Keith Law’s Top 100 prospects for 2020

Welcome to this year’s ranking of the top 100 prospects in baseball. I’ve been compiling and writing such rankings for 13 years now, and those of you who’ve read them before will find the format here similar to those from the recent past. Today kicks off the prospect package with that top 100, and it will be followed by some notes on players who just missed the list, organization rankings, farm reports covering at least 20 prospects in each team’s system, and notes on prospects who might appear in the majors this year or who might be breakout prospects for the 2021 rankings.

I see as many players as I can in person each year, but these lists are the product of conversations I’ve had both this offseason and over the course of the past 12 months with individual scouts and executives from all 30 teams. I speak at length to the latter sources about their own prospects, and to the former about prospects they’ve seen over the year, comparing notes when I’ve seen the players or simply asking questions when I haven’t. I also consider the players’ performances to date, and some advanced data available via Trackman, to try to get the most accurate evaluations possible — citing the data where appropriate or useful — and to further inform the rankings. It is not a science, let alone an exact one, but I hope you’ll find it informative.

I tend to favor upside in prospects more than certainty, but there is value in both. A player who is all ceiling and no floor isn’t as valuable, in the trade market now or in considering his expected value in the long term, as one who has a somewhat lower ceiling but a much higher floor. I want players who might be stars, and after that I want players who might be above-average big leaguers — but I also try to keep in mind that many of these prospects won’t reach their ceilings, and to consider what other scenarios exist for their futures.

I refer to grades throughout the prospect rankings on the 20-80 scouting scale, where 50 is major-league average, 80 is the highest possible score, and 20 is the lowest. I’ll also use similar language, referring to tools that are above (a grade of 55) or below average (45 or less), or referring to plus (60) or even plus-plus (70) or doubleplusungood (a grade of 1984). I try to discuss players’ tools, their frames, their level of athleticism and other physical attributes, as well as their skills, their aptitude, and other mental or intellectual attributes as well. This is comparable to how major-league teams evaluate players, although they will always have the advantage of access to more and better data than those of us on the outside can get. The least I can do for you is try to reflect how the industry thinks about players, and give you the most accurate possible picture of the prospects in these rankings through both the lens of my own evaluations and those of the people within the industry whom I most trust.

To be eligible for these rankings, a player must still be eligible for the Rookie of the Year award in 2020, which means they may not have more than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched, or 45 days on an active roster prior to Sept. 1 in the major leagues heading into this season. Thus Houston outfielder Kyle Tucker is ineligible because he has 131 at-bats in the majors, one over the threshold. I also exclude players who have come here as free agents from Japan’s NPB or Korea’s KBO, because while they are rookies (and I would vote for them if I have a Rookie of the Year ballot), they are not prospects by my definition.

Finally, please bear in mind that I hate your favorite team, and that is reflected in all of the rankings.

Wander Franco (Kim Klement / USA Today)

1. Wander Franco, SS, Tampa Bay Rays

Franco signed with Tampa Bay all the way back in 2017, taking home a $3.85 million bonus at the age of 16 as the top player in that year’s July 2 international free agent class, and within a year he was a top-five prospect in the entire sport. Franco played the entire year at age 18, hit .327/.398/.487 on the season, and would have finished in the top five in the Midwest League in OBP and slugging had he qualified, and then would have led the Florida State League in both categories had he qualified there. He has incredible hand speed as a hitter, along with an exceptional approach at the plate for someone his age, with 56 walks against just 35 strikeouts in 2019; his strikeout rate of 7 percent was the seventh-lowest among qualifying minor leaguers in 2019, per FanGraphs. He’s a shortstop by trade who has given no indication so far that he won’t stay there, although his lack of speed has led some scouts at least to speculate that he’ll end up at second or third. His potential to hit for high averages and OBPs, and eventually to get to above-average power given his swing path and how hard he hits the ball already, while at a premium defensive position, make him the best prospect in baseball.

2. Jo Adell, OF, Los Angeles Angels

Adell’s second full pro season started out with ten weeks on the injured list due to a sprained ankle and strained hamstring, but when he finally returned he dominated Double A in a 42-game stint, hitting .308/.390/.553 and earning a promotion to Triple A on August 1. Adell is one of the best athletes in the minors, a plus runner with explosive hands who covers a ton of ground in center and has the arm strength to play anywhere in the outfield. He has 70 raw power, with great extension through the ball, even though he often seems like he’s getting his hands started late — thanks to that tremendous hand acceleration. There’s some swing and miss here, as you’d expect given how hard he swings, although his strikeout rate in Double A was just 22.5 percent and jumped to nearly one in three in Triple A. The Angels have been aggressive with Adell since he signed, but he’s responded to the challenge, at least until he hit Triple A as a 20-year-old. I don’t think he’s ready for the majors right now, but he’s not far off, and his near-term upside is a high-average hitter with 30-homer potential and above-average to plus defense in center field.

