There is more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one way to distill the "wisdom of the crowd" into prospect rankings. The democratic way is ongoing on the main pages even as we speak, so over here in this corner we will quietly put together a different list and see how it compares. There are two components to this effort. The first part simply involves listing your top 20 Red Sox prospects from top to bottom (or fewer, if you don't want to do 20). Your top prospect gets 20 points, your second nineteen, and so on down the line. I will compile these and sort the data to see who gets the most points.
As a secondary method, for those who wish to go a bit farther, you can assign letter grades (A,B,C,D, and +/- intergrades) to your top prospects in four categories: ceiling, floor, actuality, and horizon. Ceiling and floor and pretty simple: the expected best-case and bad-case scenarios for the prospect, in terms of positional value. Actuality in this context is a measure of likelihood of reaching one's ceiling and/or exceeding one's floor. Horizon is a measure of how close to the major league team the prospect is, either in terms of actual level in the minors or how quickly he is expected to advance through the system (and consequently, is a measure of the caliber of competition he has faced). Weight the four categories according to your beliefs, such that they are percentages adding up to 100% (or fractions adding up to one, if you prefer). If you don't think proximity to the majors is very relevant, weight it as 0 or close to it. If you think any player's floor is sucking straight out of the league, weight it at or near 0 as well. These weights will be consistent for all of your prospects, though.
Just to be sure we're on the same page, here are suggestions for what each letter grade means. A is 4, B is 3, C is 2, and D is 1. You can grade with +/-, but A+ is not a thing in this context. If you like, you can grade on a fringe, such as B/B-, and I'll split the difference. Once all of that is entered I will post the top 20 based on averages for that as well, to see how it compares with the regular list ranking (and the vox populi of the main site).
A: Ceiling/floor: An exceptional everyday position player or front-of-rotation starter. Actuality: Should reach ceiling and sustain for a while. Horizon: Should contribute within the next couple of seasons.
B: Ceiling/floor: A quality everyday position player, mid-rotation arm, or exceptional relief pitcher. Actuality: Should reach ceiling occasionally, sustain well above floor. Horizon: Probably 2-3 seasons away.
C: Ceiling/floor: A useful bench bat, defensive replacement, or other role player. Actuality: May flirt with ceiling but mostly be hovering a bit above their floor. Horizon: Probably at least 3 seasons away, maybe never.
D: Ceiling/floor: A warm body that can do something resembling professional baseball. Actuality: Unlikely to reach ceiling, but may occasionally get close. Horizon: Probably a career minor leaguer with occasional cups of coffee.
Have fun and happy ranking!
The Lists As They Stand
RANK | PLAYER | PTS | RANK | PLAYER | AVG |
1 | Swihart | 260 | 1 | Swihart | 3.614 |
2 | Owens | 243 | 2 | Owens | 3.421 |
3 | Rodriguez | 232 | 3 | Rodriguez | 3.345 |
4 | Margot | 208 | 4 | Johnson | 3.133 |
5 | Devers | 203 | 5 | Barnes | 3.045 |
6 | Johnson | 201 | 6 | Margot | 3.014 |
7 | Barnes | 184 | 7 | Devers | 2.876 |
8 | Cecchini | 178 | 8 | Cecchini | 2.829 |
9 | Chavis | 147 | 9 | Coyle | 2.601 |
10 | Marrero | 133 | 10 | Marrero | 2.541 |
11 | Ball | 111 | 11 | Chavis | 2.527 |
12 | Kopech | 105 | 12 | Ball | 2.449 |
13 | Coyle | 104 | 13 | Escobar | 2.422 |
14 | Escobar | 79 | 14 | Kopech | 2.290 |
15 | Travis | 60 | 15 | Rijo | 2.228 |
16 | Rijo | 58 | 16 | Travis | 2.169 |
17 | Stankiewicz | 37 | 17 | Stankiewicz | 2.064 |
18 | Wright | 31 | 18 | Wright | 2.064 |
18 | Shaw | 31 | 19 | Ramos | 2.054 |
20 | Guerra | 29 | 20 | Shaw | 1.927 |
There are now a few small discrepancies between the two lists.