Prospect rankings are fun.
They’re also snapshots.
A player ranked 15th today can look completely different six months from now, while a highly regarded prospect can encounter the first significant obstacle of his professional career.
That’s why RaysAddiction’s prospect coverage won’t stop at numbered lists.
Performance
Production obviously matters.
We’ll watch strikeouts, walks, power, contact, stolen bases, innings, velocity and the other numbers that help describe performance.
But numbers require context.
League, age, sample size and competition level all matter.
Progress
Sometimes development is more important than the stat line.
Has a hitter improved his approach?
Has a pitcher added a new offering?
Is somebody showing more power?
Has a defensive move opened another path to the majors?
Those developments can tell us where a player is heading rather than simply where he’s been.
Promotions
Promotions are among the clearest signals an organization can send.
When Tampa Bay challenges a player with the next level, we’ll pay attention to both why the promotion happened and how he responds.
Opportunity
Prospects don’t develop in a vacuum.
The major-league roster matters.
Injuries matter.
Contracts matter.
Trades matter.
A player’s path to Tampa Bay can suddenly become much clearer—or considerably more complicated.
We’ll connect those dots.
Rankings Are the Beginning
We’ll still discuss prospect rankings.
We just won’t treat them as the final word.
The goal is to recognize the players whose development is changing their trajectory before the next ranking tells everybody else what already happened.
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