Rankings and reports for the current class of amateur players set to sign in January 2022 (though that date could be delayed due to the lockout) have been expanded on The Board with help from. 2022-23 Southeast Standings. By virtue of this precision, he might have peak years with 20 homers or so, very similar to Brantley. Our interpretation of this is that its a result of rust from the prolonged layoff rather than an actual indication that Jung suddenly has terrible feel for the strike zone. On Tuesday, Baseball America released their annual international signing bonus big board, this edition for the 2021-2022 signing class. The base signing pool for the Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Giants, Mets, Nationals, White Sox and Yankees is $5,284,000. His powerful lower half and flexibility drive the production of this velocity, while McGarrys long arm action makes it tough for him to have a consistent release. He boasted one of the lowest walk rates (5.1%) among minor leaguers who notched at least 130 innings in 2022 and looks poised for a starter role in the near future. Pro pitchers attacked him with lots of back-foot breaking balls in Colliers brief ACL and instructs run, and while he spotted lots of them and hammered a few that didnt finish, he struggled to touch any that were even close to well-executed. : Cubs ($2,800,000) More 7. While he can ambush high pitches, especially up-and-in, and show you close to average peak pop, Turang had not slugged over .400 in any pro season until he saw Triple-A in 2022. A patient, discerning hitter, Carters breaking ball recognition and feel for the strike zone is excellent. He has a surprisingly authoritative left-handed cut for a player of his stature and shows you lovely all-fields ability to hit, snatching hanging breaking balls and inner-third fastballs to his pull side and spraying lots of middle-away fastballs to the opposite field. Here is a look at which players from MLB Pipeline's Top 50 International Prospects list have agreed to terms with clubs, according to sources, and for how much. Marwys Jorge, RHP, D.R. The addition of a leg kick in 2021 increased his power output without disrupting his timing at the plate, and now Steer has a well-rounded hit/patience/power toolkit that would profile in a 50 FV capacity at any non-first base position. Henderson, still just the age of a college draft prospect, had one of the best offensive performances in minor league baseball in 2022 and made his big league debut late in the season. All of the prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. Acuas swing is explosive and athletic, starting upright with a load and leg kick similar to his brothers, before he takes a gargantuan stride toward the mound. His swing is a little odd and upright, and his hands load with a bit of a hitch, but he is still able to guide the barrel around the zone and produce shocking raw power for such a lithe teenage hitter. Yendry Rojas, SS, Cuba Padres ($1,300,000) More 25. Davis plate crowding helps enable his pull-heavy approach. Saturday, Jan. 15, is an important date on MLB's offseason calendar. -- $497,500Jose Mejia, INF, D.R. His curveball has a 12-6 shape, and hes deployed the pitch to particularly devastating effect against left-handed opponents; between the two levels, only one lefty has recorded a hit on the curveball. Lawlars throwing stroke to first base can sometimes be a little odd, but he finds all kinds of crazy ways to contort his body and send the baseball where it needs to go, which is especially true of his feeds to second base. His fastball has done a ton of damage at the top of the zone and is a legit plus-plus pitch. According to a source, he was one of just three 18-year-old hitters to have an average exit velocity of 88 mph or higher in 2022, and Chourio played at least one level ahead of the other two (Red Sox outfielder Miguel Bleis and Astros prospect Luis Baez) for the entire season, and two and three levels ahead late in the year when he had a pot of High-A coffee and a shot of espresso at Double-A Biloxi. A draft-eligible sophomore in 2022 and a career .360/.450/.655 hitter, his numbers improved in his sophomore year even though he faced SEC pitching, and he was considered one of the more bankable prospects in the 2023 draft despite lacking a true defensive home. More disappointing though is that the shape of the heater hasnt played the way it was hoped to or how the TrackMan data that came out of his time at Vandy hinted that it might, having lost some of the ghost-like deception that flummoxed opposing college batters. Hes going to be a middle-of-the-order anchor in Oakland fairly soon. His infield actions are smooth and athletic, his swing has a gorgeous, pronounced finish, and he has the right amount of overt physical projection that he might mature into the unteachable, star-making Goldilocks Zone, where he stays at short and also has impact power. The base signing pool for the Angels, Astros, Athletics, Braves, Cubs, Giants, Mariners, Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, White Sox and Yankees is $5,179,700. His range and actions at third base are both fantastic, and hes an accurate thrower from all sorts of awkward platforms, but there are times when he lollipops deeper (and