15 overall. He spent a year at a junior college, then two years exclusively in the bullpen for the Aggies, eventually being passed over in the five-round 2020 draft. The comp thing starts to bother me here, because Holliday, Merrill, Montgomery, Mayer and Henderson, all in the top 18, are all advanced hit/power combos at shortstop without great big league comps (unless you squint at their size, and say maybe Corey Seager). Cristian Hernandez, SS, Chicago Cubs Druw is the son of should-be Hall of Famer Andruw and was the top player on my draft board last summer when he went second overall behind Holliday. The Orioles have the best farm system in baseball, but after landing Moreno in an offseason trade that sent outfielder Daulton Varsho to Toronto, Arizona has two of the top three prospects in the sport -- and both are ready for the big leagues right now. PROSPECT RNK 1st POSITION RNK 1st Pass rusher Will Anderson is the safest pick in the draft and fills an obvious need for the Seahawks along their defensive line. He is now the clear best player from a group that includes several players who place on this list: Diego Cartaya, Noelvi Marte, Marco Luciano, Orelvis Martinez, Kevin Alcantara, who all received seven-figure bonuses, and two breakout low-bonus prospects in Elly De La Cruz and Endy Rodriguez. I mentioned above in the Termarr Johnson blurb that he and Collier were the two prep hitters in the Atlanta area and recognized by scouts as early as their freshman years for having high first-round potential. Cartaya is a bit better defensively, with a better chance to stick behind the plate, helped by an easy-plus arm. I tend to round up on certain types (plus tools, plus makeup, middling stats) and round down on others (now velocity, teenaged right-handers). Elijah Green, CF, Washington Nationals He has progressed well as a hitter, showing electric bat speed and feel to get to his plus raw power in games. Keith was an intriguing switch-hitting two-way prospect from a Mississippi high school in the 2020 draft, but you had to project to see a plus tool. In his draft year at IMG Academy, he was patient, bordering on passive while trying to hit everything to the opposite field and generally did not lean into his strengths. Type: Probably a catcher, with 25-homer upside. It's hard to put Chourio ahead of similarly talented prospects who are big league-ready with long track records of performance. 1 overall pick as early as his sophomore year of high school in Southern California. Stone signed for a well-below slot bonus after going with the second-to-last pick in the five-round 2020 draft. He hit .279/.360/.526 with 29 homers, 16 stolen bases, a 10% walk rate and a 21% strikeout rate across High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He lasted until the 22nd pick in the 2021 draft and was 13th on my board. The top of our list consists of five holdovers from our In high school, I loved the footwork and agility that he developed from playing multiple sports that helped in projecting him to stick at third base until at least his mid-20s. Type: Plus-Plus athlete with bloodlines and feel. Speaking of strikeouts: In 211.2 pro innings, Harrison has 343. Henderson and Carroll have separated themselves from the pack and are a near coinflip for the top spot. Caminero is a strong 19-year-old righty hitter with plus bat control, plus raw power and a decent idea of the strike zone already. Realmuto, Sean Murphy, Will Smith, and Willson Contreras for NL All-Star spots every year. He's generally seen around the industry as the headliner in the Luis Castillo trade, but that isn't unanimous with Noelvi Marte ranked just five slots later. In the aftermath of the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the Padres, some rumors about behind-the-scenes details circulated across the industry. He has above-average command of a 94-96 mph fastball and mixes in a plus slider as his primary out pitch, but his solid-average curveball and changeup also have their moments. Type: Plus athlete into the triple digits with a sky-high ceiling. It seems pretty obvious that Bradley is going to be pitching in the big leagues soon and the opposing broadcast team will incredulously ask where the Rays keep finding these arms. Hit: 45/55, Game Power: 50/60, Raw Power: 65/65, Speed: 50/45, Fielding: 50/55, Throwing: 60/60. His velocity is still new, he's only made 18 pro appearances, and his command is a notch behind Harrison's. In 2022, he was sitting 94-97 with above-average breaking stuff, a plus changeup and above-average command. The Orioles took him about a half-dozen picks before most teams would, getting him over $1 million under slot as the fifth overall pick in 2021. He was excellent over the summer before that, looking like a midfirst-round pick, but swung and missed a good bit, so the spring made Wood look like a tools-projection