The hype surrounding Brandon Wood

Baseball America ranks Brandon Wood as the 8th best prospect in the Majors this year. I'm not sure what this means. Is he a future Hall of Famer, All-Star or just a starter?

So to try and figure out what his future holds, I decided to look back at the other #8's in Baseball America's lists since they began in 1990.

What's interesting is that they are all pretty average players. So I guess we're looking at Wood becoming an everyday 3rd Baseman or Shortstop with one All-Star Game Appearance.

Update: In the comments, Mat asked "But how many of those #8s were 22 when they got the vote?" I added the age of each player at the time of the rankings. 22 years old is far and away the most common age for a prospect at #8.

19 years old (1)
20 years old (1)
21 years old (3)
22 years old (7)
23 years old (3)
24 years old (1)
29 years old (1)

Here's the list of #8's.

1990 Eric Anthony, of, Age 22
Astros, Mariners, Reds, Rockies, Dodgers
retired 9 seasons .231 avg, .702 ops,
Best Season 1992 .239 avg, 19 hr, 80 rbi

1991 Reggie Sanders, of, Age 23
Reds, Padres, Braves, Diamondbacks, Giants, Pirates, Cardinals, Royals
Currently with Kansas City in his 17th season.
Career .267 avg, .831 ops, 305 hr, 304 sb
Best Season 1995 .306 avg .975 ops, 28 hr 99 rbi 36 sb
Won World Series with Arizona in 2001
1 All Star Appearance - 1995

1992 Ryan Klesko, 1b, Age 21
Braves, Padres, Giants
Currently with San Francisco in his 16th season
Career .280 avg, .878 ops, 272 hr
Best Season: 2001 .286 avg 30 hr 113 rbi 23 sb
Won World Series with Atlanta in 1995
1 All Star Appearance - 2001

1993 Jason Bere, rhp, Age 22
White Sox, Reds, Brewers, Indians, Cubs
Retired 11 seasons 5.14 era 71-65
Best Season: 1994 12-2 3.81 era 127 k
1 All Star Appearance - 1994

1994 James Baldwin, rhp, Age 22
White Sox, Dodgers, Mariners, Twins< style="color: rgb(102, 51, 255);">Best Season: 2000 14-7 4.65 era 116 k
1 All Star Appearances - 2000

1995 Alex Gonzalez, ss, Age 22
Blue Jays, Cubs, Expos, Padres, Devil Rays, Phillies
Retired 13 seasons .243 avg .693 ops
Best Season: 2003 .228 avg 20 hr

1996 Livan Hernandez, rhp, Age 21
Marlins, Giants, Expos, Nationals, Diamondbacks
Currently with Arizona in his 12th season
Career: 123-117 4.18 era
Best Season: 2000 17-11 3.75 era 165 k
Won World Series with Florida in 1997 (NLCS MVP, WS MVP)
2 All Star Appearances - 2004, 2005
*Started and lost Game 7 of the 2002 World Series for the Giants vs the Angels.

1997 Kris Benson, rhp, Age 22
Pirates, Mets, Orioles
Currently with Baltimore out all season with a torn rotator cuff
Career: 7 seasons 68-73, 4.34 era
Best Season: 2000 10-12, 3.85 era 184k
Most famous for his wife's (Anna Benson) quote on Howard Stern: "I told (Kris) , cheat on me all you want. If you get caught, I'm going to screw everybody on your entire team -- coaches, trainers, players. I would do everybody on his whole team." (source)

1998 Travis Lee, 1b, Age 23
Diamondbacks, Phillies, Devil Rays, Yankees
Retired: .256 avg .745 ops
Best Season: 2001 .258 avg 20 hr 90 rbi

1999 Pablo Ozuna, ss, Age 24
Marlins, Rockies, White Sox
Currently with Chicago White Sox in his 6th season
Career: .292 avg .703 ops
Best Season: 2006 .328 avg in 189 ab
Won World Series with Chicago White Sox in 2005

2000 Rafael Furcal, ss, Age 22
Braves, Dodgers
Currently with Dodgers in his 8th season
Career: .285 avg .762 ops
Best Season: 2003 .292 avg 15 hr 130 r 25 sb
1 All Star Appearances - 2003

2001 Ryan Anderson, lhp, Age 21
No Major League Experience
Career ended with multiple shoulder injuries.
Currently in culinary school. (source)

2002 Wilson Betemit, ss, Age 20
Braves, Dodgers
Currently with Dodgers in his 5th season
Career: .262 avg .746 ops
Best Season: 2006 .263 avg 18 hr 53 rbi in 373 ab

2003 Hideki Matsui, of, Age 29
Yankees
Currently with Yankees in his 5th season
Career: .297 avg .856 ops
Best Season: 2004 .298 avg 31 hr 108 rbi 109 r
2 All Star Appearances - 2003, 2004

2004 Greg Miller lhp, Age 19
Currently with AAA Las Vegas (Dodgers)

2005 Rickie Weeks, 2b, Age 22
Brewers starting 2nd Baseman
Career .256 avg .758 ops

2006 Justin Verlander, rhp, Age 23
Tigers - 2006 Rookie Of The Year 17-9 3.63 era