Rating the Pirates

MLB.com Top 50:

Jonathan Mayo, friend to BTW so he gets top billing, has his top 50 prospects up at MLB.com.  This list includes segments from the MLB Network Special.

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=7150959&topic_id=7962336

Summary:

Pedro Alvarez makes the top 50 list in the 8 spot.  That’s it for the Pirates.

 

ESPN Top 100 (or so):

Keith Law has his top 100, plus 10 that just missed up on ESPN Insider.  Insider access is required.

Top 100: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/columns/story?columnist=law_keith&id=4856310

10 who missed: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4865823&name=law_keith

Summary:

Brad Lincoln 105

Tony Sanchez 82

Tabata 57

Alvarez 35

 

Law also has the Team Rankings.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/columns/story?columnist=law_keith&id=4861174

And top 10 by organization:

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/columns/story?columnist=law_keith&id=4865694

Summary:

The Pirates pull in at 18.

 

More Rankings:

Dejan Kovacevic, spelled without looking, reports the Pirates rank 16th by Baseball America.  The BA Prospect Handbook will be on sale today.  Or can be ordered online here: https://www.baseballamerica.com/store/store.cgi?browse=cat_books&sid=1264742513454&p=SMEXOB

Tim Williams at Buccofans.com has some additional rankings with links at his site. 

The Scouting Book has their rankings, updated almost daily, for the Pirates here. (Note: As of this writing, the list is in the process of an update due to 2 players needing current team updates in their database.)   The Scouting Book has 3 Pirates in the top 50 in Alvarez, Tabata and Alderson.  Sanchez (103) just misses the top 100 as of this writing.  Lincoln sits at 154.

 

BTW Take:

I was planning on taking a guess at the 25 man roster, but rankings are much more fun to look at. 

Law was overly critical of Pirates prospects, going as far as to question Tabata’s age and saying he would not make the list if he is older than listed.  I wonder how much higher he would be if he lied the other way just to get his drivers license?  Would he be top 10 then?

While the Pirates are rated in the middle third of the league, it is still a great improvement over being in the lower third as they had been in recent memory.  Take into account A. McCutchen, G. Jones, Clement, Ohlendorf, Hart and Morton are no longer in the prospect list, due to them no longer being rookie eligible or age, that ranking takes a bit of a hit.  (I need to double check that statement regarding Clement.)

I am surprised how high the Padres (11) were listed on Law’s list.