Breaking down NL Wild Card lineups by prospect ranks

By | October 2, 2018

This browser does not support the video element.

Former top prospects will be all over the diamond at Wrigley Field tonight as the Chicago Cubs host the Colorado Rockies in the National League Wild Card Game. Ten of the 18 players in tonight's starting lineups were at one point or another ranked among baseball's Top 100 prospects.
:: NL Wild Card Game schedule and results ::
The Rockies are the most homegrown team in this year's postseason with 12 players from their projected 25-man NLDS roster coming via the Draft or international market. Four players in their Wild Card game lineup are former Top 100 prospects, while all nine ranked among a team's top 30 prospects list at some point before they made it to the big leagues. David Dahl was the most highly regarded as a prospect, as he was MLB's No. 20 overall prospect on our midseason Top 100 list in 2016.
The Cubs owned the No. 1 ranking on our list of MLB's Top 10 farm systems entering the 2015 season, when they had six top 100 prospects, led by No. 2 Kris Bryant. Only two of those six are in tonight's lineup (Bryant and Albert Almora, who was No. 58), though a third, Kyle Schwarber, is lurking on the bench. Six of Chicago's nine starters tonight are former Top 100 prospects, all of them having ranked within the top 40 at their peak.
Here's a look at the lineups and how each player's peak prospect rank:
ROCKIES LINEUP

  1. Charlie Blackmon, CF - COL No. 10, 2011 preseason
  2. DJ LeMahieu, 2B - CHC No. 10, 2010 preseason*
  3. Nolan Arenado, 3B - COL No. 1, 2012 preseason; MLB No. 22, 2012 preseason
  4. Trevor Story, SS - COL No. 3, 2013 preseason; MLB No. 86, 2012 midseason
  5. Matt Holliday, LF - COL No. 4, 1999 preseason*
  6. Ian Desmond, 1B - WSH No. 4, 2010 preseason*
  7. David Dahl, RF - COL No. 1, 2013 preseason; MLB No. 20, 2016 midseason
  8. Chris Iannetta, C - COL No. 6, 2006 preseason*
  9. Kyle Freeland, P - COL No. 4, 2015 preseason; MLB No. 60, 2015 preseason
    CUBS LINEUP
  10. Ben Zobrist, RF - TB No. 16, 2006 preseason*
  11. Kris Bryant, LF - CHC No. 1, 2015 preseason; MLB No. 2, 2015 preseason
  12. Anthony Rizzo, 1B - CHC No. 1, 2012 preseason; MLB No. 37, 2012 preseason
  13. Javier Báez, SS - CHC No. 1, 2013 preseason; MLB No. 6, 2014 midseason
  14. Albert Almora Jr., CF - CHC No. 2, 2013 preseason; MLB No. 18, 2014 preseason
  15. Daniel Murphy, 2B - NYM No. 15, 2008 preseason*
  16. Willson Contreras, C - CHC No. 2, 2016 preseason; MLB No. 23, 2016 midseason
  17. David Bote, 3B - CHC No. 15, 2018 preseason
  18. Jon Lester, P - BOS No. 1, 2006 preseason; MLB No. 18, 2006 preseason
    * Baseball America ranking