3. MacKenzie Gore, LHP, San Diego Padres

Gore grades out as well as any pro pitching prospect I’ve ever seen; the only thing that has held him back so far was a blister that affected his control in 2018. His 2019 was sterling, with a 1.02 ERA in 15 starts in the hitter-friendly California League, followed by five starts in Double A that included one disaster outing (7 R in 4 IP) which accounted for more than a third of the runs he allowed in the entire season. Gore has shown me four above-average pitches when I’ve seen him, working up to 97 mph with a big, tight, hard curveball; a plus changeup with good action; and a hard slider he started throwing in 2018 that would easily work as a primary breaking ball if he didn’t already have one. He has a deceptive delivery with a high leg kick that would knock a lot of pitchers over, but he’s such a good athlete that he manages not just to stay upright but to repeat it with remarkable precision. He doesn’t walk many guys, but I wouldn’t say he has average control just yet; he gets guys to chase, and limits walks without being a true strike-thrower. With the way his stuff moves, I’m hardly surprised, and he could be a top-end starter with just fringy control. If his command and control ever become plus, or even strongly above-average, he’ll contend for a Cy Young award someday.

4. Gavin Lux, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers

Lux’s debut in September filled a need for the Dodgers, but it also served as a coming-out party for the former Wisconsin high school star. He slid over from shortstop to the less-familiar position of second base — he’d played 79 games there total in three years — and showed glimpses of the hit tool and power that saw him hit .347/.421/.607 between Double A and Triple A in 2019. Lux was a no-doubt shortstop out of high school, but there were questions about how his hands worked at the plate and whether he’d ever have much power; those seem to be long answered, as he’s hit everywhere, with very strong contact rates, and has 43 homers over the last two seasons. He’s proven to be a much more disciplined hitter than expected as well; out of all minor-league hitters who had at least 25 homers in 2019, he had the fifth-lowest strikeout rate at 19.5 percent, behind two Triple-A guys at least six years his senior. He’s a plus runner, although it hasn’t translated into stolen base value yet. Whether he stays at short in the long run depends more on what the Dodgers do with him and Corey Seager than his own ability, but if he’s someone’s shortstop, they’re going to get an above-average defender who contributes with average, OBP, and even some power. That kind of Lux is a star for anyone.

5. Cristian Pache, OF, Atlanta Braves

Pache is an elite defender in center field, often compared by scouts to Andruw Jones, in part because he’s also in the Atlanta system but largely a testament to how easily Pache plays the position. The last two years have seen substantial growth in Pache’s development as a hitter. He’s gone from zero pro home runs in his first year and a half in pro ball to 21 in the last two years as he’s marched up to Triple A. He has 25-homer power; the issue has been getting himself into counts where he can take advantage of it. He’s done a much better job of that as Atlanta challenged him to improve his approach, cutting his strikeouts as the season progressed — but perhaps at the cost of some power in Triple A — while his walk rate returned to its 2017 level. He may never be an average OBP guy, but it looks like he’ll control the zone enough to hit for average and get to that 25-homer level, while providing grade 80 defense in center field, enough to make him an elite everyday player.

Luis Robert (Ron Vesely / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

6. Luis Robert, OF, Chicago White Sox

Robert’s first season in pro ball was marred by a wrist injury he suffered in spring training that continued to affect him throughout the year, but his second season was an unqualified success. He hit .328/.376/.624 across three levels, finishing in Triple A, with 32 homers and 36 stolen bases, all while playing plus defense in center field. I’ll believe he can hit when I see it, but so far his tremendous physical gifts have shown up all over the diamond. (If you don’t follow me on social media, my misadventures in seeing Robert play live have become a running gag; I’ve gone to see him on at least four separate occasions only to have him not play due to injury, and when he has played, I’ve never seen him get a hit. He’s 0-for-13 with a walk while I’m in attendance.) Robert is huge, but cut, not just large, so he’s still agile and fast. His swing is very rotational and his hands are quick, although the way he loads creates a hole inside that I think some pitchers will exploit with velocity. His plate discipline started to slip a bit in Triple A, and that may point to a significant adjustment he’ll have to make to cover fastballs in on his hands, but the remainder of the tool package points to 30/30 upside with plus defense at a skill position.

7. Dustin May, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers seem to have a pipeline of high-end pitching prospects going, with Walker Buehler now ensconced in their rotation, May ready to follow, and Josiah Gray right behind him. May can show three plus pitches with a fourth that’s at least solid-average, and despite power stuff and a delivery that has a little violence to it, he’s always been a strike-thrower, with a career walk rate of just 5.1 percent in pro ball. His two-seamer has power sink, generating ground ball rates of 50 percent or above at every stop before he reached the majors. His cutter, a pitch he only added after entering pro ball, is a legit swing-and-miss weapon, with major-league hitters whiffing on 17 percent of those pitches and putting just 11.4 percent in play. His changeup is a clear fourth pitch, and he barely threw it in the majors, using his cutter more often to lefties but still seeing a wide platoon split as left-handed batters whacked his two-seamer and curveball. He does have the weapons to get lefties out, though — and to eventually become at least a No. 2 starter, with a shot to be a true ace. He has the potential to pitch in the big-league rotation right now.

8. Jarred Kelenic, OF, Seattle Mariners

Kelenic was the main prospect coming back to the Mariners in the deal that sent Edwin Díaz and the wrong half of Robinson Canó’s contract to the Mets, a trade that looked bad at the time and only seems worse in hindsight, as Kelenic was so good in 2019 that he finished the year in Double A at age 19. The Wisconsin high school product — yep, that’s two kids drafted from Wisconsin high schools among the top eight prospects in baseball — is a true five-tool player, with feel to hit, above-average power already, plus speed, a rifle of an arm, and the range to play anywhere in the outfield. He’s already well put together for his age, so there might not be a huge power spike in the future, but he has the power to get to 30 bombs already and the speed to steal 20-plus bases and likely stay in center. With an approach more advanced than expected — we really need to stop stereotyping high school hitters from cold-weather states — he could easily finish 2020 in the majors.

