Lists stink because they simply aren’t all that informative. Sure, this particular list shows that, for example, I slightly prefer Rahier to Dahl, all else being equal, but without the rationale explaining the process, then there really isn’t a ton of value added to something that otherwise looks like any other cut-and-paste job of one of the dozens of lists floating around the internet at any given time. Long story short, this is just the beginning. The list itself, though unimpressive to look at, is the byproduct of hours upon hours of work, but, again, it is only the beginning. Explanations will be added throughout the week, so check back in over time to read the hows and whys of player placement. In the meantime, feel free to send along a note either in the comments or via email (robozga at gmail dot com) and I’ll get to it as soon as possible. Four quick notes because I apparently hate getting to bed at a reasonable hour:

* Zunino at one was much more of a slam dunk than I had anticipated when I started to build the actual list one month ago. That said, while I think his floor (definite big league catcher, borderline starter at worst) is considerable, I think the risks with any young catcher need to be put back in focus. Recent “can’t miss” college catching prospects like Posey (injury) and Wieters (“slow start” to his career, at least so goes the unfortunate perception of many) have had early pro careers that highlight some of the ups and downs young catchers go through as they transition to the pro game. Using a pair of top ten big league catchers doesn’t really show the point I’m trying to make — I think (hope?) I have it explained better in the forthcoming rationale for the picks — so maybe Zunino at number one makes even more sense than I think.

** I’m nervous about putting Buxton so high without ever having seen him in person since last summer. Rarely do I trust my own eyes in this way — long-time readers should remember that one of the early goals of this site was to consolidate all of the draft information from the many bright minds who really know the game — but the mixture of a lack of any overwhelming evidence about his superiority over the rest of the prep class (his tools are outstanding, just so we’re clear – I’m not hating here) and, yeah, a little bit of my growing cockiness has led me to this point. I guess the question for me remains pretty simple: what separates Buxton from all the other athletic prep outfielders with plus tools like Almora, Dahl, Brinson, and Winston? Again, I’m no scout, but I don’t see the hit tool/raw power for Buxton that clearly trumps what those other guys have. So why has Buxton been the helium guy all spring above the rest? I’m a little nervous there’s some groupthink going here, and it seemed that even the comps jumped up from Austin Jackson to an idealized combination of the Upton brothers practically overnight. Nervous or not, he’s still the pick for the second best position player in the country, so it isn’t like I’m downplaying his ability. Just being that guy, I guess.

*** Ah, nevermind. I wrote this back on 8/15/11: “We could talk about the wildest comp I’ve ever heard in my life — what high school outfielder’s swing had a salty veteran scout muttering the name of a Hall of Fame third baseman as an honest to goodness comp? — or we could talk about how I couldn’t place Lance McCullers similarity to somebody I “knew” (turned out to be pretty embarrassing, but the rising senior looks a lot like the actor Penn Badgley in a certain light) until well after the fact.” A scout in Chicago actually said that Buxton reminded him of Mike Schmidt as a hitter. As a native Philadelphian, I hate to admit that I’m just a tad too young to fully appreciate the reference, at least in terms of being a regular baseball watcher during Schmidt’s playing career, but a comp like that, mentioned by one scout (who was otherwise negative all day long) and backed up by another, isn’t something thrown around lightly. Buxton won’t hit 548 homers in his career, but as a point of reference (bat speed, bat speed, bat speed), it is fun to use as a starting point to let the imagination wander.

**** As a general prospect rule, I don’t care about injuries. You show a skill once, you own it. The injured players who rank highly here don’t deserve to get knocked down just because of some missed time in their draft year.

