Chris Cwik of Sports on Earth (and a lot of other places) has an article today about those top prospects lists you see each late winter or early spring. The ones put out by Baseball America, Keith Law at ESPN, Jason Parks at Baseball Prospectus and Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com.
It’s a good look at the guts of the process: how these analysts scout the players, who they talk to (or don’t talk to) and the technology they use. Also, a look at how successful they tend to be at picking out true talent before everyone else. Given the volatility of ballplayers, they do a lot better than one might first assume they would, even if it’s still an inexact science.
