The major shops are starting to read in the 2023 draftees (and 2023 trade deadline acquisitions) to each team’s farm system rankings. As we did ahead of the season, when a major pundit drops an updated ranking i’ll list it here. Technically Fangraphs’ “Big Board” database was the first to publish, since its essentially a running database of every player, amateur or prospect, but their rankings are wonky (as we discussed yesterday), so we just did a brief review. MLBpipeline dropped overnight, so we’ll talk about it next. Baseball America published a couple days ago behind a paywall, so lets review.
Here’s BA’s updated top 30, which includes some re-ranking, new draftees, and new trade acquisitions.
| BA Rank 8/9/23 | Last Name | First Name | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crews | Dylan | OF (CF) |
| 2 | Wood | James | OF (Corner) |
| 3 | House | Brady | SS/3B |
| 4 | Hassell III | Robert | OF (CF) |
| 5 | Green | Elijah | OF (CF) |
| 6 | Cavalli | Cade | RHP (Starter) |
| 7 | Rutledge | Jackson | RHP (Starter) |
| 8 | Morales | Yohandy | 3B |
| 9 | Vaquero | Cristian | OF (CF) |
| 10 | Bennett | Jake | LHP (Starter) |
| 11 | Sykora | Travis | RHP (Starter) |
| 12 | Susana | Jarlin | RHP (Starter) |
| 13 | De La Rosa | Jeremy | OF (Corner) |
| 14 | Lile | Daylen | OF (CF) |
| 15 | Lipscomb | Trey | 3B |
| 16 | White | T.J. | OF (Corner) |
| 17 | Henry | Cole | RHP (Starter) |
| 18 | Cruz | Armando | SS |
| 19 | Lara | Andry | RHP (Starter) |
| 20 | Ferrer | Jose | LHP (Reliever) |
| 21 | Pineda | Israel | C |
| 22 | Brzykcy | Zach | RHP (Reliever) |
| 23 | Alu | Jake | 3B |
| 24 | Young | Jacob | OF (CF) |
| 25 | Herz | DJ | LHP (Starter) |
| 26 | Baker | Darren | 2B |
| 27 | Quintana | Roismar | OF (CF) |
| 28 | Millas | Drew | C |
| 29 | Cronin | Matt | LHP (Reliever) |
| 30 | Parker | Mitchell | LHP (Starter) |
So, Here’s some thoughts on the new names and changes from the pre-draft BA rankings.
- Dylan Crews comes in as our new system #1, which was hard to do because at the time of his drafting we already had a top-5 prospect in James Wood.
- The last time the Nats had two prospects even in the top 10 of the minors was at the very edge of Bryce Harper‘s eligibility, when Anthony Rendon was also ranked highly. The best we ever did while Stephen Strasburg was still eligible seemed to be Drew Storen ranked in the 50-range. So, having a 1-2 punch of Crews and Wood both top 5 is amazing.
- Brady House and Robert Hassell switched spots, probably because House is clearly outperforming Hassell right now. In fact, Hassell basically has stopped hitting after we acquired him; he went from a .290 hitter to a .220 hitter in our organization. I’m not sure what special sauce San Diego gave him, but we need to figure it out.
- Yohandy Morales slots in at #8, between Rutledge and Vaquero. Crews is getting all the attention so far with his hot start in Low-A, but Morales has been there for a week and a half and has a .925 OPS.
- Travis Sykora comes in at #11, right between Bennett and Susana. Hopefully, he’s more like Bennett (well, in as much as he gets to AA quickly, not the “where the heck has Bennett been for two months part) and less like Susana (who has a 5.14 ERA in low-A this year in his age 19 season).
- Trey Lipscomb has been bumped up a couple of slots in the last month thanks to his promotion to AA in his age 23 season and his solid offensive line. However, he’s now bumped from his regular 3B slot by House, who is also in AA, and has been bouncing around to find playing time. He’s got starts at 1B, 2B and SS now, replacing lesser prospects in Harrisburg each time. I sense his eventual spot may end being 2B, replacing the .215 hitting JT Arruda in the lineup. Cluff is also hitting about .215 but plays a true SS, which i’m not sure Lipscomb can do long-term. The situation may work itself out if House keeps mashing his way up the system.
- Jacob Young has been bumped up a few slots. He’s in danger of falling down the depth chart of outfielders given who we have coming up, but for now he’s holding his own and earning promotions.
- Trade acquisition DJ Herz slots in at #25. Lets see how he fares. He got smacked around in his debut, but he’s 22 in AA as a starter, so that doesn’t suck.
- Roismar Quintana dropped from 22 to 27. He’s only slugging .358 this year as a 1B/DH type; that’s not going to cut it.
- Mitchell Parker‘s AA performance has dropped him several slots to just barely holding on to the top 30. I wonder when he’ll convert to relief … and then how quickly he’ll be in the majors after that as a lefty reliever who can get guys out.
- Darren Baker up a couple slots; the guy’s nearly hitting .300 in AAA as a 24yr old, not sure what else you want from him. Most of the 2021 draft class is still in High-A, if they’re even still here.
- Dustin Saenz, Andy Acevedo, and Edwin Solano: were ranked 28th-30th before and now have gotten bumped with the new additions.
- Jake Irvin was ranked 16th; he now has 17 starts under his belt in the majors and has lost his rookie eligibility.