9. Alex Kirilloff, OF, Minnesota Twins

Kirilloff missed all of 2017 after Tommy John surgery, and then mashed his way through both levels of A ball in 2018, so expectations were high for him coming into last year. However, he suffered a minor wrist injury in late March and ended up missing all of April and struggling a bit in May when he finally reached Double-A Pensacola. His power was a bit down all year, but he hit .299/.346/.439 from June 1 on as a 21-year-old — in line with where you’d expect his average and OBP to be, just without the power he showed in 2018 when he hit 20 homers in 130 games. A left-handed-hitting corner outfielder who also pitched in high school, Kirilloff has one of the sweetest swings in the minors and makes a lot of contact, with raw power that should come back this year now that the wrist has had an offseason of rest. He’s average in right, with a solid-average arm, but as a high-average hitter with the potential for 25-30 homers and a very high probability to hit, he’s emerged as the most valuable prospect in the Twins’ system.

10. Adley Rutschman, C, Baltimore Orioles

The first overall pick in the 2019 draft, Rutschman is a true catcher who gets praise all around for his receiving skills and understanding of the game, but is also a switch-hitter with plus power and a history of getting on base. Rutschman starred at Oregon State the last two springs, hitting over .400/.500/.650 in each of those two seasons, and his junior year he improved his throwing, nailing 48 percent of opposing base stealers in school (and then getting 7 of 11 in pro ball). There’s some length to his right-handed swing, but left-handed it’s clean and short and looks like it will continue to produce power with the wood bat. He had some minor shoulder soreness in college that could slow him down. But otherwise there isn’t much reason to think he won’t become at least an everyday catcher thanks to the power and the catch-and-throw skills, with MVP upside if he hits for enough average.

11. Nate Pearson, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays

Pearson bounced back last year from a lost 2018 season where he threw just one inning before the Arizona Fall League. A dominant 2019 campaign saw him strike out 104 batters in 83.2 innings between High A and Double A before a late-August promotion to Triple A that left him on the cusp of the big leagues. Pearson throws hard, sitting 97-100 mph and occasionally bumping 101-102, with a fierce slider that’s usually 86-90 when he starts but up to 92 when he’s pitched in relief. He even has some feel for a changeup that’s especially impressive given how hard he throws, with zero platoon split in 2019. He’s a good athlete and an extremely hard worker who looks and throws like a top-of-the-rotation starter, and the injuries he suffered in 2018 were flukes rather than anything related to his delivery. It’s control over command right now, but there’s no mechanical reason he can’t get to above-average command in time. As long as he keeps ramping up his workload, and maybe throws more quality strikes, he should end up at the top of a rotation in a few years.

Luis Patiño (Brace Hemmelgarn / Minnesota Twins via Getty Images)

12. Luis Patiño, RHP, San Diego Padres

Patiño has one of the fastest arms you’ll see in the minors. Born in Colombia, not far from Macondo, Patiño can run it up to 99 mph and sits in the mid-90s with great spin and natural cutting action. He has a low-80s slider with ridiculous break that he can also shorten to try to throw it for a strike, and an upper-80s changeup with the hard tumbling action of a split-change. There’s a little effort to the delivery, including a slight cutoff that brings him back across his body a little, but he stays balanced over the rubber, and he gets huge extension out over his front side to make his velocity play up. He punched out 35 percent of the right-handed batters he faced in 2019 and held lefties down enough to see a path for him to stay a starter. He has the upside of a very good No. 2 as long as he stays healthy and his six-foot frame can handle the workload.

13. Daniel Lynch, LHP, Kansas City Royals

If it wasn’t for MacKenzie Gore, Lynch might have the best pure stuff of any lefty prospect in the minors. Lynch hit 99 mph in the Fall Stars game in the AFL, and regularly worked from 94-97 during the season with a plus slider and an above-average changeup, mixing in a two-seamer and curveball as well. He starts on the extreme third base side of the rubber, keeping him well online to the plate through his delivery, and extends very well out front to make use of his long 6′6″ frame. He’s a good athlete, but still somewhat gangly, and doesn’t repeat his delivery as well as he should just yet, so his command and control are behind the stuff. He also missed part of the summer with a sore shoulder; the Royals shut him down for precautionary reasons, and he finished the year healthy and with the same velocity he’d had before the injury. He’s really not far away and has the highest ceiling of any of the Royals’ stable of real starting pitching prospects.

14. Forrest Whitley, RHP, Houston Astros

Whitley will pitch at 22 for all of 2020, yet it seems like there are already people within the industry questioning how good he’s going to be. Some of it is unsurprising given how bad his 2019 season was; he got to Triple A and bombed, probably with help from the Happy Fun Ball, giving up four or more runs in more than half of his outings — including relief outings designed to help him right the ship — and allowing nine homers in 24 1/3 innings for a 12.21 ERA. The ball wasn’t the only problem, as he was falling behind in counts too often in Triple A. So the Astros gave him a break, tried to work on his mechanics, and had him essentially rehab in the GCL and High A before he finished with a month in Double A (where he still walked too many guys) and six starts in the Arizona Fall League (where he finally had some success, with a 2.88 ERA and 9 walks in 25 innings). His stuff was as good as ever in October, 91-97 mph with a plus cutter and plus-plus changeup as well as two breaking balls that were more average, although on other days his curveball and slider have shown plus. It’s an absurd collection of pitches, but he has to repeat his delivery better so he can throw more consistent strikes, especially early in the count. His upside is unchanged — a No. 1 starter who can give you 200 innings — and we’ll see shortly if the mechanical tweaks he’s made this winter get his delivery to where it needs to be.

