Pitchers and catchers report to the Cubs Spring Training facility in Mesa, Arizona in just eleven short days. That day marks new beginnings for the Chicago Cubs organization and also means it is time for a new beginning for the Out of the Vines Top Prospect Lists.

As I continue to write for this website on a more regular basis going forward, this is the first time I have updated my prospect rankings officially in over a year.

While no prospect rankings are created equally, I tend to do things differently than most systems you will find. I rank the top prospects in the system in two different lists: one for the pitchers and one for the position players. The result is a Top 20 Bats and a Top 20 Arms list.

I do this because as difficult as prospect ranking is when you compare a 24-year-old in Triple-A Iowa to a newly drafted kid out of high school playing in Mesa Rookie Ball, the one thing that can easily be controlled and make lists a little more straight forward is to split up the hitters and the pitchers. Comparing the two different types of players is a challenge because they develop in completely different ways in the Minor Leagues.

These lines make the lists very distinguishable for you, the reader, as well as myself. We are able to compare the abilities and projections of Nico Hoerner to Trent Giambrone and Keegan Thompson to Jose Albertos instead of struggling to figure out how Jonathan Sierra is or is not better than Dakota Mekkes.

Now, my list here at Out of the Vines will be different than all of the other lists you will see across the World Wide Web. There will be hitters that I am much higher on than Todd over at Cubs Central. There will be pitchers that I am lower on than Michael at Cubs Den. There will be players that I have on my lists that aren’t even mentioned on Jason’s Top 30 at Prospects Live. But I promise, that’s okay!

Each and every general manager, scout, writer, and blogger looks for different things in the prospects that they watch. They value different skillsets, pay more attention to different levels of the system, and each and every one of them has a strange love for a certain prospect that most other people don’t (Mine was Chesny Young up until way too recently. That didn’t age well).

I will be updating the lists as the season wears on. More than likely, the updates will come at the halfway point of the Minor League season and then again after the season ends, but don’t be surprised to see more frequent updates as things progress throughout the season.

If you haven’t clicked on one of the links to the official lists above, click here and it will take you to the Top 20s. It will also be found under the Prospects tab under Top Prospect Lists.

If you have complaints about how much of an idiot I am, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. Don’t hesitate to @ me on Twitter and I will do my best to defend my lists.