to offset my jerk post in another thread, this 11th place ranking isnt disastrous
who is more authoritative, baseball america or hard times cafe?
Well, both have been known to give you heartburn.
probably doesnt matter though because i think one year we were 9th and then the next 27th in the same publication, likely without losing any prospects]. i guess they just sucked and nobody knew it
By these magazines and websites, a "prospect" is a player who has not met the MLB maximum IP, ABs, or days on the roster to have used up rookier status. It is roughly 1/4 of a season, excluding September call ups, 135 ABs, and 45 - 50 IP. For example, Matusz is a "prospect" (44.2 IP) but Tillman (65 IP) isn't.
I think you are talking about 2008 to 2009. Marrero and Detwiler were the top 2 propsects I think had the big step backs, but there were some graduations like Lannan (not in the team top 10) and Balester. Balester (team top #3) was in the top 100 that year on BA. Burgess and McGeary I think Callis said just missed the top 100. Smoker was #6, JZ #7, and Glenn Gibson was #8. J-Max and Colton Willems rounded out the list.
In retrospect, that list was incredibly young and a bunch of tools projections rather than high minors long track record types. BP I think is more of a track record rater. Lannan is the type that tools oriented prospect publications like BA discount.
