Diamond Futures’ Retrospective: Our 2001 Top 100

Josh Beckett began a two year run atop the list in 2001

A number of you have inquired recently as to where you can find our previous Top Prospect Lists. Since our early lists were developed for a site that has changed ownership and management a couple of times over the last few years (www.topprospectalert.com ) and, to the best of my knowledge removed their archives from the beginning of the decade a couple years ago, and a site that no longer exists, we don’t have convenient links to point you toward. We did post our very first Top 100 list, from February of 2000, back in October (http://baseballnumbers-diamondfutures.blogspot.com/2009/10/diamond-futures-retrospective-2000-top.html), but, at least to my knowledge, the electronic links to the early lists have long since faded away. So, since there appears to be an interest, we will begin posting our previous lists, a couple per week, between now and the start of the season.

We actually began developing prospect lists in 1998-1999, where we identified the top prospects for each league. In 2000, we began doing a Top 100 list, and the following year expanded the list to 300 prospects. Today, we will look back at our 2001 list. While we are extremely proud of our 2001 list, mainly because we recognized the potential of Jimmy Rollins and Albert Pujols before most anyone, hopefully you will see that as the years have moved on, we have actually gotten better—as we have discovered better ways to value players that have minimal professional playing time. Additionally, while we are confident that our methods stack up favorably against any others available—we aren’t perfect, and sometimes our ‘misses’ can be more fun than our ‘hits’. Some of the significant misses from our 2001 list include: Ryan Anderson - #4; Antonio Perez - #12; Hee Choi - #21; injured pitchers Bobby Bradley-#22 and Chin-hui Tsao-#24; two of our perennial favorites, Jerome Williams-#26 and Chris Snelling-#28; and the ‘Nuke LaLossh’ of his day..Nick Neugebauer-#33. In addition to Rollins and Pujols, some of our better calls included: Jack Cust-#18; Francisco Rodriguez-#27; Jake Peavy - #30; John Garland - #45; Carlos Zambrano - #51; Brandon Phillips - #53; Adam Wainwright - #57; John Lackey - #69; and a relatively unknown Canadian, Justin Morneau - #84. The complete list is posted below:

Diamond Futures’ 2001 Top 100 Prospects

1 ) Beckett , Josh , RHP , FLA
2 ) Burroughs , Sean , 3B , SDP
3 ) Hamilton , Josh , OF , TBR
4 ) Anderson , Ryan , LHP , SEA
5 ) Patterson , Corey , OF , CHN
6 ) Rollins , Jimmy , SS , PHI
7 ) Sabathia , C.C. , LHP , CLE
8 ) Johnson , Nick , 1B , NYY
9 ) Pujols , Albert , 3B , STL
10 ) Suzuki , Ichiro , OF , SEA
11 ) Pena , Carlos , 1B , TEX
12 ) Perez , Antonio , SS , SEA
13 ) Sheets , Ben , RHP , MIL
14 ) Dunn , Adam , OF , CIN
15 ) Wells , Vernon , OF , TOR
16 ) Oswalt , Roy , RHP , HOU
17 ) Giles , Marcus , 2B , ATL
18 ) Cust , Jack , OF , ARZ
19 ) Soriano , Alfonso , SS/2B , NYY
20 ) Blalock , Hank , 3B , TEX
21 ) Choi , Hee , 1B , CHN
22 ) Bradley , Bobby , RHP , PIT
23 ) Rauch , Jon , RHP , CHA
24 ) Tsao , Chin-hui , RHP , COL
25 ) Kearns , Austin , OF , CIN
26 ) Williams , Jerome , RHP , SFG
27 ) Rodriguez , Francisco , RHP , ANA
28 ) Snelling , Chris , OF , SEA
29 ) Jiminez , D'Angelo , SS/2B , NYY
30 ) Peavy , Jacob , RHP , SDP
31 ) Cruz , Juan , RHP , CHN
32 ) Smith , Bud , LHP , STL
33 ) Neugebauer , Nick , RHP , MIL
34 ) Rivas , Luis , 2B , MIN
35 ) House , J.R. , C , PIT
36 ) Johnson , Adam , RHP , MIN
37 ) Mench , Kevin , OF , TEX
38 ) Chen , Chin-Feng , OF , LAD
39 ) Henson , Drew , 3B , CIN
40 ) Borchard , Joe , OF , CHA
41 ) Cuddyer , Mike , 3B , MIN
42 ) Redding , Tim , RHP , HOU
43 ) Betemit , Wilson , SS , ATL
44 ) Brown , Dee , OF , KCR
45 ) Garland , Jon , RHP , CHA
46 ) Escobar , Alex , OF , NYM
47 ) George , Chris , LHP , KCR
48 ) Crawford , Carl , OF , TBR
49 ) Myers , Brett , RHP , PHI
50 ) Restovich , Mike , OF , MIN
51 ) Zambrano , Carlos , RHP , CHN
52 ) Huff , Aubrey , 3B , TBR
53 ) Phillips , Brandon , SS , MTL
54 ) Uribe , Juan , SS , COL
55 ) Gonzalez , Adrian , 1B , FLA
56 ) Pineiro , Joel , RHP , SEA
57 ) Wainwright , Adam , RHP , ATL
58 ) Belisle , Matt , RHP , ATL
59 ) Ainsworth , Kurt , RHP , SFG
60 ) Gobble , Jimmy , LHP , KCR
61 ) Bridges , Donnie , RHP , MTL
62 ) Nunez , Abraham , SS , FLA
63 ) Crede , Joe , 3B , CHA
64 ) Wilkerson , Brad , OF , MTL
65 ) Lopez , Felipe , SS , TOR
66 ) Cole , Brian , OF , NYM
67 ) Colome , Jesus , RHP , TBR
68 ) Ortiz , Jose , 2B/SS , OAK
69 ) Lackey , John , RHP , ANA
70 ) Baez , Danny , RHP , CLE
71 ) Ludwick , Ryan , OF , OAK
72 ) Jennings , Jason , RHP , COL
73 ) Prokopec , Luke , RHP , LAD
74 ) Blanco , Tony , 3B , BOS
75 ) Santiago , Ramon , SS , DET
76 ) Izturis , Cesar , SS , TOR
77 ) Christensen , Ben , RHP , CHN
78 ) Strange , Pat , RHP , NYM
79 ) Infante , Omar , SS , DET
80 ) Cornejo , Nate , RHP , DET
81 ) Cedeno , Jovanny , RHP , TEX
82 ) Tankersley , Dennis , RHP , SDP
83 ) Hill , Bobby , SS/2B , CHN
84 ) Morneau , Justin , 1B/C , MIN
85 ) Abernathy , Brent , 2B , TBR
86 ) Werth , Jayson , C , BAL
87 ) Hernandez , Carlos , LHP , HOU
88 ) Buehrle , Mark , LHP , CHA
89 ) Cabrera , Miguel , SS , FLA
90 ) Montanez , Luis , SS , CHN
91 ) Torcato , Tony , 3B , SFG
92 ) Hinske , Eric , 3B , CHN
93 ) Lawrence , Brian , RHP , SDP
94 ) Hart , Jason , 1B , OAK
95 ) Bradley , Milton , OF , MTL
96 ) Torres , Joe , LHP , ANA
97 ) Inge , Brandon , C , DET
98 ) Rodriguez , Wilfredo , LHP , HOU
99 ) Utley , Chase , 2B , PHI
100 ) Stephens , John , RHP , BAL