Written by: M-Rod (@MRodProspects)

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The fantasy baseball community loves rankings. Rankings season is a fun time to get excited about Spring Training and to evaluate where your prospects stack up against the competition. And trust me, I’m as pumped as anyone this time of year.

But with so many rankings being published from different outlets, using different criteria, and intended for different purposes, how do we make sense of it all? How do we take in the abundance of information and correctly apply it to our own unique league dynamics?

The short answer is: well, it depends. Every league has specific scoring, different owner dynamics, and figuring out how to translate rankings into actionable information is largely going to be up to you. But putting the impact that defensive skills have on fantasy value into context is a potential edge to be had.

The first and most obvious distinction between lists is that most of the major outlets are ranking prospects for projected real-life value. Be weary (but not too weary) of prospects being propped up by defensive tools, particularly ones who project to play an up the middle position such as SS, 2B, and CF. For example, there should be a sizable discrepancy on where Cristian Pache lands on a real-life ranking versus a fantasy-specific ranking. Pache is probably the single best defensive prospect in baseball, and his skills in CF are going to give him a tremendous floor as a potential Gold Glove outfielder.

With this is mind, be careful not to overcompensate and write him off completely for fantasy purposes. Plus defense can prop up a player’s fantasy stock by accelerating his timeline to reach the bigs and earning that player a longer developmental leash to contribute on the offensive side of the ball. This is why we see players like Byron Buxton come up before the bat might be ready. Like Buxton, Pache may require supreme patience in dynasty leagues, but with these elite athletes, offensive upside absolutely exists.

On the other hand, if someone like Willie Calhoun or Peter Alonso doesn’t produce immediately at the plate, a once highly-coveted fantasy asset can spoil in an instant. This invites some seemingly hidden risk into the mix for players who don’t offer value on defense.

In short, defense matters. Make sure you are aware of what it is about a prospect’s profile that is fueling his ranking, but be sure to further examine why he might be over or undervalued in your league.

Without further ado, my own take on the Dynasty Top 100 is complete. This is an important part of my own process and I hope that there is some value in it for you as well. If there is one thing I hope you take from this list it’s that prospects, to me, are about chasing upside.

What did @MRodProspects get right? What’d he get wrong? Tweet him to let him know!

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Featured image courtesy of photographer Brian Westerholt and Four Seam Images