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In case you haven’t seen, we like lists and rankings at MLB Pipeline. So this week’s Inbox is true in our wheelhouse.
Below you’ll discover some rankings of 2025 midseason prospects, 2024 Draft prospects and an inventory of organizations loosely ranked by left-handed pitching prowess.
It’s the week after the mid-season rankings in 2025, who’re your prime 5 prospects? — @antman_92
One factor that makes this tough, after all, shouldn’t be having any thought what the 2025 Draft Class will seem like and if any of that new crop of prospects shall be prime 5 worthy. Since it’s uncommon for that to occur, with Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews the primary Draft duo to land that prime (becoming a member of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper) as the one draftees to debut within the prime 5, let’s work underneath the idea that there received’t be somebody to place there.
I’m additionally going to fake that not one of the 2024 Draft class shall be a prime 5 man, although for those who advised me one of many school bats (extra on that beneath) from that group float as much as the highest throughout what can be their first full season of professional ball, I would consider you.
I’m going to make use of our current story on who we expect the No. 1 prospect in every group in the beginning of the 2025 season shall be as a information whereas making an attempt to guess who will nonetheless be a prospect in August 2025. Here’s the Top 5 I provide you with:
1. Ethan Salas, C, Padres
2. Max Clark, OF, Tigers
3. Walker Jenkins, OF, Twins
4. Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF, Twins
5. Samuel Basallo, C, Orioles
I’ll offer you two honorable mentions as a result of I do wish to point out two pitchers I believe could possibly be in that blend at that time. One is the Phillies’ Andrew Painter, figuring he’s prone to be utilizing the primary half of the 2025 season to construct again up after lacking a 12 months due to his Tommy John surgical procedure. The different is 2023 draftee Noble Meyer, who I believe has the possibility to be Painter-ish in his improvement.
Who are your early prime 10 picks for subsequent 12 months’s Draft? — @StevieDAles97
I did a prime 20 mock quickly after the 2023 Draft, however that was earlier than scouts had actually gotten the possibility to see plenty of gamers on the summer season showcase circuit and school summer season leagues. So I reached out to some scouting administrators to get a really feel of what the panorama appeared like if the Draft was right now, understanding it clearly can and can change lots over the subsequent 12 months. Here’s a working prime 10:
1. JJ Wetherholt, 2B/3B, West Virginia
2. Chase Burns, RHP, Wake Forest
3. Jac Caglianone, LHP/1B, Florida
4. Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest
5. Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon State
6. Konnor Griffin, OF/RHP, Jackson Prep (Florence, Miss.)
7. Brody Brecht, RHP, Iowa
8. PJ Morlando, OF, Summerville HS (Summerville, S.C.)
9. Braden Montgomery, OF, Texas A&M
10. Bryce Rainer, 3B/RHP, Harvard Westlake HS (Simi Valley, Calif.)
Other names talked about: Cam Caminiti, LHP/OF, Saguaro HS (Scottsdale, Ariz.); Charlie Condon, 1B/OF, Georgia; Noah Franco, OF/LHP, IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.); Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina; Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas
It’s a college-heavy group on the prime, for certain, with seven of the ten coming from that group. Among the 15 gamers talked about in any respect, solely 5 are prepsters.
True or false – Pirates have finest left-handed pitching within the Minors? — @ballsandgutters
This is clearly not possible to quantify, nevertheless it made me wish to attempt, taking a look at lefties on Top 30 lists as a information. As of Thursday, there have been 86 southpaws complete on staff lists. The Guardians paved the way with six left-handers amongst that group. There are 4 groups with 5 lefties (Giants, Royals, Blue Jays, Rockies) after which there are seven groups with 4, the Pirates being one in all them.
That isn’t the one solution to measure, so I used our previous imperfect good friend, the “prospect points” to weight it a bit. We’ve achieved this with our Top 100 to offer an thought of how a lot elite-level expertise a given system has. In this case, I gave 30 factors to any No. 1 prospect in a system, on down to 1 level for a No. 30 man, understanding that each system is totally different, so a No. 4 in a single group isn’t precisely the identical in one other. But right here’s how that Top 10 labored out:
**Team, No. of LHP, Prospect Points
**Giants, 5, 99
Royals, 5, 85
Blue Jays, 5, 81
White Sox, 4, 81
Pirates, 4, 77
Guardians, 6, 74
Marlins, 4, 67
Cubs, 4, 66
Rockies, 5, 58
D-backs, 4, 54
Far from a be-all, end-all evaluation right here, however I’ll need to reply your query with a “False.” The Pirates are among the many higher methods when it comes to lefties, however I believe I’d give the nod to the Giants. They have two of our Top 10 LHP prospects, the one group who can boast that, with each Kyle Harrison and Carson Whisenhunt truly within the prime 5, and in our general Top 100. Four of the 5 lefties they’ve on their Top 30 are inside their prime 14, so the potential influence appears to be higher than the Pirates or the opposite methods within the neighborhood.
