July 4th has come and gone and that means it’s time for Purple Row’s biannual Purple Row Prospects (PuRPs) polling to rank the Rockies top 30 prospects as determined by their best and most knowledge fans also known as the Purple Row community.
The 2017 MLB draft is in the past and the Rockies have signed all of the draftees they are expected to sign. They have also kicked off the 2017-2018 IFA signing period with some notable signings. They are still expected to make at least one more big signings next month. All of these new prospects are eligible to be included on your poll if you so choose.
The 2017 preseason list is available for your reference though there have been some notable graduations that are no longer eligible, but more on that later.
The rules are pretty simple but we ask that you refresh yourself on them before voting:
- Your list must be at least 30 players long -- partial ballots will not be counted. If you're having trouble filling out your list, check out great resources like RockiesRoster.com, Minor League Central, and Baseball-Reference to find any stats you might need. Only the top 30 names will be counted on the ballot; if the same player is listed multiple times on the ballot, the player ranked 31st (if applicable) will be moved up to fill the list. To reiterate: if there aren't at least 30 distinct players on the list, the ballot won't be counted. For that reason, it is encouraged that you list more than 30 players in case of a duplicate listing or a player move.
- Feel free to give a rationale about the placement of each prospect, but you aren't required to do so by any means.
- Voting will be open from now until Friday evening, July 21. Once we tabulate the results, we will reveal the list over the next few days or so after voting ends. This is a departure from the preseason list, in which the reveal was one prospect per day, because otherwise we wouldn't be revealing the mid-season list almost until September!
- Players are eligible for inclusion if they still retain their Rookie of the Year eligibility (fewer than 50 IP, 130 ABs, and/or fewer than 45 days on the active roster -- DL and post-Sept. 1 service time are not included). Several key players from the preseason list have exhausted their ROY eligibility and therefore are no longer eligible: Jeff Hoffman (2), German Marquez (5), Kyle Freeland (8), Antonio Senzatela (10) and Pat Valaika (HM). Matt Carasiti (HM), has been traded to the Chicago Cubs and is also no longer eligible. Raimel Tapia (4) and Tom Murphy (6) are still eligible to be included on your list.
- Any player who is eligible at the start of the polling period will be eligible for the list even if they lose eligibility before the voting ends or they are announced
- Scoring will be in done like the AP poll in college football -- that is, a first place vote gets a player 30 points, a second place vote 29, and so forth on down to 1 point for a 30th place vote. It's important to note that until a player is named on at least 1/3 of all ballots cast that their vote totals will only receive partial credit (on a sliding scale which depends on the total number of ballots cast). This is to prevent individuals from manipulating the poll with "vanity" votes for marginal prospects.
- All ballots are weighted equally (as long as the players on them are named on enough ballots to qualify). The PuRPs list is a community ranking of Rockies prospects and we're proud of the fact that again and again it's a darn good one. As a result, we ask that you put some quality effort into researching and compiling your list.
- Remember, everyone has their own methodology of ranking their PuRPs. You may disagree with how one community member ranks their PuRPs over your own, but it remains in your hands to maintain civil discourse when discussing said PuRPs. That's what makes this ranking so great.
With that, have fun with this list. I look forward to a lively (but civil, in accordance with Purple Row's rules and regulations) debate over each others' lists. Let's try to keep this thread focused on the lists, please.