15. Jazz Chisholm, SS, Miami Marlins

Chisholm was Arizona’s top prospect coming into 2019, but had a tough time in Double A at age 21, striking out in a third of his plate appearances for Jackson and only getting his batting average above .200 for the first time all year on July 6th. That still made the Diamondbacks’ decision to trade him surprising, but the Marlins pounced on the opportunity, trading starter Zac Gallen for Chisholm, who then hit .284/.383/.494 for Double-A Jacksonville and cut his strikeout rate to 25 percent. Chisholm is an electric presence on the field, with lightning-quick hands, plus running speed, and even quick actions at shortstop, along with top-end bat speed that produces high exit velocities. He did strike out too much with Arizona, but the Marlins have tinkered with his approach and he started hunting better pitches in favorable counts. There’s some question around whether he can stay at shortstop, where his aggressive style of play can seem a bit out of control, but he has the hands, footwork, and arm to do it. It’s an elite tool package at a premium position right now, with at least 20-homer upside and speed that can help change the game too. The Marlins are very fortunate to have him.

16. Michael Kopech, RHP, Chicago White Sox

Kopech blew out his elbow shortly after his major league debut, missing 2019 while he rehabbed, but should be ready to go for Opening Day this year after throwing live outings in instructional league. When healthy, Kopech had one of the biggest fastballs in the game, working 95-100 mph — I don’t believe the reports of 105 and you shouldn’t either — while showing consistent improvement with his slider, changeup, and especially his control. He finished 2018 on a tear, just as he’d finished 2017 on one, having worked on staying online to the plate and not spinning off his front heel, and seemed poised to rocket to the top of the White Sox’s rotation when his elbow snapped. He was back throwing in the upper 90s again in instructs, and while the command may take longer to come back, he should be ready to contribute to Chicago this season and still has that No. 1 starter upside if he stays healthy.

17. Ronny Mauricio, SS, New York Mets

Mauricio signed with the Mets in 2017 for $2.1 million, then the largest bonus the team had ever given a player in the international free-agent market, and made his full-season debut less than two years later at age 18. He was the youngest regular in the Sally League last year — the only qualifying position player in the league born in 2001 — and held his own against older competition, finishing above the league median in batting average and contact rate, although he also had a ground ball rate of nearly 53 percent. Mauricio is a very athletic shortstop who’s already above-average at the position, while at the plate, he has lightning in his hands, and has power that he hasn’t gotten to yet because he’s still so young and because he’s putting the ball on the ground too often. I don’t think it’s entirely in his swing, but he will need to try to get underneath the ball more consistently to get to his 25-plus HR ceiling. A shortstop with this kind of bat speed who can already make contact against pitchers two to four years his senior has huge potential, and could easily be a top 5 prospect in a year with a solid showing in High A.

Brendan McKay (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)

18. Brendan McKay, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays

McKay fell just an inning short of the eligibility threshold for rookies, so he still qualifies for the list until his first major league start of 2020. He thoroughly eviscerated Double-A and Triple-A hitters in 2019, posting a 1.10 ERA, striking out 102 and walking just 18 in 73 2/3 innings. Hitters swung and missed a lot, and when they didn’t, they had a hard time squaring him up. Then he reached the majors, and stopped throwing his changeup almost completely — it was just 3.6 percent of his pitches thrown in the big leagues — and suddenly right-handed hitters were all over him, hitting all eight homers he gave up and posting a .284/.344/.527 line overall. That’s not who McKay is; he’s a four-pitch guy with plus command and, yes, an above-average changeup that should help him get righties out. He’s also continued to hit occasionally, but his performance at the plate really fell off when he reached Triple A, and he’s probably better off pitching full-time and just hitting when the team needs a pinch-hitter. He’s got at least three 55s in his arsenal with plus command, enough to give him a mid-rotation floor and solid No. 2 kind of ceiling.

19. Julio Rodriguez, OF, Seattle Mariners

The second-youngest regular in the Sally League before his promotion, Rodriguez then moved up to the Cal League — while still just 18 years old — and hit .462/.514/.738 for three weeks before the season ended. Rodriguez has a gorgeous right-handed swing that looks perfectly suited to generate big, line-drive power from left field over to center; it’s an easy, rotational, repeatable swing that partly explains how he made so much contact despite being several years younger than his competition in 2019. He’s played more center so far for Seattle, but he’s already on his way to outgrowing it, and is a good enough athlete to be above-average defensively in a corner. The only thing that went wrong for Rodriguez in 2019 was that he was hit in the hand by a pitch, suffering a hairline fracture in a metacarpal bone, but after two months off he came back and seemed unaffected by the injury. We’ll see how his OBP skills evolve, but he looks like he’ll hit for average and 25-plus homer power, at the very least, with a lot of variance around that given his age but more upside, too.

