Fangraphs releases Rockies prospect rankings

Top 24 Prospects: Colorado Rockies | Fangraphs

Fangraphs is going through their analysis of each farm system in baseball and today published their analysis of the Rockies. Eric Logenhagen’s list looks much different than our latest PuRPs list, if for no other reason than there a players who have graduated off the list. He goes pretty in depth on each of the first 15 players on the list, and offers insights on a number of players who didn’t quite make the top 24. You should take the time to read the whole post but there are a few things I’d like to draw out.

One of the big surprises on his list is just how many 2016 draftees made it. Of the five recent draftees not named Riley Pint to make the list, Ben Bowden comes in highest at 12. However, as a point of comparison, the only other 2016 draftees to make the PuRP’s list were Robert Tyler (No. 19) and Bowden (No. 27). My guess is that Logenhagen is more comfortable projecting guys he has seen himself, and he has seen many of the players who were drafted in June. He also may have a more upside-focused approach to prospect rankings. Granted, most of us are limited to reading reports and scouting the stat line, so I’m inclined to trust Logenhagen’s input here, but it was still surprising to see so many new guys on the list.

On the flip side, I was excited to see how high Logenhagen is on Dominican Academy products like Pedro Gonzalez and Daniel Montano. He is especially a big fan of Gonzalez, pointing to his “incredible physical projection” which could make for a heck of a power bat. He, along with Montano, are still “light years away from the majors,” but here we have names worth tracking for the next five years or more.

Last thing: Antonio Senzatela did not make the list, largely because he missed pretty much all of 2016 due to injury. However, Logenhagen makes a point here that speaks to one of my chief frustrations with the publicly available scouting reports:

Many considered him a future reliever prior to the injury, an opinion reinforced by the risk-averse nature of evaluators who’d cash in Senzatela as a middle reliever as soon as possible.

Yes, a vast majority of pitchers in the minor leagues end up as relievers. But after a while, it just reads as lazy to me to slap a “future reliever” label on a guy. /soapbox

What do you think? Who is Logenhagen missing right now? Who is he crazy to rate so high?