Baseball America released their Top 100 Prospects rankings for 2011, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have three of their prospects on the list.
The highest ranking prospect in the organization is Jarrod Parker, who checked in as the 33rd best prospect in the minors. At age 22, Parker is in the running for a position on this year's team if he can perform well in Spring Training. Most likely, Parker will begin the season in the minors, but could break through at some point in 2011.
Next up is Tyler Skaggs, the 82nd-ranked prospect on the list. Skaggs was part of the Dan Haren trade of last summer, coming from the Los Angeles Angels as the true centerpiece of the deal. Skaggs is lefthanded and is developing nicely after pitching 98.1 innings in A-ball this past season.
Finally, we meet Matt Davidson, the 99th best prospect in the minor leagues. A 20-year old with a huge bat, Davidson was Arizona's first round supplemental pick in 2009, drafted at 35th overall straight out of high school. In 2010, Davidson hit 18 home runs and had 90 RBI between A and A+ ball. He's a long way from being ready for the majors, but he's developing at a steady rate.
John Sickels released his Diamondbacks "Top 20 Prospects" list back in November 2010, and these three were Arizona's top three prospects (in this exact same order). While very few prospects in the system stand out as "can't miss," the Diamondbacks have a lot of solid players in the pipeline. The future isn't too bleak.