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Scott's list is way better than mine. He generally knows a whole lot more than I do, and has been glued to every level in the Rays system this year. I'm a bit more casual in my devotion.
I'd originally written up a giant Top-30 post, but then accidentally wiped it by not saving the word document. As is life, and because time is money, you'll need to go visit Scott's listing for the full experience.
I will offer, however, the Top-30 I developed. At least my spreadsheet lives. Similarly to Scott, I started by ranking the top pitching and hitting prospects and then merging my lists.
| 1 | Willy Adames | 11 | Hak-Ju Lee | 21 | Riley Unroe |
| 2 | Casey Gillaspie | 12 | Curt Casali | 22 | Kean Wong |
| 3 | Enny Romero | 13 | Justin O'Conner | 23 | Adrian Rondon |
| 4 | Alex Colome | 14 | Jake Hager | 24 | Tim Beckham |
| 5 | Ryan Brett | 15 | Nick Ciuffo | 25 | Jacob Faria |
| 6 | Taylor Guerrieri | 16 | Nate Karns | 26 | Adam Liberatore |
| 7 | Blake Snell | 17 | Oscar Hernandez | 27 | Mikie Mahtook |
| 8 | Cameron Varga | 18 | Grayson Garvin | 28 | Patrick Leonard |
| 9 | Mike Montgomery | 19 | Andrew Toles | 29 | Matt Andriese |
| 10 | Ryne Stanek | 20 | Dylan Floro | 30 | Brent Honeywell |
Some surprises in my list:
- I guess I've bought the hype on Willy Adames, at eighteen I'm impressed with how aggressively the Rays and Tigers are treating him, and he could be something really special. Dave Dombrowski says he could be an All-Star, and my constant optimism currently believes him.
- Ryan Brett jumped straight into Montgomery's roster and is killing it, already at 24 SB and 7 HR (last year's totals between lower levels) while demonstrating a great eye at the plate.
- I'm being very aggressive with my pitcher optimism in the Top-10, which feels rather unfair to HBK HJL, O'Conner, and Hager. All three of them could rise by the end of the season.
- Andrew Toles and Matt Andriese have fallen pretty hard this year through poor performance.
- The 21-26 range on my list might as well be tied, it's really difficult to differentiate placement for that group. All very different players, but all guys I wanted in the Top-20.
- Update: For whatever reason, I had Lockwood at 28 earlier and that doesn't seem right. Patrick Leonard is a level higher, a few months younger, and putting up stronger numbers -- including 13 HR, 19.8% K, and 9.9% BB, compared to Lockwood's 11 HR, 32.2% K, and 5.4% BB. Glad to see Leonard making a resurgence, I may or may not have flipped their names on my spreadsheet.
Pitchers to watch:
Jose Mujica
Jose Castillo
German Marquez
Nolan Gannon
Jaime Schultz
Hitters to watch:
Richie Shaffer
Hunter Lockwood
Cameron Seitzer
Maxx Tissenbaum
Johnny Field