Who Are These Guys?
Let's take a look at the Top 100 Prospects list from October 16, 2063.
Where Did They Come From?
Pretty much everywhere. From Aruba to Zaire, they are coming from across the globe to play in the GBC. No one country dominates this list. Eleven of the top prospects actually hail from the US, which is tied for the most prospects with Australia. In third place is England with five prospects. Italy and the Marshall Islands (population 42k) are tied at fourth with four each. Three nations have three prospects in the list: Palau, Tonga, and Zaire. Thirteen nations have two prospects in the Top 100: American Samoa, Brazil, Czech Republic, Egypt, Fiji, India, Ireland, Japan, Kiribati, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Panama. If you've been doing the math in your head, you know that a whopping thirty nations managed to contribute a single prospect to the list: Aruba, Bahrain, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Djibouti, El Salvador, Finland, France, Guam, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Micronesia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Singapore, Sin Maarten, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Uzbekistan.
When Did They Arrive?
In 2058, 2 of the current Top 100 joined a GBC organization. Eleven of the Top 100 joined GBC organizations in 2059. Nine Top 100 prospects signed on with GBC organizations in 2060. Twenty-nine of the top prospects joined the GBC in 2061, second most. The next year, thirty-five of the current Top 100 joined GBC organizations, most of any year. In 2063, just fourteen prospects in the Top 100 joined GBC organizations.
How Did They Get Here?
The vast majority of the current Top 100 entered the GBC via the amateur draft; 74 prospects total signed with clubs that drafted them and were not released as free agents. Club scouting discoveries account for just 9 of the Top 100. Seventeen prospects were signed as minor league free agents (including all eleven Americans), most of these being cut by BBA clubs. The trickle down economics of the Brewsterverse at work. 2062 was a banner year for minor league free agent signings. Nine of the seventeen were signed in that calendar year.
Of those 74 Top 100 prospects who were drafted, just 24 were taken in the first round. Of those first-rounders, 10 were drafted with a top three pick. GBC clubs drafted 12 of the Top 100 in the second round. They drafted 20 Top 100 prospects in the third through fifth rounds, and 14 in the six through tenth rounds. Four of the top prospects were drafted after the tenth round, with one prospect being drafted as late as the eighteenth round (176 overall).
Who Has Them Now?
Tokyo has the greatest number of Top 100 prospects at sixteen (including 2 in the top 10). After the Pearls is London with thirteen (1 in the top 10). Two teams have twelve Top 100 prospects each, Jerusalem and Johannesburg. Sydney is the only other club with double-digit Top 100 prospects with ten (2 in the top 10). Moscow (1 in the top 10) and Sao Paulo (3 in the top 10) both have nine, Cairo eight, Buenos Aires six, and Athens (1 in the top 10) five.