Collette Calls: Reviewing Top 100 Prospects

Before moving forward with the next set of prospect rankings, I think it is a good idea to look back at 2011 and the four rankings that were done throughout the season. An end of season top-100 prospect list will be forthcoming after I make my trip out to the Arizona Fall League in early November because that trip will give me a chance to see more of these guys in live action as well as talk to some of the scouting types that are there who have been watching the players while in the AFL. Moving forward, we will likely be doing just a pre-, mid-, and post-season list because monthly rankings go against the same small sample size behaviors that Jeff, Derek, Dalton, Peter and others preach against throughout the regular season. Monthly rankings can be a bit reactionary by nature and sometimes when I give a guy a shot of helium, it is with the intent to get your attention focused on that player before your leaguemates are. On the other edge of that sword is that some deserving candidates get left off the list while I give others a chance to fail.

It is not an exact science, but where a prospect ranks should be lowest on your list as you are preparing your dynasty lists because skills and opportunity are the name of the game when it comes to prospects in fantasy baseball. Rankings are cute when it comes to trade talks or chatter, but results and opportunity are the name of the game in fantasy baseball. Having multiple highly-ranked prospects are great, but having prospects that produce within a season is free money because you have them on your reserves before your leaguemates get a chance to FAAB them to add to their own roster.

149 different prospects appeared in the four rankings during the 2011 season. By position, the breakdown was:

1B: 11
2B: 7
SS: 15
3B: 12
OF: 30
C: 11
P: 63

The lack of infield prospects, particularly up the middle, should make you pause when considering giving up prospects in a trade this offseason. In keeper leagues, having these prospects as free keepers is what allows you to take a $1 risk on a guy because you know that your rookie keeper is likely coming up in June. This is no different than what the Indians did this season when they signed Orlando Cabrera as a stopgap until Jason Kipnis was ready.

60 different prospects appeared on each of the four updates to John Sickels' original 2011 list while 89 players either came off the Top-100 list due to in-season promotions to the major leagues, major injuries, or severe production degradation. Injuries or ineffectiveness led to 84 different players moving out of the rankings and receiving a not-ranked (NR) status in either June, July, or August.

The overall Top 100 Rankings Matrix for the season is below:

POS	PLAYER	ORG	Average	May	June	July	August
OF	Bryce Harper	WAS	1	1	1	1	1
OF	Mike Trout	LAA	2	2	2	2	MLB
P	Matt Moore	TB	4	7	3	2	2
3B	Mike Moustakas	KC	4	4	MLB	MLB	MLB
P	Shelby Miller	STL	5	9	4	3	3
1B	Eric Hosmer	KC	5	5	MLB	MLB	MLB
P	Julio Teheran	ATL	6	6	6	6	5
SS	Manny Machado	BAL	6	10	5	5	4
C	Jesus Montero	NYY	7	3	12	7	6
OF	Desmond Jennings	TB	9	11	8	8	MLB
2B	Brett Lawrie	TOR	10	18	7	4	MLB
2B	Dustin Ackley	SEA	11	12	9	MLB	MLB
P	Manny Banuelos	NYY	12	15	10	14	9
OF	Wil Myers	KC	13	8	13	15	16
3B	Lonnie Chisenhall	CLE	14	13	14	MLB	MLB
2B	Jason Kipnis	CLE	14	16	16	10	MLB
P	Drew Pomeranz	CLE	15	21	11	9	18
C	Devin Mesoraco	CIN	15	28	15	11	7
P	Jacob Turner	DET	16	14	18	16	MLB
P	Jameson Taillon	PIT	18	20	20	20	13
P	Martin Perez	TEX	19	26	19	13	17
P	John Lamb	KC	19	19	NR	NR	NR
OF	Brett Jackson	CHC	20	27	22	21	10
P	Jake Odorizzi	KC	20	44	17	12	8
P	Delin Betances	NYY	22	30	23	22	14
P	Danny Duffy	KC	24	24	MLB	MLB	MLB
P	Tyler Matzek	COL	25	25	NR	NR	NR
P	Casey Kelly	SD	26	37	23	23	22
P	Zach Wheeler	SF	26	38	24	24	19
P	James Paxton	SEA	27	NR	NR	39	15
P	Randall Delgado	ATL	29	40	27	27	20
P	Arodys Vizcaino	ATL	31	57	34	19	12
SS	Jurickson Profar	TEX	33	64	38	17	11
P	Mike Montgomery	KC	35	17	30	51	41
P	Robbie Erlin	TEX	36	55	33	31	25
P	Zach Lee	LAD	36	51	35	32	26
1B	Yonder Alonso	CIN	37	49	32	29	MLB
P	Jarrod Parker	ARI	38	23	47	45	37
1B	Paul Goldschmidt	ARI	39	NR	52	26	MLB
P	Deck McGuire	TOR	39	61	36	33	27
P	Jarred Cosart	PHI	41	78	44	18	23
3B	Jed Gyorko	SD	41	NR	57	37	29
P	Carlos Martinez	STL	41	NR	NR	49	33
OF	Aaron Hicks	MIN	42	39	26	47	55
P	Alex Colome	TB	42	62	37	34	35
P	Jordan Lyles	HOU	42	42	MLB	MLB	MLB
2B	Billy Hamilton	CIN	43	36	28	57	51
OF	Ben Revere	MIN	43	43	MLB	MLB	MLB
OF	Tim Wheeler	COL	44	NR	55	43	34
P	Neil Ramirez	TEX	45	NR	54	44	36
1B	Anthony Rizzo	SD	45	45	MLB	MLB	MLB
C	Wilin Rosario	COL	45	22	61	55	43
P	Matt Harvey	NYM	46	73	41	38	30
SS	Hak-Ju Lee	TB	46	86	49	28	21
SS	Nick Franklin	SEA	47	29	31	68	60
P	Kyle Gibson	MIN	47	41	25	25	98
2B	Jose Altuve	HOU	48	NR	53	42	MLB
C	Derek Norris	WAS	48	32	29	58	71
P	Wily Peralta	MIL	48	NR	NR	NR	48
P	Anthony Ranaudo	BOS	48	69	39	35	50
P	Tyler Skaggs	ARI	49	79	45	40	31
OF	Trayvon Robinson	LAD	49	71	40	36	MLB
3B	James Darnell	SD	51	97	51	30	24
OF	Rey Fuentes	SD	51	84	46	41	32
P	Brody Colvin	PHI	52	50	59	53	45
3B	Nick Castellanos	DET	53	67	56	48	39
P	Trevor May	PHI	53	NR	67	65	28
SS	Jose Iglesias	BOS	54	54	NR	NR	NR
P	Liam Hendriks	MIN	54	85	48	46	38
C	Yasmani Grandal	CIN	54	52	63	56	46
1B	Chris Carter	OAK	55	31	66	64	57
3B	Zack Cox	STL	58	74	42	62	52
P	Erik Surkamp	SF	59	NR	60	54	63
OF	Jaff Decker	SD	59	76	43	63	54
P	Joe Wieland	SD	59	NR	NR	71	47
