MLB Network special to reveal Top 50 prospects for 2015

With the hope of a new season also comes renewed excitement about the future of baseball and those who could become the game's next household names. That will be the focus of MLB Network this Friday night when it airs a one-hour special revealing MLB.com's Top 50 prospects for the 2015 season.

To qualify for the list, a prospect must have rookie status for the 2015 season. That eliminates a player like Javier Baez, who broke the 130 at-bat threshold in 2014 despite only joining the Chicago Cubs in August. With that guideline in mind, here are a couple of things to ponder going in that will undoubtedly become the source of debates following the announcement.

Who's No. 1?

Theres no shortage of candidates, beginning with the man who occupied that position last season, Minnesota Twins outfielder Bryon Buxton. Rarely healthy in 2014 after suffering a wrist injury in the spring and later two separate injuries playing the outfield, Buxton hit just .240/.313/.405 with four home runs in 121 at-bats for High-A Fort Myers. He was still promoted to Double-A later and had a stint in the Arizona Fall League, but his durability issues and drop in production may be enough to open the door.

If so, the man most likely to walk through would be Chicago Cubs third base prospect Kris Bryant, who lit up the minors with 43 homers between Double and Triple A. He entered last season as MLB.com's third-ranked prospect.

Others in contention will be Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, who ranked second last year but missed significant time with a broken leg, and Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor. Overall it's a talented group at the top that could go 10-12 deep when discussing who belongs in the top five.

How many Cubs make the list?
Even with Baez no longer qualifying, Cubs prospects still figure to show up a few times at least in the top 100. Shortstop Addison Russell is a virtual lock to be in the top 10 along with Bryant. Jorge Soler will also make the list, but will there be room for catcher Kyle Schwarber, right-hander C.J. Edwards or outfielder Albert Almora in the Top 50? Cubs fans may be turning their attention to the here and now, but that pipeline is still loaded.

Just how deep is shortstop?
According to Baseball America's prospect rankings, shortstops represent the No. 1 prospect in seven out of 30 organizations. That's far and away more than any fielding position. Another four rank No. 2 on their team respective rankings, with the Oakland A's having a shortstop — Daniel Robertson and Franklin Barreto — in each of their top two spots.

It's a deep position at the very top, with Correa, Lindor and Russell all likely in the top 10. But it will be most interesting to see where Corey Seager of the Dodgers, Philadelephia's J. P. Crawford, Minnesota's Nick Gordon and Toronto's Raul Mondesi Jr. slot in, and whether there's room for a Robertson or Trea Turner in the top 50.

What about Mark Appel?

The Houston Astros' No. 1 overall pick in 2013 never got on track during the 2014 minor league season after undergoing an appendectomy in January. Pitching at Class A Advanced Lancaster and later Double-A Corpus Christi, Appel went 3-7 with a 6.91 ERA in 83.1 innings. Ugly numbers, but most scouts agreed that his stuff was still as good as it was at Stanford, which seemed to bear out a little more during a stint in the Arizona Fall League.

Needless to say, he's going to be an interesting guy to rank. He started last season as MLB's No. 17 prospect, but fell to 41 by season's end. Will its latest evaluation lean more toward upside, or are there enough questions about his consistency to keep him in that 40-50 range. We shall see.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813