Prospect ranking in the time of COVID: On the hits, misses, and process within the Orioles' 2021 top prospect list
Just because there was no minor league season didn't mean there were no prospect rankings. Putting together the Orioles' list in the fall of 2020 was a challenge for a variety of reasons.
We all remember there was a certain point during the pandemic when movies and shows and look-backs about what the early days of lockdowns were like, even though we were still in the thick of it.
I resolved the first time I saw one that I wanted nothing to do with any of them because everyone’s own experience was plenty, and have done well to hold myself to that. But here I am, writing about what it was like in the pandemic when there was no minor league season, no one that didn’t work for a team saw its minor leaguers, and pretty much every prospect report of any kind was at-best based on incomplete information or at worst entirely based on old reports.
It was quite a time, and at least the Orioles’ top prospect lists from after that year reflects that. The pandemic meant a lot of changes to processes and reporting for the club’s top prospect list at Baseball America, and I also became a father for the first time during the reporting and writing process for this, so no one is going to be bouncing future generations on their knees and talking about how good this section of the BA Handbook is.
Sometimes, though, it becomes meaningful to have these kinds of unique experiences in what’s become an annual process to jar one’s self out of their normal routines and do something different. I don’t think the benefits from that came in the fall of 2020, when the list we’re discussing today was put together, but they’ve definitely stuck with me after.
Here’s some reflections and updates on the Orioles 2021 top prospect list at Baseball America, and how it shaped up the way it did.