whose long arms just wouldn't let him get to his upside at the plate, even when he dialed in the approach better. Jones has longer arms that can lead to him being a little awkward at times, so projecting exactly what he'll be physically and offensively has a bit of an error bar. Players. The questions back then were his hit tool and pitch selection, because there was literally no data to consider against top pitching. Type: Power fastball/slider with above-average command. Kiley McDaniel's top 100 MLB prospects for 2023: Which future star is No. LIke the Braves just did on the NL side, the O's have a shot to sweep the AL ROY voting with Henderson and Rodriguez finishing 1-2. He might not be able to do all three of those, but even just two of the three means he ends up like Bichette, Adames, or Bogaerts, who last year put up 4.5, 4.7, and 6.1 WAR, respectively. The selling point was that I didn't know his name because he wasn't playing much summer baseball due to getting Power 5 interest as a 6-4 point guard in Indiana. Since the draft, Cleveland's pitching machine has optimized him ever more, and when he's on, he looks a lot like AL Cy Young runner-up Dylan Cease. He's also a switch-hitter and, unlike Oneil Cruz, De La Cruz has a skinnier build that allows him to actually play a big-league-caliber shortstop. Making sense of Boston's investment . That line of thinking would mean that Collier is at risk of being a bat-first corner utility type on the backup/starter borderline. Are you gonna make me say it? 21 overall in the 2021 draft as a high-floor lefty from Kansas State with a plus changeup and above-average command but a fastball, slider, and curveball that were all fringy. Houston let Justin Verlander walk largely because of their rotation depth and Brown is probably their sixth best option now, so he will likely start the year in Triple-A then get another look later in 2023. He also hit nine homers and had a .492 on-base percentage, showing easy plus raw power and huge exit velos -- so some truly wacky stuff. Bradley was a late prep pop-up prospect in the 2018 draft as a 17-year-old with above-average arm strength and some idea how to spin the ball. Like Woods above, Walker was also a summer standout on the showcase circuit who swung and missed a bit while showing massive power. Unlike Cartaya, Soderstrom is seen by many as a likely first baseman. Crow-Armstrong became a known name early in his high school career in southern California and held serve, going 19th overall in 2020 to the Mets. Type: Plus fastball/breaking ball you see in late innings, but enough feel to be a starter. Type: Plus power and patience from a probable catcher. Type: Maybe a shortstop with plus power and arm strength. He likely would've gotten more money with a full spring, but he had an up-and-down summer with some swing tinkering. Montgomery first appeared on my radar after his sophomore year of high school when an agent showed me a video of one of the more powerful and beautiful lefty swings I'd ever seen from a player that age. 2 Grizzlies, LIVE Transfer Talk: Man United, PSG to battle for Abraham, Liverpool rescue three points, chase top-four finish after surviving epic Spurs comeback, Bayern back in charge, Yamal makes history, Napoli's party spoiled: Weekend Review, Who has the most talent in the minors? Oh, and he's still just 19 years old. He pitched half of 2022 in Triple-A and seems like the next above-average starting pitcher to come off the Rays' assembly line. He might not look like he can when walking around, but we've also seen enough Correa and Seager types over the years who are immediately counted out of playing the position when turning pro, before their plus athleticism and feel for the game win out. Hit: 40/55, Game Power: 40/60, Raw Power: 55/60, Speed: 50/45, Fielding: 40/50, Throwing: 55/55. Type: If it all clicks, it looks like Max Scherzer. Expectations have come down a bit as Veen looks more like he might give you 55-grade tools across the board as a right fielder, which is a good-not-great player -- though there's still some chance he could still develop into a middle-of-the-order terror. He inexplicably slipped to the No. But with a strong 2023, he'll move up into that 60 FV tier with Harrison. Now -- prepare to be shocked -- he's improved a lot under the tutelage of the Dodgers' pitching development. After publishing my final rankings, I heard lots of buzz that Rushing would go in the 20s and I would've slid him up into that range in the days before the draft, buying into his hit/power combo and trusting that he'd figure out a way to stick behind the plate. He also played with current Mets 3B Mark Vientos and likely 2023 1st rounder Enrique Bradfield Jr. (Vanderbilt). Type: A 6-5 (or possibly taller! If you can pair that dorky fastball plane theory with some good scouting meat-and-potatoes stuff