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The top 10 Giants prospects of 2016, according to Baseball Prospectus

Christian Arroyo is on top, but the rest of the list might surprise you.

By Grant Brisbee
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Apologies for just getting to this now, but who releases a top-10 prospect list during the Winter Meetings? Dummies like Chris Crawford of Baseball Prospectus, that's who. I mean, friends of the program like Crawford, who has always been very nice and accommodating to McCovey Chronicles. His list of the top 10 Giants prospects for 2016 is here, and it's a touch unorthodox. Possibly even unwonted.

  1. Christian Arroyo, SS
  2. Lucius Fox, SS
  3. Tyler Beede, RHP
  4. Jalen Miller, SS
  5. Phil Bickford, RHP
  6. Samuel Coonrod, RHP
  7. Christopher Shaw, 1B
  8. Kyle Crick, RHP
  9. Aramis Garcia, C
  10. Adalberto Mejia, LHP

Oh, good, more shortstops, just what the Giants need. Of course, most of these players are years away from major league consideration, so that's a very, very tongue-in-cheek complaint. Crawford has this to say about Arroyo:

The Arroyo pick was mocked by many as a significant reach, but it appears the Giants knew what they were doing. His feel for hitting is outstanding, and his line-drive swing and above-average bat speed allow him to make consistent hard contact.

The biggest surprises in the list are the aggressive rankings for Fox and Miller, both tools monsters without a lick of professional success to date. Neither one of them was alive when Matt Williams was on the Giants, for additional perspective. I'll be right back, going to eat at Carrow's and listen to big band music.

Later in the article, Mark Anderson contemplates putting Fox ahead of Matt Duffy on a list of 25-and-under Giants players. which highlights just how exciting Fox's tools are and just how perplexed baseball people still are about Duffy. He does put Arroyo over Duffy, which is fascinating, at the very least. We should note that last year at this time, most of us thought Duffy was a solid, Ramon Martinez-type utility player, so maybe we shouldn't get too cocky.

Before going on, let's have a moment of silence for Madison Bumgarner being ineligible for the 25-and-under list for the first time in his career.

Thank you. Here are the current top-10 lists, with FanGraphs still pending:


 Baseball America Baseball Prospectus MLB.com McC community list Mine
1 Christian Arroyo Christian Arroyo Tyler Beede Arroyo Arroyo
2 Tyler Beede Lucius Fox Arroyo Tyler Beede Bickford
3 Phil Bickford Tyler Beede Phil Bickford Phil Bickford Beede
4 Lucius Fox Jalen Miller Lucius Fox Mac Williamson Fox
5 Chris Shaw Phil Bickford Sam Coonrod Clayton Blackburn Coonrod
6 Sam Coonrod Sam Coonrod Kyle Crick Lucius Fox Blackburn
7 Aramis Garcia Chris Shaw Jalen Miller Adalberto Mejia Shaw
8 Clayton Blackburn Kyle Crick Chris Shaw Chris Shaw Garcia
9 Jarrett Parker Aramis Garcia Steven Okert Sam Coonrod Williamson
10 Adalberto Mejia Adalberto Mejia Josh Osich Chase Johnson Mejia

Note that you should absolutely ignore mine. It's included here for funsies.

It's possible that the Giants will hoard shortstops for the upcoming apocalypse. It's not a bad strategy. At the very least, this is another reminder that the Giants' top-10 list is a lot more interesting that it has been recently. I wasn't even tempted to put a reliever on the list for the first time in years, and hard-throwing relievers are one of the biggest strengths of the system.

Baseball season is coming, and that means prospect season is right behind it. Fox's professional debut is one of the most anticipated parts, and BP's list only gets me more excited.

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