Bill Batterman is the Concurrent with the release of this year’s top 100 prospects, Baseball America made available a complete listing of their annual top prospect lists dating back to 1990. Compiled by their team of writers with the input of scouts and other baseball insiders, Baseball America’s list highlights players with a mix of tools and performance that portend an exceptional big league career.
Players with a [high] peak value … are what scouts look for in the draft, what organizations look for in their farm systems, and what Baseball America looks for when it compiles its Top 100 Prospects list. The goal of teams is to win championships, and when ranking prospects, we seek out players who can help their teams do that. …
While statistics are an important tool in assessing a player?s past and predicting his future, championship tools make championship players, so the top of BA?s top 100 will always be dominated by players with above-average tools in several categories.
During the 15-year period covered by Baseball America’s rankings, the Brewers farm system has gone through a transformation from one of the best in baseball to one of the worst and back to one of the best. In total, the team has been represented by 25 players occupying 42 spots on the Top 100 lists. Of those, the results have been mixed. The following table lists Milwaukee’s representatives by year as well as the player’s position, age (as of the season following their selection; 1990 for the 1990 rankings, etc.), and rank on Baseball America’s list.