Though he doesnt throw the pitch a ton, his changeup feel is also very good and currently more consistent than his feel for his new slider, though we expect that will come. Built like human skyscraper, Prez has incredible control of his limbs for a pitcher this tall, this age, and who throws this hard. 
Thanks to his looseness and flexibility (again, think a lankier Gerrit Cole), not only does Abel project to maintain this level of velocity, but perhaps hell add to it as his frame fills out. He slid within this FV tier but his grade didnt change, and hes still a pretty good bet to be a no. He projects as a contact-oriented everyday shortstop, though one scouting director we spoke with for this list still wants to see what hed look like on the mound. Position-wise, there are 20 infielders, 18 outfielders, five catchers, six pitchers and one two-way player. Defensively, lvarez is a bit of a mixed bag. Cartaya had a whopping 41% hard-hit rate in 2022, which is already better than that of the average big league starting catcher (hes 21! He went from throwing 86 mph in October to now touching 93 mph. Diaz has plus, all-fields power and covers the outer third of the plate especially well. Hes adept at dropping it into the top of the strike zone, around the hands of left-handed hitters who think its a fastball above the zone until it cuts down onto the corner. He struggled to frame low pitches and one-hoppers would find a way through his wickets. He ultimately fell to the White Sox at 22nd overall, and a little over a year removed from his selection, that looks like an absolute steal. He finished that season with a 10-game A-ball stint, where he struck out in 16 of his 42 plate appearances. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb. You can do some thought exercises around where hed go were Noelvi a 21-year-old draft prospect, or play would you rather with the names of other prospects to try to triangulate where he should fall on the FV scale, and all of that went into placing him here. He debuted with Boston late in the season and flashed the titanic power that promises to make him a valuable big league regular, while also running the high walk and strikeout rates that readers should expect from him going forward. Browns stuff was already good at Wayne, and it leveled up pretty quickly after he signed, but it was the strike throwing that took a step forward in 2022 and led to his September call-up. Especially in the Venezuelan Winter League, Rocchio has been struggling (and perhaps regressing) in the field. The addition of a leg kick in 2021 increased his power output without disrupting his timing at the plate, and now Steer has a well-rounded hit/patience/power toolkit that would profile in a 50 FV capacity at any non-first base position. And Carroll can really motor: hes a no-doubt 80 runner and routinely posts sub-4.00 second times to first base. His in-zone contact numbers improved throughout 2022, even after promotion. Add to that his plus-plus defense at an up-the-middle position, and hes on track for star-level everyday center field role. Those teams have largely turned their attention to the 2025 and 2026 classes over the past year. The bat is Guanipas calling card as he has shown excellent bat-to-ball instincts with quick bat speed and the ability to drive the ball to all fields. He ran a 6.95 ERA in Triple-A throughout 2022 but the hitting environment in Reno isnt fair to pitchers, and Jamesons stuff, control, and athleticism are all on par with a good teams fourth starter. His finishing pitch, though, is his slider, a nasty upper-80s sweeper that generated a 50% whiff rate and 38% chase rate in 2022. At one point, his in-zone contact rate was in the ninth percentile among minor leaguers, even while his triple slash line was out of this world. Acevedo is not a burner on the bases but can contribute a few stolen bases a year. Not all of the pitchers who showed a velocity increase during 2020 Instructional League activity, which came after the prolonged pandemic layoff, have sustained that bump. His arm slot is not as deliberately north/south as before, but his fastball still plays as an in-zone bat-misser because of his angle and carry. His mid-80s slider was his go-to secondary, but his command was spotty throughout the season, to the tune of a 5.44 BB/9 over the course of his 92.2 innings. Still, hes poised to be a franchise cornerstone for the Orioles looming renaissance. Milwaukee has had success in international signings over the last few seasons with Jackson Chourio skyrocketing up rankings in 2022. Jung was an elite college performer at Texas Tech he posted a .348/.455/.577 line with more walks than strikeouts throughout his career but didnt hit for huge home run power there, in part because he tended to work the opposite field. Hes hovering at or below the big league average in most chase and contact rate categories, while generating impressive power for a shortstop his age. Its worth developing him at catcher for at least a while since that position is at the very top of the defensive spectrum, and Paradas other seemingly viable positions are at or near the bottom. His secondary pitch recognition is not good, and he both needs to stay at shortstop and continue getting to all of his considerable power for an everyday profile to hold water. Before the 2022 draft there was again buzz that some teams were off Lee because of his medical, and also that Lee and his family preferred that he stay as close to home as possible by joining a team that trains in Arizona. Here Berry projects as a DH. Tristan Vukcevic (2003, 6-11, F/C, Partizan) is hoping to turn things around this season in Partizan, as in the past he has shown potential as a Stretch Big. In a typical year, wed have a couple more than that, and sometimes as many as five or six, but this year there are only two. Because the White Sox had so many good prospects in Birmingham toward the end of the season, it was extremely efficient to source scouts and conduct film study from that time period. Salas is extremely polished for his ageboth as a hitter and as a catcherto the point where he even got playing time in winter ball in the Venezuelan League where he caught and hit against players more than a decade older than him. For instance, Dodgers 2B/LF Miguel Vargas and Marlins shortstop Yiddi Cappe are both 50 FV prospects, but other than them both being Cuban, they are nothing alike. 