Hit: 30/55, Game Power: 30/60, Raw Power: 55/60, Speed: 55/50, Fielding: 45/50, Throwing: 55/55. Team-by-team top 10 lists: NL | AL . 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. That physical development now makes staying in the infield defensively a longer shot, but his bat will profile anywhere. He was ultimately expected to go in the second or third round, but somehow lasted until the Astros scooped him up in the fifth. Type: Snake-bitten by injuries, but with a bag of above-average tools. Carroll has plus feel for getting the bat head on the ball but even better pitch selection. Verlander's ability to change what he does every few years is that rare skill that separates him from the more ordinary outcomes we can also see from pitchers ranked this high. Early in 2022, he was sitting 95-99 and hitting 100 mph, throwing mostly just his heater and his slider (take a look), but it's not like he forgot how to throw his curveball and changeup -- he was just running a 34% whiff rate throwing those two pitches 94% of the time. Since he's a bottom-of-the-scale runner, Quero would become a first baseman if he can't catch, so his progress behind the plate (his arm is average, receiving is a bit behind that) will be important to monitor over the next couple seasons. He's now a high-likelihood big league starter, with No. Arroyo and Williams are back-to-back here because they're pretty similar prospects. He split the season between High-A and Double-A, and now is knocking on the door of the big leagues with the main risk being some anxiety about whether he can maintain that dramatic velo spike. Their late-first-round pick from the same draft (signed for underslot) is four slots later on this list and teams knew nothing about him until a few months before the draft. Jackson Jobe, RHP, Detroit Tigers The O's have back-to-back best prospects in baseball and their farm system is the class of the sport, thanks in large part to a really strong pipeline of scouting and developing hitters. 1, Panthers' Bryce Young is all 'business now', XFL semifinals: Defenders roll Sea Dragons, set up title showdown with Renegades. He's a sneaky good runner with plus times to first, he has a fantastic concept of the strike zone and he's learning hitting mechanics that allow him to get to his plus raw power in games. 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 makes up for it with his arm and he has made progress in all the soft skills like game-calling while physically staying loose and flexible. Type: On the right day, four plus pitches and starter command. Free agency tracker . Bogaerts feels like a good comp since Lawlar isn't getting to all of his BP power in games right now and there's enough up-and-down to his defensive performances to make scouts pause. The Giants surprised some by paying him $2.5 million (late first-round money) in the third round in the 2020 draft. St. Louis took him a bit earlier than some thought he would go at 21st overall, and he immediately made the Cardinals look smart by putting up startling exit velocities while bullying pitchers years older than him and reaching Double-A in 2022 as a teenager. Essentially, putting the bat on the ball consistently shows you have the eyesight to see the ball, thus the ability to be patient, it's just a matter of training the discipline of laying off the pitch. Type: Lefty with (newly) above-average stuff and (same) feel, devastating changeup. The then-Orioles scouting group (now scattered around baseball) beat the industry on Rodriguez by taking him a dozen picks before most expected and the current regime specifically optimized his arsenal to line him up to reach his frontline potential. He returned with some swing tweaks and performed well in 2022, hitting his way to High-A with 16 homers and 32 stolen bases. With the new ROY service time rules, the O's could and should put Rodriguez on the Opening Day roster, as he's probably their third-best starter right now. At that point, Rodriguez was an intriguing multipositional prospect with a feel to hit. Zavala ended the season with a broken hamate bone and was hanging around the 125-150 area of this list until the very end, basically at the top of the "if you have a good 2023 season, you're on next year's list" range. Ford is also progressing behind the plate to where I think he'll be an average defender with an average arm in time, but that's still a question, though I think he'd bring defensive value at third base or in the outfield. Pretty soon they're all going to be on whatever has the cachet of a Sports Illustrated cover these days. 8 overall pick in the 2020 draft, going one pick before another prep outfielder from the southeast, Zac Veen (No. Before diving into pitchers that will almost certainly be available in your league, make sure you check if Jose Berrios (63% owned) has