Brantley Ranked 43rd in Baseball Tonight's Top 100 Players

as promised, ESPN's Baseball Tonight unveiled their Top 100 Players going into 2015 on March 30 and 31. the players ranked 100-51 were revealed on the afternoon of March 30 online, while the players ranked 50-26 were revealed online in the afternoon today on March 31. and later tonight, an ESPN2 special, airing at 8 pm EST, will be announcing the Top 25 players.

unfortunately, in what came as a complete shock to me, i did not have to wait for the 8 o'clock show to find out where Michael placed on the list because
Michael was not in the Top 25. as i was checking this afternoon's release of players 50-26, i found that BBTN ranked Michael as the 43rd top player in baseball. he was not ranked on this list a year ago, but this debut is complete and utter BS imo. add another reason to my already long book as to why i don't take anything ESPN has to say seriously.

just last week, on March 23, BBTN ranked Michael as the #1 left fielder heading into the upcoming season. and now they're telling me that the #1 left fielder is only the 43rd best player overall? something's not adding up here...

how was BBTN's Top 100 list compiled, you ask? well it was put together by a panel of over 60 ESPN experts, including MLB writers, analysts, and contributors. they were given a list of more than 600 MLB players and polled in February and March. the experts allotted players a number from 0 to 10 based on how they felt each player would perform in 2015, and those results cut the list down to 100. and clearly they had very little confidence that Michael would put up a similar season to 2014 in 2015.

i (stupidly) assumed Michael would fall somewhere between 21 and 30 on this list due to the fact that he ranked 21st on MLB Network's Top 100 Players Right Now on February 27. and while i did argue that he should have finished in the Top 20 on that list, i was not going to expect that from ESPN. and rightfully so apparently.

there is a long withstanding history of ESPN disrespecting Cleveland sports teams, including some teams that were very good. so i learned many, many years ago not to pay attention to what they had to say regarding Cleveland. however, this rank has me fired up and there was no way i was not gonna go off about it.

43. what a joke. Michael definitely deserved to be higher, especially when you look at some of the players who were ranked ahead of him. just goes to show these ESPN "experts" still won't give Cleveland all the appreciation it merits. this is why if you're going to listen to any national media talk about the Tribe, you should disregard ESPN and tune in to MLB Network. those people seem to be a little more educated when it comes to all things baseball. sorry, not sorry. #truth


now let's do some more comparisons of the other Cleveland Indians who made the Top 100 lists as determined by BBTN and MLB Network, just to prove my point.

--Yan Gomes started BBTN's list at #100, another Indians player who was not ranked a year ago. compare that to Gomes being #56 on MLB Network's Top 100 list.

--2014 AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber made his debut on BBTN's list at #16, while being #15 on MLB Network's list. a Cy Young winner can't even crack the Top 15? GTFO.

--and Carlos Santana was nowhere to be found on BBTN's list, while ranking at #72 on MLB Network's Top 100.

i rest my case. but if anyone has any comments about either of these lists/rankings, i'd love to hear. leave a comment below whether you agree or disagree with my views.


Michael will show them, mark my words. he's primed and ready to have another outstanding season, and i documented why in a blog i wrote earlier this offseason, which you can read here. plus, with the new mindset that he uses when he's at the plate and the extra offseason training he did in preparation for this year, i truly believe the best is yet to come from Michael. i've never been more excited to watch his season unfold. and it all begins in just SIX short days!!!