10) and Yankees shortstop Oswald Peraza (No. His Trackman data makes clear why his offense is so worthy of this line of development. The bumps and bruises that come with catching 100 games often make it tough for catchers to sustain peak offensive performance, and Cartaya hasnt been exposed to that yet. Here he stays in the same FV tier as last year but falls within that tier due to his 2022 performance. Even with the back issue, the Giants put Luciano on their 40-man roster during the winter. 4 prospect in Miami's system and said his "offensive skills will make him a valuable player." If the Giants are contending for a playoff spot, he may be called up during the 2023 season, perhaps first in a bullpen capacity, but he projects as an eventual impact starter. Theres enough hit/power combination for Neto to be a first-division regular there. With Martn Maldonado and Korey Lee around, Diaz will be able to ease into the everyday waters and start some games at 1B/DH to get his bat into the lineup. Hes not quite as deft a hitter from the right side, but hes still plenty dangerous. Roughly 30 percent of current MLB players were originally signed as international free agents, including stars like Ronald Acua Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Juan Soto, and Julio Uras. Thats a 31% K% and 8% BB% across twice as many innings as the year before, when Miller was being built back up from the shortened 2020 season. Keith was in the AFL because he missed all but about two months of the regular season with a shoulder injury. The fantasy draw to Duno is the potential plus raw power that resides in his bat that some evaluators have said could be a 30-home-run bat at the major league level. He plays with the high center of gravity more typical of an outfielder, and has a hard time flipping his hips to make fundamentally typical throws if hes had to range left to field a groundball. He has the speed to play out there, but Frelick is not a crisp center fielder, and later in the 2022 season he saw lots of time in left (though some of it was due to the sudden presence of Esteury Ruiz), where he also looked tentative. He may just be a DH, which would obviously make it tougher for him to profile, but there may be elite on-base ability here and that plus the power might be enough for Julien to make an impact that way, too. More striking than his velocity itself is the ease with which Espino generates it. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. Romos offensive performance is impressive considering he only turned 21 near the end of the 2022 season, though in another sense its troubling because hes such a physical guy and yet has such poor ball-striking power. He signed for $5.1 million in 2019 as easily the toolsiest player in his signing class, a plus-plus running center fielder with huge switch-hitting power. A slower curveball and occasional mid-80s changeup give Jameson the weapons to work through a lineup multiple times even though theyre just fair. His split/changeup (it only has about 1,300 rpm of spin, definitely in split territory) has plus sinking action, but the direction of its lateral movement is highly variable. He then spent all of 2022 at Double-A and punched out 33.1%, while trimming his walk rate down to just 7.5%. He also features a looser breaking ball in his high-70s curveball, and his changeup flashes plus, but he hasnt yet maintained his feel for it, which may ultimately represent the difference between his future as a back-end starter and his viability as a solid number three. The lateral agility to block pitches in the dirt is obviously here, though Naylor is sometimes late getting to the ground. There are guidelines for signing prospects. All rights reserved. He returned in the spring of 2021, but tore his ACL and missed all of that season as well. Keith made his 2021 pro debut solely as a position player and moved into the top 100 in the middle of 2022 on the strength of his offensive performance, most notably his huge uptick in power. A complete prospect and a total baseball rat, Lawlar had been a touted amateur as an underclassman and held serve as a near top-of-the-class talent for two or three years, even amid the volatility of the 2020 draft process. There are plenty of good players on the big league O-Swing% leaderboard, including many young stars, but these issues together create hit tool-related bust risk for Elly. The components of Hernandezs swing push and pull against one another, as his cut is pretty long but he also has very advanced barrel control. Currently a plus runner, Mayea could be a base-stealing threat as he moves through the minor leagues and could post 20-plus stolen bases at the major league level. Waldichuk came to Oakland as part of the return for Frankie Montas, bringing with him a nicely shaped