Minor League Ball releases their top ten Red Sox prospects list

We’re right in the middle of prospect season right now, and while it will be a little while until the top-100 lists start to come out we can settle for team lists at this time. In fact, these are more interesting for Red Sox fans at this point with the team not really having much top-100 caliber talent in the organization. I don’t think that’s as big of a deal as many people do, but it’s also impossible to deny. Anyway, Thursday gave us our fourth top ten list around the interwebs for this Red Sox team. We’ve already gotten a list from Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus to go along with Sox Prospects, who always has a regularly updated list for us to peruse. Now, we have a list from John Sickels of Minor League Ball, SBN’s own minor-league site. Here is a quick snapshot of Sickels’ top ten along with a few bullets on some interesting things I’d note from the list. If you’re looking for scouting reports, click the link ya dummy.

1. Jason Groome
2. Michael Chavis
3. Tanner Houck
4. Bryan Mata
5. Mike Shawaryn
6. Sam Travis
7. Jalen Beeks
8. Alex Scherff
9. Darwinzon Hernandez
10. Jake Thompson
11. Roldani Baldwin
12. Cole Brannen
13. Josh Ockimey
14. Tzu-Wei Lin
15. C.J. Chatham
16. Bobby Dalbec
17. Danny Diaz
18. Hector Velazquez
19. Austin Maddox
20. Ben Taylor

• One interesting thing about Sickels’ lists is that he uses a grade system which allows us to get a glimpse of how things are tiered. What stood out to me in this respect was that he handed each of the top four prospects “B” grades. I’m not terribly surprised that no one received at least a B+ or an A- — though I think you could make that argument for Groome at least — but I am surprised that he gave Houck and Mata the same grade as the top two guys.
• Sticking with the grade system for a moment, Sickels mentions that the final three spots went to those players because of their proximity for the majors. He mentions that the following players have arguments for those spots: Lorenzo Cedrola, Chad De La Guerra, Williams Jerez, Travis Lakins, Joan Martinez, Bobby Poyner, Roniel Raudes, Hildemaro Requena, Chandler Shepherd.
• Sickels certainly isn’t the only person to have the system ranked like this (and frankly I won’t be surprised if our community rankings follow suit) but count me among those who barely has Travis in his top ten, if he’s there at all. I’m particularly interested in the relatively large gap between Travis and Ockimey.
• The 10 and 11 spots are the most interesting here, in my opinion. Thompson isn’t someone we’ve heard a ton about, but the 2017 fourth round pick is an interesting pitcher. Sickels believes he can stick as a starter, hence the high ranking. Baldwin, meanwhile, was one of the better performers in the organization last year and I’m a bit surprised I haven’t seen more love for him this winter.

So, we have another list in the books, which means we can update my handy dandy table outlining the top ten prospects from various lists around the world wide web. As a reminder, these are only for prospects who have made at least one top ten, though I’ll include rankings that go beyond ten where it applies.