40 FOR 40

Prospect analysis is at the core of what Baseball America does, and BA has analyzed many great prospects in its 40 years.

To put those great prospects in perspective, we asked the three most qualified individuals we know to rank their top 40 prospects of 40 years of Baseball America.

Founding editor Allan Simpson invented the way we consume prospect coverage—and the draft—when he launched Baseball America in 1981.

Former executive editor Jim Callis helped to elevate BA in the 1990s and invented the Prospect Handbook in 2001.

Former editor-in-chief John Manuel demonstrated such an expansive knowledge of prospects, the draft and the major leagues that the Twins hired him as a scout in 2018.

In the ranking below, “peak” refers to each player’s highest position on a Top 100 Prospects ranking, an exercise that began in 1990. For players from the 1980s, we used Simpson’s retroactive rankings as reasonable facsimiles of each player’s contemporary prospect esteem.

1 ALEX RODRIGUEZ

SS, MARINERS

A-Rod made good on the Cal Ripken Jr.comps—and