four-seamer and an intimidating, sweepy slider with tons of horizontal movement. The bat is impactful enough to consider him a high-probability big leaguer regular of some kind, even at the bottom of the defensive hierarchy. CLICK HERE FOR 2023 MLB INTERNATIONAL PROSPECT BONUS BOARD. If Eder is wild upon his initial return to affiliated ball, it will be tough to know if hes regressed to his career command mean or if its just rust from being 17 months post-op. Forty-two of the 57 games he played in the Carolina League came at ballparks with park factors of 116 or more, per research conducted annually by Baseball Americas Matt Eddy. By virtue of this precision, he might have peak years with 20 homers or so, very similar to Brantley. Luis Morales, RHP, CubaThe right-hander is one of the most interesting and dynamic prospects in the class. The 55 FV pitchers and above tend to have some combination of monster stuff and good command, whereas the 50 FV pitchers often have one or the other. Inactive Players Notes & Legend This year's newly eligible players were born between Sept. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31, 2006. International bonus pools, the money teams can spend on players, are tied to revenue and market size, with small-market teams getting the biggest bonus pools and large market teams getting the smallest. That said, bonuses of $10,000 or less do not count against the bonus pool, but that doesn't mean the players getting those checks shouldn't get some attention too. Right now, hes notching six outs every five days or so, a number the org would surely like to see increase as he ramps up his innings. He was added to the 40-man roster at the end of the season and should become part of the Rangers rotation at some point in 2023. window.FGWebsite_head_section.buildProspectsListTop100Controls(); From the left side, he shows doubles power and hits line drives. During his time in New Yorks system, he underwent an overhaul to his mechanics and now throws with a more typical starters delivery, characterized by impressive flexibility in his shoulders and back. lvarez has been one of the more hyped prospects in the Mets system since signing out of Venezuela in 2018 for nearly $3 million, and he has largely lived up to that hype. With breathtaking bat speed, he wraps the head of his bat over his back shoulder, keeping it pointed toward the mound well after the pitcher releases the ball, then whips it through the zone so quickly that he still manages to make contact in front of the plate. Instead, Buschs path may lead through the outfield, where things are less settled for Los Angeles. He practically straddles the plate and was hit by 20 pitches during an injury-shortened regular season, then was somehow beaned seven more times in just 17 Arizona Fall League games. The defense is plus grades across the board and should move him through the minor leagues as long as the bat produces. A downward cutting swing and middling rotational athleticism limit Carters offensive impact to the doubles variety, and even though hes young and has a huge, rectangular frame, Carters lack of explosiveness tempers long-term raw power projection here, and we consider him more of a high-floor prospect than a future star. M.J. Melendezs 2019 and Bo Naylors 2020 are recent examples of otherwise good-hitting catchers who had a terrible offensive season in the mid-minors followed by an immediate and significant rebound the following year. 
He is much more adept at doing this from the left side; his righty swing is relatively grooved. Big league sliders might force Davis to make an adjustment, but so far his contact performance has been solidly average. He had Tommy John in August of 2019 and rehabbed during a 2020 season that he would have missed anyway. As is often the case with top international prospects, Salas has been on the scouting radar for quite some time even though he is only 16. Still, lvarez was 20 and facing Double- and Triple-A pitching, and its prudent to project growth in this area. He struggles with softer stuff in the bottom of the strike zone, and his in-zone and overall contact rates in 2022 were 78% and 70% respectively, an area similar to Nolan Gorman, Franchy Cordero, Bobby Dalbec and others who have tantalizing power but have sometimes been frustrating big league hitters. As you would probably expect from a hitter with such a steep swing (this is about as steep as one can get without it becoming a problem), Pages swings and misses a fair bit, but not enough that it makes his prospecthood feel flimsy. Merrill is Michael Brantley, except at shortstop. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Many other teams knew of Carter, but did not know his prospectdom in a thorough sense; some thought he was unsignable, others were entirely unaware of him, as we were. section: | slug: mlb-international-signing-period-top-players-bonus-pools-what-else-to-know-as-padres-land-no-1-prospect | sport: baseball | route: article_single.us | The hit/power combination to profile at third base is pretty comfortably here, and Caminero might yet come into more power at physical maturity. And unlike in the United States, where players often commit to a college when they're 14 but are still scouted intensely by major league teams leading up to draft day, once an international player commits to a team, they stop going to showcases and typically aren't scouted much in a competitive environment by other clubs. He also plays solid defense and it will keep him at shortstop as he makes his way through the Minor Leagues. Mathew Strazel (2002, 6-0, G, ASVEL) has lost