The Joey Gallo Dilemma

My big goal today is to finish up the Top 150 prospects list, a revised and extended list that will update the Top 50/50 that was issued as part of the 2014 Baseball Prospect Book.

With the book and the prospect lists being so late this year, I'm running into a bit of a philosophical problem, what I'm calling the Joey Gallo Dilemma: How much should early season performance factor into these lists? Sample sizes are still small, especially with pitchers, and in most cases the early numbers and the early scouting reports have not overridden pre-season judgment.

But that's not true in all cases: some guys seem to have very much improved (or deteriorated), with some players showing significant change in both the sabermetrics and the scouting. Gallo is the most prominent case, but there are a few others.

I don't want to overthink the issue and overreact to three weeks of games. But I don't want to under-react, either. So, like I said, a dilemma. Ultimately I am going to take it on a case by case basis, let the chips fall where they may, and worry about how things look in mid-July when we'll have more data to work with and can update the list with a sounder knowledge base.

I hope to have the Top 150 for you tomorrow.