Prospect rankings, like my own top 100, are an industry staple, but their very existence gives them an authoritative quality that, frankly, is undeserved. We're not even comparing established players, but theoretical ones, which leaves ample room for disagreement. And opinions can shift even further when specifying a particular scoring format.
The goal of this mock was to draft only prospects, and with 5x5 Rotisserie scoring in mind. Maybe that meant pushing pitchers down a little. Maybe it meant emphasizing speed and deemphasizing plate discipline. It should have probably meant all those things, but the point is that it wasn't just for me to decide. I shared the task with 11 others:
1) Jake Wiener, Prospects1500 (@GatorSosa)
2) R.J. White, CBS Sports (@rjwhite1)
3) Chris Towers, CBS Sports (@CTowersCBS)
4) Rhys White, Prospects Live (@RhysBWhite)
5) Frank Stampfl, CBS Sports (@Roto_Frank)
6) Tim Kanak, Fantasy Aceball (@fantasyaceball)
7) Chris Blessing, Baseball HQ (@C_Blessing)
8) Phil Ponebshek, Patton & Company
9) Scott White, CBS Sports (@CBSScottWhite)
10) Doug Roe, defending Podcast League champ
11) Drew Wheeler, Prospects Live (@drewisokay)
12) Chris Welsh, Prospect One (@IsItTheWelsh)
The draft lasted 120 picks in all, taking us a little beyond a conventional top-100 list. We also did this same mock but with Head-to-Head points scoring in mind, and as you might expect, more pitchers were drafted in that one (41 vs. 27). Our approach to hitters also changed between the two formats, but in more subtle ways probably best exemplified by Ceddanne Rafaela. A potential jack of five categories but master of none whose poor plate discipline could hold him back in points leagues, he was the 70th player drafted in this one. He wasn't drafted at all in the other.
