2019 Red Sox top prospect voting: It begins

Welcome back to another year of top prospect voting here at OTM. If you’re new to the community, leading up to every season we as a community put together a top-20 prospects list for the team, starting at the top and going down one by one until we fill in twenty names. Twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays), we’ll have votes for in the comments — I’ll explain how voting works below — along with some conversation and debate about who belongs where. It is one of my favorite times of the year every year, even with a down system. This should run us through right around Opening Day.

Before we get to this year’s list, though, let’s take a quick look at last year’s final list.

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

Obviously, the Red Sox farm system is not in a great spot, which is fine given where the major-league roster is. Last year’s list was pretty rough, but with some breakouts and some exciting prospects taken in the draft things do appear on the upswing. Looking at the 2018 list, we did lost a few names to graduation and/or trades. Jalen Beeks was, of course, sent to Tampa Bay in the Nathan Eovaldi deal. Meanwhile, Sam Travis, Brian Johnson, Hector Velázquez and Tzu-Wei Lin all lost their prospect status. Everyone else listed here is still eligible for the list, along with a whole lot of other guys of course.

This year’s list is bound to look quite differently, and now is your chance to get in on the action and help us shape our top 20. Remember, anyone who is eligible for Rookie of the Year is eligible for this list. If you’re unsure, go to a player’s Baseball-Reference page and you can see if players still maintain their rookie eligibility.

As for how to vote, in the past we have tried using simple polls, but I’m not even going to try this year. People end up gaming the system and we end up getting rid of the polls one or two spots in, and I’m not even going to try. People just can’t be cool. So, instead, the voting will take place in the comment section. If you want to participate, you have to register a username with Over The Monster, which you can do by clicking the neck-less man at the top of the page. After you are registered, you can head down to the comment section where I will list 5-7 prospects for whom you can vote. Once you find the guy you’d like to vote for, just click the star button to “rec” the comment, and your vote is counted. If you would like to vote for a player who is not listed, just leave your own comment and I’ll rec it to count your vote.

Got all that? Good. Now, let’s get it started. See you in the comments.