It's a little late this year, but I'm going to be running down my top 40 Reds prospects this week. Here's what the schedule will look like:
Today: Thoughts on coming up with the list
Tuesday: 31-40
Wednesday: 21-30
Thursday: 11-20
Friday: 1-10
As you can probably imagine, it's a little tough coming up with 40 Reds minor leaguers worthy of being on such a list, what with the poor system that the Reds currently have. But I shall try. Here are a few things that I look at when coming up with the list:
- Age/level This one is fairly obvious, but a 24 year old playing out of this world really isn't all that impressive if he's in high-A or AA. A 20 year old playing at an average level at AAA is way more impressive than a 25 year old putting up great numbers at the AA level.
- Position A starting pitcher is worth more than a reliever. A shortstop is worth more than an outfielder. And so on. However, this really only comes into play with guys who put up fairly similar numbers. If Player A puts up slightly inferior numbers (with relatively same age/level) to Player B, but Player A is a shortstop while Player B is an outfielder then Player A is going to be ranked higher.
- Defense I'm absolutely willing to admit that I'm flying blind when it comes to defense, so I try to find comments on defensive ability on the internet when possible.
- Ceiling I'm less worried about a player's ceiling than other prospect rankers. I'm more concerned with what a player has actually done in the minor leagues than I am with what he might do when he finally puts all his tools together (if he ever does).