Prospect list season this year was all kinds of crazy thanks to their creators being forced to decipher what reports they can trust during the 18-month absence of minor league baseball games. While we wait for my lists to be finalized and published over at Cubs Insider, MLB Pipeline dropped their Top 30. Pipeline is widely considered the most trusted national source of prospect ranking and is most heavily referenced on broadcasts, stories, and blog posts like this one.

You can find the full Top 30 with reports for each player here, but in the meantime let’s take a dive into my biggest takeaways of the work from Jim Callis.

Hitters

With all due respect to Brailyn Marquez, I don’t understand a world where Brennen Davis is not the number one prospect in this system. I know, I know, it is hard to argue with an 80-grade fastball. But it is equally difficult to convince me that Davis doesn’t have the upside of a perennial all-star.

Callis is extra-high on Owen Caissie at #12. There is plenty to like about him as 25% of the prospect haul for Darvatini and I’m excited to see that big body produce some tallywhacks.

Yohendrick Pinango at #14 is kinda crazy to me. This type of confidence in a prospect (to only play games in the Dominican without elite-level pre-signing hype) just goes to show the contacts Callis has and who he trusts in the underlying things in a 18-year-old’s game. Fourteen here, I have him as my 19th best BAT.

Rafael Morel slots in at #21 and that is a ranking I’m just really unsure of right now. Is he potentially better than his older brother Chris? I don’t know. I’m not even sure how good or bad Chris is yet!

Jordan Nwogu at #28 and a failure to rank Andy Weber at all is rough for two guys that slide into my top ten bats. Buy stock now.

Pitchers

The top four pitchers in the system are pretty much chalk at this point. Where Brailyn Marquez (#1), Kohl Franklin (#6), Adbert Alzolay (#7), and Ryan Jensen (#9) fit in amongst the hitters is a different story.

Following those four horsemen is Keegan Thompson at #15. That’s some serious respect and I’m terribly curious to see who exactly he is as a pitcher over this full season. Is the fastball velo legit? How good is that slider? What will be considered a good innings threshold?

Pipeline is higher on Chris Clarke than I am, but I don’t think their ranking of him at #22 is unwarranted. I’m definitely surprised to see him above Michael McAvene (#27) but comparing and contrasting those two guys throughout this season is going to be fun as hell.

Leaving off Jack Patterson, Richard Gallardo, and Yovanny Cruz is a mistake. Each of these dudes hover around my top 10 pitchers in the system and I have high expectations for each of them coming into the 2021 campaign.

Now that MLB Pipeline has given their say-so, can we just get the games rolling already?