I now present to you the ESPN Scouts Inc. Top 100 Prospects Ranking for 2008. To prepare this list, I've re-read my scouting reports, watched some old draft videos and most importantly, I've ignored team officials who lobbied for their players.
Players who have lost their rookie eligibility are not eligible for this list, nor are players coming over from either of the major Japanese leagues; while they're rookies for the purpose of the Rookie of the Year awards, they're not "prospects" in any sense of the term. I consider a number of factors when ranking prospects, including ceiling, probability, expected time to reach the majors and expected time to become contributors in the majors, but I do not consider factors like whether the player has a place to play in his current organization, or whether his big league club's home park is friendly or unfriendly for him, although I may mention such things in the comments. Unlike last year's list, I've expanded the scope to include players with little or no pro experience.