Hello r/baseball!
We're going to have our MLB Pipeline writers on here to answer questions on prospects!
Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo, and Sam Dykstra will be on to answer all your Qs starting at 2:30pm ET. The trio provide in-depth prospect and Draft analysis for MLB.com. They create MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects list as well as each team's Top 30 and the Top 10 by position lists.
The Top 100 list recently came out, along with the positional Top 10s. The club top 30's will be coming soon too!
16 comments
Do you think teams take these lists seriously when making trades or call ups ? Or do they ignore them fully when they evaluate their prospects and other teams prospects and just use more refined internal metrics?
Do you get complaints from front offices on your rankings, say a guy is too low on the list?
Who’s your sleeper pick to make the biggest jump this year?
Ignoring any rankings, who’s your favorite farm system to keep an eye on this year?
For the Reds, Rhett Lowder seems to bounce around the rankings a bunch. What has changed with him that his stock is lower this year than other years?
How do you balance putting stock in guys who are seeing good numbers in the minors but might not have the traits of a prototypical major leaguer? Are you guys able to buy into the “statline scouting” or are you more focused tape (or more likely somewhere in between!)?
Is McCleans sweeper or curveball better? Is honing his change up the key to him becoming a true ace ace?
Did Walcott fall because his ceiling is projected to be lower when he’s a major leaguer or just because struggled at AA last year?
Is Ewings defense in center good enough to carry a bat that maxes out at doubles power?
Not a question, but I’ll reiterate my post from the other thread
Fix your podcast audio, please
Some people are quiet, some are loud, some go between quiet and loud. Are they all just gesturing wildly and moving away from their microphones when they talk? It’s a hard podcast to listen to on my noisy commute. Run it through Levelator or something
Edward Florentino put together an impressive stat line for someone 18 in A ball. I’m not saying he’s going to be Juan Soto, but the similarities are fun to dream on. I see him in the teens on some lists, mlb.com seems slightly lower, what’s the potential outcomes for 2026?
Do you compare lists and/or methodologies
with other prospect ranking outlets? To what extend do you see herding as a feature or a bug across prospect lists? And given that certain lists are now tied to real draft pick compensation, has that changed anything about how you view or execute your work?
Jonathan: Is your favorite mayo Duke’s or are you wrong?
On a serious note (for any of you), who is your personal extreme high flyer prospect that nobody else matches your energy on? Somebody that you love more than anybody else in the office.
How soon do you expect to see Alfredo Duno in the bigs? How sure are we that he can stick at Cather defensively?
How do you balance floor against upside and risk? Say a player in AA who you have relative certainty will become a back of rotation major league starting pitcher vs. an A ball pitcher whose ceiling is a top flight starter but has a ton of development to reach that level and may never reach the majors at all?
Hey all, thanks for doing this!
Outside of Pipeline, which publication that does a top 100 do you most agree with? Or that you’re just the most interested in? Having access to all the different schools of thought is one of my favorite things about prospect-watching.
Which Mets prospect do you anticipate contributing most significantly in 2026 — and which one might break out after that?