Tyler Glasnow P PIT
34 42 Andrew Heaney P MIA
35 26 Jorge Soler OF CHC
36 47 Raul Mondesi SS KAN
37 27 Clint Frazier OF CLE
38 37 Aaron Sanchez P TOR
39 38 Alex Meyer P MIN
40 36 Jackie Bradley OF BOS
41 28 Maikel Franco 3B PHI
42 50 Matt Wisler P SDP
43 55 Marcus Stroman P TOR
43 56 Max Fried P SDP
45 34 Joc Pederson OF LAD
46 46 Julio Urias P LAD
47 51 Austin Meadows OF PIT
48 54 Henry Owens P BOS
49 39 Kyle Crick P SFO
49 52 Lucas Sims P ATL
51 48 Kohl Stewart P MIN
52 41 Rougned Odor 2B TEX
53 32 Billy Hamilton OF CIN
54 53 Garin Cecchini 3B BOS
55 58 Mike Foltynewicz P HOU
56 64 Jorge Alfaro C TEX
57 60 Colin Moran 3B MIA
58 70 C.J. Edwards P CHC
59 57 Gary Sanchez C NYY
60 43 Kolten Wong 2B STL
61 96 Eduardo Rodriguez P BAL
62 30 Jonathan Singleton 1B HOU
63 73 Erik Johnson P CHW
64 83 Chris Owings SS ARI
65 77 David Dahl OF COL
66 67 A.J. Cole P WAS
66 104 Blake Swihart C BOS
68 76 Hunter Harvey P BAL
69 82 Braden Shipley P ARI
70 90 Zach Lee P LAD
71 61 Arismendy Alcantara SS CHC
72 84 J.P. Crawford SS PHI
73 66 Jesse Biddle P PHI
74 68 Alen Hanson SS PIT
75 80 Eddie Rosario OF MIN
76 95 Stephen Piscotty OF STL
77 91 Matt Davidson 3B CHW
78 59 Jake Odorizzi P TAM
79 74 Miguel Almonte P KAN
80 62 D.J. Peterson 3B SEA
81 63 Rafael Montero P NYM
82 94 Dominic Smith 1B NYM
83 69 Jake Marisnick OF MIA
84 78 Mookie Betts 2B BOS
85 103 Reese McGuire C PIT
86 109 Christian Bethancourt C ATL
87 124 Nick Kingham P PIT
88 81 Jonathan Schoop 3B BAL
89 93 Matt Barnes P BOS
90 71 Lance McCullers P HOU
91 65 James Paxton P SEA
91 89 Phillip Ervin OF CIN
93 120 Hak-Ju Lee SS TAM
94 72 Allen Webster P BOS
95 106 Rosell Herrera SS COL
96 110 Trevor Bauer P CLE
97 75 Taylor Guerrieri P TAM
98 88 Brian Goodwin OF WAS
99 200 (NA) Pierce Johnson P CHC
100 86 Josh Bell OF PIT
101 113 Jorge Bonifacio OF KAN
102 122 Edwin Escobar P SFO
103 91 Joey Gallo 3B TEX
104 130 Enny Romero P TAM
105 108 Delino DeShields 2B HOU
106 123 Sean Manaea P KAN
107 125 Trey Ball P BOS
108 133 Justin Nicolino P MIA
109 98 Nick Williams OF TEX
110 200 (NA) Rob Kaminsky P STL
111 101 Michael Choice OF TEX
112 116 Luis Sardinas SS TEX
113 118 Jose Berrios P MIN
114 128 Alex Gonzalez P TEX
115 137 Jimmy Nelson P MIL
116 126 Mason Williams OF NYY
117 200 (NA) Alberto Tirado P TOR
118 166 Alex Colome P TAM
119 135 Roberto Osuna P TOR
120 200 (NA) Wilmer Flores 3B NYM
121 85 Josmil Pinto C MIN
122 117 Dan Vogelbach 1B CHC
123 99 Bubba Starling OF KAN
124 153 Tim Anderson OF CHW
125 200 (NA) Chris Anderson P LAD
126 153 Vincent Velasquez P HOU
127 107 Anthony Ranaudo P BOS
128 136 Tyler Austin OF NYY
129 162 Hunter Dozier 3B KAN
130 97 Clayton Blackburn P SFO
131 119 Hunter Renfroe OF SDP
132 155 Casey Kelly P SDP
