Call to the pen
Fansided

Comparing the MLB Top-100 Prospects Lists

By Bobby Mueller

Aug 22, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi (40) on deck to bat against the Tampa Bay Rays during the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 22, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi (40) on deck to bat against the Tampa Bay Rays during the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /

The Next 20 (21-40)

Dodgers pitching prospect Yadier Alvarez has seen his stock rise after his first year of professional ball in 2016. He was already considered a hot commodity even before getting action in a game. Alvarez was given the second-highest signing bonus ever by the Dodgers as part of the 2015/2016 international free agent class. He pitched at two levels last year and had a 2.12 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He also struck out 81 batters in 59 1/3 innings.

Among the six sources, Alvarez has a high ranking of #8 by Call to the Pen and a low of #49 by MLB.com. He’s also ranked in the 20s by two sources and the 40s by two sources. Call to the Pen said this about him: “Alvarez topped triple digits multiple times on the year and sits with an easy mid-90s fastball on the mound that he pairs with a slider that he can use with two grips to get different looks to hitters.” He will move up to the higher levels this year and could be in Los Angeles in a couple years.

Two prospects—Reynaldo Lopez and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.—were ranked in the top 50 by five of the six sources and unranked by one. Lopez is a right-handed pitcher who was traded in the off-season from the Nationals to the White Sox as part of the Adam Eaton deal. He pitched 44 innings for the Nationals last year and had a 4.91 ERA and 1.57 WHIP. He is ranked 10th by Call to the Pen, then ranked in the 30s by three sources and 46th by MLB.com. Keith Law did not include him in his top 100, perhaps because of his major league service time.

Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. is the son of the great Vladimir Guerrero, who came very close to making the Hall of Fame this year. Vlad junior has just one Rookie League season under his belt. As a 17-year-old, he hit .271/.359/.449 for the Bluefield Blue Jays. Unlike his father, the younger Vlad knows how to take a walk. He had a healthy 12 percent walk rate, which nearly equaled his strikeout rate. He was ranked as high as 11th and as low as 48th among the five sources who ranked him, but Baseball Prospectus did not have him on their top 100.

Another player in the 21-40 range who had a big difference in ranking is right-handed pitcher Jose De Leon, who was recently traded by the Dodgers to the Rays. De Leon already has 17 innings in the big leagues. He started four games for the Dodgers last season (6.35 ERA, 15 strikeouts in 17 innings).

De Leon is ranked 8th by John Sickels. Four of the five other sources have him ranked between 23rd and 38th. Then there’s Keith Law, who has De Leon at #73 on his top 100 list. Law had this to say about De Leon in his write-up: “I think he’s a solid fourth starter, maybe right now, but he won’t match his minor league numbers unless one or more of his weapons becomes a true out pitch.”

Tyler O’Neill is an outfielder in the Mariners organization. He’s ranked between 30th and 53rd by five of the six sources, but is not in the top 100 on the Keith Law Top 100. O’Neill was a 3rd round pick in the 2013 June draft. He had a big 32-homer season playing in High-A in 2015 and followed that up with a 24 homer, 102 RBI season last year in Double-A. One issue with O’Neill is that he’s struck out close to 29 percent of the time in his four years in the minor leagues.

Home/MLB Prospects