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Last season, the Atlanta Braves became the envy of the league, when MLB.com named Jason Heyward as the top prospect in their annual listing of the Top Prospects in Major League Baseball.

Heyward, who had been listed as the No. 28 overall prospect in 2008, leaped up to No. 5 in 2009 before hitting the jackpot in 2010. Following the No. 1 selection, the buzz on Heyward made it a no brainer when Atlanta invited Heyward to camp before the start of the 2010 season.

One year later, Atlanta follows the Heyward standing ranking three players in the Top 25 of MLB.com’s top 50 prospect list. The list includes:

Julio Teheran, Pitcher, ranked No. 10 overall

Freddie Freeman, first baseman, ranked No. 17 overall

Mike Minor, Pitcher, ranked No. 21 overall

Just 19 years old, Teheran started last season in Single-A ball at Rome before getting promotions to advanced Single-A and finally Double-A ball in Mississippi. In 19 total games, Teheran posted a 9-8 record with a 2.59 ERA and 159 strikeouts. Teheran’s fastball has been clocked at 98 miles per hour.

Fellow pitcher Mike Minor made his pro debut last season with Atlanta, going 3-2 with a 5.98 ERA in nine total appearances. Minor, the former first round 7th overall pick in 2009, had a 12-strikeout game against the Chicago Cubs back on August 22, 2010. He is expected to compete with the Braves to be the fifth man on their already deep rotation, which includes Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, and Jair Jurrjens.

Freeman like Minor, also made his starting debut last season with Atlanta. A September call up, Freeman had four hits and batted .167 in 20 games with one home run, one RBI and scored three runs. Freeman, a 2007 2nd round pick, is considered by many to be the future first baseman for the Braves, and with Atlanta not re-signing both Derek Lee and Troy Glaus, Freeman is a shoe in to start at first.

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The Kansas City Royals did not have a lot to cheer about during last year’s 67-win season, the fifth worst record in Major League Baseball in 2010.

Things only got worse when the Royals traded former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for a bunch of young prospects.

However, on Tuesday, the Royals organization became the envy of all Major League Baseball, placing two prospects in the Top 10 and six in the Top 50 in the rankings of baseball’s minor league prospects, giving them the highest total for this season and matching the highest total by any organization in the past eight years.

Third baseman Mike Moustakas and first baseman Eric Hosmer finished No. 7 and No. 8 respectively in MLB.com’s annual listing of the top 50 prospects in all of baseball.

Both players also finished as the top prospect at their respective positions.

Moustakas, the second overall pick in the 2007 MLB Draft, absolutely tore up both Double and Triple-A ball last season, hitting for a .324 average, 36 home runs and 124 runs batted in—all in just 118 games played.

Hosmer, the third overall pick of the 2008 MLB Draft, spent last season in Advanced Single-A before moving up to Double-A ball with Northwest Arkansas.

His 2010 season stats included 20 home runs, 86 RBI and a batting average of .338.

The Royals are young, inexperienced and absolutely loaded with talent—talent being the key word.

They have one of the best closers in all of baseball in Joakim Soria, they have the former No. 1 overall pick Luke Hochevar leading the pitching staff and they have a handful of young baseball players, from Alex Gordon to Billy Butler.

They also added former Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur, who still might have the best rifle arm in the outfield today.

The Kansas City Royals could still be a few years away from catching the likes of the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers or Chicago White Sox, and they might even get into a future prospects battle with the Cleveland Indians.

But things are looking up for the Blue and White.

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Dice-K, Jay Bruce, Matt Wieters, Jayson Heyward, and now you can add Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout to the elite list of top prospects in all of Major League Baseball as MLB.com made the announcement Monday in their annual listing of the Top 50 Prospects in Baseball.

Trout, the 25th overall pick in the 2009 MLB draft, has drawn rave reviews as a five-tool player (average, power, base running, speed and fielding), and MLB.com even considered him a six-tool ball player with character being the sixth tool. Trout has even drawn comparisons to Charlie Hustle himself, Pete Rose.

Joining Trout in the top five were Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, Washington Nationals high school phenom Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown and the 2009 No. 2 overall pick, Seattle Mariners second baseman Dustin Ackley.

This past season, Trout played Single-A ball for Cedar Rapids, where he hit .362 with 6 home runs, 45 RBI and 45 steals in just 81 games. Trout was also named MVP for the Midwest Legue while with Cedar Rapids. At the MLB All-Star break, Trout played in the Futures Game played in Anaheim and was then promoted to Advanced Single-A ball in the California League, where in 50 games played he hit .306 with 4 HR and 19 RBI.

With being tabbed as the No. 1 overall baseball prospect in the land, Trout could make an appearance in The Show sooner rather than later, despite the Angels landing Veron Wells from the Blue Jays earlier in the week. Last year’s No. 1 rated prospect, Jayson Heyward, played just three games at the Triple-A level before the Atlanta Braves signed him up before the start of the 2010 season.

Trout, who is just 19 years old, is expected to start the 2011 baseball season in Arkansas playing Double-A baseball.  

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