Thanks for the mention Mike.

We did not include Kemp and Drew because they both exhausted their rookie status during the 2006 season, with 154 and 209 respective at-bats. Our lists are composed of players who will enter 2007 with rookie status. Along with Kemp and Drew, guys like Lastings Milledge (166 at-bats), Hayden Penn (58.0 innings over the last two seasons), and Matt Garza (50.0 innings) also did not qualify for our lists.

For reference, here's Major League Baseball's official rule on rookie status:

A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).

We are not using the 45 day part of the rule, which is usually most applicable with relief pitchers.

Nice to see you, Adam - hope to see some contributions in some of the other discussions as well.

I don't have any particular problem with excluding non-rookies from discussion of prospects, as long as that caveat is clearly stated up front. Personally, I find it hard to exclude someone who doesn't yet have a major-league job nailed down, like Milledge or Kemp, from the prospect discussion. B.J. Upton was dropped from prospect-dom after he lost his rookie status in 2004, but he was in the minors for a year and a half after that, not yet a bonafide major leaguer, and I think he should have been in the discussions, because it seems frankly crazy to me to say that someone like, say, Shawn Riggans or Ben Zobrist is a "prospect" but Upton isn't. But that's just me, and it's probably better to draw the bright line than the fuzzy one, because it makes it clear who's in and who isn't.

-- MWE

Good point about B.J. Upton. I always thought it was funny not seeing him on prospect lists when he was still a "prospect". I took the route that I did because it's the most popular, but you're right, I should have made clear how we were determining our population -- I'll make sure to do this next time.

I was reading your HWB dicsussion...great stuff. I'll definitely be around -- I'm a big fan of BBTF.