The 2012 season was the first time MLB.com put out a Top 100 Prospects list, expanding from the Top 50 that had been the norm for the previous several years. The list was generated via polling of scouts and front-office executives, with a player receiving a first-place vote getting 100 points, second place getting 99, etc. The rankings were determined by the composite score for each player. That led to the following top 20:

1. Matt Moore, LHP, Tampa
2. Bryce Harper, OF, Washington
3. Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles
4. Julio Teheran, RHP, Atlanta
5. Shelby Miller, RHP, St. Louis
6. Manny Machado, SS, Baltimore
7. Jurickson Profar, SS, Texas
8. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Pittsburgh
9. Trevor Bauer, RHP, Arizona
10. Dylan Bundy, RHP, Baltimore
11. Gerrit Cole, RHP, Pittsburgh
12. Jesus Montero, C, New York
13. Manny Banuelos, LHP, New York
14. Devin Mesoraco, C, Cincinnati
15. Jacob Turner, RHP, Detroit
16. Danny Hultzen, LHP, Seattle
17. Bubba Starling, OF, Kansas City
18. Taijuan Walker, RHP, Seattle
19. Wil Myers, OF, Kansas City
20. Archie Bradley, RHP, Arizona

OK, so maybe the very top was off. In our defense, Moore was coming off an absolutely insane year in the Minors, with a sub-2.00 ERA and over 200 K’s en route to making his big league debut. So things would shuffle around there and throughout, though it should be noted 14 of the top 20 played in the big leagues in 2021 -- nine years after this list came out. A total of 37 players have produced WAR of 10 or higher and 78 of the Top 100 have positive WAR heading into 2022.

The Top 100 prospects in 2012

How would this list look different based on a decade of performances, good and bad? Using projected WAR as a guide, a new top 20 with their 2012 organizations and Top 100 ranking in parentheses would look like this:

1. Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles (3)
2. Mookie Betts, OF, Boston (NR)
3. Manny Machado, SS, Baltimore (6)
4. Bryce Harper,OF, Washington (2)
5. Jose Ramirez, 2B, Cleveland (NR)
6. Nolan Arenado, 3B, Colorado (22)
7. Jacob deGrom, RHP, New York Mets (NR)
8. Gerrit Cole, RHP, Pittsburgh (11)
9. Trevor Story, SS, Colorado (NR)
10. Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston (76)
11. Marcus Semien, SS, Chicago White Sox (NR)
12. Zack Wheeler, RHP, New York Mets (28)
13. Francisco Lindor, SS, Cleveland (32)
14. Josh Donaldson, C/3B, Oakland (NR)
15. Starling Marte, OF, Pittsburgh (40)
16. Javier Baez, SS, Chicago Cubs (62)
17. Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Chicago Cubs (37)
18. George Springer, OF, Houston (84)
19. Anthony Rendon, 3B, Washington (27)
20. Christian Yelich, OF, Florida (35)

Trout, unsurprisingly, tops a reranked list in both current WAR and projected WAR. Betts and Machado are tied in terms of projected WAR, with Betts holding the current WAR edge. While Harper lands in fourth on this list, he’d be seventh in current WAR, with Arenado, Donaldson and deGrom finishing ahead of him in that category.

There are two players in the top five and four in the top 10 who weren’t ranked at all on the 2012 list, led by Betts, who had been a fifth-round pick by the Red Sox out of high school and didn't jump onto a Top 100 until before the 2014 season. But is anyone more surprising than Jose Ramirez, who never appeared on a Top 100 list and topped out on Cleveland’s Top 20 at No. 8 in 2014?

The 2011 Draft class is proving to be a robust one and is very well-represented on these lists. There were 17 members of the class on the Top 100 a decade ago. The reranked top 20 has eight, led by Betts and followed by Cole, the No. 1 overall pick in 2011. As if anyone needed more proof that talent can be found all over the Draft, the new top 20 includes Story (supplemental first round) and Semien (sixth round) as well as Lindor, Baez, Springer and Rendon, all of whom were taken in the top 11 picks of the first round.

How’d we do overall 10 years ago? Fourteen in the new Top 20 were in the Top 100 in 2012, though only four -- Trout, Machado, Harper and Cole – were ranked in the top 20 then. There were two Top 100 prospects who never made it to the bigs -- Hak-Ju Lee (46) and Brody Colvin (80) -- and 17 who have produced negative career WAR.