Rangers shortstop Jurickson Profar signed for $1.55 million out of Curacao on July 2, 2009. After starting his career in the short-season Northwest League as a 17-year-old in 2010, Profar had a breakout season in 2011, made his major league debut in 2012 and is now the best prospect in baseball.

Usually it doesn't all come together so quickly. For most Latin American prospects, the first stop is either the Dominican Summer League or the Venezuelan Summer League. While players like Profar, Braves righthander Julio Teheran or Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez occasionally are so advanced that they skip the DSL, the majority of the game's best Latin American prospects made their pro debut outside of the United States. Twelve international prospects in the Top 100—Oscar Taveras, Xander Bogaerts, Miguel Sano, Carlos Martinez, Oswaldo Arcia, Gregory Polanco, Alen Hanson, Avisail Garcia, Marcell Ozuna, Yordano Ventura, Daniel Corcino and Bruce Rondon—all played in either the DSL or the VSL. Bogaerts and Martinez were on BA's inaugural DSL/VSL Top 20 list in 2010 ($).

A player performing well in one of the Latin American summer leagues isn't necessarily an indicator of future success, but players can elevate their prospect stock with a strong on-field performance, while a position player who struggles to hit in the DSL raises questions about whether he'll ever be able to hit more advanced pitching. Performance matters less for pitchers at this level, since they are still growing into their bodies and can see their stuff jump up significantly when they do, but all players are ranked on this list based on their long-term major league potential. This year's list of players from the 2012 DSL and VSL includes high-profile international signings from recent years as well as five players who signed for less than $100,000.

Players are listed in alphabetical order. Subscribers can read full reports on all 20 players ($). [...] Continue Reading »

We took a look yesterday at five young players ($) who could jump onto the 2014 Top 100 Prospects list, but today we asked a number of Baseball America writers and editors to pick one player they are eyeing as a potential Top 100 Prospect for 2014.

J.J. Cooper: Royals righthander Miguel Almonte didn’t receive one Top 150 vote for this year’s Top 100 Prospects list and he shouldn’t have. As a bargain signing out of the Dominican in 2010 who has a grand total of 27 innings in the U.S., nothing in Almonte’s track record says Top 100 Prospect yet. But a year from now, that may have changed. Almonte has a very good three-pitch mix with a plus fastball, average changeup and developing breaking ball. In an organization that has rightfully been criticized for its struggles to develop starting pitchers, Almonte is a potential success story. He’s cleaned up his delivery and improved his stuff significantly since signing. If he has success in low Class A this year, he could climb into next year’s Top 100.

Matt Eddy: He'll need to rein in the strikeouts, but the Phillies' Tommy Joseph offers a rare combination of power, athleticism and arm strength at catcher. The 21-year-old mashed 11 homers at the Double-A level last season, while gunning down 40 percent of basestealers and getting traded for Hunter Pence. [...] Continue Reading »

After unveiling our Top 100 Prospects list on Feb. 19, we're taking a further look at the list today with some additional news and notes. Here's a look at which players climbed and fell the most on the 2013 Top 100 Prospects list.

No one who was on the 2012 Top 100 Prospects list made a bigger jump than Oscar Taveras. A year ago, Taveras was coming off of an excellent season in the Midwest League, but there were concerns about his defense and focus on the basepaths. He showed improved concentration in 2013, made the jump from indifferent right fielder to solid center fielder and continued to sting almost any and every pitcher he faced. [...] Continue Reading »

We posted our Top 100 Prospects list on Feb. 20. Today we'll be rolling out a few other Top 100 tidbits that we discussed while pulling together the list.

First basemen or corner outfielders who do not hit for above-average power are typically excluded from Top 100 Prospects consideration, yet third basemen are not always held to the same standard. Maybe it's because they offer Gold Glove potential or because scouts are confident about the player's hit tool.

Regardless, third basemen who do not hit for power in the big leagues typically do not last long as regulars, at least not on good teams. Some recent examples of elite prospects with profile power for third base (whatever their other flaws): Mike Moustakas (No. 9, 2011), Pedro Alvarez (8, 2010), Chase Headley (32, 2008), Evan Longoria (7, 2007) and Ryan Zimmerman (15, 2006). [...] Continue Reading »

• Of the 1,146 players to be on a Top 100 Prospects list from 1990-2009, 1,020 (89 percent) made the major leagues.

