2018 DRaysBay Community Prospect List: How and when to vote

On Monday, we will begin the annual DRaysBay Community Prospect List. I believe this will be the eighth straight offseason we’ve done it. Here’s how last season’s list turned out.

If you’ve never seen it before, it’s quite simple, albeit it not as simple as just setting up a poll. In the comments section, there will be a selection of players available. You just have to reply to the comment with that player’s name with “+1.”

We encourage you to vote for the player you honestly feel is best, even if he doesn’t appear to have a chance of winning that vote.

Please vote using whichever criteria you prefer! If you like stats, use stats. If you like scouting reports, reference those reports. There’s no one right way to do this — that’s what makes this exercise fun.

If you want to vote for a player who is not listed, there will be an “Others” comment. Reply to that comment with the name of your selection. This is incredibly rare because there will eventually be up to 10 players to choose from, but it’s possible a player you feel strongly about slipped through the cracks.

If you want to nominate a player to be included in the next poll, reply to the “Testers” comment with that player’s name. I will often limit the number of players accepted for the next poll to prevent the list from becoming cumbersome. All players in one poll who do not win the vote are automatically included in the next poll — there is no need to renominate.

Should the Rays make a trade that adds a prospect to the system, there will be a special election to determine where, if anywhere, the new player fits on the list in progress.

Should the Rays trade away a player already on the list, we just change the numbers and continue voting.

We encourage civil discussion with each vote under the “Discussion” comment. Make your case and chat about baseball with your fellow fans. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?

Except for holidays, new polls should be posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.