There will not be a Halos Heaven Top 10 Angels Prospects List.
It would look suspiciously similar to just about every other "Angels Prospect List" and would be disingenuously cribbed player-for-player from those published lists.
There is a great disparity in the ages of some "rookies." Projecting the greatness of a future baseball player (or his "ceiling" in geek-jargon) is made easier in looking at a young man's success based on his age.
While it is probably no surprise that Vladimir Guerrero is 12 years older than Hank Conger, you will understand that Angels reliever Greg Jones makes no prospects lists as he is the same age as Vlad. And while Tommy Murphy made a nice debut in '06 as a sub of sorts, he is NINE years older than Conger, allowing everyone to fairly question Murph's long-term prospects as an impact player.
This is a list of players who will be under 26 during the entire 2007 baseball season. A player at 25 still has potential to reach a higher ceiling than where he is at.
The baseball golden triangle of ages 26-27-28 is where a player generally reaches his ceiling.
23-24-25 is where any success is the best indicator of future greatness.
Meanwhile 29-30-31 is where the first adjustments to lost reflexes begin along with residual damage due to injury compensations and cascades. A standout season here will often be called a "Fluke" instead of a "Good Adjustment" and such seasons are usually some degree of both - quickly indicated by the next season's performance.
32 and beyond require much more maintenance and adjustments, along with good genes and good luck.
This list is a combination of the Angels 40-Man Roster and minor league players who have been mentioned on a number of the "Hot Prospect" lists that give the internet most of its non-porno traffic. The higher a player has landed at an earlier age indicates that he is going places. From this list, the few things one can easily ascertain is that Frankie is the man, Erick Aybar may be much more than some supersub, leading to even more backlogging as Sean Rodriguez and Brandon Wood are playing at higher levels than their age belies.
Feel free to add your observations in the comments section.
Players who have made the majors are in Bold.
Players who have played at least 1 game at AAA are in italics.
1981
Mike Napoli (10-31-81)
Dustin Moseley (12-26-81)
(NOTE: Joe Saunders and Reggie Willits will turn 26 during the 2007 season)
1982
Matt Brown
Terry Evans
Chris Resop
Francisco Rodriguez
Ervin Santana
Jered Weaver
1983
Richard Aldridge
Howie Kendrick
Casey Kotchman
Stephen Marek
Jeff Mathis
Kendry Morales
Steven Shell
Bobby Wilson
1984
Jose Arredondo
Erick Aybar
Michael Collins
Robert Mosebach
Chris Petit
1985
Abel Nieves
Anthony Ortega
Sean Rodriguez
Brandon Wood
1986
Nick Adenhart
Trevor Bell
Amalio Diaz
Ryan Mount
Hainley Statia
Nicholas Veras
1987
Peter Bourjos
Sean O'Sullivan
Tommy Mendoza
1988
Hank Conger
Young-IL Jung
Matthew Sweeney
There are obviously dozens of Angel minor leaguers under 26, but this list is just a compilation of the trendier "top prospects" lists and the 40-Man Roster Spots.