1. Florida JR C Mike Zunino
2. OF Byron Buxton (Appling County HS, Georgia)
3. SS Carlos Correa (Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, Puerto Rico)
4. C Stryker Trahan (Acadiana HS, Louisiana)
5. SS CJ Hinojosa (Klein Collins HS, Texas)
6. OF Albert Almora (Mater Academy, Florida)
7. Clemson JR 3B Richie Shaffer
8. Georgia Southern JR OF Victor Roache
9. 3B Trey Williams (Valencia HS, California)
10. 3B Tanner Rahier (Palm Desert HS, California)
11. OF David Dahl (Oak Mountain HS, Alabama)
12. TCU JR C Josh Elander
13. 3B/OF Joey Gallo (Bishop Gorman HS, Nevada)
14. OF Courtney Hawkins (Mary Carroll HS, Texas)
15. C/2B Alex Bregman (Albuquerque Academy, New Mexico)
16. SS/2B Gavin Cecchini (Barbe HS, Louisiana)
17. Texas Tech JR OF Barrett Barnes
18. OF Lewis Brinson (Coral Springs HS, Florida)
19. Arkansas JR 3B Matt Reynolds
20. Buffalo JR C Tom Murphy
21. Oklahoma City JR C Dane Phillips
22. Florida JR SS Nolan Fontana
23. Arizona State JR SS Deven Marrero
24. OF Jameis Winston (Hueytown HS, Alabama)
25. 3B Rio Ruiz (Bishop Amat HS, California)
26. Purdue JR C Kevin Plawecki
27. Texas A&M JR OF Tyler Naquin
28. Kentucky JR C Luke Maile
29. 3B/OF David Thompson (Westminster Christian HS, Florida)
30. UCLA JR OF Jeff Gelalich
31. Chipola SO OF Andrew Toles
32. 3B Addison Russell (Pace HS, Florida)
33. Florida State JR 1B Jayce Boyd
34. South Carolina JR 1B Christian Walker
35. OF Nick Williams (Galveston Ball HS, Texas)
36. OF Anthony Alford (Petal HS, Mississippi)
37. Walters State CC SO OF/1B Marcus Davis
38. Connecticut JR 2B LJ Mazzilli
39. Virginia JR SS Stephen Bruno
40. Stanford JR 3B Stephen Piscotty
41. St. Mary’s JR 3B Patrick Wisdom
42. Cal Poly JR OF Mitch Haniger
43. Jacksonville JR OF Adam Brett Walker
44. SS/3B Corey Seager (Northwest Cabarrus HS, North Carolina)
45. 3B Carson Kelly (Westview HS, Oregon)
46. Florida State JR 2B Devon Travis
47. Florida JR 1B Brian Johnson
48. SS/2B Adrian Marin (Gulliver Prep HS, Florida)
49. Georgia Tech SO OF Kyle Wren
50. Miami JR SS Stephen Perez
51. Stony Brook JR OF Travis Jankowski
52. Florida State SR OF James Ramsey
53. 1B Ron Miller (Serra HS, California)
54. Florida SR 1B Preston Tucker
55. Texas JR OF Jonathan Walsh
56. Miami SR C Peter O’Brien
57. North Carolina JR 2B/SS Tommy Coyle
58. Stanford JR 2B/SS Kenny Diekroeger
59. Virginia JR SS Chris Taylor
60. OF Jesse Winker (Olympia HS, Florida)
61. OF Fernelys Sanchez (George Washington HS, New York)
62. Louisiana State JR OF Raph Rhymes
63. Georgia Tech JR OF Brandon Thomas
64. Baylor JR 1B Max Muncy
65. OF Rhett Wiseman (Buckingham Browne & Nichols HS, Massachusetts)
66. OF Josh Henderson (Home School, Virginia)
67. Orange Coast JC SO C Stefan Sabol
68. OF Vahn Bozoian (Ayala HS, California)
69. 3B Daniel Robertson (Upland HS, California)
70. Stanford JR OF Jacob Stewart (2012)
71. Rice rJR OF Jeremy Rathjen (2012)
72. Jacksonville JR OF Dan Gulbransen
73. Vanderbilt JR OF Connor Harrell
74. St. John’s JR OF Jeremy Baltz
75. 2B Chase Nyman (Pascagoula HS, Mississippi)

Also receiving votes Missouri JR OF Blake Brown, Stanford JR OF Tyler Gaffney, Cypress Ranch HS (Texas) 2B/OF Leon Byrd, King HS (Florida) 1B Keon Barnum, TCU SR OF Jason Coats, Hamilton HS 3B Mitch Nay (Arizona), Providence HS (North Carolina) 3B Jackson Campana, Alabama SR OF Taylor Dugas, Farragut HS (Tennessee) SS AJ Simcox, Texas-Arlington JR OF Preston Beck, and James Madison HS (California) 3B Corey Oswalt.