like plus command and plus offspeed stuff, then you're talking about the ingredients for a guy capable of a lot of strikeouts. He has advanced feel in all aspects of the position, grading out above average as a defender, thrower, and athlete behind the plate with rare speed for the position. Ramos also has 55-or-60-grade power while Mayo's is a grade or two better. Because he could be a Cy Young-level force of nature, I elected to rank him up this high, but Espino has the highest gap in projected 2023 ceiling and floor of players near the top of this list. He has a power-over-hit profile right now, but it's still early enough that it could evolve. Type: Late-inning-caliber power stuff, but he can turn over a lineup at least once. He's now a high-likelihood big league starter, with No. The son of your favorite 2004 Red Sox player (and an '04 Yankee!) Hit: 35/60, Game Power: 30/50, Raw Power: 55/60, Speed: 60/60, Fielding: 40/55, Throwing: 60/60, Type: Plus athlete with plus feel for the game. Tyler Freeman, 2B, Cleveland Guardians 10. Type: Shortstop/third base tweener with plus power and patience. De La Cruz actually hit over .300 at both High-A and Double-A last year in big samples. The D-backs took him in the fifth round of the pandemic-affected 2020 draft, and he showed that he was bound for a big league rotation. Jake Eder, LHP, Miami Marlins He gives occasional plus run times, shows plus raw power, and is pretty passable defensively at shortstop -- though he fits better at second or third base. He's now 21 years old and has been steadily moving along that path with no real hiccups since going No. Going back to high school, he would sit in the upper 90s and regularly hit 100 mph or higher. Naylor was a first-round pick out of a Canadian high school (in 2018), like his older brother and Guardians teammate Josh (in 2015). This year, Painter will need to upgrade the command a notch, though his stuff is good enough that average control (throwing it over the plate) and fringy command (hitting his spot) could be enough to make him one of the Phillies' top five rotation options pretty soon. Ortiz was famous to scouts for putting up gaudy numbers in a bandbox at New Mexico State and being the "the shortstop is pretty good, too" next to eventual top-10 pick second baseman Nick Gonzales. He has solid power, plus arm strength and will occasionally give scouts a plus run time to first base, but will likely settle closer to an average runner. Waldichuk is probably a midrotation starter but his polish, funk and 40-man roster status mean he might be that by midseason. Luciano signed for $2.6 million as one of many standout seven-figure signees in the 2018 international class that also included Francisco Alvarez, Diego Cartaya, Noelvi Marte (all ranked above Luciano on this list), Orelvis Martinez and Kevin Alcantara. 49 on this list), so they're often compared. The upside here is 55 or 60 hit, 60 pitch selection, 55 or 60 power and a fine defensive catcher. Youth. Type: Above average at everything except power. He dominated High-A and Double-A in 2022 and is still just 21 years old. If he does, he'll hit 30 homers, give us fun bat flips and nobody will care much that he's just OK defensively. He'll be 22 years old when the minor league season starts with a chase rate that is a 30-grade ability. Cavalli showed athleticism, arm speed and aptitude to dream on in high school and early in his career at Oklahoma, then broke out leading up to No. Jackson Jobe, RHP, Detroit Tigers He's also a solid-average runner and defender who is passable in center field in addition to having a plus arm. That vaulted him into 2022, when he excelled at High-A and Double-A, putting him on track to reach the majors in late 2023 or early 2024. Liover Peguero, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates Merrill played high school ball in Maryland, alongside James Wood (ranked 13th above) in some youth events. 40 overall pick, where the Dodgers were fortunate to scoop him up with a slot bonus. Reminds me of: No perfect comp; more on this below. The raw tools are here, and Soderstrom's hit/approach/power combo is arguably the best of the three. 