20. Casey Mize, RHP, Detroit Tigers

Mize was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft — and its best prospect — and looked like he would at least end 2019 in Triple A, if not the majors, posting a 0.92 ERA between High A and Double A in 13 starts before shoulder inflammation sent him to the injured list on June 13th. He came back a month later but wasn’t the same, giving up a 6.61 ERA in eight starts after his return before the Tigers shut him down after his August 17th outing. Before the injury, he was pushing Gore for the title of best pitching prospect in the minors, with three plus pitches in his fastball, slider, and grade-70 splitter, along with above-average command and plus control (a 4.2 percent walk rate). His delivery works, and while he’s also had forearm tightness in the past while at Auburn, he’s never had a serious arm injury. He’s supposed to be good to go for spring training, and if he looks like he did in the first half of 2019, he would be the best starter in the Tigers’ entire system — including their big-league roster.

21. A.J. Puk, LHP, Oakland Athletics

Puk was threatening to make the A’s out of spring training in 2018 when his elbow snapped, knocking him out for the entire season and the first two-plus months of 2019. When he returned, the A’s chose to rehab him as a reliever so that he might be ready to help the major-league team in September — which he did, with 11 innings that saw him average 97 mph on his fastball and just short of 90 on his slider. The A’s helped Puk rework his delivery in 2017 to turn him into a legit front-end starter prospect, getting him more consistency and better extension out front. He’s a three-pitch guy whose changeup was better in his return than his slider, although his breaking stuff may just be slower in returning after surgery, and he does have a traditional curveball that’s clearly his fourth-best pitch. He may never have the command to be an ace, but he looks like he’ll miss enough bats with the three primary weapons to be a good No. 2.

22. Spencer Howard, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Howard was my No. 2 Phillies prospect last winter, shortly before they traded their No. 1 prospect Sixto Sanchez. Only two months lost to shoulder “fatigue” kept him from ending 2019 in the majors, as he dominated High A and Double A with a combination of superb control and a true four-pitch arsenal. His fastball is special, up to 99 mph this past season, 94-98 in an AFL start I saw where he sat 96 in the first inning, and he can spot it and use it up in the zone to get swings and misses. His slider is a bit ahead of his curveball, although he can overthrow both of them when he’s not careful. The curve is a tight two-planer in the 74-78 range, while the slider is in the mid-80s. His changeup is his worst pitch, with some power fade when he hits it, and he has been using it more to improve his feel. He left a trail of dead right-handed batters in his wake in 2019, limiting them to a .137/.184/.197 line and walking just 2 of 125 … so when I tell you he had a sizable platoon split, bear that in mind. I see some little things that will keep him from being an ace — a slight cutoff in his delivery, effort to get to his glove side, wobbly command even within starts — but enough of everything else to think he’ll be an above-average starter for a long time.

23. Dylan Carlson, OF, St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals did very, very well when they took Carlson — who wasn’t a consensus first-rounder at all — with the 33rd overall pick in 2016. Carlson has shown himself to be a far more advanced and patient hitter than advertised, posting walk rates over 10 percent in Low A, High A, and Double A in the last two years, all before his 21st birthday. He’s also proven himself a better athlete, not just adapting to center field but playing it well enough to project that he’ll stay there. His approach is exceptional for his age; he’s working the count, not just taking pitches, and when I saw him in a big-league spring training game he had no issues adjusting to the better pitching or command of the level. He’s an above-average runner who could stay in center, but he has a plus arm, and if he moves to right for whatever reason he’ll be able to handle it. Springfield is a good place to hit, and to hit for power, so some of Carlson’s breakthrough in 2019 was probably aided by the ballpark, but he also did this at 20 in Double A and Triple A. He should hit for some average, but with consistently strong OBPs and 25-plus homers, along with average defense in center or plus defense in right.

24. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Detroit Tigers

Skubal missed nearly two years after Tommy John surgery in 2016 while at the University of Seattle, and then had a mediocre spring in his full return in 2018. Still, Detroit saw enough to take him in the ninth round, making him the Redhawks’ highest-drafted player since 1966. He was dominant in short stints after signing that summer, but 2019 was his coming-out party, as he punched out 179 batters in 122 2/3 innings between High A and Double A, with just 37 walks. Skubal comes at hitters fast with a high leg kick and very quick delivery, cutting himself off a little bit on the first base side of the mound, with a plus fastball up to 97 and a plus curveball, and also has a slider and a solid-average changeup that has helped him get right-handed batters about as well as lefties. It’s not a pretty delivery, but it works enough for him to throw a lot of strikes, and he has the stuff and control already to be an above-average starter.

25. CJ Abrams, SS, San Diego Padres

The Padres might have taken Riley Greene had the Tigers not picked their pockets by taking Greene one pick ahead, but the consolation prize here looks pretty good. Abrams went to the Arizona League after the draft, and in 32 games there he hit .401/.442/.662 and stole 14 bases in 20 attempts. He started his pro career with a 20-game hitting streak, went 0-for-4, and then had at least one hit in the next five games. He’s an 80 runner with a quick bat and a very direct swing; he looks fastball and, so far, he doesn’t miss them. He’s a shortstop now and has the actions and quickness for it, although his hands need some work for him to stay there. Center field will always be there as a backup option because of his running speed, but I think he could also end up as at least an above-average defender at second who hits for average with surprising pop — and he’s still got some room to fill out his 6′2″ frame, too.

Jesús Luzardo (Stephen Brashear / Getty Images)

26. Jesús Luzardo, LHP, Oakland Athletics

Luzardo was the main piece the A’s received in the 2017 trade that sent Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to the Nationals, even though he was just a few outings back after missing a year-plus after Tommy John surgery. Since then, he’s been dominant when healthy, but often injured; he’s thrown 164 innings in the last two calendar years, including his September callup last year. He’s been up to 97 mph and can sit 92-95 as a starter, with an above-average change and curveball that became plus when he pitched in relief for the big club. Luzardo threw 51 curves and got big-league hitters to swing and miss at 13 (25.5 percent). If he can hold up as a starter, he has a higher pure ceiling than teammate A.J. Puk, with better secondaries and probably better present command. But he just hasn’t shown a track record of durability or health, even going back to high school, to instill confidence that he can take the ball 30 times.

