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Baseball’s 50 Top Prospects: 40-31

By Benjamin Chase

Mar 9, 2016; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Colorado Rockies center fielder David Dahl (67) catches a fly ball in the second inning against the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 9, 2016; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Colorado Rockies center fielder David Dahl (67) catches a fly ball in the second inning against the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports /
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Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports /

40. Joseph Musgrove, RHP, Houston Astros

One of the biggest “pop-up” prospects this season has been Musgrove, who was only ranked on one of the 3 “major” top-100 lists coming into the 2016 season, and that was Baseball America, who ranked him #83. Now he’s strongly considered the next guy to come up for the Astros as he’s combined between AA and AAA for a 2.98 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP over 66 1/3 innings, with a 9/65 BB/K ratio.

The 6’5, 265 pound right hander was a compensatory first round selection in the 2011 draft by the Blue Jays. He was acquired as part of a 10-player trade in July of 2012.

Musgrove has always thrived on excellent control, but he had some minor arm issues early in his career, which limited his innings. Now that the innings limits are off, he’s really able to use the exceptional command/control that he has to spot the ball essentially wherever he chooses.

Musgrove doesn’t have any exceptional offering, working with a fastball in the low-90s, a slider in the low- to mid-80s, and a change in the low-80s, but his ability to get excellent movement on all three pitches and locate them extremely well allows him to pitch beyond his individual pitch grades.

39. Amed Rosario, SS, New York Mets

Rosario was signed by the Mets in July 2012 for a huge bonus of $1.75M, the largest paid to a Dominican player that summer. Scouts raved about his defense and stated that his bat will take some time to come around, and worried that there wasn’t ever going to be a lot of speed or power to go with the contact skills.

Instead, Rosario’s defense was very raw, and he struggled through some rough seasons in his first two seasons, but the Mets stuck with him, seeing the raw skills, including his incredible arm. Then last season in high-A at 19 years old, he took big steps forward on defense. This year, the offense has followed as he’s split time between high-A and AA, hitting .317/.368/.459.

Rosario’s improved his eye quite a bit as well this year at the plate, which has helped him square up balls much better, and while he’ll likely never be a guy who hits 20 home runs, he’s got very solid base running instincts, and he’s already hit 9 triples on the season.

Next: #38 & #37

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