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January 27, 2014 Prospects Will Break Your HeartTop 101 ProspectsPrevious Rankings: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 2014 Top 101 Prospects Breakdown by Position, Organization, Age, and Tools: Link Chat with Jason Parks About the Top 101 (1:00 PM ET) | Read the list with full commentary in Baseball Prospectus 2014 With a successful debut season notched on our collective belts, the Baseball Prospectus Prospect Staff entered the offseason rankings process with the arrogance of kings and virility of after-hours thespians; that is, until we started our first prospect debates and discussions and realized the enormity of the task at hand and responsibilities on our plate to produce at the highest possible level. Our process has been detailed several times on this site and is as vital to the finished product as the physical characteristics of the players we evaluate. Our prospect-based Socratic method is the tool that sculpts our results, a lengthy internal debate that weighs the merits and tool-based misfortunes of those we are tasked with studying and sorting. The names are chiseled down into an appealing form, and then outside-the-organization sources are brought into the mix, where their opinions and reports are added to the representational body. Only after the fact are the relevant teams contacted for their thoughts on the list; an opportunity to extract developmental progressions and check the accuracy of the tool-based grades. The finished product is a combination of art and science, a fluid and evolving subject matter that is captured and frozen in the snapshot of a given moment and put on display. The process for the individual team lists is the same process used to compile the Baseball Prospectus 101, a team of hands shaping a work that I am fortunate enough to put my name on. While I get to reap the rewards of all the hard work, the wealth of scouting talent I get to feed from deserves due credit, and before we get to the meat of the meal, I’d like to shine some light on those who often live in the shadows. From the original prospect team assembled before the ink on Kevin Goldstein’s Astros contract was dry, Nick J. Faleris, Mark Anderson, and Chris Mellen. Their voices carry substantial weight, and when their fingerprints are found on the work, the finished product is significantly better as a result. Over the last year, the prospect staff has grown, and it will continue to grow as long as teams like the Rays, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks don't stop hiring away our evaluators. We’ve added Jeff Moore, a former college coach who has taken over the Minor League Update and produces quality work for the site on a daily basis. We’ve added several new interns to our already strong stable of up-and-coming young talent, including Ryan Parker and Steffan Segui, two sharp talent evaluators who will eventually make some team stronger when they are hired on as scouts. But please don’t hire them yet. Finally, our relationship with Perfect Game grants us an invaluable resource when it comes to the evaluation of prospects, as they can provide us with glimpses of what the applicable player looked like before entering the professional fold, the genesis of the developmental process and skeleton of the prospect profile. Simply put, all the personnel involved elevate the product to a level it would fail to achieve without their influence. We don’t always [read: often] agree, and consensus isn’t the goal. But the information tug-of-war we engage in creates the necessary tension to support the decisions we make and players we choose to stand behind. The following is a byproduct of that collective scouting tension: The Baseball Prospectus 101.
1. Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins
2. Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston Red Sox
3. Oscar Taveras, OF, St. Louis Cardinals
4. Javier Baez, SS, Chicago Cubs
5. Carlos Correa, SS, Houston Astros
6. Francisco Lindor, SS, Cleveland Indians
7. Addison Russell, SS, Oakland Athletics
8. Taijuan Walker, RHP, Seattle Mariners
9. Archie Bradley, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks
10. Kevin Gausman, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
11. Noah Syndergaard, RHP, New York Mets
12. Yordano Ventura, RHP, Kansas City Royals
13. Lucas Giolito, RHP, Washington Nationals
14. Miguel Sano, 3B, Minnesota Twins
15. Dylan Bundy, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
16. Jonathan Gray, RHP, Colorado Rockies
17. Kris Bryant, 3B, Chicago Cubs
18. Austin Hedges, C, San Diego Padres
19. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
20. George Springer, OF, Houston Astros
21. Mark Appel, RHP, Houston Astros
22. Robert Stephenson, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
23. Jackie Bradley, CF, Boston Red Sox
24. Gregory Polanco, CF, Pittsburgh Pirates
25. Albert Almora, CF, Chicago Cubs
26. Eddie Butler, RHP, Colorado Rockies
27. Marcus Stroman, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
28. Chris Owings, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks
29. Raul Mondesi, SS, Kansas City Royals
30. Andrew Heaney, LHP, Miami Marlins
31. Aaron Sanchez, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
32. Alex Meyer, RHP, Minnesota Twins
33. Kolten Wong, 2B, St. Louis Cardinals
34. Kyle Zimmer, RHP, Kansas City Royals
35. Julio Urias, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
36. Clint Frazier, CF, Cleveland Indians
37. Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit Tigers
38. Kyle Crick, RHP, San Francisco Giants
39. Rougned Odor, 2B, Texas Rangers
40. Lucas Sims, RHP, Atlanta Braves
41. Jorge Alfaro, C, Texas Rangers
42. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
43. Mike Foltynewicz, RHP, Houston Astros
44. Corey Seager, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers
45. Jorge Soler, RF, Chicago Cubs
46. Miguel Almonte, RHP, Kansas City Royals
47. Matt Wisler, RHP, San Diego Padres
48. Travis d’Arnaud, C, New York Mets
49. Billy Hamilton, CF, Cincinnati Reds
50. Joc Pederson, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
51. Garin Cecchini, 3B, Boston Red Sox
52. Maikel Franco, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies
53. A.J. Cole, RHP, Washington Nationals
54. Kohl Stewart, RHP, Minnesota Twins
55. Max Fried, LHP, San Diego Padres
56. Josmil Pinto, C, Minnesota Twins 57. Jonathan Singleton, 1B, Houston Astros
58. Hunter Harvey, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
59. Reese McGuire, C, Pittsburgh Pirates
60. Eddie Rosario, 2B, Minnesota Twins
61. Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP, Baltimore Orioles
62. Braden Shipley, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks
63. Phillip Ervin, OF, Cincinnati Reds
64. Matt Barnes, RHP, Boston Red Sox
65. D.J. Peterson, 3B, Seattle Mariners
66. Stephen Piscotty, OF, St. Louis Cardinals
67. Erik Johnson, RHP, Chicago White Sox
68. James Paxton, LHP, Seattle Mariners
69. Henry Owens, LHP, Boston Red Sox
70. Chi Chi Gonzalez, RHP, Texas Rangers
71. Wilmer Flores, 2B/3B, New York Mets
72. Luis Sardinas, SS, Texas Rangers
73. Blake Swihart, C, Boston Red Sox 74. Colin Moran, 3B, Miami Marlins
75. Jose Berrios, RHP, Minnesota Twins
76. Alberto Tirado, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
77. Josh Bell, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
78. Sean Manaea, LHP, Kansas City Royals
79. Michael Choice, OF, Texas Rangers
80. Nick Kingham, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
81. C.J. Edwards, RHP, Chicago Cubs
82. Jonathan Schoop, 2B, Baltimore Orioles
83. Arismendy Alcantara, 2B, Chicago Cubs
84. Zach Lee, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
85. Gary Sanchez, C, New York Yankees
86. Brian Goodwin, OF, Washington Nationals
87. Christian Bethancourt, C, Atlanta Braves
88. Nick Williams, OF, Texas Rangers
89. Austin Meadows, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
90. Enny Romero, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays
91. Pierce Johnson, RHP, Chicago Cubs
92. Jake Odorizzi, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
93. Matt Davidson, 3B, Chicago White Sox
94. Jesse Biddle, LHP, Philadelphia Phillies
95. Joey Gallo, 3B, Texas Rangers
96. Hunter Dozier, SS, Kansas City Royals
97. Raimel Tapia, OF, Colorado Rockies
98. Alexander Reyes, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals
99. Jorge Bonifacio, OF, Kansas City Royals
100. David Dahl, OF, Colorado Rockies
101. Lewis Thorpe, LHP, Minnesota Twins
Jason Parks is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @ProfessorParks
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