some fanfare the last couple of years, but he is hoping to regain some ground next season. Victor Wembanyama (2004, 7-3, F/C, Metropolitans 92) Its been almost 3 years since the He has a pronounced bat wrap. As both the Twins and Reds (Steer was drafted by Minnesota and came to Cincinnati in the Tyler Mahle trade) searched for a viable defensive position for Steer, he backed into valuable defensive versatility that should keep him on the field in all but a few game situations. For example, based on Craigs research, the average 60 FV hitter on a list becomes a perennial 5-plus WAR player over his six controlled years 26% of the time, and has a 27% chance of accumulating, at most, a couple of WAR during his six controlled years. He can absolutely fly and will occasionally do some impressive stuff at the dish, especially when he bends out over the plate to whack breaking stuff away from him. The Phillies pushed him aggressively, going all the way to Double-A Reading late in 2022. The FV grade is more important than the ordinal ranking. He does look quite vulnerable out there but it isnt an issue opposing pitchers have consistently been able to exploit just yet. Espino barely throws his low-90s changeup, but he still has good feel for locating it in an enticing location away from lefty batters, and even that and his rarely-used curveball (combined, he threw those pitches 8% of the time in 2021) could be above average at maturity. Williams injury history and the relative violence of his delivery kept him just outside the 50 FV tier on the Cleveland list, even though he had a strong pro debut and spent most of the year at Double-A Akron. Thats not to say Bonilla is not a good hitter; quite to the contrary, the approach is sound. Defensively, he has mostly played second base so far in his professional career, with just a handful of starts at short. Buschs swing is simple but still athletic and explosive. Indeed, his arm will certainly keep him at shortstop, as he demonstrated when he seized the spotlight at the 2022 Futures Game by recording the fastest ever throw across the infield since such measurements have existed, at 100.5 mph. His frame makes him pretty likely to slow down with age, but as he fills out hell probably grow into elite raw power. Perhaps as an adjustment to deal with this issue, Priester now mixes in plenty of fastballs for which he pronates on release, giving the pitch screwball-like spin. Hes also learning how to call a game and has a good makeup. He has been a hot knife slicing butter all the way through Double-A and shows little signs of stopping. At times Jung looked totally lost late in 2022 when he finally returned from the shoulder surgery. Lewis missed a chunk of 2019 with an injury before losing all of 2020 to the pandemic. The degree of confidence in his hit tool has him ranked on the Top 100 ahead of some other middle infielders who are closer to the big leagues or who are more likely to stay shortstop. He wasnt considered a lock to stay there before the draft, and pro scouts came away skeptical of his defense in center from Greens post-draft look. His aggressive approach resulted in his walk rate dipping at High-A, while his strikeout rate inflated a bit typical advancement-related growing pains but he still managed to slug .498 and swipe 19 bags at the higher level. He is sure-handed and slick, twitchy and acrobatic, wielding plus range, hands, actions and arm strength. Yorke and his French swing (because it is evocative of Ty France) looked like a high-probability big league hitter with a well-rounded contact and power combination in Arizona, enough to project as a regular if he can stay on the dirt. Because his delivery is so elegant and consistent, Bradleys splitter has deep projection. The forward from Senegali is long, with good mobility and coordination for his size and raw. He sits 92-95 mph while touching higher with his carrying four-seam fastball, and like any good D-backs prospect, moves it well north-south while generating whiffs at the top of the zone; he also has a sinker as a change of pace. He has retained foundational feel for the barrel while coming into all that power, and is one of the higher-ceilinged all-around players in the minors. At times hes too bold and rushes throws that he should just holster, but Tovar is only the age of a college draft prospect, so details like this will likely tighten up as he matures. The toolset to profile as a 50 in right is arguably already in place, and theres a chance Mayo ends up with 70 raw at peak and becomes a star out there. Thirty-two of the players on the 2022 Top 50 International Prospects list are from the Dominican Republic. Lost your password? top 30 international prospects 2023. Boston Red Sox. Jones had surgery, missed the back half of the summer and instructs, and only began hitting again in January. If things click, hell be a star. Jung had a rough 2022 that were chalking up to injury-related rust rather than severe skill regression. Ramos is walking the Curtis Mead path in many ways. International free agency remains free agency because MLB and the MLB Players Association were unable to agreed to an international draft last year. He lacks precise command, but he throws enough strikes to start and bully hitters with his velocity and slider for five and six innings at a time. Hes also added a few ticks of velocity and now sits 93-96 mph, velocity hes maintained across two consecutive years of innings increases. The broad strokes of this report read a lot like that of Adam Dunn at the same age: an XXL frame with unusual top-end speed and athleticism for his size, and a chance to fill out in a way that causes him to tumble down the defensive spectrum, but with enough power to support such a fall and then some.
