There are a couple of different ranking systems when it comes to baseball prospect list. Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus are both notable and respected, but MLB Pipeline is the most popular one because it is free and attached to the MLB website.
Both BA and BP have come out with their Top 100 Minor League Prospects list for 2019. In both of those publications, Leody Taveras was replaced this year as the Rangers top farm hand. MLB Pipeline came out with their Top 100 prospects list yesterday. Along with the other two prospect ranking services, they also replaced Taveras this year.
MLP Pipeline’s Top 30 prospects list for each team doesn’t officially come out until February, but Taveras has always been the highest ranked Rangers player in the top 100 list. That would also put him as the top Texas prospect, in the top 30 list for each team.
Things have drastically changed going into 2019. Unlike 2017 and 2018, the top ranked Ranger prospect in the 2019 Top 100 list is Hans Crouse. This means that when the top 30 list comes out next month, Crouse will officially be named the Rangers top prospect. But that isn’t the only surprising news.
Taveras has fallen out of the top 100 list and two other names have passed him. The only other 100 prospects the Rangers had were Julio Pablo Martinez and Cole Winn. That means Taveras will be ranked the fourth best Texas prospect at best. That’s if he has held off Bubba Thompson and Anderson Tejada who both had fantastic years, and have risen in the rankings.
This doesn’t mean Taveras is a failure and can’t regain his status. He has always been the youngest player in the league he was playing in, but he has seemed over matched at times. He most likely will be back at Down East to start the season. He is a potential star. Let’s hope he figures things out and gets rolling. We have to remember that he is still only 20 years old.
Congratulations to Hans Crouse! The new Texas Rangers #1 prospect. He debuted with Spokane last year and ended the season with the Hickory Crawdads. He has the stuff of a #1 starter, and could be Texas’ only true potential ace in the system, but Winn hasn’t made his pro debut yet. He stayed in Arizona last year, for the new pitching program for high school kids.
This is a great year to keep up with the minor league system. I will be writing updates every week, all season, on which prospects are performing and which aren’t.
Pitchers and catchers report to Arizona in a little over two weeks. Its almost times folks.
Feature Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images
