Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com released his top 100 prospects on Tuesday night, with four Pirates prospects making the list. One notable player that was missing was right-handed pitcher Luis Heredia. When MLB.com posted an updated top 100 list back in September, Heredia was on the list at number 73. When the 2013 list was announced, he wasn’t included.
Mayo mentioned after the list was announced that Heredia just missed the top 100. Today, Mayo released the next ten prospects, giving a view of who was ranked 101-110. Heredia came in at number 104 on the list.
I’m not surprised to see Heredia left off the top 100 list. He will be very hit or miss on these lists, and it will all depend on who is doing the rankings. A lot of his evaluation is based on potential, rather than actual results. He’s still very young, and still developing some of his secondary pitches. He’s also a long way from the majors, and hasn’t pitched in a full season league yet. There might be players who fit that “young/hasn’t played a full season/still kind of raw” description on the top 100 list, and I couldn’t answer why Mayo went with them instead of Heredia.
What will be telling about where Heredia lands on each list is where he ranks in relation to Alen Hanson and Gregory Polanco. Those two seem to be consensus top 100 prospects. MLB.com didn’t release their Pirates top 20 before the top 100 came out (the top 20 comes out next week), but we know based on the rankings that Heredia finished behind those two. Baseball America rated Heredia ahead of both hitters, and Baseball Prospectus rated Heredia fourth in the system, right ahead of Alen Hanson. I’m guessing he’ll crack the top 100 on each of those lists. Keith Law hasn’t released any rankings yet, so it’s hard to say where Heredia will end up on his list.
