It's over. After 19 regular season Prospect Hot Sheets, it's time to wrap up another season. We picked 20 prospects who we felt stood out from the crowd this season. It was extremely hard to narrow this list down to 20—in fact, we could have written 40 prospects up just as easily. As we did during the season, this list is a combination of prospect status and performance.
As the minor league season winds down, we pause to honor Rays' Triple-A center fielder Desmond Jennings and his record-setting 7-for-7 night.
We may not have a prospect having a dominant season along the lines of Matt Wieters, 2008, but this week's Hot Sheet shows how the 2009 season has featured a mix of breakouts and continued performance by prospects. At the top, there's power prospect Carlos Peguero and pop-up prospect Kirk Nieuwenhuis, while not far behind you can find an 18-year-old pitching in Double-A and a 2009 first-round pick. And it seems like it wouldn't be a Hot Sheet without a Thomas Neal sighting.
J.J. Cooper answered questions on Aug. 21.
It's late August, but prospects can still surprise us. If you're not a Mets fan, you may not know much about Kirk Nieuwenhuis, but he made a very good case for No. 1 on this week's Hot Sheet. Here he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Brett Wallace.
Matt Eddy fielded prospect questions in a Friday chat.
Because of the signing deadline, a majority of this year's first-round picks are still unsigned. That's not a problem for the Pirates' Tony Sanchez, however. The fourth overall pick has been hitting since the moment he signed on June 12.
We're heading into the home stretch of the 2009 minor league season, the time of year where many younger players begin to realize just how long a 140-game season is. For many players, it's when a solid ERA or a good OPS start to suffer. But that's not true for everyone, as this week's Prospect Hot Sheet shows.
Christian Friedrich has made the jump to high Class A look easy.
Sometimes it's worth remembering that one bad year does not mean a player is no longer a prospect. There are few better examples of that than this week's No. 1 Brandon Allen. Back in 2006, Allen his .213/.257/.380 for low Class A Kannapolis. As a first baseman who's best fit may be as a DH, that would seem to be a death sentence. Instead, here he is three years later on the cusp of the big leagues and at the top of this week's Prospect Hot Sheet.
Matt Eddy answered questions in our weekly chat centered around the latest Prospect Hot Sheet.
The Futures Game as well as the Triple-A, Eastern and Southern league all-star games cut into our player pool for this week's Hot Sheet. No big deal. We managed to find plenty of worth candidates from among the leftovers.
It's unfortunate that only one prospect can rank No. 1 on the Hot Sheet, because this week two players are worthy of the honor. Choosing between Brian Matusz and Derek Norris was nearly impossible, but know that both are coming off of amazing weeks.
Matt Eddy answered your prospect questions in conjunction with the weekly Prospect Hot Sheet.
Nick Weglarz shoots to the top of this week's Prospect Hot Sheet after terrorizing Double-A Eastern League pitchers.
Gio Gonzalez leads off this week's Prospect Hot Sheet.
With the 2009 draft in the rear-view mirror, it's a good time to look back at the 2008 draft with a special edition of the Prospect Hot Sheet.
Matt Eddy and J.J. Cooper answered your prospect questions.
Back when Mat Latos was piling up scoreless innings and striking out batter after batter in the Midwest League, it was fair to ask how much of his success was based on a more savvy 21-year-old facing teenage hitters. Wonder no more. Latos has earned the top spot on this week's Hot Sheet with a convincing run of terror through the Texas League.
Jesus Montero leads off this week's Prospect Hot Sheet survey of the hottest prospects in baseball.
Baseball America