Every year I do the top 100 list, I start out with long lists of names for each club, then winnow those to 10 per team, and then pull about 120 or so names from those lists to create the master ranking of the top 100 prospects. Names move around as I go through reports and video and circulate my list to sources I trust in the industry. Inevitably, guys I like for one reason or another just miss the final cut.
Here are 10 more guys who earned strong consideration for the main list but didn't make it. They're presented in rough descending order, so it's fair to assume that the first guy listed here, Henry Owens, was No. 101.
Henry Owens, LHP
Age: 19
Top 2012 level: A (Greeneville)
Key stat: 11.5 K/9
Owens works at just 88-92 mph with a big, slow curveball and some feel for a change, but has posted high strikeout totals in the low minors because he hides the ball so well behind his 6-foot-6 frame that hitters don't pick it up, swinging through 88 mph like it's 94 mph. That can work for guys in the big leagues, but I'd like to see Owens, who doesn't have a ton of projection for future velocity gains, do it against a higher caliber of hitter before buying in fully.
Yordano Ventura, RHP
Age: 21
Top 2012 level: AA (Northwest Arkansas)
Key stat: 10.7 K/9
Ventura started the 2012 Futures Game for the World Team, and last season was full of positives for his evolution from thrower to pitcher. He can miss a lot of bats with his overpowering fastball, but his breaking ball is very inconsistent and his changeup, while promising, is still rudimentary. He could be an impact starter, but both off-speed pitches have to improve quite a bit before that can happen.
Jose Ramirez, RHP
Age: 23
Top 2012 level: A (Tampa)
Key stat: 3.19 ERA
Ramirez has been on the fringes of the prospect map for ages -- he was my sleeper prospect for the Yankees' system in 2010 -- but injuries have limited him to fewer than 120 innings in each of the past three season. He's filled out quite a bit in the past three years, with more than 200 pounds on his 6-3 frame, and will work at 94-98 mph with big-time life and a hard mid-80s slider. He's off the top 100 because of all the injuries, missing time each of the past two years with elbow trouble and in 2010 with shoulder inflammation.
Jose Ramirez, 2B
Age: 20
Top 2012 level: A (Lake County)
Key stat: .869 OPS
Ramirez, who is no relation to the Yankees pitcher above, is a natural shortstop who played second this year for Lake County because Francisco Lindor was on the team, although Ramirez' best position in the long run might be second base anyway. He's got the hit tool already, with good hand-eye and a mature approach at the plate, as well as above-average running speed. He stands just 5-9 and is not going to hit for power, so he'll need to keep those high contact rates and batting averages as he moves up and plays a full season in 2013.
Robbie Grossman, LF
Age: 23
Top 2012 level: AA (Corpus Christi)
Key stat: .376 OBP
There's a strong feeling that Grossman won't profile as an everyday left fielder because he won't hit for the kind of power required for the position. I'm a little more sanguine about Grossman's approach, that he'll get on base enough to make himself an average or better regular, even if his production doesn't have the typical shape for that position.
Jeimer Candelario, 3B
Age: 19
Top 2012 level: A (Boise)
Key stat: .741 OPS
He's an offensive third baseman with great rhythm at the plate and a smooth swing, showing just enough to make you think he can stay at third base. I'd just like to see the offensive skill set translate into a little more performance before buying in all the way, because the defense will never be a plus. If you squint, you might see a Pablo Sandoval future here.
Carlos Sanchez, IF
Age: 20
Top 2012 level: AAA (Charlotte)
Key stat: .323 AVG
Sanchez has bolted through the system -- he was still in the Dominican Summer League in 2010, and finished last year in Triple-A. I think he's a second baseman in the long run, but he's not useless at shortstop, and in another era he might have been a true "super-utility guy" who played 150 games but did so at multiple positions.
He's off the main list because I don't think he profiles as an above-average regular anywhere -- the defense at short isn't enough to make him an everyday guy, and while I think he'll hit .300, I don't think he has the power to be a star elsewhere. All that aside, though, I do like him as a second baseman with high probability to hit.
Brandon Maurer, RHP
Age: 22
Top 2012 level: AA (Jackson)
Key stat: 3.20 ERA
He's a four-pitch starter who'll touch 95 mph and he flashes a plus curveball, but has had a lot of injury trouble and doesn't have all four pitches every time out. He works down in the zone and is very aggressive, mixing all his pitches and generating some bad swings. He missed the top 100 because despite the stuff, he's neither a ground ball guy nor a strikeout guy, and his 137 innings in 2012 were more than he'd thrown in the previous two years combined.
Sonny Gray, RHP
Age: 23
Top 2012 level: AAA (Sacramento)
Key stat: 0.5 HR/9
Like Grossman, Gray dropped off the top 100 this year because of questions about his ceiling. The A's worked with Gray on taking a little off his fastball, which would sit in the mid-90s but lacked sink or life, so he could generate more ground balls, which he did, but the tradeoff was that he missed a lot fewer bats, striking out fewer than six per nine inning in 2012.
He'll also need to keep working on that changeup to be more effective against left-handed hitters. He has the athleticism and makeup to start, and can hold his velocity, but has to miss more bats or he'll end up a (very good) reliever instead.
Brandon Nimmo, OF
Age: 19
Top 2012 level: A (Brooklyn)
Key stat: .372 OBP
Nimmo played in short-season ball last year at age 19, but given his limited baseball experience -- his Wyoming high school didn't have a team, so he played on an American Legion club instead -- the Mets were justified in taking it slow with him, and he showed some real positives, especially his plate discipline and his ability to handle center field.
Lefties ate him alive (.594 OPS against), and he faded badly at the end of the summer, while it still remains to be seen how the ACL in his right knee -- which he blew out playing high school football -- will handle a full 140-game minor league season.