Royals Review Top 15 Prospect Crowdsourcing (15-11)

Today marks the first trial in what should be an intermediate journey. A pilgrimage from 15th to 1st. Prospect rankings are always highly subjective, with scouts arguing literally, hypothetically and philosophically about players and particularly about the projection of a player.

These lists aren't perfect or infallible. Many a highly touted prospects have gone from future stars to current waiver wire folly (hello Brandon Wood), while many a not so highly touted prospects have emerged as stars or at least very good players (hello Greg Holland and Matt Carpenter).

Maybe that's the challenge though? It's not like gambling, but it is like gambling. You don't know what this player is truly going to do 5 years from now, but you have pieces of information (more than just strategy and knowledge of house odds) that can guide you. As Dave Cameron eloquently put it when he waxed about projection systems (a different subject entirely)

You would never look at a map and say "I'm traveling east on I-40. This map expects me to drive into the Atlantic Ocean." The map just informs you that the course you are on will eventually lead to the ocean, and if you decide not to exit, wetness awaits.

While it doesn't apply perfectly for prospects (mainly in accuracy of the map), a similar statement can be construed. With prospects we don't know where they will end up in regards to performance in the major leagues. We can however draw a map as accurately as we can given their profile, mechanics, and player comparisons (what Kiley Mcdaniel labels as a "scout library").

So today we embark on part I of III in our quest (realistically your quest) to rank the Royals top 15 prospects.

Below you will be given a list of names. The ranking of said players are solely at your will. Use whatever subjective, biased, racist, or imaginable criteria you deem fit to guide you in the ranking quest.

Today we rank spots 15 through 11. The ground rules are simple:

1. Rank in any order you want

2. Obviously no players can be ranked twice

3. Cast your ranking in the comments

4. If a player does not appear in the list of names below, feel free to include him in your ranking anyways

Once the voting has concluded the results will be tallied and released. Simple, not elegant, but hopefully effective.

Alas, the names:

Angel Baez RHP
Christian Binford RHP
Scott Blewitt RHP
Brandon Downes OF
Samir Duenez 1B
Lane Adams OF
Miguel Almonte RHP
Michael Antonio 3B
Jonathan Dziedzic LHP
Brett Eibner OF
Zane Evans C
Andy Ferguson RHP
John Lamb LHP
Sean Manaea LHP
Whit Merrifield UT
Raul Mondesi SS
Cody Reed LHP
Frank Schwindel C
Sam Selman LHP
Cheslor Cuthbert 3B
Hunter Dozier 3B
Eric Skoglund LHP
Pedro Fernandez RHP
Brandon Finnegan LHP
Cam Gallagher C
Marten Gasparini SS
Terrance Gore OF
Jorge Bonifacio OF
Orlando Calixte SS
Christian Colon 2B
Foster Griffin LHP
Elier Hernandez OF
Bryan Brickhouse RHP
Aaron Brooks RHP
Logan Moon OF
Glenn Sparkman RHP
Bubba Starling OF
Niklas Stephenson RHP
Ryan O'Hearn 1B-OF
Manny Olloque 3B
Dominique Taylor OF
Ramon Torres 2B
Corey Toups SS
Chase Vallot C
Kyle Zimmer RHP
J.C. Sulbaran RHP