• Top 100 Prospects players have won 29 MVP awards, 19 Cy Young Awards and 38 Rookie of the Year awards.

• Of the 74 2012 all-stars, 49 (66 percent) appeared on a Top 100 Prospects list, and 23 were ranked in the top 10. [...] Continue Reading »

The 2013 Top 100 Prospects list, as determined by Baseball America's editors. [...] Continue Reading »

Baseball America's major league correspondents file 25 prospect reports a year, providing essential information on the up and coming players in every organization. Yet a steady flow of content on our site sometimes buries their Organization Reports at the foot of the mountain, beneath an avalanche of words.

To make sure you don't miss our midseason prospect reports, we're unveiling them 10 at a time this week—we've rolled out the East and the Central, and we're wrapping up with the West today. For each organization, we selected the best overall player (among those who have spent most of the season in the minors), the prospect who has taken the biggest leap forward, and the one who has been the biggest disappointment.

Our Organization Reports are a subscriber-only feature, so if you'd like to read them you can find your various subscription options here. But for everyone we present below a handy index to all nine of the reports from the West, with an overview of the category winners for Best Player, Biggest Leap Forward and Biggest Disappointment of the first half. The team name links you to the complete report, which includes an explanation of why each player won his respective category. You can find the overall Organization Reports index for 2012 here.

Baseball America's major league correspondents file 25 prospect reports a year, providing essential information on the up and coming players in every organization. Yet a steady flow of content on our site sometimes buries their Organization Reports at the foot of the mountain, beneath an avalanche of words.

To make sure you don't miss our midseason prospect reports, we're unveiling them 10 at a time this week—we started with the East organizations yesterday, have the Central today and will post the West on Thursday. For each organization, we selected the best overall player (among those who have spent most of the season in the minors), the prospect who has taken the biggest leap forward, and the one who has been the biggest disappointment.

Our Organization Reports are a subscriber-only feature, so if you'd like to read them you can find your various subscription options here. But for everyone we present below a handy index to all 11 of the reports from the Central, with an overview of the category winners for Best Player, Biggest Leap Forward and Biggest Disappointment of the first half. The team name links you to the complete report, which includes an explanation of why each player won his respective category. You can find the overall Organization Reports index for 2012 here.

Baseball America's major league correspondents file 25 prospect reports a year, providing essential information on the up and coming players in every organization. Yet a steady flow of content on our site sometimes buries their Organization Reports at the foot of the mountain, beneath an avalanche of words.

To make sure you don't miss our midseason prospect reports, we're unveiling them 10 at a time this week—the East organizations today, the Central tomorrow and the West on Thursday. For each organization, we selected the best overall player (among those who have spent most of the season in the minors), the prospect who has taken the biggest leap forward, and the one who has been the biggest disappointment.

Our Organization Reports are a subscriber-only feature, so if you'd like to read them you can find your various subscription options here. But for everyone we present below a handy index to all 10 of the reports from the East, with an overview of the category winners for Best Player, Biggest Leap Forward and Biggest Disappointment of the first half. The team name links you to the complete report, which includes an explanation of why each player won his respective category. You can find the overall Organization Reports index for 2012 here.

Baseball America's Midseason Top 50 Prospects list is one of our tougher rankings because it's a moving target. We considered adding 2012 draftees but didn't because the signing deadline still comes after the July 1 midpoint of the season. Prospects have to have (a) not used up their rookie eligibility and (b) be in the minor leagues on our July 1 cutoff date. That date kept the likes of Yasmani Grandal, Martin Perez and Drew Pomeranz off the list.

Subscribers can read further analysis of these players, as well as looks at breakout prospects of the first half, prospects who have disappointed and those who are stuck on the disabled list.

