top 30 international prospects 2023
Hes shown the ability to induce significant swing and miss across all four offerings, both in and out of the zone, aided largely by his funky arm action. After that it seemed like Ramirez was asked to try to demonstrate better plate discipline. In addition to the humming fastball, Miller wields three above-average (at least) secondary pitches that he mixes pretty evenly, especially against lefty batters. Because his delivery is so elegant and consistent, Bradleys splitter has deep projection. The bumps and bruises suffered from catching can sometimes level players for whole seasons, and Davis had a lot of them in 2022. Here is a snippet of Salas' MLB.com scouting report: The athletic Salas has a good feel for the strike zone and shows the ability to hit the ball to all fields. A very skilled hitter with a career .313/.390/.488 line in the minors, Vargas made his big league debut in 2022 and is poised to play a more prominent role for the Dodgers this season after their many free agent departures, though probably not at third base. Morales has been most closely connected to the Athletics. Its not typical for a prospect who was just put on a 40-man roster to have this much perceived volatility or create this level of polarization. Wood has a real chance to both hit and hit for gargantuan power, and while his swing isnt geared for consistent lift at this point, he has the raw strength to do damage anyway. It was enough for the Yankees to roster him for their postseason series against Houston, who worked Peraza with sink and breaking balls in the bottom of the zone, which he consistently swung over the top of. All Rights Reserved. Were projecting heavily on Abels command in anticipation of him growing into his body and arm speed. Even with a 40 or 45-grade hit tool, which feels like a low-end outcome, thats a star player at shortstop and an above-average regular at third base. He has some vulnerability to high fastballs and tends to do most of his extra-base damage against middle-middle mistakes, but Steer is capable of making line drive contact in basically all parts of the strike zone, and is especially adept at poking outer-third pitches the opposite way for base hits. Even as he has become more and more muscular entering his 20s, he has maintained a freaky level of flexibility, which he attained by stretching four times per day. He hit 26 homers and 33 doubles and posted a 148 wRC+ at Vancouver and New Hampshire before he was promoted to Triple-A Buffalo at the very end of the year. And if they do have a lower or mid-range bonus player whose talent level is now on par with the seven-figure signings, they're typically not keen on blasting that information out to alert other teams. by Retrosheet. Maybe even a future Cy Young winner or MVP. The offensive package, even with a bat-to-ball blemish (for now), is still befitting of a star-level talent at shortstop or third base, wherever Henderson ends up playing. MLB.com adds he "plays with flair and is dedicated to improving." Players like Senga, Fujinami, and Yoshida will be a separate article. What a difference a year makes. Hernandez has fantastic bat speed and power for a no-doubt shortstop prospect, but he Kd at a concerning rate in 2022. The 28-man roster includes 25 players with Even while being a relatively free-swinger, hes only struck out at a 15-17% clip since entering full-season ball and has a rare hit/power combination for a catcher, though he has been a little bit older for each level. But his stuff, body projection and age (even after a year of JUCO ball, he was still just 18 when he was drafted in 2021), were enough for Toronto to pick him up in the third round. There are some players who are as aggressive as Mauricio (or more so) who find a way to be impact players anyway and almost all of them tend to make enough in-zone contact to buoy their overall offensive output. - Felnin Celestin, a He dominated Double-A for a month before he was shut down with a knee injury at the end of April, and he started having shoulder issues during his rehab. Raynan Dos Santos (2004, 6-4, G, Sesi Franca) is a lefty guard who plays with a fearless approach and loves to attack the basket, while has some versatility on defense. 