27. Ian Anderson, RHP, Atlanta Braves

Ol’ Locomotive Breath posted a 2.68 ERA in Double A with a 32 percent strikeout rate despite being just 21 years old, earning a late-season promotion to Triple A where his control issues finally threw up a roadblock to his progress. Anderson looks the part of a high-end starter, with a durable build and clean delivery that gets him extended way out over his front side so all of his pitches play up. He can sit in the mid-90s with a plus changeup; his curveball doesn’t have a huge spin rate, but hitters still swing and miss at it. He has the weapons to miss bats, but needs more consistency to the delivery — and just to flat-out throw more strikes, because when he gets ahead of batters they have a hard time hitting him. His range of outcomes is still wide, but he has real No. 2 starter upside thanks to the extension and that filthy changeup.

28. Andrew Vaughn, 1B, Chicago White Sox

Vaughn was the best pure hitter in the draft, hitting .374/.495/.688 in three springs for Cal, with OBPs over .530 in his last two seasons. The White Sox took him third overall after Adley Rutschman and Bobby Witt Jr. He went out in pro ball and showed that same advanced approach all the way up to High-A Winston-Salem, walking nearly as often as he struck out at each level. Vaughn has a very clean, simple swing that produces contact and power, with good rhythm in his lower half, and he’s shown he can make simple corrections on the fly when his mechanics are off. He’s limited to first base, which means he’ll have to mash to become a star, but it does look like he has the OBP skills and power to be able to do just that.

29. Daulton Varsho, C, Arizona Diamondbacks

Varsho has turned a lot of scouts’ opinions around since the Diamondbacks took him in the second round of the 2017 draft out of the mid-major University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He’s performed up through Double A and shown off athleticism, instincts, and even improved defense behind the plate. Once seen fairly widely as a likely candidate to move to second base or the outfield, Varsho has worked hard and gotten his receiving to a point where he might stay at catcher, showing more comfort and confidence behind the plate, with his arm strength the one real drawback. Now the bigger question is whether Arizona would prefer to move him out to get him in the lineup more and retain his plus speed. Varsho led all Double-A hitters in slugging (.520) and was eighth in OBP (.378), while stealing 21 bags in 26 attempts. A catcher with this offensive profile is extremely unusual — Jason Kendall with more pop? — and even if Varsho is just adequate at controlling the running game, he could be an occasional All-Star as a catcher, with more upside at the plate if he does move to another position.

30. Hunter Greene, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Greene’s 2018 season ended early with a UCL sprain, and it turned out to be more serious than that, requiring Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2019 season as well. When healthy, he can sit 97-100 mph as a starter and has touched 103, and before his elbow barked in 2018 he was showing an above-average slider and much-improved control. He still needed a viable changeup, and that improved control came over a half-dozen starts, not close to a full season. His arm is one of the fastest in the minors, and he’s one of the best athletes in the sport, having also had promise as a plus defensive shortstop with power but below-average bat speed. Still just 20 years old, Greene has No. 1 starter upside, or potential as late-game impact reliever, assuming his stuff comes back and he can continue to develop as a pitcher.

31. Royce Lewis, SS/OF, Minnesota Twins

Lewis was the first overall pick in the 2017 draft, and halfway through 2018, after demolishing Low-A pitching, he seemed like a top ten prospect in baseball. He’s still an excellent prospect, but he’s hit some obstacles on his way to the majors, both at the plate and on defense. Lewis has plenty of bat speed and a good idea of the strike zone. But at some point in the last year-plus he’s exaggerated his leg kick and added a hand hitch, both of which are holding him back as a hitter by slowing him down and messing with his timing. He hit .238/.289/.376 in High A, got a promotion to Double A he didn’t earn, and then hit .231/.291/.358, with higher strikeout rates at both stops than he’d had anywhere before. The Twins couldn’t get Lewis at-bats at shortstop in the Arizona Fall League due to a roster squeeze, so they sent him there to try out center field, which still looks like his ideal long-term position. His actions at short are quick but erratic, while in center his plus speed and generally strong instincts will play up. Lewis is an 80 runner who has a reputation as a great baserunner, although that hasn’t quite led to good base stealing rates yet, and when his swing is quieter, he can hit and should get to average power. He’s too talented to dismiss, but last year was a setback and he has clear work to do at the plate — calming down all that extra movement — and in the field, where the Twins plan to return him to short but might get him reps at other positions.

32. Matt Manning, RHP, Detroit Tigers

Manning would be the top pitching prospect in about twenty organizations; in Detroit’s, he’s third, but that’s no reflection on him. A former basketball standout who had a two-sport scholarship to Loyola Marymount before signing with the Tigers as the ninth overall pick in 2016, Manning has made huge strides in Detroit’s system. He’s gone from a good athlete who threw hard to more of a complete pitcher, with a better delivery and improved secondary stuff. Manning will sit 91-95 mph and gets good extension on the pitch so he can work with it up in the zone. His curveball, a nonfactor in high school, is comfortably above-average now, as is his mid-80s changeup. The curve especially benefits from the new delivery, as he finishes further out front and lower, getting more depth to the pitch. Those mechanical changes also brought his control from dangerously below-average to somewhere close to major-league average now. There may be more ceiling here, given his athleticism and the newness of the delivery. I think he’s a mid-rotation starter even without much more progress, and a No. 2 with some incremental growth, either in command or in one of the two offspeed weapons.

