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MLB top 100 composite prospect rankings, takeaways

Joe Robbins / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Five of the main outlets - MLB.com, Baseball America, The Athletic, ESPN, and Baseball Prospectus - have published prospect rankings, and as expected, there are some disagreements.

A total of 148 prospects were named across the five lists. Even further, only 59 players were named on all five, making them consensus top-100. We can create a composite top 100 by combining all of the lists and assigning equal weights to each.

In the event of a tie, the higher overall ranking was given to the player named on more lists.

While there are many disputes, every list starts with Wander Franco's name. For the second straight year, the 19-year-old shortstop - who has yet to make an appearance above High-A - is the league's consensus No. 1 prospect:

Rank Player Team Pos. High Low
1 Wander Franco TB SS 1 1
2 Adley Rutschman BAL C 2 6
3 Jarred Kelenic SEA OF 3 6
4 CJ Abrams SD SS 5 11
5 MacKenzie Gore SD LHP 2 13
6 Spencer Torkelson DET 1B/3B 3 18
7 Julio Rodriguez SEA OF 3 24
8 Ke'Bryan Hayes PIT 3B 6 15
9 Cristian Pache ATL OF 3 18
10 Ian Anderson ATL RHP 5 18
11 Sixto Sanchez MIA RHP 4 25
12 Dylan Carlson STL OF 9 18
13 Andrew Vaughn CWS 1B 8 21
14 Marco Luciano SF SS 7 31
15 Bobby Witt Jr. KC SS 7 27
16 Nate Pearson TOR RHP 5 35
17 Casey Mize DET RHP 11 28
18 Luis Patino TB RHP 16 25
19 Austin Martin TOR SS/OF 14 38
20 Randy Arozarena TB OF 10 45

Best systems

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the Tampa Bay Rays have the best overall system, according to the composite rankings, with three players in the top 20. Franco's at one, Luis Patino - newly acquired from the San Diego Padres in the Blake Snell trade - is at No. 18, and ALCS MVP Randy Arozarena rounds out the top 20.

The Rays had 10 total players named across the five lists with four consensus top 100s. Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers - with the second-best system - have five players, all of whom are consensus top 100s. Rounding out the top five systems are the Seattle Mariners, Miami Marlins, and San Diego Padres. Like the Tigers, the Marlins also have five consensus top-100 prospects, tied for the major-league lead.

Rank Player Team Pos. High Low
21 Riley Greene DET OF 19 34
22 Royce Lewis MIN SS 15 46
23 Alex Kirilloff MIN OF 7 71
24 Matt Manning DET RHP 21 46
25 Grayson Rodriguez BAL RHP 22 55
26 Joey Bart SF C 23 41
27 Asa Lacy KC LHP 21 49
28 Corbin Carroll ARI OF 23 47
29 Michael Kopech CWS RHP 24 53
30 Brandon Marsh LAA OF 19 53
31 Logan Gilbert SEA RHP 33 47
32 Daniel Lynch KC LHP 17 70
33 Luis Campusano SD C 29 61
34 Max Meyer MIA RHP 28 51
35 Tarik Skubal DET LHP 20 99
36 Triston McKenzie CLE RHP 12 73
37 Nolan Gorman STL 3B 23 57
38 Jasson Dominguez NYY OF 32 66
39 Vidal Brujan TB 2B 26 67
40 Nick Madrigal CWS 2B 12 NR

Best prospect to go unranked

For the third straight year, Madrigal is the highest-ranked farmhand to go unranked on one list: The Athletic's Keith Law. The White Sox second baseman made his MLB debut last year, hitting .340/.376/.369 over 29 games in the pandemic-shortened campaign.

