The World of Prospect Writing

It’s Friday and I feel like doing something a little bit different this morning. If you read my stuff even on a semi-regular basis then you probably know that 90% of my writing is about minor league baseball, prospects and rookies. One of my favorite things to do is surf the ‘net to see what other prospect scribes are saying or doing. So, let’s give a shout out to some of the best in the business.

Baseball America
This publication is the King of Prospect Analysis. Working like a well-oiled machine, Baseball America makes use of a large staff of insightful and passionate baseball writers, which helps it cover every avenue of minor league baseball, as well as college and high school baseball. The staff has taken a number of hits over the years as other larger companies have stolen some of the writers, but The Big Three remain the same at the top of the chart: Will Lingo, John Manuel, and Jim Callis. Callis is probably the best-known writer as he does a weekly chat for ESPN.com and also helps cover the amateur draft for Major League Baseball’s draft-day television coverage. I am also a particular fan of the work done by Ben Badler, Matt Eddy, and Aaron Fitt. I’ve really enjoyed Nathan Rode’s work as of late. Right now BA is producing Top 20 lists for every league in Minor League Baseball beginning with the Gulf Coast League.

Keith Law at ESPN.com
Perhaps the most entertaining baseball personality on the Web, Law is a well-educated prospect analyst who entertains me to no end with his (usually) weekly chats. He brings an interesting perspective after spending time as an assistant general manager with the Toronto Blue Jays, and he obviously has some scouting education/experience. Law also does good work on the amateur baseball draft. The only knock I have on his work is that there is not enough of it. I’d love to see him do even more… like The Klaw Top 10 lists. Feel free to ask him a question during one of his chats… and don’t worry… if it’s a stupid question, he’ll let you know.

Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus
Goldstein is the main reason why I have a subscription at BP.com… and so I can read Eric Seidman’s weekly analysis. Goldstein is a former Baseball America staffer who has made good on a solo career. His annual Top 11 Prospects lists are a must-read for every minor-league fan; he has connections in the industry that would make you drool. The weekly Monday Ten Pack is a great way to start the week, and his new daily Minor League Update has been the best thing to happen to BP.com since Mr. Seidman arrived. The only downside to his work is the aforementioned subscription.

John Sickels at Minor League Ball
Sickels is probably not as widely known as the Laws and the Goldsteins of the baseball world, but he has been around for a long time and you’ve probably read his stuff as some point or another. A glance over to my baseball bookcase shows a Stats Inc. 2001 Minor League Scouting Notebook that Sickels wrote. He did a bunch of them before branching out onto his own. Sickels does his own website, he contributes to Rotowire.com, and he publishes his own prospect annual called The Baseball Prospect Book. Be sure to order the 2010 version when it’s available.

Lisa Winston and Jonathan Mayo at MiLB.com
One of the best things to happen to the minor leagues and prospect coverage has been the growth of the official site of Minor League Baseball. On the downside, I think so much more could be done with the type of revenue that is being generated by MLB.com and MiLB.com… Each minor-league system should have at least one full-time reporter devoted to it with massive amounts of material written for each one on a daily basis. That hasn’t happened yet, but we do have Winston and Mayo. Of particular value is the work that they do leading up to the draft, as well as their annual organizational previews and reviews.

Is there anyone else out there that you read on a regular basis?