Baseball Prospectus released their list of the top 101 prospects on Monday morning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates have five players on the list. This is the fourth major list that has had at least five Pirates among the top 100 prospects, with Baseball America and MLB Pipeline putting five players on their list, and Keith Law added a sixth player. I’ve included the other lists below, as well as an average ranking at the bottom for the top five Pirates.
Austin Meadows leads the way for BP, ranking sixth overall. That’s the same spot that he held with Baseball America on Friday night. He’s followed by Tyler Glasnow at #14, Josh Bell #25, Mitch Keller #27 and Kevin Newman #65. You can compare that to the other rankings here:
Keith Law
9. Austin Meadows
14. Josh Bell
16. Mitch Keller
25. Tyler Glasnow
33. Kevin Newman
74. Ke’Bryan Hayes
MLB Pipeline
9. Tyler Glasnow
10. Austin Meadows
27. Josh Bell
48. Mitch Keller
59. Kevin Newman
Baseball America
6. Austin Meadows
22. Mitch Keller
23. Tyler Glasnow
35. Josh Bell
55. Kevin Newman
As mentioned numerous times before, the same four players rank in the top four for the Pirates, just not in a set order among everyone. Kevin Newman has been fifth on every list. Our own rankings from our 2017 Prospect Guide have the same players in the top four, with Newman fifth. Below, I’ve included the average rankings of these five players from the four major prospect lists.
1. Austin Meadows 7.75
2. Tyler Glasnow 17.75
3. Josh Bell 25.25
4. Mitch Keller 28.25
5. Kevin Newman 52
It’s interesting to note that Glasnow would be the top prospect on 19 teams for Baseball Prospectus. Both Bell and Keller would be the top for 14 other teams. Kevin Newman would even be the top prospect on eight teams according to this ranking.
