I know a lot of Top 10 lists have been published, linked to and discussed here, and most observers give high marks for the current state of the tribe farm system for its depth of legit ML prospects. I put together my own "top 30" to get a read on that depth, and I thought I might as well post it here during the lull before ST.
I spent some time on it, weighing the usual considerations of ceiling, maturity of skills, age and level. I also weighed injury history, so that a player like Kelvin de la Cruz shows up a little lower than you might expect given an added uncertainty of return to form.
I think the "plus depth" rating shows - you can go over 20 deep on the list and have players that project to at least make it to the show at some point. I don't think we've ever had that kind of depth, and regardless of the number of blue chip prospects therein and what trades were made to supplement it, the current snapshot of the farm comes close to matching the vision Shap initially laid out. Of course, it remains to be seen if it provides the raw material to realize the primary goal - consistently competitive ML clubs (ours, hopefully!).
FYI, Tony Lastoria is doing his top 50 on his blog, and just hit #30 (Bryan Price, who didn't make the cut on mine). I recommend following it, since his scouting reports are more detailed than they've been previously (presumably from his expanding contact list of scouts and coaches both within and outside the Tribe system). He also posts video that usually has a slo-mo element that is kinda cool to watch, especially for pitchers.
So, my Top 30:
3 - Hector Rondon
4 - Alex White
5 - Michael Brantley
6 - Carlos Carrasco
7 - Nick Hagadone
8 - Jason Knapp
9 -Alex Perez
10 - TJ House
11 - Nick Weglarz
12 - Lou Marson
13 - Abner Abreu
14 - Jeanmar Gomez
15 - Jess Todd
16 - Carlos Rivero
17 - Scott Barnes
18 - Kelvin De La Cruz
19 - Josh Judy
20 - Jason Donald
21 - Zach Putnam
22 - Jason Kipnis
23 - Eric Berger
24 - Jordan Brown
25 - Beau Mills
26 - CC Lee
27 - Frank Herrmann
28 - Wes Hodges
29 - Paulo Espino
30 - Delvi Cid




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