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MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo released his latest Top 100 prospect list last Friday. His top five, in order, included Byron Buxton, Oscar Taveras, Miguel Sano, Taijuan Walker, and Francisco Lindor. Gary Sanchez (31), Mason Williams (41), and Tyler Austin (73) represented the Yankees on the list. In addition, Mayo ranked the top 20 prospects in each organization as well as the top 10 prospects by each position. Let's first take a look at Mayo's top 20 Yankee prospects...
1. Gary Sanchez
2. Mason Williams
3. Tyler Austin
4. Rafael De Paula
5. Eric Jagielo
6. Zoilo Almonte
7. Slade Heathcott
8. Manny Banuelos
9. Ian Clarkin
10. Ty Hensley
11. Mark Montgomery
12. JR Murphy
13. Jose Ramirez
14. Jose Campos
15. Dante Bichette Jr.
16. Ramon Flores
17. Nik Turley
18. Bryan Mitchell
19. Aaron Judge
20. Angelo Gumbs
I agree with Mayo's number one and two selections, but I'm not so sure I agree with Tyler Austin at number three considering his power outage this year at the plate, though I guess it's not too outlandish. Zoilo Almonte at number six is also a bit of a stretch, in my opinion. I like him more than most, but he's regarded as a guy who might end up being a fourth outfielder/platoon bat that plays alright defense at a non-premium position (left field).
I like Manny Banuelos at number eight. Even with two lost years due to injury, he'll still only be 23 years old next year and is just a phone call away from the big leagues. Mayo says of Banuelos, "when he's healthy, he can have three above-average pitches in his fastball, curve, and changeup and has shown the ability to have average command in the past."
A real head-scratcher here is Dante Bichette Jr. at number 15. I don't get that at all. In 216 career games in Low-A with the Charleston RiverDogs, Dante Jr. is hitting just .232/.308/.327 and has been worse this year (.612 OPS) than last year (.653) despite repeating the level.
As for the top 10 rankings by each position, Mayo has Gary Sanchez as the second-best catcher behind Travis d`Arnaud, and that's it. Mason Williams would have cracked the top 10 in the outfielders department, but he just missed the cut thanks to Jackie Bradley Jr.
What do you guys think of Mayo's respective prospect lists? Should there be more Yankees in the Top 100? Did he mess up the top 20 Yankee prospects and top 10 prospects by position, or do you agree with them?