“He’s surprised us, for sure, but we like surprises like that.," Rantz tells Jim Mandelaro in the first national feature on Hughes.
"Our fifth anniversary of the MLN FAB50 Baseball rankings is by far our best yet," said MLN Sports senior editor Brian Ross. "17 inch, screen-filling photo layouts of the players accompany 50 feature stories written by the best journalists on the minor league sports beat from coast to coast. Not dry, dusty tools reports, but thought-provoking, challenging takes on fifty of the hottest players in MiLB, or already moved up to MLB."
How Players are Selected:
Tools are only a part of the consideration process.
"We also look at the movement of the player and everything outside of their control that can affect that," explained Ross.
The MLN FAB50 system also weighs in the "sixth" tool.
"The emotional and psychological make-up of a player is every bit as important as their physical gifts," continued Ross.
The MLN FAB50 Baseball 2008 challenges assumptions about players.
"We have the numbers, but all MLN FAB50 reports are written to bring the player to life for baseball fans, not for a dusty reference book on the shelf. Each player honor page is entertaining, and informative," said Ross. "We challenge the common wisdom on a number of the top players, including some sleeper picks that others may miss."
Past MLN FAB50 Baseball no.1 players have included: B.J. Upton (Tampa Bay, 2004); Felix Hernadez (Seattle, 2005); Stephen Drew (Arizona, 2006); Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay, 2007)
Who are the other 49 of the Best of the Best in Minor League Baseball™?