OF	Engel Beltre	TEX	59	59	NR	NR	NR
SS	Jonathan Villar	HOU	60	94	50	52	44
P	Stetson Allie	PIT	60	58	64	59	NR
P	Brad Peacock	WAS	61	NR	94	50	40
P	Trey McNutt	CHC	64	63	58	70	NR
OF	Joe Benson	MIN	64	NR	69	66	58
C	Travis D'Arnaud	TOR	65	NR	76	76	42
C	Gary Sanchez	NYY	65	65	NR	NR	NR
P	Simon Castro	SD	66	66	NR	NR	NR
OF	Michael Choice	OAK	66	46	81	74	64
C	Tony Sanchez	PIT	67	70	70	67	59
P	Tyler Thornburg	MIL	68	NR	NR	73	62
P	Jason Knapp	CLE	68	87	49	NR	NR
P	Taijuan Walker	SEA	69	NR	NR	NR	69
SS	Grant Green	OAK	70	34	84	85	77
3B	Matt Dominguez	FLA	70	80	71	69	61
OF	Brandon Guyer	TB	71	99	73	61	49
1B	Jonathan Singleton	PHI	71	35	80	97	70
2B	Jean Segura	LAA	71	33	65	100	84
OF	Oswaldo Arcia	MIN	71	91	78	60	56
P	Alex Torres	TB	71	48	82	80	75
SS	Dee Gordon	LAD	72	72	NR	NR	NR
OF	Leonys Martin	TEX	73	NR	NR	78	67
OF	Dayan Viciedo	CHW	73	NR	79	75	65
1B	Matt Adams	STL	73	NR	95	72	53
3B	Miguel Sano	MIN	74	53	72	93	79
SS	Zach Cozart	CIN	76	90	62	MLB	MLB
3B	Nolan Arenado	COL	77	88	77	77	66
P	Chris Dwyer	KC	77	47	85	99	NR
2B	Delino DeShields	HOU	77	77	NR	NR	NR
SS	Jonathan Schoop	BAL	78	NR	NR	82	73
P	Chris Archer	TB	78	60	68	92	92
P	Alex White	COL	79	NR	NR	83	74
SS	Tim Beckham	TB	79	NR	83	81	72
P	Tanner Scheppers	TEX	79	56	90	91	NR
SS	Christian Colon	KC	80	68	86	88	78
P	Christian Friedrich	COL	81	89	74	79	NR
OF	Colin Cowgill	ARI	81	NR	75	87	MLB
OF	Cesar Puello	NYM	81	81	NR	NR	NR
P	Andy Oliver	DET	82	82	MLB	MLB	MLB
C	Ryan Lavarnway	BOS	82	NR	93	86	68
OF	Charlie Blackmon	COL	83	83	MLB	MLB	MLB
OF	Gary Brown	SF	83	NR	NR	NR	83
P	Edwar Cabrera	COL	84	NR	92	84	76
SS	Wilmer Flores	NYM	84	75	88	89	NR
OF	Starling Marte	PIT	85	NR	NR	NR	85
3B	Vince Catricala	SEA	86	NR	NR	NR	86
C	Sebastian Valle	PHI	87	NR	NR	94	80
SS	Chase D'Arnaud	PIT	87	NR	87	NR	MLB
P	Addison Reed	CHA	87	NR	NR	NR	87
OF	Anthony Gose	TOR	88	NR	NR	95	81
OF	Corey Dickerson	COL	88	NR	NR	NR	88
OF	Matt Szczur	CHC	89	NR	NR	96	82
OF	Bryce Brentz	BOS	89	NR	NR	NR	89
P	Nathan Eovaldi	LAD	90	NR	NR	90	MLB
3B	Will Middlebrooks	BOS	90	NR	NR	NR	90
P	David Phelps	NYY	91	NR	91	NR	NR
P	Allen Webster	LAD	91	NR	NR	NR	91
P	Rubby De La Rosa	LAD	92	92	MLB	MLB	MLB
P	Chad James	FLA	92	95	89	NR	NR
C	Wilson Ramos	WAS	93	93	MLB	MLB	MLB
OF	L.J. Hoes	BAL	93	NR	NR	NR	93
1B	C.J. Cron	LAA	94	NR	NR	NR	94
1B	Neftali Soto	CIN	95	NR	NR	NR	95
OF	Chih-Hsien Chiang	SEA	96	NR	NR	NR	96
P	Mauricio Robles	SEA	96	96	NR	NR	NR
3B	Taylor Green	MIL	97	NR	NR	NR	97
1B	Tyler Moore	WAS	98	NR	97	98	NR
SS	Matt Lipka	ATL	98	100	96	NR	NR
P	Kyle McPherson	PIT	98	NR	98	NR	NR
P	Andrew Brackman	NYY	98	98	NR	NR	NR
OF	Robbie Grossman	PIT	99	NR	NR	NR	99
1B	Clint Robinson	KC	100	NR	99	NR	100
P	Jose Ceda	FLA	100	NR	100	NR	NR