Baseball America Grades

The Prospects Plus grading system breaks prospects down into five categories. Following are the category definitions that accompany each individual prospect report.

A 5-star player is one who projects to have the physical ability to be drafted in the top two rounds of the free agent draft after his senior year in high school. Few of these players will bypass an opportunity to play professional baseball immediately in favor of college baseball. As a college player, though, this type of prospect would be considered a cornerstone to a college program.

A 4-star player is one who projects to have the physical ability to be drafted in the top 10 rounds of the free agent draft after his senior year in high school. As a college player, this type of prospect would be considered a cornerstone to a college program if he reaches his projection. In some cases, a premium professional prospect who would fit into the 4-star category might not be evaluated at the same level for a college program, i.e. the hard-throwing pitcher who has very little command and/or significant delivery problems. These cases will be noted in the evaluation.

A 3-star player has the potential to be an above-average college player capable of starring in the top NCAA programs, or a player who shows the physical ability to be drafted in the top 25 rounds in the professional draft. Often a player will show himself to be a good 3-star player in the college sense, but because of lack of size or speed or some other factor valued by professional scouts might not be as highly regarded as a pro prospect. In these cases the player will always be placed in the 3-star category, as that is what his college potential is evaluated as. Because of the amount of projection involved in evaluating 16-17 year old pitchers, the 3-star and 2-star categories will likely be heavy with this type of prospect. Some get stronger and develop into 4-star players, some will fall back. Every effort will be made to provide enough commentary on these type pitchers so that coaches/scouts reading the evaluation will hopefully be able to focus in on the areas they consider important.

A 2-star player has the potential to be a solid college starter capable of contributing to most, if not all college programs, although not necessarily right away as a freshman or sophomore. They are typically players who have advanced skills but lack the physical strength at present to play every day at the next level, or are the opposite; they have good tools but lack the polish and skill to be able to use them immediately at the next level. If they combine both tools and skills, they will most likely be in a higher category. Players in this category have a chance of being drafted out of high school in rounds 26-50--or more likely as a draft-and-follow. With good health and a solid work ethic, this player has a better chance to be drafted professionally after his junior or senior college season.

A 1-star player can be one of two general types of players. One is a player who has a particular tool or a particular body type that he could develop with hard work and time and become a good college player (probably a 2-star player). The other is a younger player who is just not old enough or far enough advanced in his development to make higher evaluation, but who might very well get better during the next year and enter a higher category. In general, examples of these types of player are a first baseman who can hit but lacks any mobility and speed, or a catcher with a good body, a strong arm and little else, or a pitcher who is a soft-tosser at present but has the looseness and projectability that leads you to believe he might improve.