Padres Top Five Prospects

You’ve probably read top-ten lists elsewhere. They’ve probably given you decent enough reasons for each player’s position on the list. However, we’re going to take a different approach. We’ll rank the top five players in the organization based their positions according to other sites.

We will look at five different sites, each with their own criteria for ranking the top players in the organization, and whittle down the five best.  The five sites we will use are Baseball America, Minor League Ball, Baseball Prospectus, Bullpen Banter, and Friarhood.  Our list will be based on how many times each player appears on each list, and their average position.  With that being said, we will have to look at each site’s top ten because not all sites are going to have the same five players as their top five.  Keep in mind, most of these lists came out before the Mat Latos trade and the addition of three new prospects to the organization.  Clear as mud?  Great, let’s get started.

First, the top five according to Baseball America:

1. Anthony Rizzo
2. Rymer Liriano
3. Casey Kelly
4. Cory Spangenberg
5. Austin Hedges
6. Jedd Gyorko
7. Joe Wieland
8. Robbie Erlin
9. Joe Ross
10. Keyvius Sampson

Now, Minor League Ball’s list:

1. Anthony Rizzo
2. Rymer Liriano
3. Jedd Gyorko
4. Robbie Erlin
5. Joe Weiland
6. Keyvius Sampson
7. Casey Kelly
8. Cory Spangenberg
9. James Darnell
10. Joe Ross

Next, Baseball Prospectus’ rankings:

1. Rymer Liriano
2. Robbie Erlin
3. Jedd Gyorko
4. Cory Spangenberg
5. Joe Wieland
6. Anthony Rizzo
7. Casey Kelly
8. Austin Hedges
9. Joe Ross
10. Keyvius Sampson

Bullpen Banter’s rankings are next:

1. Casey Kelly
2. Robbie Erlin
3. Jedd Gyorko
4. Anthony Rizzo
5. Joe Ross
6. Rymer Liriano
7. Austin Hedges
8. Keyvius Sampson
9. Donavan Tate
10. Cory Spangenberg

Finally, our friends at Friarhood compiled their own list:

1. Robbie Erlin
2. Jedd Gyorko
3. Anthony Rizzo
4. Jaff Decker
5. Joe Weiland
6. James Darnell
7. Rymer Liriano
8. Anthony Bass
9. Keyvius Sampson
10. Casey Kelly

Based on each of these sites’ rankings, we will average each players’ ranking.*

*Jaff Decker and Donovan Tate each only appeared on one list a piece, so they were given the lowest two rankings.  
So based on our completely unscientific, non-stats based analysis, the top five Padres prospects are:

1. Anthony Rizzo
2. Robbie Erlin
3. Jedd Gyorko
4. Rymer Liriano
5. Casey Kelly

This actually isn’t a bad list.  The sites that compiled their own lists did a fantastic job of research on each of these player, so it made our job of averaging the rankings all the more easy.  Without a full on analytical review of each of these players, it’s hard to say for sure they are the top five best in the organization, but it’s a start.  And the detailed analysis is something for another day.

At least now you have some ammunition the next time you’re talking about Anthony Rizzo.  Just tell anyone you’re talking to that after reviewing five independent sites and their rankings of the Padres prospects, Anthony Rizzo is best overall on average.  If that doesn’t confuse the person into never talking to you again, I’m not sure what will.