been dropped. He has huge power and beats up on minor league pitching, but the question is if his contact qualities and pitch selection will be good enough at the big league level for him to hit to get to that power. There's both a little prospect fatigue with Volpe and some revised defensive expectations as he's really improved the power part of his game. They come and go a bit, but there's plenty to like here for a pitcher who could get an extended look in the big league rotation for the exciting D-backs. Those aren't major concerns right now, though, as he's got massive power in games, is young and talented enough to make adjustments, and is much younger than the pitchers he is facing. With the top free agents signed, here's where our experts think each team stands midway through the offseason. 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. Type: Above-average-to-plus fastball, slider, curveball and command. Arroyo will probably be able to make the subtle adjustments to stick as an average defensive shortstop, but that's still a bit of a question, whereas Williams is a slam-dunk shortstop. Type: Lefty with above-average stuff and above-average command. Type: Premium hitter with enough other tools to be a strong everyday player. The flat fastball and uphill swing don't intersect for long, which means less contact. In the 2020 draft, Tiedemann was an intriguing 17-year-old prep lefty whose price wasn't met. I think the four names in the Reminds Me Of section give you an idea of the different paths his career could take, with Gary Sanchez's a familiar roller-coaster ride that Mets fans are hoping to improve upon. He now sits at 94 to 98 with a plus run-and-ride to his heater, a plus-or-better-flashing hybrid 83 to 85 mph breaking ball and a changeup that's also above average at times. 15 overall. Type: Rare hit/power upside from a teenager. Minter are two guys who do this with their fastballs very well, and it's a huge reason why they succeed. Mayer has the choice to lean more into power or contact, but either way he will come with defensive value, like Yelich did in the outfield. Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles On the other hand, I think he'll be good enough to play an average shortstop (sliding over if the Bombers have a true plus defender to force him to shift over) and deliver an above average on-base percentage with a chance for 25-30 homers. But with a strong 2023, he'll move up into that 60 FV tier with Harrison. and, on the right night, he has three plus secondary pitches with enough control and command to turn over a lineup a few times. He had a fantastic 2021 season punctuated by a legendary duel with Kumar Rocker in a Super Regional, where Williams went 7.1 innings with 13 strikeouts in a losing effort. 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. 2023 Top 100 Prospects by Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin February 22, 2023 Prospect Week 2023 Updating the 2023 Draft Prospect Rankings Cardinals Red Sox fans have seen two homegrown stars leave in recent years, but that won't happen a third time. How the Savannah Bananas are changing the rules of baseball. Kiley McDaniel ranks the best prospects and farm systems in baseball. He has always been built like a bowling ball, so his mobility isn't his biggest strength defensively. That's no problem, though, as Mayer is one of the best track-record shortstops in recent draft history, with scouts circling his name in their programs since early in his high school career. There are some question marks in his profile though: Tovar swings a bit too often, and that hasn't kept him from succeeding in the minors, but could in the big leagues. His fastball command is the main area for improvement, and he'll spend 2023 in the upper minors, where hitters are good enough to force him to improve. Now the only players from the 2021 draft ranked ahead of Merrill (27th pick) and Wood (62nd pick) are Marcelo Mayer (4th pick), Jordan Lawlar (7th pick), Andrew Painter (13th pick) and Colson Montgomery (22nd pick). Type: Easy plus power, some questions on contact and position. Over the past two seasons, Rocchio has hit 33 home runs and stolen 35 bases, showing his feel for the game by getting the most out of good-not-great raw tools. Type: One of the best amateur hitters in recent memory, with Jose Ramirez or Rafael Devers vibes. ESPN releases top 100 prospects for 2023 here's where the to Washington. They're similar in offering long-term performance, tools and having successful MLB time under their belts. So there's an argument that Carter is the best on-base-percentage threat among the top prospects in baseball, and he's a good defensive center fielder on top of that. As you'd probably guess, he's ranked up here now because his velocity is up from 90-92 mph in college to 93-96 mph, which plays as an above-average pitch. Jonathan Ornelas, SS, Texas Rangers On the bright side, this is the part of hitting that clubs think is most coachable. I tend to round up on certain types (plus tools, plus makeup, middling stats) and round down on others (now velocity, teenaged right-handers). 