D-backs Dodgers Giants Padres Rockies: Offseason Tools. But theres big arm speed here and big riding life to Shims fastball. It sounds like Brannigan is going to develop as a two-way player. But the improvement on his slider means he could solidify a role as a middle reliever, especially if the converted infielder is able to re-establish the fastball velos he flirted with a few years ago. FanGraphs released their top 100 prospect rankings on Wednesday. He used his upper-90s fastball for in-zone whiffs, relying on his above-average slider as a chase pitch. Scouting reports were. In some respects, its easy to assess DSL players. Even though hes so young, youre not really projecting on his frame in a positive way so much as it feels possible Kennedy could have impact command at maturity, because his delivery is so effortless and the quality of his fastball strikes so advanced. Its bat-missing capabilities are limited to the bottom arm-side portion of the zone, where this two-seam-ish fastball tends to finish. Davis was on the IL multiple times in 2022 with issues stemming from a small nondisplaced fracture of his left wrist that he suffered when he was hit by a pitch in May. Uribe, 20, is a projectable lefty with a 92-93 mph fastball and high-spin breaking ball. It should be noted that DeVitos development has been plagued by stops and starts caused first by the pandemic and then by an ulnar nerve issue that shortened his 2021 season. Pirates 2B Termarr Johnson | 18 | A | 2025. Both can be in the lineup every night because of Rodriguezs defensive versatility and the universal DH, and a more liberal timeshare behind the plate might help keep them both healthier and more consistently productive on offense. But given his age and the amount of runway still afforded to him, this was seen as a speed bump for his development rather than being of great concern at the time. Still right on the cusp of graduating from prospect eligibility, Kranick made four appearances in the minors to start the 2022 season before being called up to the major league bullpen. He can already land his breaker in the zone and its angle should help it become a viable back-foot offering to righties. As of list publication, Rodriguez is one of just two catchers on Pittsburghs 40-man roster, and while its possible hes beaten out by a veteran non-roster invitee like Tyler Heineman, Rodriguezs defensive chops and versatility give him a shot to break camp with the big club, split time with Austin Hedges, and moonlight at one or two other positions before eventually seizing the primary catcher job. From 2017-21, Webbs strikeout rate more than doubled as a result of his uptick in arm strength. His slot also helps generate two-plane sweep on his breaking ball. Hard-Throwers That puts pressure on his plate discipline to improve, since right now Lopez is a little too proactive at the plate and might be exposed at the upper levels. Aspects of the offensive profile that made him exciting in the first place are still here, led by Pegueros compact but authoritative swing, which is especially good at punishing pitches at the very top of the strike zone. In the past, Ortizs high-effort delivery and sub-optimal fastball shape put him on the starter/reliever line, but hes thrown plenty of strikes across multiple seasons while simultaneously developing more velocity and comfortably projects as a starting pitcher now. Tony Sanchez / C 6. While it may seem like a lot of time has passed since he put his name on the prospect map with his otherworldly 2018 DSL performance, Nunez is still very young; hell turn 22 during spring training, where hes a non-roster invitee. Averaging Out the Top Prospect Rankings - Pirates Prospects ), and some of the recent, perhaps overzealous examples (Maikel Escotto, Rodolfo Nolasco) are in this system. Those games were taking place amid weight-lifting and practice for the coming football season and then during the season itself, so Whites balance of strength and flexibility might change as he trains just for baseball. Gutierrez has soft, quiet hands, he doesnt tip pitch type or location with runners on base, and he will drop to one knee when he receives some pitches as a means of framing them. Acquired in a. A draft-eligible sophomore in 2022, Harrington is an athletic, pitchability righty with a tailing low-90s fastball and a power-sink changeup in the mid-80s. This was a four-year rookie-level player who had suddenly been added to the Royals 40-man roster after the 2021 season even though he had all of 32 innings above Low-A. A second base-only defensive fit puts the onus on Pegueros