Top 5 Draft prospects for ’23 among best ever?
Are the highest 5 gamers within the Draft in their very own, very excessive tier? And are they higher than any 12 months since 2011? A’s falling to choose #6 in Draft Lottery is a few unhealthy, unhealthy luck — @dhb38
There’s a transparent high 5 by way of 2023 Draft expertise, with Louisiana State teammates Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes on a tier by themselves, adopted by a trio of outfielders: Florida’s Wyatt Langford and excessive schoolers Walker Jenkins and Max Clark. Dropping to No. 6 within the Draft Lottery was horrible luck for the Athletics, particularly contemplating that Tennessee right-hander Chase Dollander has slipped out of the highest group with a puzzlingly inconsistent season.
Crews, Skenes, Langford, Jenkins and Clark all can be candidates to go No. 1 total in a typical Draft. The greatest crop of Draft expertise in recent times was 2011, as David alludes to. I used to be nonetheless at Baseball America then and we rated the highest 5 prospects as Anthony Rendon, Dylan Bundy, Gerrit Cole, Danny Hultzen and Trevor Bauer — however Hultzen and Bauer weren’t actually candidates for the primary decide.
This is the most effective Draft high 5 of at the least the final decade, based mostly on how the prospects had been regarded on the time. Its strongest competitors comes from 2019: Adley Rutschman, Bobby Witt Jr., Andrew Vaughn, CJ Abrams and JJ Bleday.
Where would Noble Meyer rank amongst prep arms over the previous couple of years? — @Sevento17
A right-hander from Jesuit HS (Portland, Ore.), Meyer is the top-rated prep pitcher within the 2023 Draft, with left-hander Thomas White (Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.) shut behind him. Meyer had a projectable 6-foot-5 body, a mid-90s fastball, potential wipeout slider, really feel for a changeup and excellent make-up.
Looking at our highest-rated highschool arms from the earlier 5 Drafts, I’d rank Meyer fourth in that group whereas acknowledging that you might shuffle the three guys behind Jackson Jobe in any order:
In phrases of the place they went of their Drafts, the order can be Jobe, Liberatore, Kelley, Allan, Porter. And by way of signing bonus, it will be Jobe, Porter, Liberatore, Kelley, Allan.
What do you suppose Dillon Head’s draft ceiling is? @soxmachine_josh
There are quite a lot of highschool place gamers with helium proper now. Shortstops Arjun Nimmala (Strawberry Crest HS, Dover, Fla.), Colin Houck (Parkview HS, Lilburn, Ga.) and Colt Emerson (Glenn HS, New Concord, Ohio) all are transferring up Draft boards. So is Head, an outfielder from Homewood-Flossmoor HS in Flossmoor, Ill.
We have Head ranked thirtieth on MLB Pipeline’s Draft Top 150 and projected him twenty fifth to the Padres in our first full mock draft, however he might go nearer to No. 15 and I even had one scout counsel this week that he might slide into the Top 10. He’s interesting as a result of he is one of many quickest gamers within the Draft, is aware of learn how to take advantage of out of his pace on the bases and in middle discipline, and has proven extra power on the plate this spring.
Is Cristian Mena getting any buzz on probably cracking/being simply outdoors the highest 100 listing? — @Sleepy_Harold_
We obtained 4 Mena questions this week, and that is an Inbox mandate if I’ve ever seen one.
The White Sox have not developed a lot homegrown pitching in recent times, however Mena might change that. A right-hander signed for $250,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2019, he retains getting higher. He reached Double-A final 12 months at age 19 as a part of the group’s Project Birmingham, and he has posted a 46/7 Okay/BB ratio there together with a 4.55 ERA in 27 2/3 innings this season.
I noticed Mena in Spring Training, the place he regarded particularly sharp in a back-fields video games in opposition to a loaded Dodgers Double-A contingent. He’s simply 20 and he retains getting higher with a four-pitch combine highlighted by a 92-96 mph fastball that rides and plus downer curveball within the low 80s. His mid-80s slider has been his greatest providing early in 2023, although a few of that could be attributable to the pretacked-baseball experiment within the Southern League.
Mena is not simply outdoors the Top 100 Prospects listing fairly but, however he is beginning to make a push. Speaking of the Top 100, we’ll have our first in-season replace on Monday.