[...] Continue Reading »

Elsewhere today we're analyzing the Opening Day minor league rosters for all 30 organizations. From all 120 of those teams, however, which ones rank as the most talented at the start of the season? This is in no way a prediction of which teams will win minor league titles this year. Instead, it's a look at which teams feature the most prospect star power, with particular weight being given to elite Top 100 Prospects. All rankings listed are a player's ranking on our Top 100 Prospects list. So if you're planning a minor league trip, here are some good teams to put on your itinerary:

1. Double-A Jackson Generals (Southern League/Mariners)
No other team in the minors can boast four Top 100 Prospects. With RHP Taijuan Walker (No. 20) and LHPs Danny Hultzen (No. 21) and James Paxton (No. 52)—along with SS Nick Franklin (No. 77)—Jackson fans are sure to get an elite prospect on the mound three out of every five days. [...] Continue Reading »

Now that we've released the 2012 Top 100 Prospects list, we're also going to back and look at how the demographics of this year's list compare to past years. First up, a look at how the position breakdown compared to Top 100s over the past 10 years (from 2002-2012). [...] Continue Reading »

To get you ready for Tuesday’s release of Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list, we’re previewing this year’s deliberations and looking back at hits and misses from our 2007 list.

With all of Baseball America's League Top 20s now posted, let's tally up the results. The League Top 20 lists can be a good indicator of the strength of teams' systems. It isn't a perfect indicator because it includes some players who have since graduated as prospects and does not include this year's top draft picks that signed late.

The leagues aren't all equal, either. A player that narrowly missed the Eastern League list, for example, could very well be more valuable than a player that ranked in the second half of the Pioneer League Top 20. There are also rare instances when key players don't have enough innings or at-bats to qualify for a minor league Top 20 list.

Also note that, for this study, players are only listed once (even if they made two lists) and are listed with their current organizations. With all that said, let's look at the results. First, the raw totals. . .

But the raw tallies only tell part of the story. While they would look even based on this list, a team would much rather have a group of prospects in Triple-A and Double-A than a group of prospects at the Rookie-level. Here is how the teams stack up when only given credit for prospects in full-season leagues, not including players that graduated from Prospect Handbook eligibility this year (surpassed 130 at-bats as a hitter or 50 innings/30 appearances for a pitcher). . .

[...] Continue Reading »

Here's a listing of our midseason Top 50 prospects. Prospects have to have not used up their rookie eligibility or currently be in the big leagues to be eligible. Also, 2011 draftees are not yet eligible.
[...] Continue Reading »

All offseason, fans (and us BA writers) have wondered if the Royals would set the record for most prospects on the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects list. With nine among the Top 100 they have, but that may not fully explain how stacked this Royals list is.

Not every Top 100 Prospect is the same. A prospect in the top 10 is obviously much more likely to become a star than one sitting at No. 99. So to get a better sense of the best Top 100 classes of all-time, we derived a pretty simple formula–The No. 1 prospect received 100 points, the No. 2 prospect received 99 points and so on all the way down to the No. 100 prospect who received one point. At that point, we tabulated the highest point totals by team.

What we found is the 2011 Royals are the highest-ranked team of the Top 100 era, and it's not particularly close. The gap between the Royals and the third-place organization on our list is 102 points, which is more than the points awarded for having the No. 1 prospect on the list.

You could argue that the formula is a little too simplistic–prospects at the top of the list are significantly more valuable than prospects at the bottom of the list. No team would trade top prospect Bryce Harper for the No. 50 and 51 prospects on the list, but it is a nice and simple measure of the top prospect classes of all time, and tweaking the formula to add more weight to the top of the list would only add to the Royals point total, as they are the first team in Top 100 history with five prospects in the Top 20.

Here's a look at the Top 10 Top 100 classes of the past 22 years, with a look at which players panned out, playoff success and a summary of each team's class. [...] Continue Reading »

Astros righthander Vincent Velasquez, a second-round pick in June, had Tommy John surgery on Sept. 22 and will miss most or all of the 2011 season. Velasquez ranked just outside the top 10 in our recently-published prospect ranking for the Rookie-level Appalachian League.

The 18-year-old Velasquez, a product of Garey (Calif.) High, went 2-2, 3.07 in six starts and two relief appearances for Greeneville, showing fine control (1.5 walks per nine innings) of quality stuff (7.7 strikeouts per nine). He missed his final Appy League start when scar tissue broke loose from his previous elbow injury and caused discomfort.