33. Corbin Carroll, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

I had a national cross-checker tell me last April that if Carroll were 6-foot-3 (instead of about 5-foot-10), we’d have been talking about him as a potential No. 1 overall pick. You’d think that with all the sub-six-foot stars we have in the sport right now, including Mookie Betts and Alex Bregman,  we’d be beyond such concerns, but his height — as well as the poor competition Carroll faced while playing for a private school in Washington — helped him slip all the way to the 16th pick, where Arizona grabbed him. Carroll may be small, but he’s extremely strong, including strength in his forearms to provide legitimate power. He’s a 70 runner, stealing 18 bags in 19 attempts after signing, and he projects to stay in center field. He also has a very good feel for the strike zone, especially considering where he played his high school ball. Carroll hit .299/.409/.487 in his pro debut, even with a late-summer promotion to the advanced rookie Northwest League, showing no real trouble making contact with the wood bat against better pitching. It’s a small sample, but a very encouraging sign for his potential to be a superstar who contributes at the plate, in the field, and on the bases.

34. Edward Cabrera, RHP, Miami Marlins

Cabrera really popped in 2019, going from near-certain future reliever after the previous season to, at this point, a potential top-of-the-rotation arm, although he still has a few major developmental hurdles ahead of him. Cabrera has two plus pitches in an upper-90s fastball and a swing-and-miss changeup where he maintains his arm speed extremely well, and threw more strikes last year even with a mid-year promotion to Double A. He’s much more control than command right now, although I see nothing in the delivery that would prevent him from getting to starter-quality command or just from holding up as a starter. The other question is his breaking ball, a mid-80s slurve that’s clearly his third pitch and is not as hard or as tight as you’d expect given his arm speed. You can succeed as a major-league starter with a plus fastball/change combo and a so-so breaking ball, especially with above-average command. Cabrera isn’t there yet, but he looks like he can get there with experience. He’ll turn 22 this year and further improvement would put him on track to pitch near the top of the rotation.

Nolan Jones (Buck Davidson / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

35. Nolan Jones, 3B, Cleveland 

I got a bit of a Kris Bryant vibe from watching Jones in high school — the mirror image, I suppose, since Jones hits left-handed — and so far he’s at least had a few things in common with the former NL MVP. Jones led the minors in walks last year with 96, and had the highest walk rate of any player with at least 400 PA, although it came with a strikeout rate of 27.7 percent (above the median, but not even in the top 100 in the minors). That’s a decent picture of who Jones is as a hitter, working deep counts, not afraid to strike out, and not really cutting down on his swing at all with two strikes — probably because it might also cut into his power. There’s a gap between Jones’ raw power and game power so far, and he might be a 20-25 homer guy at his peak even though he shows more power than that in BP. He’s big for third base, but he’s more agile than you’d expect. I’ve seen him several times at the position, where his only weakness seemed to be a little bit of lost range to his left. Right now, Jones looks like he’ll hit in the .250ish range but with a slew of walks and that 20-25 homer power, which at third base will make him an above-average (if likely underrated) regular. If he gets to more power, he could still be a star.

36. Sean Murphy, C, Oakland Athletics

Murphy could be a star if he could just stay healthy — he’s 25 now and still has yet to play 100 games in any season, but he has huge power, can catch, and has an 80 arm. He can murder a fastball, and makes consistently hard contact when he squares one up, while all manner of offspeed stuff gives him trouble. He’s a top-shelf defender behind the plate with one of the best throwing arms of any catcher in baseball, earning very high marks from the A’s for his blocking, receiving, game-calling and work with pitchers. His main issue remains staying on the field: Going back to his junior year at Wright State, he’s broken both hamate bones (fortunately, he only has two), suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee that eventually required surgery, missed time in 2017 with a sore hand and had a staph infection that cost him a month in his first pro summer. If he gets 120 games this year, he’ll likely hit 20-plus homers, draw his share of walks and provide at least a win of value with his glove. Even if he hits .240 or so, he has enough of everything else that he’ll still be a very valuable regular.

37. Leody Taveras, OF, Texas Rangers

Taveras was all potential but very little production before 2019, although he didn’t even turn 20 until the end of the 2018 season and had already spent a full year in High A. Last year, repeating that level, he started to convert all that contact he makes into performance, hitting .294/.368/.376 and earning a midyear promotion to Double A, where he hit .265/.320/.375 without any decrease in contact rate. Taveras is a plus defender in center field, potentially a 70, and a plus runner who stole 31 bases last year but needs to be more efficient at base stealing. He’s been young for every level where he’s played, spending a full year in Low A at age 18 in 2017, so the lack of power and mediocre BABIPs before last year were not surprising, but now he’s reached an age where he should be adding strength to drive the ball more. The progress in 2019, aided by some small adjustments the Rangers’ player development staff has helped Taveras make, restores much of the optimism that he’ll get to his ceiling as a top-of-the-order center fielder who hits for average and gets on base, without power, but with elite defense and value on the basepaths.

