Pinstriped Prospect Top 10s

Baseball Prospectus's Kevin Goldstein has released his top 10 Yankee prospects list for 2007, joining Baseball America and John Sickels, the other major players in the prospects game. Here are the lists, in reverse chronological order of release (in BP and BA, the lists are available to the public, but the articles detailing the choices are pay articles):

Baseball Prospectus (Kevin Goldstein, January 28, 2007):

Excellent Prospects
1. Philip Hughes, rhp
2. Jose Tabata, rf
Very Good Prospects
3. Joba Chamberlain, rhp
4. Humberto Sanchez, rhp
5. Dellin Betances, rhp
Good Prospects
6. Kevin Whelan, rhp
Average Prospects
7. Tyler Clippard, rhp
8. J. Brent Cox, rhp
9. Ian Kennedy, rhp
10. Alberto Gonzalez, ss


Minor League Ball (John Sickels, January 7, 2007)

1. Phil Hughes, RHP, Grade A
   
2. Jose Tabata, OF, Grade B+
   
3. Humberto Sanchez, RHP, Grade B+
   
4. Joba Chamberlain, RHP, B
   
5. Tyler Clippard, RHP, B
   
6. Dellin Betances, RHP, B
   
7. J. Brent Cox, RHP, B
   
8. George Kontos, RHP, B-
   
9. Christian Garcia, RHP, B-
   
10. Ian Kennedy, RHP, B-

Baseball America (John Manuel, November 8, 2007)

1.	Philip Hughes, rhp
2.	Jose Tabata, of
3.	Dellin Betances, rhp
4.	Joba Chamberlain, rhp
5.	Ian Kennedy, rhp
6.	Chris Garcia, rhp
7.	Tyler Clippard, rhp
8.	J. Brent Cox, rhp
9.	Mark Melancon, rhp
10.	Brett Gardner, of

All three lists agree on the Yankees' top two prospects, Phil Hughes and Jose Tabata, with just about everyone in agreement that Hughes is one of the very top prospects in baseball. The lists would likely agree on Humberto Sanchez as one of the Yanks' top four prospects if Baseball America had gone to press after the Sheffield trade, rather than before. Another side effect of BA's early press date (and the fact that they're a print publication) is that starter Christian Garcia and reliever Mark Malencon are on their list, but missing from the two others--BA's list was posted about a week after Malencon had Tommy John surgery and a month before Garcia had a TJ of his own, which will set both prospects back a year or more in their development.

What everyone agrees on, other than the top two, is that the Yanks' system is stronger than in previous years--last year, Sickels only gave out three grades over B-, this year six prospects made it--and that the organization's strength is righthanded pitching. The only consensus top ten position prospect is Tabata. Outfielder Brett Gardner is highly featured on all three lists (he's #16 on Sickels and an honorable mention for Goldstein), and Alberto Gonzalez, the shortstop from the Randy Johnson trade, also gets some play (#15 on Sickels). Beyond that, the pickings are slim--guys like Eric Duncan, Austin Jackson, Marcos Vechionacci, and Bronson Sardinha aren't getting the prospect hounds terribly excited anymore.