Diamond Futures’ Retrospective: Our 2002 Top 100

We believed in Jake Peavy before it became fashionable

A number of you have inquired recently as to where you can find our previous Top Prospect Lists. In response we have begun to post our previous lists and will get through all of them before the season starts.

Today, we take a look at our Top 100 list from 2002. As is our typically ‘want’, we begin with our significant misses. Looking back, we don’t feel as good about the 2002 list as we do 2001, as a number of high profile prospects never had the type of career that we would have expected from them. Among these were: Hank Blalock - #2; Sean Burroughs - #3; Nick Neugebauer - #12; Jerome Williams - #17; Wilson Betemit - #18; Joe Borchard - #24; Carlos Hernandez - #25; Drew Henson - #31; Dennis Tankersley - #34 and Alex Escobar - #46. I suppose that we could find some solace in the fact that most everybody missed on these as well—and many had them far higher than we did, but we missed nonetheless. Additionally, there were some unusual circumstances on this list, as shortly after we put it out, Juan Cruz - #13 was discovered to be two years older than his previously listed age, and Mark Prior - #6 was well on his way to a solid Major League career before injuring his shoulder after only about 90 Major League starts. But we also had some ‘just plain old misses’ with Chris Snelling - #5, Hee Choi - #29 and Dave Kelton - #40.

But things weren’t all bad, as Josh Beckett - #1, Carlos Pena #9, Mark Texiera - #11, Austin Kearns - #14, Adrian Gonzalez - #16, Justin Morneau - #20, Joe Mauer #21 and Brandon Phillips - #27 have all posted the type of careers that we, and most everyone else expected. Additionally, like Jake Peavy - #4, we identified our share of players that we were ahead of the curve on such as: Jose Reyes - #8; Carl Crawford - #15; Carlos Zambrano - #33; Francisco Rodriguez - #36; Grady Sizemore - #50; Garret Atkins - #64 and John Lackey - #93. The full list is posted below:

Diamond Futures 2002 Top 100

1 ) Beckett , Josh , RHP , FLA
2 ) Blalock , Hank , 3B , TEX
3 ) Burroughs , Sean , 3B , SDP
4 ) Peavy , Jake , RHP , SDP
5 ) Snelling , Chris , OF , SEA
6 ) Prior , Mark , RHP , CHN
7 ) Cust , Jack , OF , COL
8 ) Reyes , Jose , SS , NYM
9 ) Pena , Carlos , 1B , OAK
10 ) Johnson , Nick , 1B , NYY
11 ) Teixeira , Mark , 3B , TEX
12 ) Neugebauer , Nick , RHP , MIL
13 ) Cruz , Juan , RHP , CHN
14 ) Kearns , Austin , OF , CIN
15 ) Crawford , Carl , OF , TBR
16 ) Gonzalez , Adrian , 1B , FLA
17 ) Williams , Jerome , RHP , SFG
18 ) Betemit , Wilson , SS , ATL
19 ) Cuddyer , Michael , 3B , MIN
20 ) Morneau , Justin , 1B , MIN
21 ) Mauer , Joe , C , MIN
22 ) Johnson , Kelly , SS , ATL
23 ) Bonser , Boof , RHP , SFG
24 ) Borchard , Joe , OF , CHA
25 ) Hernandez , Carlos , LHP , HOU
26 ) Byrd , Marlon , OF , PHI
27 ) Phillips , Brandon , SS , MTL
28 ) Infante , Omar , SS , DET
29 ) Choi , Hee Seop , 1B , CHN
30 ) Soriano , Rafael , RHP , SEA
31 ) Henson , Drew , 3B , NYY
32 ) Kotchman , Casey , 1B , ANA
33 ) Zambrano , Carlos , RHP , CHN
34 ) Tankersley , Dennis , RHP , SDP
35 ) Gross , Gabe , OF , TOR
36 ) Rodriguez , Francisco , RHP , ANA
37 ) Gobble , Jimmy , LHP , KCR
38 ) Ishii , Kazuhisa , LHP , LAD
39 ) Hamilton , Josh , OF , TBR
40 ) Kelton , Dave , 3B , CHN
41 ) Hudson , Orlando , 2B , TOR
42 ) Rivera , Juan , OF , NYY
43 ) Perez , Antonio , SS , SEA
44 ) Anderson , Ryan , LHP , SEA
45 ) Johnson , Adam , RHP , MIN
46 ) Escobar , Alex , OF , CLE
47 ) Phelps , Josh , C , TOR
48 ) Cabrera , Miguel , SS , FLA
49 ) Myers , Brett , RHP , PHI
50 ) Sizemore , Grady , OF , MTL
51 ) Claussen , Brandon , LHP , NYY
52 ) Restovich , Michael , OF , MIN
53 ) Chen , Chin-Feng , OF , LAD
54 ) Wainwright , Adam , RHP , ATL
55 ) German , Esteban , 2B , OAK
56 ) Berroa , Angel , SS , KCR
57 ) Gomez , Alexis , OF , KCR
58 ) Nunez , Abraham , SS , FLA
59 ) Rauch , Jon , RHP , CHA
60 ) Aybar , Willy , 3B , LAD
61 ) House , J.R. , C , PIT
62 ) Santiago , Ramon , SS , DET
63 ) Stephens , John , RHP , BAL
64 ) Atkins , Garrett , 3B , COL
65 ) Howington , Ty , LHP , CIN
66 ) Terrero , Luis , OF , ARZ
67 ) Benoit , Joaquin , RHP , TEX
68 ) Ainsworth , Kurt , RHP , SFG
69 ) Brazleton , Dewon , RHP , TBR
70 ) Ludwick , Ryan , OF , ATL
71 ) Crede , Joe , 3B , CHA
72 ) McLouth , Nathan , OF , PIT
73 ) Evert , Brett , RHP , ATL
74 ) Bedard , Erik , LHP , BAL
75 ) Blanco , Tony , 3B , BOS
76 ) Johnson , Ben , RHP , SDP
77 ) Hill , Bobby , 2B , CHN
78 ) Jackson , Nick , OF , CHN
79 ) Lewis , Colby , LHP , TEX
80 ) Bradley , Bobby , RHP , PIT
81 ) Nady , Xavier , 1B , SDP
82 ) Cornejo , Nate , RHP , DET
83 ) Baldelli , Rocco , OF , BOS
84 ) Thurston , Joe , SS/2B , LAD
85 ) Floyd , Gavin , RHP , FLA
86 ) Tsao , Chin-Hui , RHP , COL
87 ) Perez , Oliver , LHP , SDP
88 ) Torres , Joe , LHP , ANA
89 ) Hinske , Eric , 3B , CHN
90 ) Phillips , Mark , LHP , SDP
91 ) Cantu , Jorge , SS , TBR
92 ) Burnett , Sean , LHP , PIT
93 ) Lackey , John , RHP , ANA
94 ) Buck , John , C , HOU
95 ) Werth , Jayson , C , TOR
96 ) Haynes , Nathan , OF , ANA
97 ) Holliday , Matt , OF , COL
98 ) Malone , Corwin , LHP , CHA
99 ) Martinez , Victor , C , CLE
100 ) Hummel , Tim , 2B/SS , CHA