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Atlanta Braves Put 6 on New BaseballAmerica Top 100

By Alan Carpenter |

It’s all about the farm system right now for the Atlanta Braves, and BaseballAmerica is confirming this… while still leaving off several candidates.

Baseball America’s mid-season Top 100 prospects update is out this morning, and while it is exciting that there are six Braves’ names on it, the most exciting part may be those that are missing.

But first, let’s get to the list:

So Who Isn’t Here?

The stated purpose for this list involves allowing comparisons between prospects that might be traded before the August non-waiver trade deadline.  So none of the recent draftees, nor any of the International signees are included.

That said, comments made on their site last week seem to suggest that only one Latin signee for any club – Kevin Maitan – would crack this list today (somewhere around the 90 rank).

So Ian Anderson doesn’t make the list yet. Joey Wentz doesn’t, Kyle Muller doesn’t (unclear how many would have anyway, but all draftees are excluded for now).

OTHERS LEFT OFF:

More from Tomahawk Take

  • Aaron Blair.  4th in the MLBPipeline rankings, Blair’s struggles at the major league level are well known; but he has 50.2 ML innings, which excludes him from further consideration on their list regardless.  Blair was 60th on their previous list.
  • Tyrell Jenkins.  7th at MLBPipeline, he still qualifies for BA’s list, though missed the cut.
  • Max Fried.  9th at MLBPipeline, though this omission does surprise me a bit.  He’s certainly shown that he’s back from TJ surgery and pitching well at Rome (80 IP, 3.59 ERA with 9 K/9).  Walks are a little high at 4.37, but that should come.
  • Mike Soroka.  A “sleeper” at #15 on MLBPipeline, Soroka is showing outstanding command (2.17 BB/9) and getting hitters out consistently (2.93 ERA, 8.5 K/9) in 83 innings at Rome.

The Rest of the List

  • Yoan Moncada is #1.  No surprise there.  The Red Sox placed both he, OF Andrew Benintendi (#9), and Andreson Espinoza (#15) in the Top 20.  They have 5 Top 100 prospects overall.
  • The Nationals placed 4 in the list, led by Lucas Giolito (4), Trea Turner (5), and Victor Robles (13).
  • Despite a suspension, Alex Reyes of the Cardinals is back and sitting at #2.  They have 4 players in the list overall.
  • Like the Braves, the Pirates placed 6 in the Top 100.  Tyler Glasnow (6) and Austin Meadows (10) lead the way.  Josh Bell is #38, plus they hold the 51st, 52nd, and 72nd slots.
  • Cleveland appears to have the highest team representation with 7, grabbing slots 21, 26, 59, 64, 69, 70, and 71.
  • Philadelphia has 6 representatives, with #3 J.P. Crawford at the top of their group.
  • So do the Dodgers.  They’ve had some “graduations”, but more are in the pipe.
  • The Astros also have 6… Alex Bregman at #8 is their best.
  • Colorado has five players represented.

So that accounts for 55 of the Top 100 players – just among these ten clubs named, leaving 45 for the remaining 20 teams.

That’s pretty remarkable, given that each team should have 3 or 4 players… if all things were equal.

Among the “not so equal” parts..

  • Mets – 2 players.  #18 and #76.
  • White Sox – 1 player, ranked #73.
  • Orioles – 1 player, ranked #85.
  • Marlins – 1 player… ranked #100.
  • No Angels.  No Tigers.  Nobody.   Wow.

Teams on this chart will struggle mightily to make any “impact” trades.

It might be a bit surprising to see the Padres with just 3 Top 100 players after the much ballyhooed trade with the Red Sox that sent Craig Kimbrel to Boston… and one of the prospects San Diego obtained in that deal is apparently ranked as a mere courtesy after a “disaster” season this year.  Perhaps that was not quite as lucrative a deal as originally believed.

Next: A Late-Night Scrum

All that said:  it’s an excellent list for the Braves and is showing the progress the organization has made over the past 20 months or so.

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