Tony Blanco Jr., OF, Dominican Republic Pirates ($900,000) More 12. He is loose and fluid in the box but does have some swing-and-miss concerns, which is standard for a hitter with levers this long. Cavalli climbed the ranks of the Nationals system in 2021, starting the season at High-A and closing it out at Triple-A, claiming the distinction of being the hardest thrower at that years Futures game (touching 102 mph) along the way. Lefties with plus command and plus changeups tend to overachieve and Allen is exactly that, poised to play a mid-rotation role relatively soon. The Dodgers and Rangers each forfeited $1,000,000 from their pools for signing players who had rejected qualifying offers to lower their pool to $4,144,000. 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. on January 15, 2022 Major League Baseball's international signing period opens on Saturday, Jan. 15 for the 2021-22 class. Anthony Baptist, OF, D.R. Meads feel to hit and power on contact will make him an impact everyday player no matter what position he ends up playing. Many scouts are champing at the bit over Priesters prototypical frame and four- or five-pitch mix, depending on whether you consider his fastballs two distinct pitches. 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. 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. Now, after what might be a delayed start to his 2023, hell be asked to hit the ground running after only playing half of last year. By Mark Polishuk | January 14, 2023 at 11:15pm CDT. It seemed as though he had potential landing spots in the 2022 drafts top 10 picks, but he ended up parachuting to 18, and signing for an over-slot $5 million. This is one of the toolsiest prospects in all the minors and one of the players on the Top 100 who has a chance to Chourio, i.e. Thats not to suggest that every hit tool grade is wrong. Its bat-missing capabilities are limited to the bottom arm-side portion of the zone, where this two-seam-ish fastball tends to finish. The identifiable visual tweak to the swing, the shift in batted ball profile, and Batys dramatic uptick in home runs are all indications that hes dialed in the details that have kept him vacillating between several FV tiers for the last couple of years. Over the last year, Prez has added about 30 pounds, experienced a two-tick fastball velocity bump, and incorporated a second, harder breaking ball that has become his primary non-fastball weapon. : Pirates+ ($600,000) More 27. Jeremy Rodriguez, SS, D.R. Carrolls surprising power development bolsters what was once a traditional leadoff mans skill set featuring elite speed and a great approach. The floor for Ortiz looks something like Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a slick-fielding utilityman with plus bat-to-ball ability, but not enough power to be a true everyday option, essentially a 45-grade player. 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. He has top-of-the-rotation stuff but the injuries make it more likely that Cleveland proactively moves him to the bullpen. An international player is eligible to sign with a Major League team between Jan. 15 and Dec. 15. Rodriguez was quite comfortably the most dominant pitcher in the minors in 2021, when he racked up nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits allowed. Rodriguezs arm is comfortably plus. Poised to be a post-2023 40-man add, Flores worked just over 100 innings in 2022. Browns stuff was already good at Wayne, and it leveled up pretty quickly after he signed, but it was the strike throwing that took a step forward in 2022 and led to his September call-up. Things arent so bad that hes in a red flag bust risk area because of his hit tool, but its enough that it will probably dial down how much in-game power hes actually getting to. He actually looks more comfortable and accurate making max-effort throws from deep in the hole than he does when moving toward the first base line. Lawlars hit tool projection is a bit of a conundrum. Jameson is also a extremely competitive and has the makeup for a late-inning role should he eventually have to make way for some of Arizonas other good young starters. -- $405,000Manuel Genao, RHP, D.R. RHP Jarlin Susana, Dominican Republic: Susana is the consensus No. The risk and long developmental timeline for high school pitchers, let alone injured ones, typically keeps them from sniffing the top 100 in all but a few cases. Not all of the pitchers who showed a velocity increase during 2020 Instructional League activity, which came after the prolonged pandemic layoff, have sustained that bump. there is going to be more power here) and impact, up-the-middle defensive ability. On defense, Rodriguezs size is both a feature and a bug. 1 pitcher available this signing period. The Yankees are the favorite to sign both consensus number 1 international prospect Roderick Arias and number 3 international prospect Diedo Benitez in 2022. Painter overpowered low-level hitters with sheer velocity and breaking ball quality during the majority of his first full pro season. Hes actually a fairly rangy third baseman, as his foot speed allows him to cover a lot of ground, but his hands and arm accuracy are both pretty rough and cause him to be error-prone. And Miller held upper-90s velocity throughout, sitting 98-99 mph throughout most of his starts and rarely ever dipping below the 96-97 mph band with his fastball, which he also threw for a strike at a 