CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Compiling and ordering the 100 Names You Need to Know is a task that has greatly evolved since USA TODAY Sports began the list in 1997, and the 2016 version posed its challenges.
Scouting reports, data and lists of top baseball prospects are more abundant than ever, with both traditional and progressive schools of thought contributing to a golden age of prospect mining.
But it’s the nature of this list — our yearly look at young players primed to make impacts during the major league season — that runs head-on into the rapid-fire manner in which young players arrive and dominate at the major league level.
The names that follow aren’t necessarily the 100 best prospects, but rather the ones most likely to make marks in 2016. To qualify, a player must have had more innings (for pitchers) or plate appearances (for hitters) in the minor leagues during 2015 than he has accumulated during all of his major league playing time. Players are ranked in order of their anticipated impact this season.
And the 2015 season certainly shifted the para- digm in regard to just how quickly the young can seize the game. The All-Star Game featured 20 players 25 or younger, many repeat honorees or well-established big-leaguers. Joc Pederson (No. 1) and Kris Bryant (No. 9) made the leap from our list all the way to the Midsummer Classic.
Francisco Lindor (No. 18) did not debut until June 14 and almost immediately uplifted the Cleveland Indians from a 30-34 club to a playoff hopeful. Carlos Correa (No. 70) beat Francisco Lindor (No. 18) to the big leagues by a week and, at 20, eclipsed his fellow shortstop for AL rookie of the year. Down at 98, Steven Matz emerged from deep within the New York Mets’ pitching prospect hierarchy to start in the World Series.
This year, while nine of the top 10 names debuted in 2015, many in the bottom half of the list — be it Houston Astros slugger A.J. Reed, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Brett Phillips, Dodgers lefty Julio Urias or any number of high-ceiling talents — might project to make a true impact years, not months, from now.
That’s not to say you should sleep on any of them. If we’ve learned anything, they’ll be here before you know it.