Rankings/List

It's safe to say for the San Francisco Giants, everything looks different now than it did at the beginning of spring training.

Mark Minicozzi became a household name among Giants fans before getting optioned to the minors. Brandon Hicks has completely changed the infield battle. Ryan Vogelsong has worried many with his performance, but the other pitchers have quieted many critics.

In fantasy baseball, breakouts happen every year, but not every breakout is created equal. That is to say that they come in different shapes, sizes and scopes.

Just because the next Mike Trout or Bryce Harper might not show up for another 10-20 years doesn't mean that Major League Baseball is devoid of young players with superstar potential who are ready to take the stage as the "next big thing."

But what is it that qualifies a player for this list? It's quite simple, actually, but I still implore you to read though it:

There's less than two weeks to go before spring training is a distant memory, replaced by Opening Day and the start of the 2014 MLB season.

While fans, players, writers, prognosticators, hot dog vendors and everyone else associated with the game loves to say that spring training statistics and numbers are largely meaningless, they do provide a way to analyze how individual players are performing—just like they do during the regular season.

Over the course of the 2013 season, 230 players—103 position players and 127 pitchers—made their major league debuts, according to Baseball Reference's Play Index.

That's down from 2012, when 291 players (174 position players and 117 pitchers) got their careers underway. But it proves a point: every season, without fail, each and every team in baseball gets significant use out of its minor league shuttle.

It's going to happen again in 2014.

The Chicago Cubs' future is bright, but spring training has produced mixed results in 2014. They have seen performances they didn't expect on opposite ends of the spectrum. Some players have been better than expected, while others have flopped and lowered expectations. 

With spring training about halfway over (yay!) and your fantasy baseball draft getting ever closer if you haven't had it yet (double-yay!), it's time to update the Big Board again.

The future of baseball has been on display this spring, with countless top-ranked prospects opening eyes with their performances on a daily basis.

However, with the start of the regular season around the corner, teams have started to trim their rosters by optioning prospects to a specific level or reassigning them to minor league spring training. This past week, Byron Buxton, Oscar Taveras and Francisco Lindor were the biggest names among prospects to be cut from big league camp.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, as spring training is in full swing and young prospects are getting their chances to wow managers in an effort to make the 2014 Opening Day roster for their teams. 

For Pittsburgh Pirates' manager Clint Hurdle, there will be many difficult decisions to make when it comes time for the final cuts.  Here is a look at the top performers for the Pirates so far this spring. 

The New York Mets sent down a number of their top prospects earlier this week, but many made an impression that should excite fans moving forward.