The off-season prospect rankings have already begun with Baseball America well into its League Top 20 series. After looking at the Midwest League top 20, and not seeing a single Captains player mentioned (no Chen, no Packer), and the Carolina League top 20 where Jason Kipnis barely breaks the top 10 (Joe Gardner and Chen are completely left off)...I can't help but wonder if Cleveland prospects get systematically undervalued in the larger prospect evaluation community. I, without a doubt, overvalue Cleveland's prospects. But, I am suspicious about two factors that might lead to Cleveland's system not getting equal coverage as other organizations. First, a huge portion of Cleveland's minor leaguers play most of their games in Ohio. Most prospect evaluators are people who live somewhere, and chances are it is not in Central Ohio. Second, Cleveland's front office is notoriously prone to meaningless "corporate-speak" in its public discussions of the organization. So my question is, am I crazy, or do the Indians prospects get a little bit undervalued? Feel free to tell me I am completely wrong.
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