J.P. Crawford is the 7th Best Prospect in Baseball

If you may recall, yesterday I vented about  Keith Law's feelings about the 25th ranked Phillies minor league prospect pool. Today he released his Top 100 MLB affiliated prospects list into two parts, #'s 1-50 and 51-100. Our very own J.P. Crawford made it on the first list at #7, ranking just behind Kris Bryant, Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, Addison Russell, Corey Seager and Francisco Lindor. Those are some really impressive names and it shows you how far J.P. has come since being drafted 2 years ago. Keith Law boasts about the 20 year old's impressive defense and aptitude at the plate. Crawford split the 2014 season between Lakewood and Clearwater to the tune of a .285/.375/.406 triple slash. He managed to also hit for some power (34 XBH, including 11 HR) and steal bases (24). He is the heir apparent to Rollins and all indications from the front office say he will repeat Clearwater, but could progress rather quickly. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Crawford sees time in the majors in 2016.

Also to be noted, is that Phillies 2014 1st round draft pick, starting pitcher Aaron Nola, made the list at #57. Law loves his polish and puts 3 of his pitches (fastball, slider, changeup) at above-average with 70 grade command on his 91-94 mph fastball. This all sounds well and good, but why is he ranked 57 and not in the Top 50? Well, Law sees Nola as being only an above-average starter (#3) as a ceiling, but admits his floor is really high. Take that for what you will. Some scouts still believe he has #2 potential, so the optimist in me will lean my homer-istic tendencies toward the better outcome.

If you notice, Maikel Franco fell out of Law's Top100, likely because of his down year.