133 87 Taylor Lindsey 2B LAA
133 200 (NA) Nick Ciuffo C TAM
135 146 Lewis Thorpe P MIN
136 112 Raimel Tapia OF COL
136 150 Tyrone Taylor OF MIL
138 200 (NA) Alexander Reyes P STL
139 200 (NA) Carlos Sanchez 2B CHW
140 145 Jose Peraza SS ATL
141 200 (NA) Manny Banuelos P NYY
142 102 Jesse Winker OF CIN
143 200 (NA) Justin Williams OF ARI
144 143 Slade Heathcott OF NYY
145 200 (NA) Franchy Cordero SS SDP
146 150 Devon Travis 2B DET
146 161 Victor Sanchez P SEA
148 160 Luiz Gohara P SEA
149 200 (NA) Ian Clarkin P NYY
150 127 Marcus Semien 2B CHW
150 200 (NA) Tommy Joseph C PHI
150 200 (NA) Mauricio Cabrera P ATL
153 200 (NA) Brandon Nimmo OF NYM
154 200 (NA) Jesse Hahn P TAM
155 141 Mike Olt 3B CHC
155 200 (NA) Andrew Susac C SFO
157 139 Robbie Ray P DET
157 157 Dorssys Paulino SS CLE
159 200 (NA) Jose Ramirez P NYY
160 163 Daniel Norris P TOR
160 200 (NA) Mitch Nay 3B TOR
200 (NA) 79 Alex Guerrero 2B LAD
200 (NA) 100 Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez P PHI
200 (NA) 105 Rymer Liriano OF SDP
200 (NA) 111 Danny Hultzen P SEA
200 (NA) 114 Jake Thompson P DET
200 (NA) 115 J.R. Graham P ATL
200 (NA) 121 Gregory Bird 1B NYY
200 (NA) 129 Luke Jackson P TEX
200 (NA) 130 Domingo Santana OF HOU
200 (NA) 130 Henry Urrutia OF BAL
200 (NA) 133 Amed Rosario SS NYM
200 (NA) 138 C.J. Cron 1B LAA
200 (NA) 140 Severino Gonzalez P PHI
200 (NA) 141 Franmil Reyes OF SDP
200 (NA) 143 Joshua Sale OF TAM
200 (NA) 146 D.J. Davis OF TOR
200 (NA) 148 Alec Asher P TEX
200 (NA) 149 Kaleb Cowart 3B LAA
200 (NA) 152 Nick Delmonico 1B MIL
200 (NA) 155 Kyle Parker OF COL
200 (NA) 158 Franklin Barreto OF TOR
200 (NA) 158 Ryan McMahon 3B COL
200 (NA) 164 Cesar Puello OF NYM
200 (NA) 165 Marco Gonzalez P STL
200 (NA) 167 Michael Ynoa P OAK
200 (NA) 168 Lewis Brinson OF TEX
200 (NA) 169 Cody Anderson P CLE
200 (NA) 170 Eric Jagielo 3B NYY
200 (NA) 171 Cory Spangenberg 2B SDP

Prospects by team

Just for good measure, here is a table with the number of prospects per team. I have also included the total number of ranking points for all of the prospects on each team. Ranking by descending total gives a fairly good measure of organizational strength. (Cubs, Red Sox, Pirates, Astros, Twins at the top and Giants, Athletics, Tigers, Brewers, Angels at the bottom.)

Team Players Total
ARI 4 3326
ATL 5 1840
BAL 6 5213
BOS 10 7868
CHC 9 8165
CHW 6 3232
CIN 4 3079
CLE 5 3286
COL 7 4295
DET 4 1508
HOU 9 7438
KAN 8 5558
LAA 3 122
LAD 6 4494
MIA 4 3164
MIL 3 350
MIN 8 6754
NYM 8 4248
NYY 10 3261
OAK 2 1565
PHI 6 2702
PIT 8 7479
SDP 9 3988
SEA 6 2778
SFO 4 1649
STL 7 4989
TAM 8 2215
TEX 10 3495
TOR 8 2885
WAS 3 2689

. . .

Chris St. John is a writer at Beyond The Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @stealofhome.