It’s that time of year!
It’s a new year, the hot stove has gone from a boil to a simmer, and the Rule 5 draft has concluded. 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 new additions to the system as well as prospects who rose and fell with their production during the 2024 season.
Since the last time we voted in August (here’s the mid-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 before, during, and after voting is concluded, 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. That written, there are plenty of future Rockies in the system and this is still 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 Saturday, January 11th. Once I tabulate the results, I will reveal the list one-at-a-time over the next several weeks as we await spring training.
- 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 mid-season 2024 PuRPs list, prospects who are no longer eligible are Jordan Beck (No. 6 PuRP, service time), Drew Romo (No. 9 PuRP, exactly 45 days of service time), Angel Chivilli (No. 25 PuRP, service time), Bradley Blalock (HM PuRP, service time), Willie MacIver (received votes, no longer in org), Tanner Gordon (received votes, service time), Grant Lavigne (received votes, no longer in org), and Aaron Schunk (received votes, service time).
- Players who have made their MLB debut and who are eligible for this list include Adael Amador (No. 3 PuRP), Jaden Hill (No. 21 PuRP), Greg Jones (No. 26 PuRP), Luis Peralta (received votes), Seth Halvorsen (received votes), Jeff Criswell (no votes), Evan Justice (no votes), and Jack O’Loughlin (wasn’t previously 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 Colorado 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!