The Updated Top 131 Prospect Rankings

June 11, 2018

With two months of the minor-league season now complete and the draft also finished, it’s an appropriate time to publish a revised version of our preseason top-100 list. The list is below. Notes about methodology and specific players appear below that.

Rank	Prev.	Name	Team	Pos	Age	FV	Trend
1	2	Ronald Acuña	ATL	CF	20.5	70	↑
2	3	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	TOR	3B	19.2	70	↑
3	5	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SD	SS	19.4	65
4	6	Eloy Jimenez	CHW	RF	21.5	65
5	4	Victor Robles	WAS	CF	21.1	65
6	7	Nick Senzel	CIN	3B	22.9	60
7	8	Forrest Whitley	HOU	RHP	20.7	60
8	9	Bo Bichette	TOR	2B	20.3	60
9	45	Juan Soto	WAS	RF	19.6	60	↑
10	10	Kyle Tucker	HOU	RF	21.4	60
11	11	Willy Adames	TB	SS	22.8	60
12	18	Brendan Rodgers	COL	SS	21.8	60
13	19	Sixto Sanchez	PHI	RHP	19.9	60	↑
14	22	Brendan McKay	TB	LHP/1B	22.5	60	↑
15	20	Michael Kopech	CHW	RHP	22.1	60
16	33	MacKenzie Gore	SD	LHP	19.3	60	↑
17	21	Luis Robert	CHW	CF	20.9	60
18	23	Mitch Keller	PIT	RHP	22.2	60
19	17	Francisco Mejia	CLE	C/3B	22.6	60	↓
20	28	Luis Urias	SD	2B	21.0	55	↑
21	24	Keston Hiura	MIL	2B	21.9	55
22	32	Franklin Barreto	OAK	CF	22.3	55
23	34	Mike Soroka	ATL	RHP	20.9	55
24	26	Kyle Wright	ATL	RHP	22.7	55	↓
25	15	Brent Honeywell	TB	RHP	23.2	55	↓
26	31	Luiz Gohara	ATL	LHP	21.9	55	↓
27	35	Corbin Burnes	MIL	RHP	23.6	55
28	37	Cristian Pache	ATL	CF	19.6	55
29	38	Royce Lewis	MIN	CF	19.0	55
30	39	Justus Sheffield	NYY	LHP	22.1	55
31	NR	Casey Mize	DET	RHP	21.1	55
32	44	Yordan Alvarez	HOU	LF	21.0	55	↑
33	NR	Nick Madrigal	CHW	2B	21.2	55
34	40	Carter Kieboom	WAS	3B	20.8	55
35	30	A.J. Puk	OAK	LHP	23.1	55	↓
36	42	Hunter Greene	CIN	RHP	18.8	55
37	47	Austin Meadows	PIT	LF	23.1	50	↑
38	49	Jesus Sanchez	TB	RF	20.7	50	↑
39	43	Jake Bauers	TB	RF	22.7	50	↑
40	55	Austin Riley	ATL	3B	21.2	50	↑
41	45	Ian Anderson	ATL	RHP	20.1	50
42	56	Ke’Bryan Hayes	PIT	3B	21.4	50
43	48	Alex Verdugo	LAD	RF	22.1	50
44	46	Willie Calhoun	TEX	DH	23.6	50	↓
45	57	Taylor Trammell	CIN	CF	20.7	50	↑
46	36	Anthony Alford	TOR	CF	23.9	50	↓
47	70	Jesus Luzardo	OAK	LHP	20.7	50	↑
48	51	Triston McKenzie	CLE	RHP	20.9	50
49	73	Adonis Medina	PHI	RHP	21.5	50	↑
50	59	Albert Abreu	NYY	RHP	22.7	50
51	60	Touki Toussaint	ATL	RHP	22.0	50
52	61	Tyler O’Neill	STL	RF	23.0	50
53	NR	Chris Paddack	SD	RHP	22.4	50	↑
54	41	Michel Baez	SD	RHP	22.4	50	↓
55	62	Anderson Espinoza	SD	RHP	20.3	50
56	63	Dustin Fowler	OAK	CF	23.4	50
57	NR	Joey Bart	SF	C	21.5	50
58	64	Will Smith	LAD	C	23.2	50
59	66	Jo Adell	LAA	RF	19.2	50
60	71	Danny Jansen	TOR	C	23.2	50	↑
