19 December 2007

Top Prospect Alert, a smaller prospect site, released their 2008 Braves top ten prospect list recently. The list certainly has a different take on Atlanta's farm system to say the least so I decided to give my take on the unique perspective. Here is the list:

1. LF Brandon Jones 2. CF Jordan Schafer 3. RHP Jair Jurrjens 4. RF Jason Heyward 5. CF Gorkys Hernandez 6. RHP Tommy Hanson 7. SS Brent Lillibridge 8. SS Diory Hernandez 9. LHP Cole Rohrbough 10. LHP Jeff Locke

The first thing that jumps out at me is Diory Hernandez making the list at eight. He is largely considered to have a future off the bench so his inclusion really headlines a trend that I see of minor league production being the only basis without any attention paid to projection, scouting reports, etc. Obviously, there are a couple other surprises in store as well. Brandon Jones at number one (he didn't even make our top five), and Jurrjens ahead of Heyward. Just like with Hernandez, this seems to be a case of not really paying attention to any factors aside from minor league production. The one thing I generally agree with is the placement of pitchers. Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson arguably could have gone down one or two spots but that is really nitpicking. I like the two high-potential lefties in Rohrbough and Locke rounding out the list. What we've seen so far is that the battle for being named top prospect has been between Jordan Schafer and Jason Heyward. I really see no reason for a left-fielder with a limited ceiling to really even warrant consideration for that spot. Out of any of the even somewhat notable sites who have published top prospect lists so far, only milb.com's top 50 list has been more off. There are really some major oversights here.