FutureSox has published our 2010 Preseason Top Prospects list! We publish the list three times a year – early April just as the minor league season begins, July after the draft picture gets solidified and the minor leaguers have part of a season under their belts, and then in October after the minor league seasons are completed. The list is created by a voting system, much like AP college sports rankings, with the votes coming from seven of our most knowledgeable prospect gurus.
Some highlights…
Dan Hudson moves into the number 1 slot, just ahead of Tyler Flowers, who was number 1 previously. Jordan Danks, Dayan Viciedo, and recently-injured Jared Mitchell round out the top five. The biggest upward movers on the list are catcher Miguel Gonzalez (from 28th all the way to 8th), infielder-converted-to-pitcher Sergio Santos (from unranked to 10th, and now with the big club), and pitcher David Holmberg (26th to 14th). On the flip side, the biggest drops were almost all pitchers: Jhonny Nunez (12th to 22nd, and now converting from reliever to starter), Charlie Shirek (8th to 17th), Steven Upchurch (23rd to unranked) and Brandon Hynick (24th to unranked). Stefan Gartrell dropped eights spots from 16 to 24, by far the biggest plunge of a hitter. The only new player in the system since the fall to break the list is outfielder Alejandro De Aza, who scraped together a few votes to put him at number 32.
Below is the list, showing their rank, position, current age and 2010 minor league level. The votes are on a 210 point scale.
| Rank | Player | Points | Previous | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Hudson |
208 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Tyler Flowers |
203 | 1 | -1 |
| 3 | Jordan Danks |
194 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | Dayan Viciedo |
186 | 3 | -1 |
| 5 | Jared Mitchell |
184 | 6 | 1 |
| 6 | Brent Morel |
178 | 7 | 1 |
| 7 | Trayce Thompson |
160 | 9 | 2 |
| 8 | Miguel Gonzalez |
158 | 28 | 20 |
| 9 | CJ Retherford |
146 | 5 | -4 |
| 10 | Sergio Santos |
137 | NR | n/a |
| 11 | Josh Phegley |
132 | 10 | -1 |
| 12 | David Holmberg |
127 | “26” | 14 |
| 13 | Charlie Leesman |
124 | 18 | 5 |
| 14 | John Shelby III |
114 | 15 | 1 |
| 15 | Christian Marrero |
108 | 14 | -1 |
| 16 | Clevelan Santeliz |
94 | 25 | 9 |
| 17 | Charlie Shirek |
93 | 8 | -9 |
| 18 | Kyle Bellamy |
92 | 19 | 1 |
| 19 | Carlos Torres |
79 | 11 | -8 |
| 20 | Stephen Sauer |
77 | 21 | 1 |
| 21 | Nathan Jones |
69 | 17 | -4 |
| 22 | Jhonny Nunez |
68 | 12 | -10 |
| 23 | Santos Rodriguez |
51 | “30” | 7 |
| 24 | Stefan Gartrell |
42 | 16 | -8 |
| 25 | Ryan Buch |
38 | NR | n/a |
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES (in order of points): Nevin Griffith, Lucas Harrell, Dan Remenowsky, Jon Gilmore, Eduardo Escobar, Nick Ciolli, Alejandro De Aza, Kyle Colligan, LeRoy Hunt, Brady
Shoemaker
DROPPED OFF FROM LAST LIST TO NO VOTES: Steven Upchurch (23), Brandon Hynick (24)
Tell us what you think of our rankings! Are we out of our minds? How do you rank the prospects?