The Prospectwire Player Rankings (PW Rankings) ranks standout high school baseball players (currently in Florida only) based upon a specific set of criteria. That criteria is not based upon Major League Baseball Projectability. Rather, the rankings are based upon their collegiate projectability.

The difference between professional projectability and collegiate projectability is the emphasis upon the player's ability to excel on the field right now and in the future. When scouting players for professional ranks, a much greater emphasis is placed upon the player's ability to perform at a high level 5-10 years down the road. Little emphasis is placed on current success.

As a generic example, what that means is that a player who is 6'5 and 175 pounds throwing a 92mph fastball with little effort in his delivery may be a highly ranked professional prospect - regardless of how he currently performs in high school. If a player with that frame and skillset was able to get professional coaching in player development, he may develop into an outstanding pitcher in professional baseball. However, if that same pitcher has a difficult time getting high school hitters out, shows he can not repeat his delivery, and seems to struggle at the high school level, he may be a moderately ranked player on a collegiate scale. Meaning: The player may still have a chance to develop into an outstanding collegiate pitcher with good coaching, but his time frame to do so in college is much shorter with 4 years of eligibility, making him a moderate D1 college prospect and a project that may not pan out in time. Thus, on the PW Rankings - that same generic player may not be a highly ranked player on the rankings.

It is also important to note that stats play a very small factor, if any, in the rankings. This holds true especially at the Junior Varsity level where they are given little to no consideration. The only way stats have any bearing is if the stats are abnormally high or low. The majority of the better varsity position players in public schools hit in the .300-.450 range. The majority of the better players in private schools hit in the .400-.550 range. An example where stats may mean something is on a player like 2009 grad JR Murphy who ended his season hitting .620 with 10+ homeruns playing against very good competition. On the other side of a spectrum, if you have a prospect with tools that hits .200 in high school, that may be a warning sign and it may effect his ranking. Other than these two extreme cases, tools, the ability to perform at a consistent level, and the ability to excel against top competition will always prevail over stats.