even some routine) throws over to first base. 1 guy." pic.twitter.com/XXOd1D8KKQ Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) December 20, 2022 1. Lawlar is a slick shortstop defender with big power and a somewhat shaky hit tool. A bat-only prospect with a well-rounded offensive skill set, Steer may end up a 30-grade second base defender or just play 3B/1B/LF. It would be an above-average pitch were it simply in the low-to-mid-80s, but at this velocity, its a 70-grade weapon, and Espino has consistent feel for locating it down and to his glove side. Hes a well-rounded star and franchise cornerstone. Bradleys fastball utility, command, and athleticism enable deep projection on his secondary pitches into his 20s. At the peak of my pursuit, I would use every pick I had in an FYPD on international prospects. Ortiz had one of the fastest ascents up the minor league ladder in 2022 and now projects as a mid-rotation starter or elite reliever in Pittsburgh, depending on what he can develop beyond his lethal fastball/slider combo. Carroll has evolved in some surprising ways as a hitter. Yasser Mercedes, OF, Dominican Republic Twins ($1,700,000) More 18. His overall chase rates remain a little worse than average but theyre not terrifying. In two-strike counts, Cavalli threw his fastball 51% of the time in the first couple months of the season, with the curveball coming in second at just 22%. and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. Hes a little more tightly wound than is typical for a big league shortstop, but Hendersons straight-line speed is plus and so is his defensive range, and his arm strength enables him to make some plays that many other infielders cant. Hes an okay receiver and framer, catching on one knee with the bases empty, utilizing a traditional crouch with two strikes and with runners on base. Graceffos velocity has exploded since he left the Main Line, and hes now nearing the big leagues as a contenders fourth starter. A somewhat frustrating blend of exciting elements, Liberatore features a four-pitch mix and each of his offerings is at least average, which presents as an obvious starters foundation. He covers the inner two-thirds of the zone quite well (his in-zone contact rates are actually about as good as Miguel Vargas), but his desire to pull and lift everything leaves him vulnerable on the outer edge and often impacts the quality of his contact. In contrast, his 2022 was a tough-luck grind, as Yorke hit just .232 at Greeneville and dealt with myriad injuries, including turf toe, back stiffness, and wrist soreness that reared its ugly, uh, wrist during the regular season and again when he went to Arizona to pick up reps in the Fall League. Stones plus (at least) on-mound athleticism and gorgeous arm action allow for continued projection on his fastball utility and command even though hes in his mid-20s, which gives him bigger long-term ceiling than that. Ryan Reckley, SS, Bahamas Giants ($2,200,000) More 10. Its possible some of this is simply the growing pains of a teenage pitcher, and its also possible that this is what Jones stuff will be under the stress of a pro seasons worth of innings. After a busy offseason, the Blue Jays have limited spots on the active roster that will need to be decided this Spring Training. He also shows good footwork with soft hands and above-average range. He loads his hands high and cuts down at the ball, which makes him tough to beat in the upper two thirds of the strike zone because Peraza is so short to those locations. There arent many lefty-hitting shortstops with this kind of offensive juice. Having started 2022 with the Yankees Triple-A affiliate, Wesneski was shipped to Chicago as part of the Scott Effross trade. March 1, 2023. His plus velocity and uphill approach angle make Halls fastball extremely difficult for hitters to get on top of, and righty batters who are trying to anticipate the heater often end up embarrassing themselves against his changeup, which generated a whopping 54% whiff rate in 2022. The hit/power combination to profile at third base is pretty comfortably here, and Caminero might yet come into more power at physical maturity. He receives on one knee with the bases empty but mixes his technique with runners on. Ramirez spent all of 2021 at Low-A as an 18-year-old and slashed .258/.326/.384, which was slightly below the league-average line in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League. Projected bonus amounts for this group will be published on signing day. But all of a sudden, an influx of extraordinary high-level talent began funneling from the international market. The latter is more important at this stage of his career. Keith was in the AFL because he missed all but about two months of the regular season with a shoulder injury. The beginning of Major League Baseball's 2020-21 international signing period was pushed back from July 2 to Jan. 15 following the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic. In a typical year, wed have a couple more than that, and sometimes as many as five or six, but this year there are only two. Maikol Orozco, SS, Ven. Thats not to suggest that every hit tool grade is wrong. While some of those skills are still bricks in Carrolls baseball-playing foundation, he has developed much more power than even the most optimistic amateur projections. A draft likely wont address all of the abuses of the current system, but it should curtail the practice of teams and 14-year-olds coming to multi-million-dollar agreements. Almost all of Veens pull-side contact into the outfield once he was promoted to Double-A came against secondary pitches. Trio of Sox prospects rising together has Cora amped. Miller spent his freshman year at Blinn College, then pitched out of the Texas A&M bullpen as a sophomore and junior. The final destination is the Major Leagues but the first step is signing the first professional contract and for international prospects, that happens during the international signing period. 