bat to perform at an everyday level. He was Rule 5 eligible after the season, and hitters who have performed that well at High-A tend to be added to their clubs 40-man roster, but Lopez doesnt have a crystal clear defensive home and his plate discipline needs a lot of seasoning, so he wasnt a real threat to be taken. Not counting his time at the alt site in 2020, last season was Boltons first time back in competitive action since 2019. Roelmy Garcia, RHP Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Scott, Siani, and Campana all have big physical tools and have all struggled badly from a bat-to-ball standpoint. Rodriguezs arm is comfortably plus. He then played for Taiwans National Team at the WBSC U23 World Cup and helped los Caimanes de Barranquilla win the Colombian Winter League and later the Caribbean Series. Some of his early-career success seems to have stemmed from his physical maturity. As FanGraphs sourced TrackMan/Hawkeye data from team personnel after the season, De Los Santos hard hit rate and peak exit velocities stood apart from most of his peers, especially when limiting the sample to the DSLs age-appropriate players. A proactive bullpen move could put him in position to debut in 2024. Theyve tripled since his claim-staking 2019 DSL season and Nolsaco Kd at a whopping 34% rate in the 2022 Florida State League. Hell also show you a 92-96 mph fastball that plays down a bit due to its shape and Jimenezs lack of command, which caused him to walk 5.8 per 9 IP in 2022. 2011 Top 10 Prospects: Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates He was throwing as hard as ever when he returned but still got shelled, and was quite wild at Double-A before he was sent to Arizona to audition to keep his 40-man spot with Kansas City. Nunez started 2022 at St. Louis Double-A affiliate before being dealt to Pittsburgh as part of the Jos Quintana deal at the trade deadline. Fantasy Update: 2023 Re-Draft Top 25/Dynasty Top 120 They had a ton of depth and a need to fill their Triple-A roster with external veterans in case of injury, and its likely that they mis-evaluated some of their own players who they should have protected, players like Trey McGough, Cristian Charle, Joelvis Del Rosario, Austin Roberts, Wilkin Ramos, Jared Oliva, and Peter Solomon, all of whom have either been on past prospect lists or were flagged for interesting performance or characteristics during this list cycle. The power might be enough to make him a 1-WAR player if given regular at-bats in the big leagues, but as a second base-only defender, its hard to find an on-roster role for a player like this if they arent hitting enough to play there all the time. Their top ten, in. Quick backfield looks at him have his tools in more of an extra outfielder bucket for now. He spins the hell out of everything that leaves his hand, in particular his slider, which averaged over 2,700 rpm, but his inability to fine tune his command puts a damper on its utility (his walk rate was an untenable 12.4% across his 75.2 innings of work). He seems able to make some mid at-bat adjustments to this type of pitch but then ends up playing a guessing game with breaking balls. Johnson was a well-regarded prospect basically as soon as he reached high school, and there were scouts who were so excited when they first watched him hit that they considered him a future top 5-10 pick when he was only a freshman. Readers should note that taking an aggressive line with players like this has yielded predictably mixed results in the past (so far, so good: Kevin Alcantara, Marco Luciano, Alexander Canario, Jordy Vargas, etc. You can see the power and athleticism in Davis lower half throughout other aspects of his game, and its an indication that he has the ability to polish this stuff up and control the running game. Ricky Tiedemann is one of the fastest-rising pitching prospects in the game. Chandler started the 2022 season on the complex, where he showed two-way promise, slashing .231/.444/.654 over 36 plate appearances while annihilating opposing batters, issuing 27 strikeouts and giving up just three hits without allowing a run over 15.1 innings. All major league baseball data including pitch type, velocity, batted ball location, ago It shows above-average arm-side action on occasion, but hes only throwing it 12% of the time. Pittsburgh Pirates Top 43 Prospects by Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin February 9, 2023 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports Top Prospects Team Lists 2023 2022 AL NL Below is an analysis. He spent much of the season leading off for Altoona, where