9. Players. In Low-A, Rodriguez had walked 57 times and struck out 52 times through 47 games. Scouts are still concerned that he isn't quite nimble enough behind the plate and his arm strength plays down due to execution, though a robot ump future would help. Salas has plus bat control, a decent approach and solid-average raw power along with a good enough glove to maybe stick at shortstop, though he might also slide over to second base. He took a long-expected step forward at the plate last year, hitting 27 homers across Double-A and Triple-A and is now a bit above average at everything on a baseball field. Michael Busch, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers And there are other potential candidates including Jordan Westburg, Joseph Ortiz, Cade Povich, Connor Norby and Coby Mayo -- all of whom are on this top 100 -- along with Kyle Stowers and D.L. Type: Simple, powerful righty swing but not sure about the rest. When you throw in his speed, it adds up to a lot of long counts, infield singles and bloopers that turn into doubles. To wit, two clubs that evaluate players in similar ways gave me wildly different feedback: One said he's probably not a catcher and to move him off the top 100, while another said he belonged in the top 30 spots. He does a version of the trendy mound positioning I describe in Kyle Harrison's blurb, slinging from a low slot with good extension. We've all been burned dreaming on a fireballing young prospect, but Espino is so fun to watch that he makes me want to believe he's one that will click. I find it difficult to come up with comparisons for the players at the top of these lists as they are outliers in many ways, which you then have to compare among the other outliers in the big leagues, and they rarely match up perfectly to another player. Garcia is a plus hitter with an excellent approach and a steady glove at shortstop, but below-average in-game power. Abel was a standout pitching prospect early in high school, standing 6-foot-5 and getting into the mid-90s with feel for a breaking ball and throwing strikes. Hence was a late-rising prospect in the 2020 draft who probably would've gone higher with a healthy spring for scouts to watch him. Ramos and Mayo have been ranked near each other through my countless versions of this list. Biggest challenge in my job is keeping these players straight:Logan S. Allen, LHP, Guardians (went to HS in FL)Logan T. Allen, LHP, Guardians (went to HS in FL)Logan Tanner, C, Mississippi StateTanner Allen, LF, Marlins (formerly Miss. On top of that, he wasn't really experienced as a pitcher, learning how to be a starting pitcher in college and with no pitching guru help growing up, so there was room for development. I'm using the same description as last year because Dominguez is still the same player. Carroll has plus feel for getting the bat head on the ball but even better pitch selection. Type: Lefty with (newly) above-average stuff and (same) feel, devastating changeup. He's a jacked, squatty prospect who will play a corner-outfield spot and while we need to see more than the 84 professional games he has played, all the information we have is pretty exciting. He's also a really good player but further down that spectrum is Lewis Brinson, with both versions of Cody Bellinger somewhere between those two examples. Woods had a meteoric rise in 2022, going from roughly the 200th-ranked prospect in baseball going into the season to No. 1, Panthers' Bryce Young is all 'business now', XFL semifinals: Defenders roll Sea Dragons, set up title showdown with Renegades. At Louisville, Miller had some relief risk due to his delivery, but he had power stuff and went 29th overall in 2020. His limitation is that he probably will hit just 10 to 15 homers annually, with more gap power than anything else. He and lefty Frank Mozzicato were prep prospects who came out of nowhere ahead of the 2021 draft -- to the point that myself and many national scouts didn't know their names until March or April, when the draft was just a few months away. Moreno falls short of the 65 FV tier because his raw power is merely average -- and given his style of hitting, it may play a notch below that in games: somewhere in the 8-15 homer area annually. FV of a prospect who is big league ready maps to this pretty well: the top tier (65 FV this year) of prospects are projected to have multiple peak seasons of 4-to-5 WAR while the MVP winner is usually around 7-8 WAR. 2023 ESPN 100 Watchlist He was nearly the full package as a shortstop, with only power missing, and also a second-or-third round talent as a pitcher, with easy mid-90s heat, but he simply wasn't interested in pursuing pitching as a pro. Where all squads stand now that the biggest free agents are off the board following this year's free agency frenzy. In addition to talk that the Nats asked for Padres SS Jackson Merrill along with the package that ultimately landed Soto, there has been buzz that GM Mike Rizzo attempted to expand the deal to bring Painter (great pitcher name!) Today's list kicks off our 2023 top prospect coverage with our ranking of all 30 MLB farm systems coming Friday and our team-by-team prospect lists for both leagues scheduled to follow next week. Abrams went seventh overall in 2019, area scouts told me there were two more underclassman prep prospects in the Atlanta area with that kind of potential: Johnson in the 2022 class, and Cam Collier (55th on this list) in the 2023 class. With the top free agents signed, here's where our experts think each team stands midway through the