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. You can expect a .260ish average with a plus walk rate (call it a .350 on-base percentage), plus power (let's say 25 homers -- but I bet he cracks 30 at least once) and above-average defense at third base, good enough to fill in at shortstop if needed. Like Woods above, Walker was also a summer standout on the showcase circuit who swung and missed a bit while showing massive power. He made his big league debut last summer and should get an extended low-pressure big league look on the rebuilding Nationals this year. 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. When I asked sources about Carter, everyone mentioned his excellent approach -- and, sure enough, per minor league TrackMan data, his chase rate (the rate at which he swings at pitches outside of the strike zone) is basically tied for best amongst everyone on this list. 10. He has become more aggressive as his velocity has crept up to 90-93 mph with his plus command and plus ride that help it play up. Turang's star dimmed a bit in the year before the draft, slipping to the 21st overall pick in 2018, but the basic scouting report has been the same for a long time. 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. Here's a past one, for example. As a 16-year-old from Venezuela, Alvarez was in the top tier of his international signing class. That's not what you normally see in an elite high school baseball prospect, but Ford also does the baseball stuff pretty well. Hit: 35/40, Game Power: 45/60, Raw Power: 70/70, Speed: 70/70, Fielding: 40/50, Throwing: 70/70. The next two players are catchers who either could be a first baseman with below average contact skills while the other likely never hits 20 homers. Alex Ramirez, CF, New York Mets Davis made the slow climb from midfirst-round prospect to a mild surprise as the No. The issue now is that the track record of pitchers with that title isn't great. What shot him up draft boards late was his plus lefty raw power, plus defensive tools that look good enough to stick at shortstop. The start of spring training is just around the corner, and that means it is time for an annual rite of passage ahead of the new MLB season: ranking the top 100 It was, to say the least, as Williams threw 115 sterling innings across High-A and Double-A last season while throwing 64% fastballs. From my perspective (and plenty of other scouts), Collier has looked like one of the most gifted hitters for his age for as long as he has been scouted, gave a clear performance in 2022 to that end and he also has a 70-grade arm, which seems pretty explosive to me. 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. Type: Positionless Canadian-born hitting robot sent from the future. He does a version of the trendy mound positioning I describe in Kyle Harrison's blurb, slinging from a low slot with good extension. Johan Rojas, CF, Philadelphia Phillies 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. Miller was a tough evaluation at Texas A&M leading up to the 2021 draft. 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. 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. The main difference is that Mead has never been a good defender and some scouts go far enough to label him as a player without a position. He now sits 94-97 mph with plus ride up in the zone, and a plus, 87-89 mph slider that drew a 45% chase rate last season. 13 overall in the 2021 draft out of a Florida high school. Michael Hall*, DT, Ohio State. Veen was surprisingly not well-known as a tooled-up prep hitter in the Orlando, Florida, area until he announced himself on the national stage as a junior by taking Matt Allan deep on a 96 mph fastball while Allan was being heavily scouted as a first-round prospect. 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. Mayer gets the slight nod as he's getting to his power (via exit velo, hard hit rate, barrels, etc.) To give further context, I've also included some categories along with tool grades. Perez is almost impossible in that he seems so good at everything at such a young age and extreme height that we basically haven't seen this kind of pitching prospect before. Type: Power-and-patience outfielder with some defensive value. The O's grabbed him with the 41st overall pick and, as with a number of recent college position players playing in Baltimore's system, 2022 was a breakout year. Williams was an intriguing 28th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of a SoCal high school. Normally, teenage