(Contributed by Mike Carpenter Team #1)

This is the Baseball America's Pre-Season Top 100 Prospect List. 

The top 7 prospects are owned by different USPBL teams, kinda cool, and 12 teams each have at least 1 prospect ranked in the top 20. 

The first unowned prospect is very late at #72, just about the latest I remember seeing.

These rankings arae by no means representative of the future success in the big leagues, but fun to look at nonetheless. 

On a scale where the #1 prospect earns a team 100 points, #2 99 points, etc, the grand totals were decided by 1 point, and there were plenty of teams near the top.

I'll go in reverse order to build the suspense.....

(editor note - the 3 Walsh brother teams all scored 0, though Mike was polite enough to not point this out.)

77 pts  Leopolis Team 17  Pete Crow-Armstrong #24 = 77 pts

79 pts Sassaquin Team 13 Cade Cavalli#61 =40 pts    Oswald Peraza #62 = 39 pts

94 pts Roanoke Valley Team 8  Tyler Soderstrom #34 = 67 pts  Luis Ortiz #74 = 27 pts

134 points, Eastside (Team 11): Ezequiel Tovar (#17 = 84 pts.), Ryan Pepiot (#55 = 46 pts.), Gavin Cross (#97 = 4 pts.) 

149 points, Connecticut (Team 12): Curtis Mead (#35 – 66 pts.), Logan O’Hoppe (#42 = 59 pts.), Brayan Rocchio (#77 = 24 pts.) 

172 points, Sharon Hill (Team 19): Andrew Painter (#5 = 96 pts.), Owen White (#59 = 42 pts.), Jasson Dominguez (#67 = 34 pts.) 

181 points, Gilbert (Team 18): Shane Baz (#31 = 70 pts.), Mick Abel (#39 = 62 pts.), Carson Williams (#52 = 49 pts.) 

229 points, Fort Myers (Team 3): Francisco Alvarez (#9 = 92 pts.), Brandon Pfaadt (#26 = 75 pts.), Michael Busch (#54 = 47 pts.), Tanner Bibee (#86 = 15 pts.) 

258 points, Midwest (Team 5): Bobby Miller (#20 = 81 pts.), Sal Frelick (#33 = 68 pts.), Gavin Stone (#56 = 45 pts.), Josh Jung (#66 = 35 pts.), Brennan Davis (#84 = 17 pts.), Oscar Colas (#89 = 12 pts.) 

320 points, Chicken League (Team 4): Gabriel Moreno (#12 = 89 pts.), Druw Jones (#23 = 78 pts.), Hunter Brown (#27 = 74 pts.), Elijah Green (#58 – 43 pts.), Edwin Arroyo (#65 = 36 pts.) 

396 points, Ottawa (Team 7): Jordan Walker (#4 = 97 pts.), James Wood (#11 = 90 pts.), Endy Rodriguez (#22 = 79 pts.), Masyn Wynn (#48 = 53 pts.), Ceddanne Rafaela (#71 = 30 pts.), DL Hall (#75 = 26 pts.), Drew Romo (#80 = 21 pts.) 

400 points, Virginia (Team 2): Grayson Rodriguez (#6 = 95 pts.), Jackson Holliday (#15 = 86 pts.), Kyle Harrison (#37 = 64 pts.), Colton Cowser (#41 = 60 pts.), Robert Hassell (#57 = 44 pts.), Jordan Westburg (#76 = 25 pts.), Jackson Jobe (#83 = 18 pts.), Connor Norby (#93 = 8 pts.) 

406 points, Santa Cruz (Team 16): Eury Perez (#7 – 94 pts.), Marcello Mayer (#10 = 91 pts.), Triston Casas (#28 = 73 pts.), Daniel Espino (#40 = 61 pts.), Zach Neto (#53 = 48 pts.), Yainer Diaz (#82 = 19 pts.), Miguel Bleis (#88 = 13 pts.), Austin Wells (#94 = 7 pts.) 

494 points, Lake Superior (Team 20): Jackson Chourio (#3 = 98 pts.), Elly De La Cruz (#8 = 93 pts.), Evan Carter (#25 = 76 pts.), Rickey Tiedemann (#30 = 71 pts.), Termarr Johnson (#49 = 52 pts.), Kyle Manzardo (#60 = 41 pts.), Dan Lesko (#69 = 32 pts.), Cam Collier (#70 = 31 pts.)  