70% clip in 2022. Cappe has an ideal baseball frame, as well as the athleticism, hands, and arm strength to play shortstop, and while his swing is a little noisy and imbalanced, he tracks pitches well and finds a way to put the bat on them even if it isnt always pretty. Unless otherwise noted, clubs have not confirmed the deals. He has tended to strikeout at a 20% or lower clip throughout his pro career, even when chase was an issue, which is very impressive considering Ramos age relative to the levels to which hes been assigned. He then spent all of 2022 at Double-A and punched out 33.1%, while trimming his walk rate down to just 7.5%. Luis Rodriguez, C, Venezuela Cardinals More 27. Youve probably been battered with this question over the past couple months, but any chance the team lists will start rolling out next week? 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. The area in which its most important for him to show late growth is on defense. Allens fastball has other traits that help it punch above its weight, and he commands it with machine-like regularity to the locations in which it is most effective. 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. His fantastic bat-to-ball skill has enabled him to rake in the minors, but he has a tendency to offer at pitches that are way, way off the plate, pitches most hitters instantly know arent competitive. Accurate information on international players can be hard to find, but bonus size is generally a good proxy for prospect status. Certain managers are willing to stockpile international talent with the hopes of striking gold on one of them. This is particularly important given the fact that his fastballs viability has more to do with its velocity than its shape, so being able to rely more heavily on the secondaries he also features an impressive mid-80s slider and a changeup he reserves mainly for use against lefties allows the whole mix to play up. We can quibble over whether A-ball dynamics have changed due to the elimination of the short season leagues in a way that might invalidate historical precedents like this, but its reasonable to have some pause about Williams long-term prospectdom when you realize the closest 2022 comp for his contact data (66% contact%, 78% z-contact) was Paul DeJong. Nitpicking about his swing actualization is fine because were talking about one of baseballs best prospects, but the foundation of present skills and tools combined with Jones physical projection makes him a potential franchise-altering superstar. Ryan Reckley, SS, Bahamas Giants ($2,200,000) More 10. Though he does his homer damage almost exclusively to his pull side, Berry slices breaking balls away from him to the opposite field, and most of his non-extra-base hits come that way. Parada may not be able to catch, but we think his bat profiles anywhere. leap into the top-10 overall prospect mix within the next year. Flores has emerged as the best current prospect among the 2020 undrafted free agents and spent most of 2022 carving up the Eastern League. His approach (a sticking point at this site in the past) has gotten better, with his chase rates now hovering close to average. If he and the Rockies can find a way to be on time against fastballs, then theres a shot for a real breakout here, but its tough to ask that of someone who, to this point, has been successful. Hes only ever played shortstop in affiliated ball but saw time at third base in LIDOM, where he understandably looked uncomfortable at times. Unless otherwise noted, clubs have not confirmed the deals. The pitch has natural tailing action, but Ortiz can also blow it past hitters at the letters when he wants, and his TrackMan data shows hes mixing in four- and two-seamers in the locations where theyre most effective. 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. Vargas is expected to show more raw power and rack up extra-base hits as he fills out his frame. 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. The issue is that its nearly impossible to predict which player it will be. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb. De La Cruz is a boom-or-bust prospect who could really bust or go supernova. Abel has a strong natural proclivity for spinning his breaking stuff, and his low-to-mid-80s slurve is already an above-average pitch and could be a 70-grade shove machine at maturity. Jameson sits 95-96 mph, touches 99, can add and subtract sink from his fastball, and his mid-80s slider is comfortably plus. Scouting and comparing international players tools and athleticism to those of recent and upcoming domestic amateurs helps me to triangulate approximately where theyd go in a given draft, and assign them a FV based on that approximation. Its a mid-rotation starters stuff, and healthy Williams should produce as such at the big league level, though the pitchers who tend to get hurt are the ones who have been hurt in the past, and theres enough of a track record here to alter how Williams lines up with similarly talented peers. Considered too advanced for the teams Dominican complex, he made his stateside pro debut in 2019 and followed that up by posting a .941 OPS across two A-ball levels in 2021 while still a teenager. He chased at a 37% rate in 2022, which isnt terrible in a big league context, but is pretty bad when viewed through the minor league lens, where fewer pitchers have chase-inducing stuff. It ends Dec. 15, 2023. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. Alfredo Duno, C, VenezuelaDuno has a chance to have at least three above-average tools -- field, arm and power -- as he develops and emerges as one most interesting prospects in the class. The young flamethrower has a super high ceiling and looks like he can man the front of a rotation one day, but that mostly depends on his ability to add strength. He shares many similarities with Eduardo Escobar. Rodriguez is still a major league-ready impact prospect and is a prime American League Rookie of the Year candidate. By virtue of this precision, he might have peak years with 20 homers or so, very similar to Brantley. Hes adept at dropping it into the top of the strike zone, around the hands of left-handed hitters who think its a fastball above the zone until it cuts down onto the corner. -- $1,200,000Eduardo Perez, OF, D.R. Rodriguezs changeup, which falls through a trap door just as it approaches the plate, is among the best secondary pitches in the minors, garnering a 42% chase and whiff rate in 2022. Hes as likely to make an incredible play as he is to botch a routine one. Even though hes been on a throwing program to strengthen his arm, Volpe still doesnt have the hose typical of a big league shortstop. He is stiff and bulky and not a lock to stay at third for a myriad of reasons. He was also one of the better rotational athletes available, with one of the loosest, most beautiful swings in the class. Hell stay in the middle of the infield for as long as he can, but his plus arm potential will serve him well if he transitions to third base in the future. There are people capable of standing out in this manner, but generally, even the most accomplished rankers tend to miss on players. He might have to augment his swing to get to all of that power, and the chase component threatens to drag the hit tool down, but guys who hit the ball this often and this hard tend to turn into good big leaguers. In the past, teams could trade for an additional 50 percent of their bonus pool, though bonus pool trades have been prohibited since MLB and the MLBPA agreed to changes in response to the pandemic. Keep an eye on these 12 Cuban free agents. He doesnt have traditional long-term power projection, but hes already so powerful that if all the pop Domnguez ever has is what hes working with now, it will still be plenty for him to be a good everyday big leaguer for as long as hes a center fielder. Back in Port St. Lucie to start 2022, Ramirez was red hot for the first month of the season, slashing a whopping .385/.423/.606 while cutting his strikeout rate by about 42% (from 31% to 18%), though his walk rate also dipped. We held our Dynasty Draft 16 Team OBP TB R SB RBI TB. He rocketed through Arizonas system in 2021, making brief stops at both A-ball levels before closing the season with six starts for Double-A Amarillo, where he then spent most of 2022 dominating to the tune of a 32% K% and 4% BB% before a late promotion to Reno. : Padres+ ($5,600,000) More 2. 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. He was working with low-90s velocity and a shapely, low-80s breaking ball at that time. Plus athlete, "true shortstop". A massive part of fantasy baseball dynasty leagues always has been and always will be prospects. The Rockies are expected to sign Jorge. While he could stand to be a little more consistent on defense (many balls got through him early this past winter with Licey), the range, bend, hands, and arm strength to play short are all comfortably here. AL East: These are the top international prospects expected to sign when the signing period for the 2021-2022 class commences in January. Hes a lovely, loose rotator for a hitter his size and is willing to use the opposite field when pitches are away from him. Leiter was wild in his first full season, but we dont want to come off him too severely since he has looked like a solid fourth starter basically every other year hes been on the prospect radar. At age 18, Domnguez spent most of his first pro season at Low-A, where he was only ok. Rust and the automated ball/strike system likely had an impact on his peripherals (31% K%, 10% BB%) in year one, but the Yankees felt they needed to send him back to the level to start 2022. But Browns fastball has the sort of action that gives pitchers margin for error in the strike zone, and his stuff is so nasty that he can be imprecise and still beat hitters. And Carroll can really motor: hes a no-doubt 80 runner and routinely posts sub-4.00 second times to first base. In a 2022 split evenly between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, he slashed an impressive .263/.392/.496 with 21 homers and 20 steals, walking nearly as much as he struck out while with the Rubber Ducks. Here are the new Top 30 Prospects lists. Roderick Arias, SS, Dominican Republic Yankees ($4,000,000) More 2. Thats a plus metric for a big leaguer and is ridiculous for a 19-year-old who hasnt totally grown into his body. On paper, Cappe has performed well from a bat-to-ball standpoint early in his career, and he has very exciting raw power projection because of his wide receiver-ish frame. There Painter showed more refinement, incorporating a handful of changeups into his outings and displaying an ability to vary breaking ball shape in different situations. Bradley has, and hes done so while building an innings count that should help vault him into the Rays rotation at