Introducing the Atlanta Braves 2008 Top Prospects

It's that time again, the lull between the end of the regular season and the hot stove league. About six teams call it the "postseason," but the rest of the teams and their fans need to find something else to talk about. At Talking Chop it's time to look ahead to what the minors might bring in the coming season - it's time to rank the top prospects in the Braves system.

I sort of go overboard on the whole ranking of prospects thing for some reason - I guess I enjoy it and enjoy the depth that the Braves system has to work with. After doing this blog for a couple of years now I'm getting much better at evaluating the different minor leaguers. Of course that still comes with a disclaimer that I am no talent evaluator, nor am I going to pretend to be one. I try to juggle and balance several factors when ranking the top prospects: tools, stats, and level.

Tools: This is mainly the players reputation, or what I gather their rep is from the things I've read throughout the internets. There's some interpretation here since talent evaluators don't always agree on what a prospect's strengths and weaknesses are. One also has to take into account that not everything written about players is gospel - a lot of it is fluff written by people who probably know less than I do about these players.

Stats: This is the part where I get to make my own interpretation of what a player has done. I'm trying to take some more things into account this year such as ballpark factors, splits, and trends. The tough thing here is to figure out if the stats are lying or saying something different from what the scouts are saying about the player's tools.

Level: I do think the level the player is playing at and has completed is important when ranking them on a top list. There is a lot of difference between double-A and the A-ball levels and what a player does at each level - this also takes into account sample size of at-bats or innings pitched at that level. Another factor about the level a player is at is the competition at that level. A lot has been made about our great teams in Danville the last few years, but those Braves players at Danville are often more advanced than the opponents they're playing against. This has to be taken into account and can be seen in a lot of players making the jump to Rome.

So the schedule will be similar to what I did last year. I'll release five at a time starting at the bottom and working my way up to the number one prospect. Once I get into the top-10 I'll slow it down a bit to add to the "suspense." At the end of it all, each of you the Talking Chop readers, will be asked to submit your own top-25 prospect list. So while I'm dishing out my top-25 (with a bonus 10) keep in mind who you would rank where. We'll combine all the top-25 lists and that will become the official 2008 Talking Chop Top-25 Braves Prospects. The schedule:

Oct. 12: Prospects 31-35
Oct. 13: Prospects 26-30
Oct. 15: Prospects 21-25
Oct. 16: Prospects 16-20
Oct. 17: Prospects 11-15
Oct. 18: The Prospects We've Traded
Oct. 22: Prospects 7-10
Oct. 23: Prospects 4-6
Oct. 24: Prospects 1-3
Oct. 25: Talking Chop Readers Submit their Top-25
Oct. 29: The Talking Chop Top-25 is Finalized

Obviously in the middle of all this we may have to break away if there is any "breaking news," but this time of year it's usually pretty quiet for non-playoff teams. I've been working on these rankings for over a month, and I must say I'm still changing them up here and there, but for the most part the top group is set.

Before we begin, here are the players that are not considered prospects because they've lost their rookie status: Jo-Jo Reyes (over 50 innings pitched), Yunel Escobar (over 130 at-bats), Brayan Pena (over 45 days on active pre-expanded roster), and Martin Prado (over 45 days on active pre-expanded roster).

(I'll be in Chicago this weekend, and I should have access to post according to the schedule I've set, but if not, you know why.)