Three Farmhands Make BP's Top 100 Prospects List

Baseball Prospectus's Kevin Goldstein just released his Top 100 Prospects list. The White Sox landed 3 players; #38 Gordon Beckham, #74 Aaron Poreda, and #99 Brandon Allen. OK, that's not as impressive a feat as, say, the Orioles who landed three prospects in the Top 20, but given that the White Sox's farm system was a mess a year ago, it's still commendable. I don't have a BP subscription, so I can't read the rest of the article, but I've also read whispers that say Goldstein rated both Viciedo and Flowers as "near misses," due to the difficulty projecting them; Viciedo because his skills are still so unknown and Flowers because nobody trusts him defensively.

Some notes...

• Six players from the 2008 Draft are ranked ahead of Beckham, including Justin Smoak, the power hitting first baseman from the University of South Carolina who was drafted by Texas. Smoak, as you may remember, was the other player the Sox were considering with their pick. He is also the only player drafted after Beckham in 2008 that precedes him on this list. The other five 2008 draftees are Pedro Alvarez (PIT), Buster Posey (SF), Tim Beckham (TB), Eric Hosmer (KC), and Brian Matusz (BAL).
• Another name you'll recognize on this list is Oakland's Chris Carter, ranked #41. Carter was drafted by the White Sox in 2005, but was traded to Arizona last year for Carlos Quentin. If you're wondering, he wound up with Oakland a few weeks later as part of the deal that sent Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks.
• The AL Central received very little love. Only 11 prospects from our division made the cut (if distribution was even, we'd have gotten 16 or 17). The Tigers had the best prospect in the division, Ricky Porcello (#7), but that was their only appearance on the Top 100.
• Surprisingly, the Royals only placed 2 prospects in the Top 100, Eric Hosmer (#18) and Mike Moustakas (#21). The Royals have had Top 10 picks in the June Draft every year but once since 1997. They've also nine supplemental pick first/sandwich round picks in that time.
• Cleveland matched the Sox's 3 players in the Top 100, Matt LaPorta (30), Carlos Santana (33), and Nick Weglarz. Minnesota's 2 are Ben Revere (36) and Aaron Hicks (39).