On the heels of another mystifying loss—this time to the Chicago Cubs—it may be satisfying to take another reassuring gaze at our prospect hoard. Thankfully, Baseball America has updated their top 100 prospect list once again this afternoon, with a few notable changes to their rankings.
Friar Representation
The Padres landed 7 players on BA’s latest list.
- (4) MacKenzie Gore
- (29) Luis Urias
- (35) Luis Patiño
- (46) Adrian Morejon
- (50) C.J. Abrams
- (87) Josh Naylor
- (88) Logan Allen
A few of these guys saw drops in the rankings, including Naylor and Allen—although I am always skeptical of how guys seem to drop in “prospect” rankings once they’ve had a few tough weeks in the big leagues.
Resultant Anxiety?
The Tampa Bay Rays placed 9 prospects on this list, which might foreshadow our farm system taking a bit of a hit with the promotion of some of our prized jewels. However, there is may be cause for concern here.
- Ryan Weathers was dropped from the list entirely after sitting at #70. Weathers has dealt with some “dead arm” this season, and, for a short while, was only throwing 2-3 innings per appearance. He has recently ramped back up to the 4-6 inning range, but apparently some evaluators aren’t overly impressed with his 3.36 ERA.
- There are several other prospects who are absent who were previously featured on the BA list or other top 100 lists. Michel Baez has converted into a relief role; Hudson Potts has had a horrible time with AA pitching; Cal Quantrill isn’t featured, despite performing well enough in his first 47 MLB IP.
- The only “new” inclusion is the just-drafted Abrams. Other long-simmering players like Esteury Ruiz, Gabriel Arias, and Reggie Lawson have failed to take steps forward this year. One of the brighter spots of this year’s farm crop, Joey Cantillo, has yet to really earn widespread respect around the game.
What do you make of these rankings? Is the hot-talent lava profusion starting to level off?