Happy August! It’s PuRPs season again!
The MLB Draft, the All-Star Break, and the trade deadline are all in the rearview mirror. That means it’s time for a new edition of the Purple Row Prospects (PuRPs) list — Purple Row’s community farm system Top 30 ranking — to rank the new additions to the system as well as the holdovers who have risen and fallen with their production during the 2024 season.
Since the last time we voted in January (here’s the pre-season 2024 list), some prospects lost their eligibility, whether from exceeding their rookie status or leaving the organization. Meanwhile other players have been added and need to be evaluated. Building a roster is a year-round business, so player churn will no doubt continue during and after voting, but this is a good time to take stock of Colorado’s prospects.
Colorado’s farm system is generally ranked in the middle third in MLB by the national prospect watchers thanks in part to a high draft position and selling mildly at the deadline. There are plenty of future Rockies in the system and this is one of my favorite Purple Row threads each year.
Let’s get to it!
The polling rules are simple:
- Your list must be at least 30 players long – partial ballots will not be counted. If you’re having trouble filling out your list, check out great resources like FanGraphs and Baseball Reference to find any stats you might need. Only the top 30 names will be counted on the ballot; if the same player is listed multiple times on the ballot, the player ranked 31st (if applicable) will be moved up to fill the list. The same will happen if one of the players on your ballot leaves the organization between your post and the end of polling. To reiterate: if there aren’t at least 30 distinct players on the list, the ballot won’t be counted. For that reason, it is encouraged that you list more than 30 players in case of a duplicate listing or a player move.
- Feel free to give a rationale about the placement of each prospect, but you aren’t required to do so.
- Voting will be open from now until the end of next Friday, August 9th. Once I tabulate the results, I will reveal the list five-at-a-time over the next couple weeks after voting ends.
- Players are eligible for inclusion if they still retain their Rookie of the Year eligibility (fewer than 50 IP, 130 ABs, and/or fewer than 45 days on the active roster. IL service time is not included).
- From the pre-season 2024 PuRPs list, prospects who are no longer eligible are Joe Rock (No. 15 PuRP, no longer in org), Hunter Goodman (No. 16 PuRP, service time), Victor Vodnik (No. 26 PuRP, service time), Anthony Molina (No. 27 PuRP, service time), Noah Davis (HM PuRP, service time), and Coco Montes (received votes, no longer in org).
- Players who have made their MLB debut and who are eligible for this list include Adael Amador (No. 1 PuRP), Jordan Beck (No. 6 PuRP), Aaron Schunk (No. 29 PuRP), Evan Justice (HM PuRP), Angel Chivilli (received votes), Tanner Gordon (received votes), Riley Pint (received votes), Connor Kaiser (no votes), Bradley Blalock (wasn’t in org), and Greg Jones (wasn’t in org).
- Roster churn is a year-round phenomenon. Any necessary changes will be made to the final version of the list to ensure it contains the top 30 players with the most votes still in the org at that time.
- Scoring will be in done like the AP poll in college football. A first place vote gets a player 30 points, a second place vote 29, and so forth on down to one point for a 30th place vote. It’s important to note that until a player is named on at least 1⁄3 of all ballots cast that their vote totals will only receive partial credit (on a sliding scale which depends on the total number of ballots cast).
- All ballots are weighted equally (as long as the players on them are named on enough ballots to qualify). The PuRPs list is a community ranking of Rockies prospects and we’re proud of the fact that it’s a really good one. As a result, we ask that you put some quality time into compiling your list.
- Everyone has their own PuRPs ranking methodology. Please maintain civil discourse (in accordance with Purple Row’s Community Guidelines) when discussing the posted lists.
Happy voting!