Jameson reached the majors in 2022 and is ready for prime time. Brown is the Mewtwo of pitchers, engineered as a facsimile of another powerful entity using science and technology. If power is your goal in the 2023 international class, Enmanuel Bonilla might be the guy for you. Remember that there was pre-draft consternation around his age (he was well over 19), which draft models tend to penalize prospects for because of the historical success of younger players. He still hits the ball really hard for a player his age and looks the part in the uniform, but theres growing risk here, enough to reposition Lucianos FV into this tier. Eder was a tantalizing but inconsistent high school prospect who at times would sit 94-97 mph, but often with scattershot control. He is stiff and bulky and not a lock to stay at third for a myriad of reasons. He has some outfield experience but very little in pro ball, and he doesnt exactly look like a fish in water out there. He started the season with a schedule that mimicked his college days, pitching every Saturday game in April and the first half of May, before transitioning to a more traditional every-five-days regimen. Only 37 of the 112 ranked players here are pitchers. His second base defense could trend down as he gets deeper into his 20s, but he should be fine there for a while. A stiff, upright hitter, Diaz might have some issues with fastballs running in on his hands at the big league level, as he tended to be late on the ones he saw at Double- and Triple-A, driving them almost exclusively to the opposite field. The likelihood of Walcott staying at shortstop long-term is slim, more than likely pushing him to a corner infield spot or to the outfield for the Rangers. Thirty-two of the players on the 2022 Top 50 International Prospects list are from the Dominican Republic. But the best parts of Libbys game are offset by the fact that they dont fit with the rest of his profile, which puts a mild damper on it. Miller has always held his velo deep into games despite a violent delivery, and his slider and changeup are both above-average, rounding out a starters mix in a weird mechanical package. His huge strides enable him to cover a ton of ground in center field and he is a not only a viable defender out there right now, but he looks like a future plus glove. 
Its possible hell find a way to play a mold-breaking style of third base defense over time, but an elbow sprain (which happened amid a throwing program to try to improve his arm strength) ended his 2022 and required a PRP injection, which is often a precursor to Tommy John for pitchers. Domnguez is massive for a 20-year-old, and even though hes a plus runner who is currently a fit in center field, its hard to say how hell trend athletically into his 20s because theres virtually no precedent for his build. The ultra-advanced White has plus command of four good pitches. Even though Stones delivery looks like the sort that can create a power pitchers angle and shape on his fastball, it isnt a dominant in-zone pitch, and his slider/cutter plays more due to command rather than pure stuff. Hes a compact-framed, contact-oriented middle infielder from a smaller conference, but Neto gets the most out of his body by taking very athletic, high-octane swings. His semi-aggressive approach may lead him to have a merely average hit tool, but he has 70 power and might end up hitting 50 annual doubles at his peak. Teams with pool amounts below $5,284,000 lost money from their pools as a penalty for signing free agents who had rejected a qualifying offer. Heres a complete look at SI's first Big Board for the 2023 NBA Draft, headlined by Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson. Boston, MA. He had Tommy John in August of 2019 and rehabbed during a 2020 season that he would have missed anyway. Youll also notice that there is a Future Value outcome distribution graph for each prospect on the list. Not all of this is coming from raw power, its more from the quality of the contact Merrill makes. Player (521) Pos. He may not have the power of a typical big league third baseman yet, but at a strapping 6-foot-4, its likely to come with time, physical maturity, and a good strength program. Hes naturally adept at framing low strikes because hes already so low to the ground, but its also fair to wonder if such a small athlete can withstand the grind of catching 80-100 games every summer. His rare raw thump has already begun to manifest in games, as Cartaya clubbed 22 homers in 2022, a season after he dealt with multiple injuries that severely limited his playing time. Julien tweeted he was going back to school, then went to the Cape and had a great two weeks, after which the Twins offer rose to just shy of $500,000, inspiring him to sign. Espino had taken another leap at the onset of 2022, sitting in the 98-102 mph range with a fastball that sometimes had 20-23 inches of vertical break during the spring. Hes also added a few ticks of velocity and now sits 93-96 mph, velocity hes maintained across two consecutive years of innings increases. Bat speed prodigy Luciano has encountered a few developmental speed bumps since roasting the Cal League in 2021. He projects to third base, where the offensive bar is much higher. OHoppes feel for contact makes him a likely everyday catcher. CLICK HERE FOR 2023 MLB INTERNATIONAL PROSPECT BONUS BOARD Signing Bonus Pool B: $6,366,900 Cincinnati Reds Detroit Tigers Miami Marlins Cidy Cissoko (2004, 6-7, G/F, G League Ignite). All major league baseball data including pitch type, velocity, batted ball location, and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. Wood was a divisive amateur prospect, with some scouts seeing him as a center fielder with 70 raw power projection and others seeing him as an eventual first baseman with hit tool risk. At the plate, the athletic Salas has a good feel for the strike zone and shows the ability to hit the ball to all fields. He definitely has a starters mix, but just one of his three pitches is truly plus, giving Stone the look of a no. Another candidate to Chourio, Ramirez is among the highest-variance prospects in the minors. Leiter is too powerful an on-mound athlete not to have an impact fastball, though he does need to sharpen his control. 