Thanks to his looseness and flexibility (again, think a lankier Gerrit Cole), not only does Abel project to maintain this level of velocity, but perhaps hell add to it as his frame fills out. He slid within this FV tier but his grade didnt change, and hes still a pretty good bet to be a no. He projects as a contact-oriented everyday shortstop, though one scouting director we spoke with for this list still wants to see what hed look like on the mound. Position-wise, there are 20 infielders, 18 outfielders, five catchers, six pitchers and one two-way player. Defensively, lvarez is a bit of a mixed bag. Cartaya had a whopping 41% hard-hit rate in 2022, which is already better than that of the average big league starting catcher (hes 21! He went from throwing 86 mph in October to now touching 93 mph. Diaz has plus, all-fields power and covers the outer third of the plate especially well. Hes adept at dropping it into the top of the strike zone, around the hands of left-handed hitters who think its a fastball above the zone until it cuts down onto the corner. He struggled to frame low pitches and one-hoppers would find a way through his wickets. He ultimately fell to the White Sox at 22nd overall, and a little over a year removed from his selection, that looks like an absolute steal. He finished that season with a 10-game A-ball stint, where he struck out in 16 of his 42 plate appearances. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb. You can do some thought exercises around where hed go were Noelvi a 21-year-old draft prospect, or play would you rather with the names of other prospects to try to triangulate where he should fall on the FV scale, and all of that went into placing him here. He debuted with Boston late in the season and flashed the titanic power that promises to make him a valuable big league regular, while also running the high walk and strikeout rates that readers should expect from him going forward. Browns stuff was already good at Wayne, and it leveled up pretty quickly after he signed, but it was the strike throwing that took a step forward in 2022 and led to his September call-up. Especially in the Venezuelan Winter League, Rocchio has been struggling (and perhaps regressing) in the field. The addition of a leg kick in 2021 increased his power output without disrupting his timing at the plate, and now Steer has a well-rounded hit/patience/power toolkit that would profile in a 50 FV capacity at any non-first base position. And Carroll can really motor: hes a no-doubt 80 runner and routinely posts sub-4.00 second times to first base. His in-zone contact numbers improved throughout 2022, even after promotion. Add to that his plus-plus defense at an up-the-middle position, and hes on track for star-level everyday center field role. Those teams have largely turned their attention to the 2025 and 2026 classes over the past year. The bat is Guanipas calling card as he has shown excellent bat-to-ball instincts with quick bat speed and the ability to drive the ball to all fields. He ran a 6.95 ERA in Triple-A throughout 2022 but the hitting environment in Reno isnt fair to pitchers, and Jamesons stuff, control, and athleticism are all on par with a good teams fourth starter. His finishing pitch, though, is his slider, a nasty upper-80s sweeper that generated a 50% whiff rate and 38% chase rate in 2022. At one point, his in-zone contact rate was in the ninth percentile among minor leaguers, even while his triple slash line was out of this world. Acevedo is not a burner on the bases but can contribute a few stolen bases a year. Not all of the pitchers who showed a velocity increase during 2020 Instructional League activity, which came after the prolonged pandemic layoff, have sustained that bump. His arm slot is not as deliberately north/south as before, but his fastball still plays as an in-zone bat-misser because of his angle and carry. His mid-80s slider was his go-to secondary, but his command was spotty throughout the season, to the tune of a 5.44 BB/9 over the course of his 92.2 innings. Still, hes poised to be a franchise cornerstone for the Orioles looming renaissance. Milwaukee has had success in international signings over the last few seasons with Jackson Chourio skyrocketing up rankings in 2022. Jung was an elite college performer at Texas Tech he posted a .348/.455/.577 line with more walks than strikeouts throughout his career but didnt hit for huge home run power there, in part because he tended to work the opposite field. Hes hovering at or below the big league average in most chase and contact rate categories, while generating impressive power for a shortstop his age. Its worth developing him at catcher for at least a while since that position is at the very top of the defensive spectrum, and Paradas other seemingly viable positions are at or near the bottom. His secondary pitch recognition is not good, and he both needs to stay at shortstop and continue getting to all of his considerable power for an everyday profile to hold water. Before the 2022 draft there was again buzz that some teams were off Lee because of his medical, and also that Lee and his family preferred that he stay as close to home as possible by joining a team that trains in Arizona. Here Berry projects as a DH. Tristan Vukcevic (2003, 6-11, F/C, Partizan) is hoping to turn things around this season in Partizan, as in the past he has shown potential as a Stretch Big. In a typical year, wed have a couple more than that, and sometimes as many as five or six, but this year there are only two. Because the White Sox had so many good prospects in Birmingham toward the end of the season, it was extremely efficient to source scouts and conduct film study from that time period. Salas is extremely polished for his ageboth as a hitter and as a catcherto the point where he even got playing time in winter ball in the Venezuelan League where he caught and hit against players more than a decade older than him. For instance, Dodgers 2B/LF Miguel Vargas and Marlins shortstop Yiddi Cappe are both 50 FV prospects, but other than them both being Cuban, they are nothing alike. 