Who are the top Yankee prospects in the farm system? Normally, I would provide a spring re-ranking around this time of the year. But let’s be honest: there’s not going to be much difference from my fall list. So, to keep things interesting, we here at TYA decided to do what we do best and give you a wide array of learned opinions. Matt, Michael, Brad, Alex, Domenic, Eric and I all ranked our top-20 Yankee prospects.
We’ll also be posting a round table discussion about various prospect questions throughout the week.
Below are those rankings, with the combined average ranking in the far-right column:
Some interesting contrasts:
- The Top-6 was pretty consistent, with all of Bichette, Williams, Sanchez, Banuelos, Betances, and Campos appearing in 6 of 7 ranking in one order or another. Brad was the only exception, and clearly is not a Bichette believer, ranking him 19th.
- Angelo Gumbs turned out to be a highly controversial prospect. He appeared in the top-12 on three rankings, including #8 in Domenic’s rankings, but did not appear at all on 3 of 7 rankings.
- You’ve got a pretty even split between 9 pitchers and 11 hitters. Every pitcher is currently a starter, although only one, Manuel Banuelos, throws left-handed.
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13 Responses to TYA 2012 Combined Top-20 Yankee Prospects
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What is the “Average” supposed to represent? It seems odd that Murphy wouldn’t have made the “Average” list as he is top 10 on every ballot. I’m surprised that Banuelos always seems to be the unanimous #1 pick. He probably should be the consensus #1 but there are guys with higher ceilings in the system and I’m surprised that no one ever puts Betances or Sanchez above him.
I imagine that was a mistake, I’ll check with EJ. The average list should be the average of the rankings from everybody on each prospect.
As for Betances/Sanchez over Banuelos, I agree that they do have higher ceiling. However, I think Manny’s ceiling is still pretty high, and his floor is much higher. Both Betances and Sanchez have substantial warts that prevent them from being true top tier guys at this point, whereas there are fewer concerns about Banuelos.
I knew I missed something somewhere! Did this all on a piece of paper. I’ll correct it when I get home. Thanks for catching it.
Romine above Sanchez? What is the criteria for this Brad? Is it based on floor or ceiling? No way you can rationally say Romine has more potential than Sanchez, but I do think Romine is more likely to end up as a 10 year back up than Sanchez being a 10 year starter.
I’m sure the player’s estimated time of arrive in MLB had a lot to do with things, specifically Romine over Sanchez. And it’s something that should definitely be a part of prospect rankings. How much so is up for debate.
That’s exactly right, Bryan. I lean a lot more towards the date of arrival/MLB-ready side of prospect ranking than ceiling and potential. To me, a guy who has been promoted through the system and gotten himself closer to the show, even if it’s as a backup, should be given more consideration in the rankings than a guy with one full season under his belt.
Do I think that Romine is going to become a better player than Sanchez? Absolutely not. But there are still enough reports out there that peg Romine as capable of being a starter at the Major League level, and I believe that holds a lot more value to a team than a player who is still years away and has a lot to work on.
Date of arrival is important and is often overlooked by most of these rankings it seems like. I still think that you are putting way too much value in it here, though. Preferring 1 player that is ready now to 1 player that you believe is absolutely going to be better, but is 3 years behind him is a bit crazy unless there is some extreme team specific need. This is the minor league version of Steinbrenner’s team running strategy.
If it’s more a matter of preferring a high floor to a high a ceiling then I think you have to look at moving Betances down and Williams up. Williams and Romine have similar floors due to their defense. If I’m picking one player in that top 5 that has accrued the least MLB service time 15 years from now, I think Betances is the easy pick, right?
All I’m going to say is “Really Brad?”
Really.
What’s most offensive to you? Romine over Sanchez, Segedin at 17, or Bichette at 19?
I’m not going to say I agree with Brad’s list, but if you take a look at it, it does follow an internal logic. Brad consistently favors closer-to-mlb prospects over others. He rated Romine, Laird, D. Mitchell, Joseph, and Phelps higher than anyone else.
There is definitely a sound argument out there for following that philosophy. Low-level prospects are serious gambles sometimes.
As someone who doesn’t take prospects seriously until they reach double A, I am fully on board with Brad’s approach. It may be less exciting, but it really avoids the internet-driven prospect hype machine.
But part of ranking and “scouting” prospects is to be able to predict what they will become. I do understand wanting to put higher floor guys further up the list, but I don’t agree with flat out going higher level in the minors. I agree too many people disregard being closer to the majors or more major league ready, this is the other extreme to me. There needs to be some kind of middle ground.
Can you really come to that conclusion, looking at Brad’s list? It’s not like he ranked Gary Sanchez 10th. He showed a lot of faith in Mason Williams and Jose Campos as well. I think he took a middle ground.