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. 2022 MLB Top Prospects For Every Team Jackson Chourio (Photo Courtesy Wisconsin Timber Rattlers) By BA Staff on August 10, 2022 Now that the signing deadline for the draft and the trade. He slashed .282/.429/.492 at North Carolina and is a .267/.374/.493 career hitter so far in the minors, spending most of 2022 at Triple-A and joining the 40-man roster after the season. The FV grade is more important than the ordinal ranking. Wood compares to a young Adam Dunn as a power-hitting outfielder of considerable size. Unless otherwise noted, clubs have not confirmed the deals. There was some demographic push and pull happening in the guts of Montgomerys amateur profile that we can already reflect on a bit. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. Hes begun to solve the former problem by occasionally catching on one knee with one leg splayed out, la Carlos Ruiz, which allows him to be lower to the ground and present low pitches moving back toward the zone. Things change. Arroyo hit for a surprising amount of power at Low-A Modesto before he was sent to the Reds as part of the Luis Castillo trade, golfing out 13 homers and slugging .514. He does not take casual BP hacks he maxes out and swings with all-out effort, which extends to his in-game approach, a feature that gives some scouts pause and worry that big league pitchers will pull the rug out from under him. Holliday entered the summer ranked as the No. At times Jung looked totally lost late in 2022 when he finally returned from the shoulder surgery. McGarry has three plus pitches but also the worst control on the Top 100. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Casas spent most of 2022 with Triple-A Worcester and hit .273/.382/.481 there amid a two-month absence to recover from a high ankle sprain. by Eric Longenhagen December 16, 2022 Michael Chow-Arizona Republic The final installment of this week's set of international player updates revolves around the amateur prospects who will. His swing is designed for power; it has a bit of a loop and a steep plane to it, enabling him to crush mistakes to left and center field. A career .269/.374/.485 hitter in the minors, there are still some analysts who are skeptical Casas will make enough contact to profile comfortably as an above-average regular at first base. While the power breakout hasnt materialized yet (and feels unlikely at this point Frelick isnt a big hip/shoulder separation athlete), Frelick ripped through three minor league levels in 2022, his first full pro season, and ended with a very strong 46-game jaunt at Triple-A Nashville, where he slashed .365/.435/.508 and walked more than he struck out; his peripherals actually improved with each promotion. Rece was a member of the 2017 USA Baseball 17 and under national team. There was no 2020 post-draft minor league season, and each of Jungs last two campaigns have begun with prolonged IL stints due to severe injury. The Cubs have had some recent success in tweaking swings and if Hernandez can shorten up his cut and even be a 40-grade contact hitter at maturity, then hes likely to be a good big league shortstop because every other tool is in place. We get $200 to start the season. Even as a pure reliever at this point, Hall still belongs on a Top 100 list due to his proximity and the likelihood that he becomes a lights out lefty closer or multi-inning buzzsaw who provides some amount of karmic retribution for the Josh Hader trade. Hes okay at second and third base, but the Blue Jays infield is already pretty loaded, so hes likely to see time in the outfield this year. Unfortunately, he did neither. Jaison Chourio, OF, Venezuela Guardians ($1,200,000) More 21. While there were some pre-draft industry concerns about the balky back, Williams innings-eating frame, his intense on-mound presence, and the ferocity of his stuff made him a slam dunk first round prospect. A plus athlete, Neto does some acrobatic things at shortstop and when he puts his whole body into a throw, he appears to have plenty of arm for the left side. Those penalties are over. He features a five-pitch arsenal with three distinct fastballs, and his ability to vary his usage across his pitch mix allows the mid-90s four-seamer to play up. Unless hed throwing on the run, he just sort of lollipops the ball over to first. Harrisons body has thickened pretty quickly, but he throws hard and has diverse fastball utility and great secondary stuff. In the three years since the trade, Mead has become one of the more dangerous