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MLB Top Prospects: Midseason top 150 prospects in baseball

By Benjamin Chase

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 04: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the Braves 6-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JULY 04: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the Braves 6-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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MLB Top Prospects
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 04: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves in action against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the Braves 6-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

As the major league side of the game is at the midseason break, it’s a good time to see how our MLB top prospects list has changed

We at Call To The Pen have a focus on the entire game, from the major leagues on down to amateur players that will be part of upcoming draft classes. After the June draft, how does the 150 MLB top prospects list change?

A number of players have graduated since the initial top 150 MLB top prospects list was released before the season. We’ll check out the top players who have graduated before we get into the new list.

Ronald Acuna was our top prospect before the season. He didn’t start the season in the major leagues, but he’s now just passed the rookie requirements and is no longer eligible. He’s shown flashes of brilliance for the Braves, hitting .249/.304/.438.

The #2 prospect on the list was Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese import that was a huge story of the offseason. He’s been allowed to play both ways with the Angels, hitting .283/.365/.522 with 7 home runs over 157 plate appearances and throwing 49 1/3 innings with a 3.10 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and a 20/61 BB/K ratio.

One of the best teams in baseball has used their top prospect coming into the season very well until he was recently injured. Gleyber Torres was the #8 prospect on our list. He’s a current favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, as he’s hit .294/.350/.555 with 15 home runs and played premium defense at second base.

The Dodgers brought up Walker Buehler, the preseason #16 prospect, to be in their rotation, and he’s been a big positive for them, with a 4.05 ERA over 66 2/3 innings, with a 1.22 WHIP and a 21/71 BB/K ratio.

Lewis Brinson was the Marlins opening day center fielder after being our #19 prospect. He’s played good defense, but his bat has struggled, hitting .176/.233/.329 with 12 home runs, but also with 111 strikeouts over 105 games.

Phillies infielder J.P. Crawford was our #22 prospect after a strong finish to his 2017 season, and he’s known for his defense, but he’s had some lapses in that area in 2018, and his bat hasn’t been good enough to overcome it for playing time, hitting just .202/.332/.319.

Oakland’s Franklin Barreto was our #24 prospect and has just passed the rookie requirements to bump him off prospect lists. He’s struggled this year, but he’s been consistently on a shuffle between AAA and the majors, hitting .203/.246/.390.

While these debuts have not exactly all been shining, it’s only a half season so far, so there’s plenty of chance for each player to do more!

Now, we’ll head into our midseason list, 20 players at a time until our final 10, with a quick sum of each 20 at the end of each group and a list of where the player was ranked in the preseason list.

Next: #131-150

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