What Makes the MLN FAB50™ Different?
Other popular rankings are often tool-happy beauty pageants.
Does he "look" like a ballplayer?
Does he have the tools?
Tools are nice, but, without a place to use them, what good are they?
The MLN FAB50 Baseball rankings are both a movement and a taelent evalution.
A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankee infielder can easily get stuck behind the green cap.
Big salaries cap positions at every club. More so, though at clubs that recruit and retain more by checkbook. If you find yourself behind a Derek Jeter in the depth chart, you might not be able to move forward in your organization.
Of course, there always is the possibility that a player can be traded.
The FAB50 takes this into account as well. Several of our players grace the list annually because they have played well enough to become prime trade bait. Movement, after all, is part of the road to The Show.
Why mid-season? By publishing the rankings around the all-star break, we can see clearly whether a player is materializing into their hype from the spring or fading into a season of disappointment. After the June Draft, we can get a clearer idea of the coming trades, and the changes to the depth charts that draft signings bring.
The FAB50 is a year-round enterprise. We survey farm directors, scouts, general managers, media relations people, managers, coaches, and even the occasional fan or two. We sift through all sorts of reports, and send our team out to evaluate players in the winter leagues and in Spring Training.
We put a high value on the right mental make-up and self-discipline that help players reach the top of their game.
We look at how likely they are to move into the majors within the next 12 to 18 months, or to be traded up to a more open pathway to the majors.
Our writers also analyze the organizations as much as the players in them. Is movement fluid at the club in question, or stagnant? Are they utilizing their farm to bring up real talent, or filling it with back-stops while they pull out the checkbook?
The MLN FAB50 is not used to negotiate player contracts, so we are not beholding to special interests who need a list that grinds contract numbers.
Some players have great years, or rotten years, and drop on to or fall off of the list. A trades opens a path, or blocks one.
If the player has been on the MLN FAB50 rankings for three years, they must come off for at least a season.
It is a list that you may agree or argue with, but it is certainly one that you will discuss, and, by way of the player features, it will inform and entertain.