Astros team physician Dr. Thomas Mehlhoff performed the surgery, and the club expects Velasquez to make a full recovery.

The Prospect Hot Sheet keeps getting better. Baseball America has partnered with FoxSports.com for a weekly video segment to go with the Hot Sheet, and this week J.J. Cooper checked in to discuss several of the players in contention for this week's Hot Sheet. [...] Continue Reading »

Our Midseason Top 25 Prospect Update is here, and subscribers get an extra blast with a stock report for players and organizations who have improved or fallen back so far this season. Here on the blog we present the Top 25, the 26-50 list presented alphabetically (not from 26-50), and welcome your comments.

Players eligible for our Midseason Top 25 are not in the majors as of July 4; retain rookie eligibility; and were drafted prior to 2010.

1. Domonic Brown, of, Phillies (Triple-A Lehigh Valley)
2. Mike Trout, of, Angels (Low Class A Cedar Rapids)
3. Desmond Jennings, of, Rays (Triple-A Durham)
4. Jeremy Hellickson, rhp, Rays (Triple-A Durham)
5. Jesus Montero, c/dh, Yankees (Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre)
6. Julio Teheran, rhp, Braves (High Class A Myrtle Beach)
7. Dustin Ackley, 2b, Mariners (Double-A West Tenn)
8. Martin Perez, lhp, Rangers (Double-A Frisco)
9. Aaron Hicks, of, Twins (Low Class A Beloit)
10. Zach Britton, lhp, Orioles (Triple-A Norfolk)
11. Michael Pineda, rhp, Mariners (Triple-A Tacoma)
12. Mike Moustakas, 3b, Royals (Double-A Northwest Arkansas)
13. Eric Hosmer, 1b, Royals (High Class A Wilmington
14. Aroldis Chapman, lhp, Reds (Triple-A Louisville)
15. Brett Lawrie, 2b, Brewers (Double-A Huntsville)
16. Logan Morrison, 1b, Marlins (Triple-A New Orleans)
17. Simon Castro, rhp, Padres (Double-A San Antonio)
18. Mike Montgomery, lhp, Royals (Double-A Northwest Arkansas).
19. Lonnie Chisenhall, 3b, Indians (Double-A Akron)
20. Freddie Freeman, 1b, Braves (Triple-A Gwinnett)
21. Tyler Matzek, lhp, Rockies (Low Class A Asheville)
22. Kyle Gibson, rhp, Twins (Double-A New Britain)
23. Kyle Drabek, rhp, Blue Jays (Double-A New Hampshire)
24. Casey Kelly, rhp, Red Sox (Double-A Portland)
25. Tanner Scheppers, rhp, Rangers (Triple-A Oklahoma City)

Prospects 26-50, in alphabetical order: Chris Carter, 1b, Athletics; Jared Cosart, rhp, Phillies; Travis d'Arnaud, c, Blue Jays; Randall Delgado, rhp, Braves; Christian Friedrich, lhp, Rockies; Dee Gordon, ss, Dodgers; Grant Green, ss, Athletics; Brett Jackson, of, Cubs; John Lamb, lhp, Royals; Jordan Lyles, rhp, Astros; Ethan Martin, rhp, Dodgers; Shelby Miller, rhp, Cardinals; Mike Minor, lhp, Braves; Wil Myers, c, Royals; Wilson Ramos, c, Twins; Austin Romine, c, Yankees; Wilin Rosario, c, Rockies; Tony Sanchez, c, Pirates; Jonathan Singleton, 1b, Phillies; Jacob Turner, rhp, Tigers; Arodys Vizcaino, rhp, Braves; Brett Wallace, 1b, Blue Jays; Zach Wheeler, rhp, Giants; Alex White, rhp, Indians; Chris Withrow, rhp, Dodgers.
 

Here is a look at where the 2010 Baseball America Top 100 Prospects are beginning the 2010 season. The assignments are gathered from the rosters submitted by teams to Major League Baseball Advanced Media and as such are tentative until the games begin on Thursday night. [...] Continue Reading »