pitchers who are tall and/or throw this hard have flat-out bad command that is often a career-long weakness. Spencer Steer, 2B, Cincinnati Reds Lawlar is a little more of a conventional standout athlete, as a plus runner with a plus arm and plus raw power, with a little more bounce defensively and at the plate. Merrill played high school ball in Maryland, alongside James Wood (ranked 13th above) in some youth events. Ji-Hwan Bae, 2B, Pittsburgh Pirates There's still some relief risk and he may fit best in a five-and-dive starter or other hybrid role, but Brown's stuff is lively enough that he doesn't need fine command to get outs. But you have to nitpick at this point of the list. Winners, loser of the shortstop carousel . He's an above-average hitter with a good sense of the strike zone and average raw power, though his power production will likely be a tick below average. On top of that, Alvarez has a real chance to be an everyday-quality defender behind the plate. Marcelo Mayer, SS, Red Sox. 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. Cowser was a standout hitter at Sam Houston State who took a clear step forward athletically in his draft spring, going from outfield tweener to a center fielder with enough power to look like a potential everyday player. More prospect rankings: National League | American League | Ranking all 30 systems, Hit: 50/60, Game Power: 50/55, Raw Power: 60/60, Speed: 70/70, Fielding: 55/60, Throwing: 45/45. Youth. In that case, Baltimore could slowly ramp him up to have the option to use him at full bore down the stretch and (whispers) in the playoffs. Forrest Whitley and Sixto Sanchez are already cautionary tales, Grayson Rodriguez got hurt last year and Jesus Luzardo and MacKenzie Gore bounced back in 2022 -- but still not quite to the heights once projected. 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 doesn't really use a changeup but more starters are now going multiple innings with two distinct breaking pitches, like Flores has. Type: Lanky right fielder who is above average at everything. Unlike Cartaya, Soderstrom is seen by many as a likely first baseman. Throw a dart.". Possibly the highest compliment you can give this type of player: He's going to be annoying to fans of NL West rivals for a long time. It's never likely for a prospect to turn into a Hall of Famer, but most future aces look something like Painter does right now in the minors. 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. 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. 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. Hit: 30/40, Game Power: 40/65, Raw Power: 65/70, Speed: 70/70, Fielding: 45/55, Throwing: 45/45, Reminds me of: A sealed mystery bag of fireworks with a wick sticking out, I wasn't sure where to put Chourio so I sent this list around for thoughts with him here, and nobody told me to move him. 9. His defense is fine, mostly fringy but can be average with some work, and his arm is plus. Over the past two seasons, he's hit 40 homers with a walk rate over 10% and strikeout rate under 20%, finishing 2022 at Triple-A. Making sense of Boston's investment . Stroud had a great pro day and it further solidified his case as one of the two best QBs in this draft class. At the plate, he has an average hit tool and pitch selection -- have to hope those don't end up being a notch or two lower -- with 25-30 home run upside if it all clicks. He pitched half of 2022 in Triple-A and seems like the next above-average starting pitcher to come off the Rays' assembly line. Topps Prospects Signed En Masse; $250k Bowman Jones SuperFractor Bounty; Most Watched Auctions April 26, 2023 By Rich Mueller A couple of months before Wednesdays release of 2023 Bowman Baseball, about 50 young players gathered at a house in Arizona to sign cards that would wind up in packs. A 10-15 homer likelihood eats into his overall upside, but he may be plus at everything else on the field and has lots of pro scouting support for his ranking after an excellent 30-game stint in Double-A after signing. You'll also notice a heavy dose of left-handed hitters, many playing the premium position of shortstop, early on in the rankings. Miller sits 98-100 and hits 102 mph (as a starter!) 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 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. The Texans would jump at the chance to take Bryce Young He fits the en vogue progressive mold of a hitter, a player with shorter arms to make contact easily but enough innate strength to create average power and avoid being totally one-dimensional. Type: A 6-5 (or possibly taller! That has basically been how it has played out, but the numbers have been eye-popping: .327/.426/.617 with 22 homers, 59 walks, and 65 strikeouts in 93 games at High-A and Double-A. The start of spring training is just around the corner, and that means it is time for an annual rite of passage ahead of the new MLB season: ranking the top 100 prospects in baseball. Aside from those two things, there are a lot of similarities: Both will be 21 years old during the 2023 season, finished the 2022 season at Double-A and offer average hit and pitch selection to go with above-average power projection from powerful right-handed swings. I would also submit that if they didn't pick either player, they would not have had enough prospects to swing the Juan Soto trade. Type: Plus athlete who is above average at everything. 