BA Top 100

Perhaps the most trusted prospect list to come out each year, Baseball America's list of the Top 100 Prospects is out:

BA TOP 100

The usual suspects are there:

12. Pedro Alvarez - 3B (22, ETA: 2009)
9/24: Date he signed with the Pirates—more than a month after the Aug. 15 deadline—after the union's grievance on his behalf.

33. Andrew McCutchen - OF (22, ETA: 2009)
1: International League center fielders with a higher OPS than McCutchen's .770 (Brett Gardner, .836).

75. Jose Tabata - OF (20, ETA: 2010)
.348: Average at Double-A Altoona after being traded from the Yankees in July, or 100 points higher than his average at Double-A Trenton.


I was somewhat encouraged by Alvarez being positioned above Mike Moustakas (Royals) and Buster Posey (Giants), since those guys are pretty big deals, and that Tabata made it in just behind Taylor Teagarden (Rangers), who is the talk of Arlington, though probably more because of trade rumors.

Personally, I'm still the most excited about McCutchen, probably because I feel like I've known the guy longer. Since I live in Columbus, I checked the Clippers' (Cleveland's AAA team) schedule and was delighted that Indianapolis is coming to town in late April. It's also the inaugural season for the Clippers' new stadium, (Neal?) Huntington Park. Anyway, it'll be good to see Cutch patroling CF in person.

(side note: I'm planning two huge posts on the various projection systems and what they have to say about the 2009 performance of your favorite team. Look for those this weekend. I'll let you know in advance that PECOTA was once again unkind to the black and gold.)