Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus revised Top 50 prospect lists

With the 2015 MLB All-Star Game nearly upon us, prospect prognosticators are busily revising their player lists to reflect the first half of the campaign. The Minor League Ball Top 75 Mid-Season Prospects List will be out in a few days. In the meantime, other sources like Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus have issued their own lists.

BASEBALL AMERICA MID-SEASON TOP 50

The Baseball America Top 50 mid-season list begins with Corey Seager of the Dodgers, Lucas Giolito of the Nationals, Joey Gallo of the Rangers, Julio Urias of the Dodgers, J.P. Crawford of the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs, Tyler Glasnow of the Pirates, Orlando Arcia of the Brewers, Trey Turner of the Nationals, and Alex Reyes of the Cardinals as the Top Ten.

I don't have any major complaints about those choices although Turner is an interesting placement. Yoan Moncada at 11 is also of intrigue given his mixed results so far (more on that below).  Brett Phillips of the Astros at 21 and Gleyber Torres of the Cubs at 28 have seen a rapid rise in their stock. Nomar Mazara at 34 seems somewhat low to me.

BASEBALL PROSPECTUS MID-SEASON TOP 50

The Baseball Prospectus Top 50 mid-season list begins with Corey Seager, Lucas Giolito, Julio Urias, J.P. Crawford, Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, Aaron Nola, Kyle Schwarber, Daniel Norris of the Blue Jays, and Jose Berrios of the Twins as the Top Ten. That all seems defensible, though of course there are a few quibbles; I'd put Schwarber ahead of Nola.

Another notable selection is Yoan Moncada at 11. He's hitting just .244/.333/.344 in Low-A and not all Sally League observers are overly impressed with him. Scouting reports continue to praise his tools and high upside but there seems to be less polish than advertised. It is too soon to be genuinely concerned about Moncada given the entire package but the placement at 11 by both BA and BP seems aggressive to me. That doesn't mean it is wrong of course.

Nationals prospect Reynaldo Lopez at 19 also seems aggressive while Indians prospect Bradley Zimmer at 20 seems a bit low given his combination of tools and skills. Putting Pirates catching prospect Reese McGuire at 29 ahead of Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia at 31 is also notable.

All lists can be nitpicked to death and you'll all have the opportunity to nitpick my Top 75 in a few days. Compared to these lists, the early in-progress versions of the upcoming Minor League Ball list has a higher placement of Bradley Zimmer in particular. Arcia will also be ranked more highly than he is in the BP list, and Mazara will be closer to his BP stock than his BA rank.