FanPost

BP on Shortstops

Baseball Prospectus has a new piece up rating the top shortstop prospects throughout the minors. PECOTA, their [BP's] system of analysis and projection, tends to love shortstops over most other positions for prospects so Nate Silver took the time to just single out the position to clarify what's what and who's who.

Again, since Baseball Prospectus is a subscription-based service, some of us can't hop on there and read the article, so I'll try and sum it up for Pirate fans:

The number 2 shortstop prospect in baseball is former Pirate/current Brave Brent Lillibridge. It doesn't bother me that he's that high on the list honestly because, as Silver points out, Lillibridge is really old for his level at this point (He's 23 playing high A ball). PECOTA also compares current players to past players to help determine what kind of career they will have. Lillibridge compares favorably to Joe Jester and Edwin Maysonet, two dudes I've never heard of. Lastly, Silver notes:

What PECOTA seems to get out of this is that Lillibridge is already fairly close to actualizing himself and shouldn't be expected to improve very much... A couple other notes:

Brian Bixler is not listed among the top 33 shortstop prospects in the minors...

If you don't know Baseball Prospectus, you should. In addition to Nate Silver, they have about a dozen writers and have produced some the best and most insightful analysis of baseball ever. They invented the VORP, EqA and PECOTA. The "premium" subscription is $35 a year and also gives you access to all kinds of useful fantasy tools, like projections and team stat trackers. Since we both know you're going to spend $15 on a couple of fantasy baseball periodicals over the next 4 weeks, you may as well just go get Baseball Prospectus and actually learn something.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the managing editors or SB Nation. FanPosts are written by Bucs Dugout readers.