he slashed .282/.376/.419 and stole 24 stolen bases. As you can probably imagine of a Division-I football commit, White is already very physical, buff to the point where he looked a little bit stiff during his pre-draft summer. Thats a very walkable path. 2023 600 PA / 200 IP Projections Steamer600. His delivery also creates an odd angle on a mid-80s cutter/slider, which Solometo commands to his glove side. Indeed, of his offerings, only his four-seamer had a whiff rate above the big league average, and he struggled to keep that pitch competitive, only throwing it for a strike 57% of the time. Opinions around Shim vary because he offers less physical projection than is typical in the international talent space, even for an older pitcher. Fourth-round high school pitcher Owen Kellington was a participant in the 2021 Draft League and Combine, and looked like an interesting, slow-burning developmental prospect prior to a hamstring injury than ended his 2022 season. Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Top 50 Prospects January 1, 2021 Kyle Brown General, MiLB, NL Central, Pirates, Top 50 Lists 2 Graphic design by John Stewart, @jonance on Twitter The Pirates had a woeful time in 2020 once the season got going. Even with that in mind, any team would be happy to sign a teenager with this kind of stuff for just $750,000 of their bonus pool. RotoGraphs. Those risks apply here. Barco is a low-slot lefty with advanced command and several underlying pitch traits that give clubs hope of more upside even though he looks like a lower-variance backend starter prospect on the surface. Spotty command and limited fastball utility push Mlodzinski into a multi-inning relief role. Hudson Head, CF Back with former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom in Arizona . Johnsons swing bears some mechanical resemblance to Bryce Harpers, especially its lower half usage and finish. There were only three big league hitters with 100 plate appearances who had sub-70% in-zone contact rates in 2022 (Chris Morel, Brett Phillips, Eli White). Moreover, he has one of the more unusual profiles in professional baseball. Jimenez has a very good sweeping, upper-70s curveball and creates plus action on a changeup that he sells with fantastic arm speed. It can be found here. Poised to compete for a rotation spot when 2023 camp breaks, Ortiz is one of a few high-upside Pirates youngsters who look like theyd fit in a contenders rotation. If this were a high school draft prospect, you would already know his name based purely on how explosive De Los Santos is in the batters box. He moved into a minor league relief role in 2022. But he was then shut down and had TJ, which ended his season early enough that he could be back in 2023. Nicolas has consistent glove-side command of his entire repertoire, and he tends to live on that half of the plate exclusively. Quants and front office analyst types are more bearish, citing issues with Priesters fastball playability. His four-seamer was around the same velo as it had been at the alt site, sitting comfortably at 93 mph and maxing out at 95. Scouting reports are. A successful 2022 pro debut (47.2 IP, 9.63 K/9, 3.59 BB/9, 2.64 ERA) driven by very advanced fastball command contrasts with skepticism about how Solometos stuff will play against older and better hitters. Webbs velocity began to climb in 2019, when he went from sitting 89-92 mph to sitting 90-94 and touching 96. wNS9+ With @longenhagen Discussing the @fangraphs Pirates Top Prospect List You found it controversial, so we discussed it Subscribe & Listen http://linktr.ee . Sammy Siani, LF. Thats hard enough to do for any batter, let alone one whose schedule also includes the grueling demands of pitching development. Hes been able to maintain nearly average contact rates despite a pull-heavy approach to contact. Barcos long, low arm slot creates a flat approach angle, but hes not really inclined to climb the ladder and pitch at the top of the zone right now, instead living on the arm-side third of the plate with sink and tail. He has a delivery similar to Ubaldo Jimnezs, where his front side flies way open and he tilts out, which helps Kellington get to a vertical arm slot. Pittsburgh to add him to their 40-man roster after the season, indicating that hell be a big league relief option in 2023. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he . Mlodzinski started for most of his 2022 season at Double-A but was called upon for middle-inning relief on a few occasions, and though it was only a handful of appearances, he was more effective as a reliever than as a starter.