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. Bo was flat-out awful at Double-A in 2021, then torched the same level in 2022, earning promotions to Triple-A and the big leagues. 15 overall in the 2020 draft. 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 was preferred as a shortstop out of high school when he went 54th overall, but he was still raw at the plate. It has worked out so far because he has plus stuff with plus athleticism and when you can marry that with good makeup, it's often all that matters. This isn't a true comparison, because most players don't have a one-for-one perfect analog. 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. Are you gonna make me say it? Did Pats make Mac Jones happy? He likely would've gotten more money with a full spring, but he had an up-and-down summer with some swing tinkering. Povich was an intriguing 6-3 college projection out of Nebraska in the 2021 draft when went to the Twins late in the third round. Cristian Santana, 2B, Detroit Tigers Luisangel Acuna, SS, Texas Rangers Valera has plus raw power and a very good approach: That's the stuff that matters. That said, there's also a compelling argument that Carroll offers value in more facets. That's also gone something like scouts expected, as he's now facing competition closer to his talent level. As a 19-year-old in Low-A, Amador hit .292/.415/.445 with 15 homers, 26 stolen bases and more walks than strikeouts. He's the Venezuelan-born younger brother of the major league utility infielder of the same name and signed for $20,000 as an undrafted free agent in 2020 out of an Arizona junior college. Hit: 40/55, Game Power: 40/60, Raw Power: 55/60, Speed: 50/45, Fielding: 40/50, Throwing: 55/55. He has a power-over-hit profile right now, but it's still early enough that it could evolve. He needed Tommy John surgery soon after turning pro, then had the lost 2020 minor league season, so he began his pro career in 2021 but only threw 35.1 innings because of a broken hand, with his breakout coming in the Arizona Fall League. 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. Arroyo got a promotion to High-A late in the year, hitting 14 homers and stealing 25 bases across both levels. Hit: 30/55, Game Power: 35/65, Raw Power: 65/70, Speed: 60/55, Fielding: 45/55, Throwing: 55/55, Type: A 6-7 plus runner with plus-plus power, Reminds me of: More toolsy version of Kyle Tucker. That hasn't happened, as he still has a lanky build and runs well, but is exclusively playing a corner outfield 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. 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). All this to say, the pick seemed like a great one for the White Sox at the time and has worked out even better than expected so far. Our experts predict every series, Memphis wasn't 'fine in the West' -- getting there hinges on massive culture questions, Why the Lakers' real test begins now, after dispatching the No. Waldichuk is probably a midrotation starter but his polish, funk and 40-man roster status mean he might be that by midseason. Type: Late-blooming midrotation righty with a great changeup. 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. 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. He has the rare combination of skills to warrant a Seager mention as a comp and, if things keep going like they are, Montgomery will be knocking on the door of the big leagues at the end of 2023 with All-Star upside. Normally, if this type of prospect has two good pitches as a teenager that would be enough to rank among the best prospects in the game, with the main question if they can come up with a third, or have enough command to be a starter. He is now 23 and about average defensively at third base, but can contribute at all four corner spots. Players. Woods had a meteoric rise in 2022, going from roughly the 200th-ranked prospect in baseball going into the season to No. The Guardians turn mid-to-late-round college pitchers into real prospects at a frightening rate, and Bibee is the latest example. They are among six quarterbacks in our top 50. That should tell you just how much upside the towering right fielder has, and just how disappointing his 2021 draft year performance was.