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Red Reporter Top 40 Reds Prospects

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).
So there you have it.  Things will get started for real tomorrow.

Last year's list