some point in 2023. Manuel Cabrera, SS, D.R. Big-bodied catchers with potent bats, like Travis dArnaud, Tyler Flowers and Diaz, are the sorts who tend to take a leap later in their 20s, which is the expectation here. Scouts are putting Carlos Gonzlez comps on his body and swing, and think hell be an everyday corner guy in a few years. You may have also noticed that there are more than 100 prospects in the table below, and more than 100 scouting summaries. Busch has continued his long track record of excellent offensive performance so far in pro ball. Its important to remember these are young players who havent faced top competition yet. To call Naylors 2022 a return to form isnt exactly correct, however, because much of his resurgence was due to swing alterations that made his bat path a little more variable, which he outlined in an interview with our own David Laurila. That bat speed, in conjunction with his short levers, allows him to track pitches well, resulting in impressive swing decisions for such a young player. 4/5 starter on a contender. He tends to work contact to center and right field, especially against fastballs, and he has a clear two-strike approach where he ditches his leg kick and takes a more conservative swing. Not all of this is coming from raw power, its more from the quality of the contact Merrill makes. -- $400,000Angel Gil, OF, D.R., $375,000, D-backsYassel Soler, 3B, D.R. After he made just five starts at High-A toward the end of his breakout 2021 campaign, last season the Marlins sent the 6-foot-9, 19-year-old Prez to Double-A Pensacola, where he was an absolute buzzsaw. Merrill only hit .325/.387/.482 in 45 Cal League games, a line good for a 125 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly league and aided by a .393 BABIP. March 1, 2023. There have been prior instances of prospects, including Mike Trout and Buster Posey, who had a terrible Fall League coming off a long year simply because they were tired and then rebounded the following season. Yilber Herrera, SS, Dominican Republic Twins ($700,000) More 36. Mauricio has gotten big and strong while remaining at shortstop, but his approach remains a huge concern. : Reds+ ($3,100,000) More 5. His left-handed swing is very uphill, the sort typically associated with strikeout issues, but his levers are so short that his swing is still fairly compact. Fall League pitchers were working him in on the hands, then getting him to swing over the top of back-foot breaking balls once Veen would start to cheat on heaters in that spot. He followed up his splashy 2021 with a 2022 tidal wave, reaching Double-A Chattanooga as a 20-year-old while tabulating over 70 extra-base hits and about 40 stolen bases. 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. There might be more game power here than there is raw power, or at least more game power than youd expect from someone who has some approach-related red flags. Nelson Rada, OF, Venezuela Angels ($1,850,000) More 30. Among other things,they were docked 50 percent of their bonus pool the last few years as part of the penalties for their 2017 signing scandal. He has lost some range as his compact, ovular frame has filled out and matured, and shockingly his hands and arm accuracy (even from second base) were both concerningly bad in Venezuela. McGarry sits 95-96 mph and will bump 99 as a starter. Detroit Tigers Available Bonus: $6,431,000 Top Player: SS Cristian Santana An outstanding international find for $175,000, Peraza is a plus-run, plus-glove shortstop with average pull power. Frelicks style of hitting should enable doubles (and some triples) pop, but there isnt likely to be any kind of over-the-fence power here, so little that one could argue Frelick belongs south of the 50 FV tier even if he were a lock to stay in center field. Montgomery may provide a counterexample to the industrys obsession with hitters age in the draft room, as the former 19-year-old high schooler looks like he might be a star. 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. There isnt an official source from which to draw that info early on. 10 player on this. Instead, Buschs path may lead through the outfield, where things are less settled for Los Angeles. Barger then went to the Arizona Fall League, where his left-handed bat speed stood out among lots of other good hitting prospects. -- $797,500, AthleticsRamon Landaeta, C, Ven. Its tough to account for what sort of long-term impact Lees injury history will have on his defense, and Carlos Correas presence is also a factor, but in a vacuum he projects as an above-average everyday shortstop. Prospect Headlines Volpe's 1st spring HR a sign of things to come March 2, 2023 Flexing: Each team's top power-hitting prospect March 2, 2023 Waino unconcerned about velo dip as focus shifts to Classic March 2, 2023 'That kid is a stud': Lee has Twins gushing March 2, 2023 Healthy G-Rod back on MLB's doorstep March 2, 2023 'Who are you?' 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. Vargas is a bankable, big league-ready hitter with moderate upside, while Cappe is a risky low-level prospect with huge upside. For now, its amazing how sentient his feel to hit is considering his age and size. His swing is a Mookie Betts clone, rhythmic and athletic, though Rafaela doesnt take a very discerning at-bat the way Betts does, chasing at a whopping 40% clip in 2022. 