hitters in the minor leagues and as soon as he becomes a suitable defender, he should provide a well-rounded offensive threat in the middle of Tampa Bays order. In 12 games, he slashed .300/.317/.550 with two home runs, four triples, and just five strikeouts. Rocchios calling card is still his switch-hitting offensive ability, specifically his bat-to-ball skills, which have made him a 50 FV mainstay since he finished his first domestic pro season. The Mariners drafted him in the fourth round and have deployed him as a starter so far. On a universal prospect continuum, Henderson grades out a shade below some of the 70 FV or better prospects from recent years like Shohei Ohtani, Wander Franco, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and (gulp) Gavin Lux (who is now tracking like a 60, thank goodness) because were talking about a corner bat with what might be a 45-grade hit tool. All Rights Reserved. His stuff was down in 2022 but is still good, and Rodriguez should be a mid-rotation stalwart in short order. 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. Jeremy Rodriguez, SS, D.R. Parada was the rare high-profile California high schooler who left the state for college, traveling all the way to Atlanta for two years at Georgia Tech. Youll also notice that there is a Future Value outcome distribution graph for each prospect on the list. The Mariners are listed as the favorites to sign two of. Because the International Players tab has an apples and oranges mix of older pros from Asian leagues and soon-to-be first-year players, there is no explicit ranking on The Board, but Ive stacked the class of anticipated 2023 signees in a table below with a ranking for reference should you need it. High-risk hitters with huge tools are also welcome since FV is a subjective way to factor both ceiling and risk into the same grade. If Alcantara hits at High-A during the first half of 2023, he should get a second half look in Double-A, which would put him on a more comfortable pace to compete for an opening day roster spot in 2025. 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. His swing, however, works in such a way that his contact quality tends to be highly variable, his bat path really only enables him to work middle-away with any authority, he gets jammed a bunch, and he doesnt seem to be able to go down to scoop or spoil pitches that finish down-and-in. -- $700,000Angelo Hernandez, C, Ven. Scouts were blown away by his power and speed, but swing-and-miss issues were a concern. We can safely put to bed any notion that Pages (pronounced p-hz) might stay in center field, and as such, his projection has narrowed as he shifts to being an average everyday corner outfield prospect by virtue of his ability to get to power, which he does via his combination of raw strength and the extreme lift in his swing. Trio of Sox prospects rising together has Cora amped. Teams have an 11-month window to sign international amateurs, with this year's signing period set to close on December 15, 2022. Theres no present danger that he needs to revisit third base (which he played plenty of in high school and early in pro ball) or anything like that, and Naylor continues to project as a 2-WAR primary catcher. Of course, Nolan Arenados presence through 2027 dictates a move regardless of how Walker looks over there. Compiling 2022 MLB top prospects rankings from all of the best sources in the Minor League baseball, scouting, and fantasy industries. Naylors defense is still pretty rough around the edges. As has been the case with past classes, after these players sign, they will be pulled off the International Players section of The Board and warehoused in a ranking of their signing class for record-keeping purposes. The Phillies pushed him aggressively, going all the way to Double-A Reading late in 2022. Throw in the visual twitch and athleticism, and this is the player Spotifys algorithm would recommend to FanGraphs if prospects were musical artists. His right-handed swing is pretty grooved, but still powerful, while his lefty swing is more skillful and dynamic, giving him a potent contact/power blend. Cabrera is expected to sign with the Reds. His slider often has curt, unspectacular-looking movement, but Bradleys command of it and the way he sets it up with well-located fastballs make it a dominant pitch. He has the speed to play out there, but Frelick is not a crisp center fielder, and later in the 2022 season he saw lots of time in left (though some of it was due to the sudden presence of Esteury Ruiz), where he also looked tentative. Typically, we roll out most of our international amateur free agent reports during Prospect Week, which falls just five months ahead of those players' usual signing day on July 2, with a few more trickling in as the signing date approaches. He lacks precise command, but he throws enough strikes to start and bully hitters with his velocity and slider for five and six innings at a time. Quickly thereafter he was at Triple-A Norfolk and looked like the usual DL Hall, wielding three plus pitches and struggling with walks. A backfield wunderkind who stood out immediately because of his rare combination of size and athleticism, Alcantara has been a top 100 prospect at FanGraphs for a couple of years now.