10) and Yankees shortstop Oswald Peraza (No. His Trackman data makes clear why his offense is so worthy of this line of development. The bumps and bruises that come with catching 100 games often make it tough for catchers to sustain peak offensive performance, and Cartaya hasnt been exposed to that yet. Here he stays in the same FV tier as last year but falls within that tier due to his 2022 performance. Even with the back issue, the Giants put Luciano on their 40-man roster during the winter. 4 prospect in Miami's system and said his "offensive skills will make him a valuable player." If the Giants are contending for a playoff spot, he may be called up during the 2023 season, perhaps first in a bullpen capacity, but he projects as an eventual impact starter. Theres enough hit/power combination for Neto to be a first-division regular there. With Martn Maldonado and Korey Lee around, Diaz will be able to ease into the everyday waters and start some games at 1B/DH to get his bat into the lineup. Hes not quite as deft a hitter from the right side, but hes still plenty dangerous. Roughly 30 percent of current MLB players were originally signed as international free agents, including stars like Ronald Acua Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Juan Soto, and Julio Uras. Thats a 31% K% and 8% BB% across twice as many innings as the year before, when Miller was being built back up from the shortened 2020 season. Keith was in the AFL because he missed all but about two months of the regular season with a shoulder injury. The fantasy draw to Duno is the potential plus raw power that resides in his bat that some evaluators have said could be a 30-home-run bat at the major league level. He plays with the high center of gravity more typical of an outfielder, and has a hard time flipping his hips to make fundamentally typical throws if hes had to range left to field a groundball. He has the speed to play out there, but Frelick is not a crisp center fielder, and later in the 2022 season he saw lots of time in left (though some of it was due to the sudden presence of Esteury Ruiz), where he also looked tentative. He may just be a DH, which would obviously make it tougher for him to profile, but there may be elite on-base ability here and that plus the power might be enough for Julien to make an impact that way, too. More striking than his velocity itself is the ease with which Espino generates it. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. Romos offensive performance is impressive considering he only turned 21 near the end of the 2022 season, though in another sense its troubling because hes such a physical guy and yet has such poor ball-striking power. He signed for $5.1 million in 2019 as easily the toolsiest player in his signing class, a plus-plus running center fielder with huge switch-hitting power. A slower curveball and occasional mid-80s changeup give Jameson the weapons to work through a lineup multiple times even though theyre just fair. His split/changeup (it only has about 1,300 rpm of spin, definitely in split territory) has plus sinking action, but the direction of its lateral movement is highly variable. He then spent all of 2022 at Double-A and punched out 33.1%, while trimming his walk rate down to just 7.5%. He also features a looser breaking ball in his high-70s curveball, and his changeup flashes plus, but he hasnt yet maintained his feel for it, which may ultimately represent the difference between his future as a back-end starter and his viability as a solid number three. The lateral agility to block pitches in the dirt is obviously here, though Naylor is sometimes late getting to the ground. There are guidelines for signing prospects. All rights reserved. He returned in the spring of 2021, but tore his ACL and missed all of that season as well. Keith made his 2021 pro debut solely as a position player and moved into the top 100 in the middle of 2022 on the strength of his offensive performance, most notably his huge uptick in power. A complete prospect and a total baseball rat, Lawlar had been a touted amateur as an underclassman and held serve as a near top-of-the-class talent for two or three years, even amid the volatility of the 2020 draft process. There are plenty of good players on the big league O-Swing% leaderboard, including many young stars, but these issues together create hit tool-related bust risk for Elly. The components of Hernandezs swing push and pull against one another, as his cut is pretty long but he also has very advanced barrel control. Currently a plus runner, Mayea could be a base-stealing threat as he moves through the minor leagues and could post 20-plus stolen bases at the major league level. Waldichuk came to Oakland as part of the return for Frankie Montas, bringing with him a nicely shaped four-seamer and an intimidating, sweepy slider with tons of horizontal movement. The bat is impactful enough to consider him a high-probability big