Baseball America’s look into each league’s top 20 prospects continued today with the FSL. Tigers’ uberstud Rick Porcello predictably topped the list, and the only Yankees’ farmhand to make the cut was Zach McAllister at #20. High-A Tampa a prospect wasteland for most of the year, so it’s no surprise the list is short on Yanks’ prospects.

The Eastern League comes out tomorrow, however the list was already leaked. Austin Jackson comes it at #10 if the list is correct. We’ll find out tomorrow.

Baseball America’s look into each league’s top 20 prospects hit the South Atlantic League today, and disappointingly (is that a word?) only two Yanks’ prospects made the list: Jesus Montero & Austin Romine at numbers 7 and 8, respectively. No Betances is surprising, but what can you do. The Florida State and Eastern Leagues will be posted next Monday and Tuesday,

Baseball America continued their look into each league’s top 20 prospects with the Short Season NY-Penn League today. Tenth overall pick Jason Castro claimed the top spot, with several other fellow first rounders ranking behind him. The Staten Island Yanks were shut out though, not a single Yankees’ prospect made the list. Can’t argue, it was a deep league and SI’s talent was rather underwhelming.

The next list of interest to Yanks’ fans is the South Atlantic League, which will be released next Wednesday. I’m sure Charleston will be well represented, even though Jesus Montero will have to settle for a spot behind Madison Bumgarner & Jason Heyward.

Baseball America has started it’s annual look into each leagues top 20 prospects, starting yesterday with the Rookie level Arizona League (not to be confused with the Arizona Fall League), and continuing today with the Rookie level Gulf Coast League. Twins’ first rounder Aaron Hicks grabbed the top spot, and was followed by Marlins’ first rounder Kyle Skipworth. Only one Yankees’ farmhand made the list - 17-yr old RHP Arodys Vizcaino, who came in at #11. Brett Marshall likely would have made the list if he didn’t sign so late.

You can see the top 20 list schedule here; the next one of interest to Yankees’ fans is the Short Season NY-Penn League this Friday.

So the August 15th signing deadline came and went, but sadly a whole bunch of nothing went on in Yankeeland. The Yanks didn’t sign their first or second round pick, and made up for it only by signing their sandwich pick, a LHP who may or may not have elbow issues. It takes about five years before you can accurately judge a draft class, but so far this looks like the weakest crop of Damon Oppenheimer’s impressive tenure as Scouting Director.

That said, the Yanks did add some nice talent and solid organizational depth, with six players jumping right into my Top 30. Overall the system is down quite a bit from this time last year, partly due to the graduation of Joba & IPK, but mostly because of trades, injury and general ineffectiveness. Here’s my pre-draft list, and keep in mind that the prospects I ranked 16 through like, 28 are pretty interchangeable. Fun starts after the jump.

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The third point of the season isn’t the best time to take stock and assess how the prospects in the minors are doing, but that’s not going to stop me. There’s been a decent amount of movement at the top, which is the result of just about everything: graduation, injuries, ineffectiveness, hissy fits and domination.

Here’s my updated look at the Yanks’ top 30 prospects, as they stand the day before some fresh blood is infused into the system. You can check out my preseason list for comparisons sake.

1. Joba Chamberlain, RHP - right at 50 IP for his career, so he hasn’t passed the rookie limit yet … i think we’re all looking forward to seeing him in the rotation for the rest of the year (or at the least the smart ones are)
2. Jesus Montero, C - surpassed all expectations for this year, there’s no one in the draft class that can knock him from this spot
   
3. Austin Jackson, CF - improved his plate discipline, hitting for power, playing good D … there’s a lot to like here
4. JB Cox, RHP - came back from TJ like a champ, much better than I expected
5. Mark Melancon, RHP - see above
6. Zach McAllister, RHP - went from sleeper to stud thanks to his lights out first half
7. Dellin Betances, RHP - the walks are high, and the tired shoulder is a minor concern, but he’s doing about all you could ask him to do in his first attempt at full-season ball
8. Ross Ohlendorf, RHP - yep, he’s technically still a prospect, and he’s better than his numbers suggest
9. Alan Horne, RHP - if it wasn’t for the biceps injury, he would probably be in the bigs
10. Andrew Brackman, RHP - too much talent to ignore, TJ or not
    