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. After that it seemed like Ramirez was asked to try to demonstrate better plate discipline. Though he doesnt throw the pitch a ton, his changeup feel is also very good and currently more consistent than his feel for his new slider, though we expect that will come. Yorkes rhythm and timing at the plate were fantastic there, though, and were inclined to dismiss his 2022 as being the result of his injuries rather than a real regression in skill or exposure of a flaw in his offense. He shows power from both sides of the plate, especially by the right side. -- $800,000Bladimir Pichardo, RHP, D.R. 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. Here's a look at other prospects who signed for $300,000 or more: AngelsByron Castillo, OF, D.R. FantraxHQ - The Home of Fantasy Sports Analysis. OF Cristian Vaquero, Cuba: MLB.com's describes Vaquero as a "potential five-tool player with lots of potential," adding he "plays hard with lots of energy and shows tons of natural instinct in practice and in games." -- $350,000, White SoxAbraham Nunez, OF, D.R. His arm is electric, and it continues to dazzle scouts. He has a shot to break camp with the big club and play a huge role on the next Orioles contender. But all of a sudden, an influx of extraordinary high-level talent began funneling from the international market. While his delivery features a lot of effort, he has held velocity like this across a starters workload every year since he was drafted. Anthony Gutierrez, OF, Dominican Republic Rangers ($1,997,500) More 7. Esmil Valencia, OF, D.R. 10) and Yankees shortstop Oswald Peraza (No. Power and arm strength have been Cartayas headline tools since his amateur days, and despite missing lots of time in the 2020-21 window due to the pandemic and injuries, he has still developed on defense and managed his strikeout tendencies, and played enough in 2022 to reinforce industry confidence in his plate discipline across a larger sample of plate appearances. : Nationals+ ($1,300,000) More 46. 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List; Top 50 Free Agents; . Thirty-two of the players on the 2022 Top 50 International Prospects list are from the Dominican Republic. He fell deep enough in the drafts top 10 that the Twins, who were otherwise on Cam Collier, felt compelled to pop him even though they werent a fit in this regard. : Braves ($2,500,000) More 35. Still, hes poised to be a franchise cornerstone for the Orioles looming renaissance. His 2022 throwing was not quite as good as previous notes indicate, with lots of one-hoppers to the bag or throws sailing on him, though Naylors pop times remain close to average. This approach will probably cause Pages to produce batting averages that are actually beneath his true talent feel to hit, but its also a big part of why hes such a dangerous hitter, one likely to have peak seasons with 30-plus home runs. Luciano had persistent back issues that followed him to winter ball. He didnt throw a ton of strikes and the visual quality of his stuff was closer to average overall than plus or better, which is how it looked in high school. The latter is more important at this stage of his career. Hes hit 57 home runs combined the last two years while running sub-30% groundball rates and average launch angles in the 22-25 degree range, both of which are extreme by big league standards. Juan Olmos, C, Colombia Royals ($797,500) More 26. 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. We started with those base rates for every player on this years list and then manually tweaked them depending on our more specific opinions about the player. Tony Ruiz, OF, D.R.31. He has no underlying swing-and-miss issues and his massive 6-foot-5 frame still has room for more strength. He is able . Its part of why hes projected with a below-average hit tool here even though hes performed at an above-average clip in the minors. But the meal ticket here is still Ramos hit and power combination. He doesnt have huge raw juice (his peak exit velos are in the 106-108 mph range a bit shy of big league average, but still good for a player Arroyos age), and his bat-to-ball and chase rate stats are comfortably below average, but Arroyo lifts the baseball with remarkable consistency. In his first full season, Mayer slashed .280/.399/.489, hit 30 doubles and 13 homers, and was 17-for-17 on stolen base attempts as he continued the track record of premium offensive performance that hes displayed since he was a high school underclassman. Its long been seen as a potential, maybe even an obvious move, due to both Soderstroms below-average defense as a backstop, and as a way of protecting his offensive performance from the dings and scratches that are part and parcel with everyday catching. Were he an infielder, there would be times when a manager would want to substitute for him because of how rough his defense can be, but you dont really want to remove a hitter like this from your lineup in the middle of a game. OHoppe started the 2022 season at Double-A in the Phillies system before the Angels snagged him as part of the Brandon Marsh deadline deal. In fact, his dastardly mid-80s splitter, which falls off the table and finishes below the strike zone, is easily his best offering, garnering twice as many swings and misses as his fastball in 2022, and about as many whiffs as the rest of his many pitches combined. Here hes projected as a no. 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.