61	58	Jorge Mateo	OAK	CF	23.0	50	↓
62	77	Nick Gordon	MIN	2B	22.6	50
63	81	Sean Murphy	OAK	C	23.7	50
64	NR	Shane Bieber	CLE	RHP	23.0	50	↑
65	HM	Keibert Ruiz	LAD	C	19.9	50	↑
66	97	Brandon Marsh	LAA	CF	20.5	50	↑
67	99	Alex Kirilloff	MIN	RF	20.6	50	↑
68	NR	Travis Swaggerty	PIT	CF	20.8	50
69	52	Monte Harrison	MIA	CF	22.8	50	↓
70	69	Jahmai Jones	LAA	2B	20.9	50
71	85	Carson Kelly	STL	C	23.9	50
72	80	Yu Chang	CLE	SS	22.8	50
73	NR	Peter Alonso	NYM	1B	23.5	50	↑
74	86	Leody Taveras	TEX	CF	19.8	50
75	91	Zack Collins	CHW	1B	23.3	50
76	68	Tristen Lutz	MIL	RF	19.8	50	↓
77	NR	Alec Bohm	PHI	3B	21.9	50
78	HM	Shed Long	CIN	2B	22.8	50	↑
79	87	Isan Diaz	MIA	2B	22.0	50
80	HM	Christin Stewart	DET	DH	24.5	50	↑
81	74	Cole Tucker	PIT	SS	21.9	50	↓
82	NR	Dennis Santana	LAD	RHP	22.2	50	↑
83	76	Nate Pearson	TOR	RHP	21.8	50	↓
84	88	Jon Duplantier	ARI	RHP	23.9	50
85	79	Estevan Florial	NYY	CF	20.5	50	↓
86	NR	Micker Adolfo	CHW	RF	21.7	50	↑
87	NR	Griffin Canning	LAA	RHP	22.1	50	↑
88	HM	Seuly Matias	KC	RF	19.8	50
89	HM	Heliot Ramos	SF	CF	18.8	50
90	78	Max Fried	ATL	LHP	24.4	50	↓
91	HM	Dane Dunning	CHW	RHP	23.5	50
92	84	Joey Wentz	ATL	LHP	20.7	50	↓
93	NR	Matthew Liberatore	TB	LHP	18.6	50
94	NR	Drew Waters	ATL	CF	19.4	50	↑
95	NR	Nolan Gorman	STL	3B	18.1	50
96	NR	Jarred Kelenic	NYM	CF	18.9	50
97	NR	Jonathan India	CIN	3B	21.5	50
98	NR	Carter Stewart	ATL	RHP	18.6	50
99	NR	Brett Cumberland	ATL	C	23.0	50	↑
100	NR	Cole Winn	TEX	RHP	18.5	50
101	92	Bobby Bradley	CLE	1B	22.0	50	↓
102	NR	Trevor Larnach	MIN	RF	21.3	50
103	NR	Andres Gimenez	NYM	SS	19.8	50	↑
104	HM	Aramis Ademan	CHC	SS	19.7	50
105	HM	Kolby Allard	ATL	LHP	20.8	50
106	HM	Adrian Morejon	SD	LHP	19.3	50
107	HM	Corey Ray	MIL	CF	23.7	50
108	93	Jose Siri	CIN	CF	22.9	50	↓
109	HM	Wander Franco	TB	SS	17.3	50
110	HM	Sandy Alcantara	MIA	RHP	22.8	50
111	89	Zack Burdi	CHW	RHP	23.3	50
112	54	Yadier Alvarez	LAD	RHP	22.3	50	↓
113	72	Alec Hansen	CHW	RHP	23.7	50	↓
114	67	Jorge Guzman	MIA	RHP	22.4	50	↓
115	100	Franklin Perez	DET	RHP	20.5	50	↓
116	HM	Adbert Alzolay	CHC	RHP	23.3	50
117	94	Braxton Garrett	MIA	LHP	20.8	50
118	75	Riley Pint	COL	RHP	20.6	50	↓
119	HM	Matt Manning	DET	RHP	20.4	50
120	HM	Shane Baz	PIT	RHP	19.0	50
121	96	Cole Ragans	TEX	LHP	20.5	50	↓
122	98	Jay Groome	BOS	LHP	19.8	50	↓
123	NR	Nick Neidert	MIA	RHP	21.6	50	↑
124	HM	Logan Allen	SD	LHP	21.0	50
125	HM	Cal Quantrill	SD	RHP	23.3	50
126	HM	Beau Burrows	DET	RHP	21.7	50
127	HM	Luis Medina	NYY	RHP	19.1	50
128	HM	Stephen Gonsalves	MIN	LHP	23.9	50
129	HM	Franklyn Kilome	PHI	RHP	23.0	50
131	HM	Anthony Banda	TB	LHP	24.8	50	↓

