November 6, 2015 at 7:30 AM
Staff Top 60 Rankings, 2015: Wrap-up
Let's put a bow on the 2015 edition of our individual top 40 rankings, in which we reached near-consensus that Gerson Bautista was an arm to watch for next year and were all pretty happy with how we did last year.
Monday - Chris Hatfield
Tuesday - Mike Andrews
Wednesday - Matt Huegel
Thursday - Ian Cundall
Here's what our average rankings were, before slight tweaking (denoted in parentheses) and breaking of ties.
1. Yoan Moncada, 2B
2. Rafael Devers, 3B
3. Anderson Espinoza, RHP
4. Manuel Margot, CF
5. Andrew Benintendi, CF
6. Javier Guerra, SS
7. Michael Kopech, RHP
8. Brian Johnson, LHP
9. Sam Travis, 1B
10. Deven Marrero, SS
11. Michael Chavis, 3B
12. Luis Alexander Basabe, CF
T-13. Logan Allen, LHP
T-13. Trey Ball, LHP
15. Wendell Rijo, 2B
16. Nick Longhi, 1B/RF
17. Marco Hernandez, SS
18. Mauricio Dubon, SS
T-19. Pat Light, RHP
T-19. Teddy Stankiewicz, RHP
T-19. Williams Jerez, LHP
22. Luis Ysla, LHP
23. Ty Buttrey, RHP
24. Jonathan Aro, RHP
25. Carlos Asuaje, 2B
26. Noe Ramirez, RHP
27. Edwin Escobar, LHP
28. Yoan Aybar, CF (-1)
29. Dayan Diaz, RHP (+1)
30. Garin Cecchini, LF/1B/3B
31. Bryce Brentz, RF/LF
32. Kevin McAvoy, RHP
33. Jalen Beeks, LHP
34. Travis Lakins, RHP
35. Ben Taylor, RHP
T-36. Christopher Acosta, RHP
T-36. Kyle Martin, RHP (-2)
38. Jordan Procyshen, C (+1)
39. Austin Glorius, RHP (+1)
40. Chandler Shepherd, RHP
41. Austin Rei, C
42. Marc Brakeman, RHP (-2)
43. Victor Acosta, 3B/2B (+1)
44. Gerson Bautista, RHP (-1)
T-45. Yankory Pimentel, RHP (+2)
T-45. Sean Coyle, 2B/3B
47. Henry Ramos, RF
48. Josh Ockimey, 1B (-1)
49. Josh Pennington, RHP (-1)
50. Mike Meyers, LF (+2)
51. Kyri Washington, LF
52. Jeremy Rivera, SS
T-53. German Taveras, RHP (-2)
T-53. Ben Moore, C (-3)
55. Jake Romanski, C (+1)
56. Roniel Raudes, RHP (-2)
57. Kevin Steen, RHP
58. Tate Matheny, CF (-1)
59. Jake Cosart, RHP (-1)
60. Karsten Whitson, RHP (-1)
(64. Victor Diaz, RHP (+11))
We were more uniform in our rankings than in past seasons, in part due to the tiering that kept coming up in our answers to the questions in this series and in part due to the more collaborative rankings process we've followed this season on the site rankings. In being aware of what everyone else was thinking on their own rankings, we were able to think through where we might be off in our own rankings, and justify it when we were going to stray from the pack, so to speak, on a player or ranking paradigm. The highest-ranked player with a ten-spot split between his highest and lowest rankings was Christopher Acosta at 36, and that makes sense, as he's the highest-ranked player who we on the staff have never seen play. The highest-ranked player with a standard deviation greater than three was Marco Hernandez at 17. We were unanimous on our rankings at numbers 1, 4, 5, 6, and 9.
As we always do, for the sake of comparison, here is the list that our posters on the SoxProspects.com Forum came up with in their end-of-season rankings.
1. Yoan Moncada, 2B
2. Anderson Espinoza, RHP
3. Rafael Devers, 3B
4. Andrew Benintendi, CF
5. Manuel Margot, CF
6. Javier Guerra, SS
7. Brian Johnson, LHP
8. Michael Kopech, RHP
9. Sam Travis, 1B
10. Michael Chavis, 3B
11. Deven Marrero, SS
T-12. Logan Allen, LHP
T-12. Nick Longhi, 1B/RF
14. Pat Light, RHP
15. Mauricio Dubon, SS
T-16. Trey Ball, LHP
T-16. Wendell Rijo, 2B
18. Marco Hernandez, SS
19. Luis Alexander Basabe, CF
20. Ty Buttrey, RHP
21. Williams Jerez, LHP
22. Teddy Stankiewicz, RHP
23. Yoan Aybar, CF
24. Carlos Asuaje, 2B
25. Garin Cecchini, LF/1B/3B
26. Christopher Acosta, RHP
27. Jonathan Aro, RHP
28. Noe Ramirez, RHP
29. Edwin Escobar, LHP
30. Roniel Raudes, RHP
31. Luis Ysla, LHP
32. Sean Coyle, 2B/3B
33. Josh Ockimey, 1B
34. Austin Rei, C
35. Kevin McAvoy, RHP
36. Dayan Diaz, RHP
37. Travis Lakins, RHP
38. Jake Cosart, RHP
39. Marc Brakeman, RHP
40. Kevin Steen, RHP
Last year, I noted that we were higher on Javier Guerra and Heath Hembree than the posters, and were lower on Carlos Asuaje. This year, it seems like the stats helped the likes of Anderson Espinoza and Andrew Benintendi near the top and Roniel Raudes and Kevin Steen lower on the list, while inertia helped slow the falls of the likes of Garin Cecchini, Sean Coyle, and Jake Cosart a bit. In the other direction, the posters did not have the benefit of scouting from Lowell and Fall Instructs on Luis Alexander Basabe, and Luis Ysla was probably acquired so recently that many did not have an idea of how to rank him.
As always, thanks to all of our readers. Stay tuned here to the News Page, because next week, we start the Top 40 Season in Review!
Photo credit: Yoan Moncada, Jonathan Aro, Victor Acosta, Andrew Benintendi, and Williams Jerez by Kelly O'Connor.