Toronto didnt accelerate his promotion schedule to make up for the lost time, so he began 2021 back at Low-A as a 21-year-old and (mostly) flew under the FanGraphs prospect radar as an old-for-the-level player until 2022, when Barger hammered High- and Double-A pitching as a 22-year-old. The righty had only made 11 career starts at then-Division-II Bellarmine University, but a successful 2019 summer on the Cape and a lights out draft spring suggested that he was a real prospect. Add to that performance his track record as a clubhouse favorite with natural leadership abilities and his multi-positional utility, and Lewis is primed for an everyday role as soon as his health allows. The 28-man roster includes 25 players with Double-A experience, 19 of whom have played for Arkansas previously. He checks literally every scouting box, and for as much as analytical boxes matter for a high school hitter, he checks those, too. He has the prototypical starters frame at a broad-shouldered 6-foot-6, and the pacing and look of his delivery evoke Gerrit Cole. Hence was picked up in the shortened 2020 draft, one of the youngest players taken that year, and in 2021 threw just eight innings on the complex, virtually all in relief. While he was closer to the 50/55 FV line last offseason, the snapshot of the defensive piece of the puzzle pulls him more comfortably into the 50s for this list cycle, one of many Guardians upper-level middle infielders with the talent to be an everyday player. His strikeout problems stem from poor breaking ball and offspeed recognition, as he chases those pitches a fair bit (about a 40% rate against sliders and curveballs at Double-A per Synergy) while also swinging through lots of them in the zone (75% Z-Contact% versus non-fastballs). Powerful and explosive, the exciting Caminero was among the DSLs home run leaders in 2021 before coming over from Cleveland in a 40-man roster deadline trade for pitcher Tobias Myers that offseason. His 40-man timeline presents the Cardinals with what would likely be a seamless transition from MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt to Walker if they so choose, with Walker possibly DHing most days during Goldys contract year. All rights reserved. Connor McDavid (F) NHL. This is a little odd, but it might be remedied with an unobtrusive mechanical tweak. This combined with the undercooked hit tool might lead to some big league growing pains and medium production at first, but over time Casas should become a middle-of-the-order force capable of hitting 35-plus annual homers. Has shown flashes of good court vision but turnover prone. He projects to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher as his fastball sits between 94-97 and has emerging secondary pitches, including a slider, changeup and curveball. Thirty-two of the players on the 2022 Top 50 International Prospects list are from the Dominican Republic. Originally a high-profile Yankees amateur signee, the pandemic and a hamstring injury limited Alcantara to just nine stateside minor league games before he was traded to the Cubs for Anthony Rizzo in 2021. Hilariously, Mayos swing is perhaps well-suited for the current metagame because so many contemporary fastballs ride to the top of the strike zone, which is where Mayos barrel hunts. 70), meanwhile, is also 30 numerical places, but the difference in talent is relatively small. He ultimately went fourth overall to Pittsburgh, and because hes a relatively advanced hitter with a mature build, theres a good chance the Pirates move Johnson through the minors pretty quickly if he hits the ground running offensively. PCA is one of the best defensive center fielders in the sport and a swing change unlocked dormant power in 2022. 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