Per usual, though, there are still plenty of compelling prospects on the board. Type: Late-blooming midrotation righty with a great changeup. Carroll is a plus defender in center field, he's a plus-plus runner (a top-of-the-scale 80-grade runner for some), and he's a baseball rat with instincts to match: 33/39 on stolen bases last season over three levels. 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. 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. Now Manzardo may be knocking on the door of the big leagues late in 2023, just two years after being a divisive draft prospect. Willy Vasquez, SS, Tampa Bay Rays Its intent is to explain a player's ranking in a handful of simple words by saying they remind me of a current All-Star and have that as their high-risk upside, but you can also see why a lower-risk player might rank higher. 11. 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. 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 is now one of the top ten pitching prospects in baseball and may be big league ready by mid-2023. 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. White was a favorite of mine in the 2018 draft. Soon after that his velo was starting to climb, his secondary stuff was accordingly getting more crisp, and his command wasn't suffering. That means strikeouts. Susana didn't get much attention when he was included in the Juan Soto trade as he was the fourth-best prospect in the haul, behind James Wood, MacKenzie Gore and Robert Hassell. You'll also notice a heavy dose of left-handed hitters, many playing the premium position of shortstop, early on in the rankings. As a 22-year-old in 2021 he was dealing, but made only 10 starts because of a bout with COVID-19. If he doesn't, he's a high variance corner wrong-side-of-the-platoon guy who is just an OK defender. Type: Power-and-patience package at the plate, probably a catcher. Allen is a safe bet for bulk innings, likely as a third or fourth starter, just another polished arm off the assembly line in Cleveland. Type: Positionless Canadian-born hitting robot sent from the future. Type: Dynamic athlete with an everyday shortstop look. The only real thing to nitpick on at this point is it's hard to imagine him having a 70- or 80-grade tool on the card, but not being able to find a substantive weakness is a good sign in a player. Some advanced bat-to-ball prospects fall into bad habits against weak pitching in the minors -- swinging at anything close because they can hit it -- that creates issues against big league pitching; that isn't the case here. 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. Last year was his breakout, as he made it to Double-A shortly after turning 20 years old and saw a spike in power production, a better contact rate and an above average walk rate. The Rays picked him 63rd overall and it has gone very well so far. Cue the "how do they keep getting away with this" memes. Garcia is a plus hitter with an excellent approach and a steady glove at shortstop, but below-average in-game power. Hit: 30/55, Game Power: 30/60, Raw Power: 55/60, Speed: 55/50, Fielding: 45/50, Throwing: 55/55. During a disastrous, ill-fated deadline deal, the Mets shipped him to the Cubs straight up for Javier Baez on a rental while Crow-Armstrong was still recovering from shoulder surgery. WebStatcast Leaders Baseball Savant Top Prospect Stats. Type: Plus power and patience from a probable catcher. I've decided to put him at the back of that slam-dunk group yet ahead of the riskier, health-challenged, less-proven or less-talented prospects who follow on this list. 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. Type: Premium hitter with enough other tools to be a strong everyday player. He likely would've gotten more money with a full spring, but he had an up-and-down summer with some swing tinkering. Holliday was a projected mid-first round pick after a strong summer, but after the first couple spring workouts, immediately jumped into the top 10 and kept climbing. But his ceiling is 40 homers if it all clicks -- and that's not the ceiling of many players in the minor leagues, especially at his position. The Guardians turn mid-to-late-round college pitchers into real prospects at a frightening rate, and Bibee is the latest example. 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. Realmuto, Sean Murphy, Will Smith, and Willson Contreras for NL All-Star spots every year. He has a power-over-hit profile right now, but it's still early enough that it could evolve. WebHigh School Baseball Recruiting Database. 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. 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 held serve all the way to draft day in 2021 as a toss-up with Jordan Lawlar for best prospect in the draft. The selling points were deception, feel and knowing how to pitch, more than the raw stuff. 1, Panthers' Bryce Young is all 'business now', XFL semifinals: Defenders roll Sea Dragons, set up title showdown with Renegades. Players. Frelick was a late bloomer as a standout multisport athlete in Massachusetts who turned into a middle first-round pick at Boston College. The hit tool is still the headliner here as his raw power is only average, but getting a solid catcher who can hit .270 with 15 homers is in the range of Danny Jansen (who posted 2.6 WAR last season in 72 games for the Blue Jays), which is basically the 10th best catcher in baseball. Standings. Both his contact ability and ability to stick at third base were open questions at draft time due to his 6-foot-5 frame. 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. As he dials in his launch angle and offensive approach, there's a shot he hits 30-plus homers. 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. Miller sits 98-100 and hits 102 mph (as a starter!) He produced a combined 23 homers and 23 stolen bases over the three levels. Type: A 6-5 (or possibly taller! The top of our list consists of five holdovers from our Johnson is a squatty, second-base-only fit with average speed and arm strength, but that's not why he was the fourth overall pick. That 15-homer performance might be about as much as I'd expect going forward, but all the pieces are here for a 2023 breakout that shoots Amador up this list.