For reference, HM is Honorable Mention, meaning a 50 FV prospect who didn’t make the top 100 on the preseason list. NR means Not Ranked, which is either a 40 or 45 FV prospect from the offseason ranking or a drafted player who just entered the player pool for this list. Since the gap between the 100th-ranked prospect and the lowest 50 FV, or 131st-ranked prospect, is rather small, we decided to just rank them all in order.

Shohei Ohtani graduates off the top off the list. Ronald Acuna and Vlad Guerrero Jr. move up into the 70 FV tier. Acuna was running better than he was last year before his knee injury and had been hitting well, as a 20-year-old, in the big leagues. Guerrero suffered a knee injury of his own recently and will miss a month. Reports on his defense early this year have been encouraging enough that we think he’ll be okay there for a while, but we still think he eventually moves to first base.

Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar, Alex Reyes, and Lewis Brinson graduate from the tier of 60 FVs. MacKenzie Gore moved into the 60s, as his stuff electric, clearly among the best in the minors from a repertoire quality/depth perspective, before he began dealing with blister issues which kept him out until this past Sunday. Some of the other 60s have been shuffled around a spot pr two due to injury or varied performance, the most significant of which is Francisco Mejia, who moves to the back of the tier due to his anemic start. Juan Soto rocketed through the minors faster than we expected (and faster than any teenager since Alex Rodriguez) and moves ahead of Kyle Tucker, who has comparable tools but is a level below the younger Soto, who is off to a great big-league start.

Walker Buehler, Scott Kingery, and J.P. Crawford graduated off the 55 FV tier. Brent Honeywell moved from the 60 FV tier into the 55s due to Tommy John. A.J. Puk moved toward the back of the 55 FV tier for the same reason. Luiz Gohara was difficult because he has been hurt twice and barely pitched, but he’s had a tumultuous several months that’s included severe family illness and death, so his issues have a likely source. Yordan Alvarez had a torrid start before injury and moved into the tier of 55 FVs. Note the complete lack of corner bats in the Nos. 6-30 range on the list, other than Alvarez, who we think can be a middle-of-the-order force if he can stay healthy.

The 50 FV tier has the most movement, which should be the case considering that there are more, tightly packed players. Michel Baez moves down from the 55 FV tier after contending with back injury this spring and diminished velo (94-97 last year, 92-95 this spring). He’s been passed by Chris Paddack, whose stuff is back after surgery and currently better than Baez’s. Anthony Alford also moved down due to continued injuries and swing-and-miss issues when healthy. The latter goes, too, for Monte Harrison.

Other big movers include Jesus Luzardo, who is now at Double-A and has a better three-pitch mix than Triston McKenzie, ahead of whom he now appears. A wide swath of injured pitchers move to the back of the 50 FV tier, ahead of the softer, near-ready fourth-starter types who round out the back of our list. Graduates from this tier: Tyler Mahle, Jack Flaherty, Colin Moran, Brian Anderson, Ryan McMahon, Brandon Woodruff, Fernando Romero, Joey Lucchesi, Christian Arroyo, Jesse Winker, Chance Sisco.

Some players who totally fell off and moved from the low-end 50 FV tier and into the 45s include Michael Chavis (PEDs), Austin Hays (who is 23 and tanking at Double-A), J.B. Bukauskas (who was a 50 because we thought he’d be a quick-moving reliever but is now hurt and can’t move), James Kaprielian (another injury), Freicer Perez, Chris Rodriguez (stress fracture in back), Yohander Mendez (stuff keeps backing up), Jose Israel Garcia (looks nothing like the player international scouts described), Kevin Maitan (ditto), Jose Adolis Garcia (swing-and-miss/approach issues), Lucas Erceg (ditto), Trent Grisham (just the swing and miss).

There will be a full update of THE BOARD coming in the next week or so. It will include updated rankings and scouting grades on all of the 800 or so prospects who we feel are the best in the minors, along with added columns and expanded information.