offseason. It was, to say the least, as Williams threw 115 sterling innings across High-A and Double-A last season while throwing 64% fastballs. He's a plus runner and big league caliber shortstop with an 80-grade arm, above average power potential and bat speed, along with plus foot speed. A 50 PV (present value) is a 2.0 to 2.5 WAR player. Rodriguez signed out of the Dominican Republic for $2.5 million in 2019 and was in the midst of a breakout 2022 season before a June knee surgery ended it. That's an above-average everyday player, but probably not enough thump at the plate to be a star. Reminds me of: If you put at shrink ray on Bryce Harper, trading some power for a lot more speed. Type: Lanky right fielder who is above average at everything. Jameson sits 96-98 -- sometimes reaching triple digits -- with solid fastball command and a plus slider that drew whiffs 40% of the time last year. De La Cruz is listed at 6-5 but I think he's a bit taller, and simply by having 70-grade raw power, speed and arm strength, we're already into all-time territory of the best tools anyone has ever seen. He is also a level (or two) below Peraza defensively, so whenever they do both grab everyday roles, Peraza should be the shortstop with Volpe more likely to move to second base. That's only 76 pro games in total, but he was a notable amateur prospect, signing for $1.5 million in 2020, and the tools are obvious. That hasn't happened, as he still has a lanky build and runs well, but is exclusively playing a corner outfield spot. The analytics models that teams now use love nothing more than when a prospect is 1) young for his level, 2) plays an up-the-middle position well and 3) posts in-game exit velos that are way above average. Type: Late bloomer with three plus pitches, chance to start. Meyer should return this season and I'm still expecting him to be an impact starter with the backup plan of a standout closer. Williams was an intriguing 28th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of a SoCal high school. Now you can see where the dart throwing comes in. Type: Shortstop who is above average at everything, but still a teenager. 22 overall in the 2020 draft. If this all feels negative, he is ranked this high because he could break out and hit .270 with 25 homers at shortstop if things ever just click into place. Mead has some similarities to Jung as a bigger-bodied third baseman with above average-to-plus hit and power potential and Triple-A success. Graceffo wasn't a big name when he went in the fifth round of the 2021 draft with athleticism and command at Villanova his main selling points. Type: 5-foot-10 gamer is a plus runner and hitter. Type: Switch-hitting shortstop with massive upside, bad pitch selection. Which teams came out on top and who lost big? Late in the draft process last summer, ESPN college baseball analyst Chris Burke told me to run Rushing up my draft rankings and I didn't listen enough. Martinez seems like a familiar kind of prospect. Like Peraza, Casas is likely to break camp with the big league team after a successful 2022 audition: I'd expect 20 homers and a strong on-base percentage in 2023. Type: Power-and-patience outfielder with limited pro experience. So I've given up on any doubt: Perez is the best pitching prospect in the minors. He has easy plus bat speed and power potential along with a strong sense of the strike zone for a prospect of his age. Type: Similar to Anthony Rizzo at the plate, but less talented in the field. This also helped him profile at his likely future position: third base. It all adds up to arguably more upside at draft time than even Byron Buxton and almost any other prep hitter in recent memory. Type: Corner-utility type who can really hit. Lewis isn't a slam dunk at the plate, either, as he has long had issues tinkering with his swing and dialing in his approach, but he is so naturally talented -- plus raw power, plus speed, feel for the game -- that he'll likely figure it out once he gets back onto the field. Hit: 35/55, Game Power: 35/55, Raw Power: 55/60, Speed: 45/45, Fielding: 45/50, Throwing: 60/60, Reminds me of: Christian Yelich, but at shortstop. Pro scouts have been doing backflips since his 28-game stint in Low-A, praising Rushing to the point where I just threw out my pre-draft eval and accepted I was too light, just like a number of teams were. Do we just comp them to a different player who would post a similar statline? He's big league ready, and those defensive issues are the only thing making anyone hesitate. He's behind Cartaya defensively and in arm strength (Alvarez, too). The Padres targeted Susana, who popped up late in the international signing period with upper-90s velocity, after they had already spent all of their money, so they agreed to a $1.7 million bonus as long as he waited a year to sign in January 2022. Here's who FOX Sports NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang ranks as the top 20 players O'Hoppe delivered what many (including myself) thought would be a breakout 2022 season, hitting .275/.392/.496 with 15 homers in 75 games in Double-A for the Phillies before the trade. Winn is one of the most physically gifted players on this list. For a quick overview of the tools grades on the 20-80 scale that are used heavily throughout this list -- and are the industry standard across baseball -- along with other key terms used in the rankings click here. He's probably not a star but he's going to be a useful big leaguer for a while, and maybe a really good one. I didn't think then and don't think now that this is an issue, as Holliday seems plenty coachable to dial things in. He followed that with an excellent summer and went ninth overall in the 2020 draft. There's all kinds of conditions and exceptions beyond how I simply describe it there, but Craig Kimbrel and A.J. 1 overall pick missed the whole 2020 season, then missed the whole 2021 season with a torn ACL and his 2022 campaign ended early with surgery to repair a partial tear of the same right ACL and he won't return until at least June. Alex Ramirez, CF, New York Mets Veen was expected to turn into a middle-of-the-order terror and has largely stayed the same while Hassell was expected to continue being the same sort of player and largely has -- with the most notable change in Hassell's career being that he was included in the four-player package for Juan Soto. Cristian Santana, 2B, Detroit Tigers Panthers in awe after ousting 'unbelievable' Bruins, Curry sets G7 record with 50 as Dubs move on, Bills sign veteran RB Murray to one-year deal, Harper may return Tue., 160 days post-TJ surgery, Sources: Wrexham rewarded with Vegas trip, LB Barrett's 2-year-old daughter drowns in pool, Grizz's Brooks doesn't regret verbal jab at LeBron, Kraken win 1st playoff series, oust champion Avs, 'It's going to be epic': Stephen Curry and LeBron James face off -- again. Hit: 45/60, Game Power: 50/60, Raw Power: 60/60, Speed: 50/50, Fielding: 45/50, Throwing: 55/55, Type: Above-average offense from a pretty good defensive shortstop, Reminds me of: Bo Bichette or Willy Adames. Wood still swung and missed too often the summer after signing, but his approach clicked in 2022 to the point that he was done a disservice not being promoted to High-A by Washington after being the headliner in the Juan Soto trade (ahead of Robert Hassell and Jarlin Susana, both later on this list, and MacKenzie Gore, who has graduated but was on last year's list). The other question at draft time was if his pitch selection and approach would be good enough to get to all of his power in games? He made his big league debut last season playing mostly shortstop, but with Carlos Correa returning combined with the long-term questions on Lewis' ultimate position, it looks like a utility role mixing both infield and outfield duty will make more sense. He's 6-4 but has below-average raw power and clearly prioritizes getting on base. In his favor, Mead had a strong 2022 season with 13 homers in 76 games, showing control of the strike zone and posting gaudy surface numbers. Type: Switch-hitting shortstop with above-average power and speed. Bleis is still 18 years old for another month and has been drawing buzz for his past two summers, in the Dominican Summer League in 2021 and the domestic complex league in 2022. How bright is your team's future? Type: Snake-bitten by injuries, but with a bag of above-average tools. Since he was 15 years old, scouts have been worried that he could start regressing athletically in his 20's because he developed so early. Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th. Everson Pereira, CF, New York Yankees Type: 6-foot-5 likely third baseman with plus power and arm strength. If you see Espino pitch in person, you will immediately start texting your friends because his ability is what would happen if you had no limitations on the create-a-player function on a video game. Westburg was a late bloomer who didn't do the full showcase/tournament circuit in high school and was just starting to grow into his tools in his draft year at Mississippi State before he went No. This is a somewhat familiar song to prospect watchers; Nate Pearson was sort of like this a few years ago, Forrest Whitley before him, and so on. 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 At draft time, Painter offered a 6-7 frame with plus physical ability, starter command projection and four above average-to-plus pitches. Red Sox fans have seen two homegrown stars leave in recent years, but that won't happen a third time. His slider and changeup are both above-average-to-plus and his curveball plays around average but brings a nice additional look to the table.
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