11. Jose Tabata, RF - if you want to act like a baby I’ll rank you like one … lucky for him he’s just 19
12. Brett Gardner, CF - hitting for enough power to keep pitchers honest, and that’s all he needs
13. Jeff Marquez, RHP - finding out that Triple-A hitters make you pay when you don’t get the ball down
14. Carmen Angelini, SS - not the best start to the year, but he’s young for his league and has loads of ability
15. David Robertson, RHP - just keeps mowing guys down
16. Dan McCutchen, RHP - is he the guy that dominated Double-A, or the guy that’s scuffling in Triple-A?
17. Abe Almonte, CF - flashing all 5 tools and putting up the numbers … stud
18. Austin Romine, C - having an impressive year at the dish and behind it, which is more than you can ask from a teenage catcher in full season ball
19. Chris Garcia, RHP - getting back into game action was step 1, step 2 is putting in the work needed to be great, because he’s got all the talent he’d ever need
20. Colin Curtis, LF - not flashy, but he does everything just good enough
21. Jairo Heredia, RHP - too bad I don’t know what the “upper body injury” was
22. Humberto Sanchez, RHP - still MIA
23. Bradley Suttle, 3B - mashed his way into the top 20 between injuries this year after a brutal debut last year
24. Juan Miranda, 1B - shoulder issues have sapped his power, but it was already clear that he’s a classic platoon first baseman/DH
25. Kevin Whelan, RHP - almost a forgotten man in the system
26. Ryan Pope, RHP - enigmatic isn’t the right word, but he’s … unique
27. Frankie Cervelli, C - holding down a spot based on reputation after the injury
28. Mike Dunn, LHP - hopefully he won’t be the top ranked lefty when I do the post-draft list, no offense to Mike
    
29. Edwar Ramirez, RHP - still prospect eligible, and still striking out almost 2 batters an inning
30. Justin Snyder, 2B - all he does is get on base and score runs

The guys over at Project Prospect did something that was long overdue: they took all of this year’s major top 100 prospects lists (BA, Keith Law, BP, Moundtalk and of course, their own) and mashed them all together to come up with a composite list. The general consensus has Joba ranking as the fourth best prospect in the game, with IPK, Jose Tabata, and Austin Jackson coming at numbers 30, 37 and 38, respectively. Having four of the top 38 prospects in the game is pretty damn impressive.

If that wasn’t enough, they also threw together a mock fantasy draft, where each publication selected the top available player on its list. As expected, Joba was a first rounder, and the first pitcher taken. IPK was a fourth rounder, Tabata and Jackson both ninth rounders, Jesus Montero a 21st rounder, Alan Horne a 23rd, and Dellin Betances made a bit of a surprise appearance as a 28th rounder. Based on a quick glance, I’d say the Project Prospect crew came away with the best haul in the mock draft; they got some seriously premium arms in the later rounds. Very interesting stuff; check it out.

BA revealed their Top 100 List today, and surprisingly they didn’t cut it into two parts like most years. Joba comes in at number three (behind the overrated Jay Bruce and the underrated Evan Longoria), making it the second year in a row the Yanks boasted the top pitching prospect in the minors. (I’m not counting Dice-K from last year; dude was basically a veteran). Joba’s backed up Jose Tabata (#37), Austin Jackson (#41), and IPK (#45). Alan Horne could be considered a snub, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it.

Update: Horne, Jeff Marquez and Jesus Montero each got a few Top 100 votes in the “Best of the Rest” section. Sorry, subscription required.

The guys over at my old stomping grounds just wrapped up their four-month long countdown of the Yanks’ top 30 prospects. They made life easy by linking to each player’s profile in this handy dandy wrap-up list, and also linked to oodles of other Yankee prospect links from around the Interweb. Check that shizz out.

The guys over at Project Prospect posted their list of the Top 150 prospects, with seven Yankees making the cut. James at YanksBlog gives you the rundown on those guys, so I’ll just refer you to his post. I’m glad Braves lefty Jeff Locke got some love at #89, that kid’s a dynamo sleeper. I’m also glad they knocked Dan Cortes of the Royals (#126) down a peg, the guys at BA were touting him like he’s the next Felix Hernandez, despite only having one good pitch.

Update: I meant to link to this yesterday, but it slipped my mind. BA ranked the 30 farm systems based on how close their talent is to the bigs. The Yanks came in at number 2. That’s a good thing.