Developing prospects is an important part to continuous success in Major League Baseball. When you're the defending World Series champions, you're in the largest market in the world and you already have a major league payroll over $200 million, developing prospects may not be your top priority.
Yankees catching prospect Jesus Montero may understand that better than anyone else. Montero is the sole Yankees player on MLB.com's list of the Top 50 Prospects for the 2010 season. The 20-year-old Montero ranks No. 19 on MLB.com's list.
Montero is viewed by scouts as the long-term replacement to Jorge Posada and is someone who could play catcher or first base in the major leagues, according to MLB.com's scouting report.
The catching prospect sees himself as a leader on the field.
"[I like] being the leader, being in charge, being able to run a pitching staff," Montero told MLB.com. "I like to be one of the guys who runs the game."
At the very least, the Yankees own bragging rights over the Mets on MLB.com's list. No Mets, Angels, Cardinals and White Sox prospects made the list.
The Rangers, Royals and Rays can be proud of their farm systems as each team had four prospects in the top 50. The Red Sox had three players in the top 50: Ryan Westmoreland (No. 27), Casey Kelly (No. 28) and Jose Iglesias (No. 45).
Braves outfield prospect Jason Heyward topped MLB.com's list, followed by highly-touted Nationals pitching prospect Stephen Strasburg and Giants catching prospect Buster Posey.