Rank Player Team Pos. High Low
41 JJ Bleday MIA OF 20 89
42 Spencer Howard PHI RHP 27 65
43 Drew Waters ATL OF 32 NR
44 Kristian Robinson ARI OF 15 93
45 Nolan Jones CLE 3B 33 86
46 Josiah Gray LAD RHP 36 68
47 Matthew Liberatore STL LHP 37 80
48 Jazz Chisholm MIA SS 26 77
49 Emerson Hancock SEA RHP 31 68
50 Ronny Mauricio NYM SS 32 67
51 Edward Cabrera MIA RHP 20 81
52 Jordan Groshans TOR SS 34 NR
53 Zac Veen COL OF 43 86
54 Francisco Alvarez NYM C 19 84
55 Nick Gonzales PIT 2B/SS 39 NR
56 Triston Casas BOS 1B/3B 44 87
57 Robert Hassell SD OF 45 85
58 Heliot Ramos SF OF 32 83
59 Jeter Downs BOS SS 41 NR
60 Forrest Whitley HOU RHP 29 NR

Worst systems

The Washington Nationals finish with the worst farm system, with Jackson Rutledge and Cade Cavalli getting named once each near the bottom of lists.

Two other teams also only had a pair of prospects named near the bottom: The Milwaukee Brewers and Oakland Athletics. The only player to make the top-100 composite ranking between the three teams was Garrett Mitchell (96), who Milwaukee selected 20th overall in this past year's draft.

Rank Player Team Pos. High Low
61 Brennen Davis CHC OF 51 78
62 Deivi Garcia NYY RHP 17 NR
63 DL Hall BAL LHP 49 97
64 Josh Jung TEX 3B 49 NR
65 Garrett Crochet CWS LHP 36 NR
66 Keibert Ruiz LAD C 53 80
67 Trevor Larnach MIN OF 37 NR
68 Oneil Cruz PIT SS 28 NR
69 Alek Thomas ARI OF 47 94
70 Brailyn Marquez CHC LHP 52 NR
71 Ryan Mountcastle BAL 1B/3B 28 NR
72 Hunter Greene CIN RHP 28 NR
73 Quinn Priester PIT RHP 52 NR
74 Leody Taveras TEX OF 26 NR
75 Geraldo Perdomo ARI 2B/SS 39 91
76 Brendan McKay TB LHP/1B 33 NR
77 George Valera CLE OF 48 NR
78 Heston Kjerstad BAL OF 62 NR
79 Shane Baz TB RHP 24 NR
80 Xavier Edwards TB SS 52 NR

The 2020 draft class

Despite becoming the first member of the 2020 draft class to make the majors, Crochet is not the highest-ranked prospect of those selections - he even went unranked on The Athletic's list. The left-hander, who was drafted 11th overall and maintained a 0.00 ERA over six innings, finished behind Spencer Torkelson, Austin Martin, Asa Lacy, Max Meyer, Emerson Hancock, Zac Veen, Nick Gonzales, and Robert Hassell.

Mitchell, Heston Kjerstad, Reid Detmers, and Mick Abel join the top 100 from the 2020 class after Crochet.

Rank Player Team Pos. High Low
81 Clarke Schmidt NYY RHP 52 NR
82 Jo Adell* LAA OF 13 NR
83 Nick Lodolo CIN LHP 57 NR
84 Ryan Jeffers MIN C 57 NR
85 Reid Detmers LAA LHP 65 NR
86 Mick Abel PHI RHP 54 NR
87 Josh Lowe TB 3B/OF 59 NR
88 Tyler Stephenson CIN C 35 NR
89 Dane Dunning TEX RHP 60 NR
90 Michael Busch LAD 1B/2B 74 NR
91 Matthew Allan NYM RHP 75 NR
92 Bo Naylor CLE C 42 NR
93 Simeon Woods Richardson TOR RHP 69 NR
94 Ivan Herrera STL C 68 NR
95 Shea Langeliers ATL C 73 NR
96 Garrett Mitchell MIL OF 65 NR
97 Taylor Trammell SEA OF 72 NR
98 Jordan Balazovic MIN RHP 63 NR
99 Jordyn Adams LAA OF 75 NR
100 Shane McClanahan TB LHP 80 NR

* - Adell exceeded rookie eligibility during the 2020 season but was included on Baseball America's list. The other four lists did not include the Angels outfielder.

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