leaguer regular of some kind, even at the bottom of the defensive hierarchy. CLICK HERE FOR 2023 MLB INTERNATIONAL PROSPECT BONUS BOARD. If Eder is wild upon his initial return to affiliated ball, it will be tough to know if hes regressed to his career command mean or if its just rust from being 17 months post-op. Forty-two of the 57 games he played in the Carolina League came at ballparks with park factors of 116 or more, per research conducted annually by Baseball Americas Matt Eddy. By virtue of this precision, he might have peak years with 20 homers or so, very similar to Brantley. Luis Morales, RHP, CubaThe right-hander is one of the most interesting and dynamic prospects in the class. The 55 FV pitchers and above tend to have some combination of monster stuff and good command, whereas the 50 FV pitchers often have one or the other. Inactive Players Notes & Legend This year's newly eligible players were born between Sept. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31, 2006. International bonus pools, the money teams can spend on players, are tied to revenue and market size, with small-market teams getting the biggest bonus pools and large market teams getting the smallest. That said, bonuses of $10,000 or less do not count against the bonus pool, but that doesn't mean the players getting those checks shouldn't get some attention too. Right now, hes notching six outs every five days or so, a number the org would surely like to see increase as he ramps up his innings. He was added to the 40-man roster at the end of the season and should become part of the Rangers rotation at some point in 2023. window.FGWebsite_head_section.buildProspectsListTop100Controls(); From the left side, he shows doubles power and hits line drives. During his time in New Yorks system, he underwent an overhaul to his mechanics and now throws with a more typical starters delivery, characterized by impressive flexibility in his shoulders and back. lvarez has been one of the more hyped prospects in the Mets system since signing out of Venezuela in 2018 for nearly $3 million, and he has largely lived up to that hype. With breathtaking bat speed, he wraps the head of his bat over his back shoulder, keeping it pointed toward the mound well after the pitcher releases the ball, then whips it through the zone so quickly that he still manages to make contact in front of the plate. Instead, Buschs path may lead through the outfield, where things are less settled for Los Angeles. He practically straddles the plate and was hit by 20 pitches during an injury-shortened regular season, then was somehow beaned seven more times in just 17 Arizona Fall League games. The defense is plus grades across the board and should move him through the minor leagues as long as the bat produces. A downward cutting swing and middling rotational athleticism limit Carters offensive impact to the doubles variety, and even though hes young and has a huge, rectangular frame, Carters lack of explosiveness tempers long-term raw power projection here, and we consider him more of a high-floor prospect than a future star. M.J. Melendezs 2019 and Bo Naylors 2020 are recent examples of otherwise good-hitting catchers who had a terrible offensive season in the mid-minors followed by an immediate and significant rebound the following year. He is much more adept at doing this from the left side; his righty swing is relatively grooved. Big league sliders might force Davis to make an adjustment, but so far his contact performance has been solidly average. He had Tommy John in August of 2019 and rehabbed during a 2020 season that he would have missed anyway. As is often the case with top international prospects, Salas has been on the scouting radar for quite some time even though he is only 16. Still, lvarez was 20 and facing Double- and Triple-A pitching, and its prudent to project growth in this area. He struggles with softer stuff in the bottom of the strike zone, and his in-zone and overall contact rates in 2022 were 78% and 70% respectively, an area similar to Nolan Gorman, Franchy Cordero, Bobby Dalbec and others who have tantalizing power but have sometimes been frustrating big league hitters. As you would probably expect from a hitter with such a steep swing (this is about as steep as one can get without it becoming a problem), Pages swings and misses a fair bit, but not enough that it makes his prospecthood feel flimsy. Merrill is Michael Brantley, except at shortstop. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Many other teams knew of Carter, but did not know his prospectdom in a thorough sense; some thought he was unsignable, others were entirely unaware of him, as we were. section: | slug: mlb-international-signing-period-top-players-bonus-pools-what-else-to-know-as-padres-land-no-1-prospect | sport: baseball | route: article_single.us | The hit/power combination to profile at third base is pretty comfortably here, and Caminero might yet come into more power at physical maturity. And unlike in the United States, where players often commit to a college when they're 14 but are still scouted intensely by major league teams leading up to draft day, once an international player commits to a team, they stop going to showcases and typically aren't scouted much in a competitive environment by other clubs. He also plays solid defense and it will keep him at shortstop as he makes his way through the Minor Leagues. Mathew Strazel (2002, 6-0, G, ASVEL) has lost some fanfare the last couple of years, but he is hoping to regain some ground next season. Victor Wembanyama (2004, 7-3, F/C, Metropolitans 92) Its been