Breaking down AL Wild Card lineups by prospect ranks

By | October 3, 2018

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Of the 20 players starting in tonight's American League Wild Card matchup between the Oakland A's and New York Yankees, nearly half of them (eight) at one time ranked as his team's No. 1 prospect. Four of them -- A's right fielder Stephen Piscotty and the Yankees' trio of Andrew McCutchen, Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton -- were ranked No. 1 for a team other than the A's or Yankees.
:: AL Wild Card Game schedule and results ::
Thirteen of the 20 players were once ranked among MLB's Top 100 prospects, including nine of the Yankees' 10 starters. Just one player on each team -- A's leadoff man Nick Martini and Yankees first baseman Luke Voit -- were never considered to be among a team's Top 30 prospects.
Yankees Miguel Andújar, Gleyber Torres and Voit, along with A's outfielders Martini and Ramón Laureano, all entered the season with prospect status, while A's second baseman Jed Lowrie peaked as a prospect over a decade ago when he was rated as baseball's No. 73 prospect while coming up with the Red Sox.
Here's a look at the lineups and each player's peak prospect rank:
ATHLETICS LINEUP

  1. Nick Martini, LF - Unranked
  2. Matt Chapman, 3B - OAK No. 3, 2015 preseason; MLB No. 92, 2017 midseason
  3. Jed Lowrie, 2B - BOS No. 5, 2007; MLB No. 73
  4. Khris Davis, DH - MIL No. 13, 2013
  5. Matt Olson, 1B - OAK No. 1, 2015 preseason; MLB No. 73, 2015 preseason
  6. Stephen Piscotty, RF - STL No. 1, 2015 preseason; MLB No. 57, 2014 midseason
  7. Ramon Laureano, CF - HOU No. 8, 2017 preseason
  8. Marcus Semien, SS - CWS No. 4, 2014 preseason
  9. Jonathan Lucroy, C - MIL No. 5, 2009*
    P. Liam Hendriks, RHP - MIN No. 10, 2011 preseason
    YANKEES LINEUP
  10. Andrew McCutchen, LF - PIT No. 1, 2008, MLB No. 8, 2008 preseason
  11. Aaron Judge, RF - NYY No. 2, 2016 preseason, MLB No. 21, 2015 midseason
  12. Aaron Hicks, CF - MIN No. 1, 2010 preseason, MLB No. 29, 2010 preseason
  13. Giancarlo Stanton, DH - MIA No. 1, 2010, MLB No. 3, 2010 preseason
  14. Luke Voit, 1B - Unranked
  15. Didi Gregorius, SS - ARI No. 3, 2013 preseason, MLB No. 63, 2013 preseason
  16. Miguel Andujar, 3B - NYY No. 10, 2017 preseaon, MLB No. 65, 2018 preseason
  17. Gary Sánchez, C - NYY No. 1, 2013 midseason, MLB No. 31, 2013 midseason
  18. Gleyber Torres, 2B - NYY No. 1, 2017 preseason, MLB No. 3, 2017 midseason
    P. Luis Severino, RHP - NYY No. 1, 2015 preseason, MLB No. 16, 2015 midseason
    * Baseball America ranking