490 points, Slippery Rock (Team 15): Gunner Henderson (#1 – 100 pts.), Jordan Lawlar (#13 = 88 pts.), Gavin Williams (#19 = 82 pts.), Brooks Lee (#45 = 56 pts.), Emmanuel Rodriguez (#46 = 55 pts.), Harry Ford (#64 = 37 pts.), Bo Naylor (#68 = 33 pts.), Henry Davis (#73 = 28 pts.), Max Meyer (#90 = 11 pts.) 

523 points, Cherry Hill (Team 9): Diego Cartaya (#18 = 83 pts.), Jackson Merrill (#21 = 80 pts.), Brett Baty (#32 = 69 pts.), Marcus Luciano (#36 = 65 pts.), Royce Lewis (#43 = 58 pts.), Taj Bradley (#44 = 57 pts.), Kevin Parada (#50 = 51 pts.), Noelvi Marte (#63 = 38 pts.), Matthew Liberatore (#79 = 22 pts.) 

524 points, Blue Ridge (Team 1): Corbin Carroll (#2 – 99 pts.), Anthony Volpe (#14 = 87 pts.), Kodai Senga (#16 = 85 pts.), Miguel Vargas (#29 = 72 pts.), Colson Montgomery (#38 = 63 pts.), Tink Hence (#47 – 54 pts.), Zac Veen (#51 = 50 pts.), Masataka Yoshida (#87 = 14 pts

And,

The first unowned prospect is #72 George Valera from the Cleveland Guardians.

(Contributed by Jim Walsh Team #10)

This year the limit on the number of Uncarded players was set at 12 per team. These players

are included on the rosters, and there's a limit of 12 of these created cards on a team. And

limiting the number of uncardeds may add to the Available Player Pool as well.

This chart does not make a statement as to whether having uncarded players is a good or

bad thing. General Managing strategies varies with some GM's checking the box scores

while others are reading Baseball America. And the number of uncarded players may vary

among a team from season to season.

I'll admit that having a player go from uncarded status to a regular Major Leaguer is a very

satisfying feeling. But I also question the use of roster space being used...sometimes for

several seasons... on a player that may or may not contribute in some future season.

This season, perhaps due to the limit of 12 uncarded players per team, there was a decline from 119 to 117. 

It's important to note, especially following the preceding article on Prospects, that while most uncarded players are prospects, not all prospects are uncarded.

This project here only includes the "Uncarded"...those players that had 0 Innings pitched and 0 At Bats. Some obvious prospects like a Hunter Brown (#27 prospect) had 20 Innings and

Corbin Caroll (#2 prospect) had 104 At Bats and Gunnar Henderson (#1 prospect) had a whopping 116 At Bats. I don't know where the break point is for "prospects" but these seem

a bit high. They must follow the MLB Rookie Status which is 50 IP, 130 ABs, and less than 45 days on the active roster. 

Anyway, onto the numbers:

There are 117 Uncarded players on the USPBL Rosters.

MIR has 0 Uncarded players

WDW, SAS, LMD  2

WIS    3

EHH   4

GGM  5

FMM, OTB, CON  6

SSB, BRM, RVD, CHC, SRR  7

MIX, SCM  8

CLC   9

VAV  10

LSR  11

I sorted these into 5 categories based on their currrent MLB status and stats if any.

The opinions are mostly objective, but with some subjectives opinions for some.

Minor Leagues

Major League Reserve

Major League Regular

Major League Regular with great stats or lots of playing time

Injured last season, so not normally an uncarded type of player

After examining all 117 players, here's what we end up with.

Injured  = 2 (2%) 

Major League Regular = 7 (6%)

Major League Regular with good stats/PT  = 13 (11%)

Major League Reserve 17 (14%)

Minor Leagues = 78 (67%)

Notes:

The individual players are listed by category on the right. They are in USPBL team order

though I didn't make such notations to cut down on the writing effort.

I personally thought there would be a higher percentage of uncarded players in the Majors this year. While there's still nearly half the season for call-ups, remember that MLB is limited to just 2 September call-ups now so there won't be the influx of prospects making the Show

so the numbers will pretty much remain. I did take into account for the "regulars" who don't

have a lot of usage now, that they've been playing a lot recently.