almost 3 years since the He has a pronounced bat wrap. As both the Twins and Reds (Steer was drafted by Minnesota and came to Cincinnati in the Tyler Mahle trade) searched for a viable defensive position for Steer, he backed into valuable defensive versatility that should keep him on the field in all but a few game situations. For example, based on Craigs research, the average 60 FV hitter on a list becomes a perennial 5-plus WAR player over his six controlled years 26% of the time, and has a 27% chance of accumulating, at most, a couple of WAR during his six controlled years. He can absolutely fly and will occasionally do some impressive stuff at the dish, especially when he bends out over the plate to whack breaking stuff away from him. The Phillies pushed him aggressively, going all the way to Double-A Reading late in 2022. The FV grade is more important than the ordinal ranking. He does look quite vulnerable out there but it isnt an issue opposing pitchers have consistently been able to exploit just yet. Espino barely throws his low-90s changeup, but he still has good feel for locating it in an enticing location away from lefty batters, and even that and his rarely-used curveball (combined, he threw those pitches 8% of the time in 2021) could be above average at maturity. Williams injury history and the relative violence of his delivery kept him just outside the 50 FV tier on the Cleveland list, even though he had a strong pro debut and spent most of the year at Double-A Akron. Thats not to say Bonilla is not a good hitter; quite to the contrary, the approach is sound. Defensively, he has mostly played second base so far in his professional career, with just a handful of starts at short. Buschs swing is simple but still athletic and explosive. Indeed, his arm will certainly keep him at shortstop, as he demonstrated when he seized the spotlight at the 2022 Futures Game by recording the fastest ever throw across the infield since such measurements have existed, at 100.5 mph. His frame makes him pretty likely to slow down with age, but as he fills out hell probably grow into elite raw power. Perhaps as an adjustment to deal with this issue, Priester now mixes in plenty of fastballs for which he pronates on release, giving the pitch screwball-like spin. Hes also learning how to call a game and has a good makeup. He has been a hot knife slicing butter all the way through Double-A and shows little signs of stopping. At times Jung looked totally lost late in 2022 when he finally returned from the shoulder surgery. Lewis missed a chunk of 2019 with an injury before losing all of 2020 to the pandemic. The degree of confidence in his hit tool has him ranked on the Top 100 ahead of some other middle infielders who are closer to the big leagues or who are more likely to stay shortstop. He wasnt considered a lock to stay there before the draft, and pro scouts came away skeptical of his defense in center from Greens post-draft look. His aggressive approach resulted in his walk rate dipping at High-A, while his strikeout rate inflated a bit typical advancement-related growing pains but he still managed to slug .498 and swipe 19 bags at the higher level. He is sure-handed and slick, twitchy and acrobatic, wielding plus range, hands, actions and arm strength. Yorke and his French swing (because it is evocative of Ty France) looked like a high-probability big league hitter with a well-rounded contact and power combination in Arizona, enough to project as a regular if he can stay on the dirt. Because his delivery is so elegant and consistent, Bradleys splitter has deep projection. The forward from Senegali is long, with good mobility and coordination for his size and raw. He sits 92-95 mph while touching higher with his carrying four-seam fastball, and like any good D-backs prospect, moves it well north-south while generating whiffs at the top of the zone; he also has a sinker as a change of pace. He has retained foundational feel for the barrel while coming into all that power, and is one of the higher-ceilinged all-around players in the minors. At times hes too bold and rushes throws that he should just holster, but Tovar is only the age of a college draft prospect, so details like this will likely tighten up as he matures. The toolset to profile as a 50 in right is arguably already in place, and theres a chance Mayo ends up with 70 raw at peak and becomes a star out there. Thirty-two of the players on the 2022 Top 50 International Prospects list are from the Dominican Republic. Lost your password? top 30 international prospects 2023. Boston Red Sox. Jones had surgery, missed the back half of the summer and instructs, and only began hitting again in January. If things click, hell be a star. Jung had a rough 2022 that were chalking up to injury-related rust rather than severe skill regression. Ramos is walking the Curtis Mead path in many ways. International free agency remains free agency because MLB and the MLB Players Association were unable to agreed to an international draft last year. He lacks precise command, but he throws enough strikes to start and bully hitters with his velocity and slider for five and six innings at a time. Hes also added a few ticks of velocity and now sits 93-96 mph, velocity hes maintained across two consecutive years of innings increases. The broad strokes of this report read a lot like that of Adam Dunn at the same age: an XXL frame with unusual top-end speed and athleticism for his size, and a chance to fill out in a way that causes him to tumble down the defensive spectrum, but with enough power to support such a fall and then some.