38. Alec Bohm, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies

Bohm can hit, really hit, and while he might not do it at third base for the long term, he’s going to hit enough to profile somewhere as a regular. Bohm was the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, and he might be the Phils’ best first-round pick since Aaron Nola back in 2014. The Phillies started Bohm in Low A, where he didn’t belong as a 21-year-old product of a major college program, but he bashed his way out of there and then did the same in High-A Clearwater before finishing in Double-A Reading, where he took advantage of the Eastern League’s best hitters’ park but struggled on the road. He should probably start 2020 there, but I don’t think he’ll stay there long. Bohm is incredibly strong, with power to all fields, excellent zone control, and a great work ethic that extends to his pregame planning against pitchers. He’s big for third, but his footwork is good and he’s clearly worked on his conditioning just since leaving Wichita State. I like his chances to stay at the hot corner, and I absolutely believe in his chances to hit, with high averages around .300 and 25-plus homers, along with plenty of walks and maybe average defense at third in a best-case scenario.

39. Brandon Marsh, OF, Los Angeles Angels

Marsh is one of the best athletes in an Angels system that is loaded with athletes, but his baseball skills are also quite advanced, which separates him from just about everyone else the Angels have other than Jo Adell. Marsh has a good swing and projects to get to power, while his approach is already advanced — he finished third in the Southern League in OBP, behind two non-prospects at least three years his senior. He made a swing adjustment in the second half, getting taller in his stance so he has more leverage through contact and lifts the ball more, and hit six of his seven homers after the midpoint. He’s a 60 runner and better than that as a pure baserunner, and plays an above-average center field. If the late-season power is indicative of what’s to come, he could be a .300/.400/.475 guy who plays in the middle of the field with defensive and baserunning value, which kind of sounds like a star.

40. Brendan Rodgers, 2B/SS, Colorado Rockies

Rodgers bounced back from a so-so 2018 season to hit an altitude-boosted .350/.413/.622 in Triple-A Albuquerque, one of the best hitters’ parks in the minors, all but forcing the Rockies to call him up in May. The third overall pick in the 2015 class, Rodgers is a natural shortstop but is blocked there in Denver, and as he’s gotten older his range has become more limited. He played more second base in 2019, a position where he should be comfortably above-average thanks to his hands and good actions around the bag. At the plate, Rodgers is an aggressive hitter whose lack of patience might eventually hurt him, but it has worked as long as he’s posted high contact rates and made hard contact. In the majors, that didn’t happen, but it was a small sample — and at some point he injured the labrum in his throwing shoulder, which might have impacted his performance. Shoulder surgery might keep Rodgers out for the beginning of 2020 and hurts his chances of playing shortstop, already a questionable proposition, in the long term. His future now looks like an offensive second baseman who hits for average with a ton of doubles and 10-15 homers — more in Denver — without great walk rates or more than about grade 55 defense.

41. Riley Greene, OF, Detroit Tigers

Greene was the fifth overall pick last June out of an Orlando-area high school, but the Tigers were so high on him, and so impressed by how he handled himself in the Gulf Coast League, that they promoted him to the short-season New York-Penn League, then to the Low-A Midwest League. It was aggressive, but at least gave Greene a taste of the level where he’ll start 2020. One of the top high school position players in the draft class, Greene has a sound swing with very quick hands, with the ability to hit velocity as long as he has his timing down. He’s a hitter first but projects to above-average to plus power, probably a 20- to 25-homer guy with high averages in the end. The Tigers played him exclusively in center field, but he’s going to end up in left due to his lack of speed and fringy arm, although with work he could be at least a neutral defender out there. The bat is the carrying tool here, and the high contact rates and pop he showed in brief trials last summer, often against older pitching, are very positive signs for his long-term outlook as a potential No. 2 hitter who gets on base and hits for some power too.

42. Luis Campusano, C, San Diego Padres

Campusano was just a name to follow heading into his senior spring in 2017, but he worked hard to lose weight and improve his conditioning, enough to push himself into the second round, where the Padres took him and fellow prep catcher Blake Hunt about thirty picks apart. Campusano has taken two big steps forward already in pro ball, getting even stronger since he signed while tightening up his zone control. He rarely strikes out, and was one of just 18 full-time players in 2019 who were 22 or younger and struck out less than 12 percent of the time, one of only two catchers on that list. He’s worked to get the ball in the air more often as well, and his defense has improved to the point where there’s no doubt he’s a catcher in the long term. He’s not quite as advanced as Rutschman, but there’s a good argument he’s the second-best catching prospect in baseball thanks to this unusual combination of contact rate and power, along with his ability to stay behind the plate.

43. Taylor Trammell, OF, San Diego Padres

Trammell entered 2019 as Cincinnati’s top prospect and ended up a Padre after he had a bad first half in Double A, leading the Reds to sell low on him in a deal that netted them Trevor Bauer. He hit for more power after the trade and went off in the Texas League playoffs, going 13-for-42 with three homers, but continued to strike out way more than he should given his swing and history of plate discipline. The Reds tried to alter his swing to improve his launch angle, and that may have been the reason for his struggles in 2019. Since the trade, he’s worked on getting back to the way he used to load his hands, which makes sense given how direct and smooth the previous swing was. He’s a plus runner with good instincts on the bases, but he doesn’t have the arm for center and will most likely end up in left, where he has the range to be plus but hasn’t shown those reads yet. He also got thicker last year, especially in his lower half, and if that persists his speed and range will probably diminish as well. I’m still bullish on Trammell, given his aptitude, athleticism, and makeup, but there is work to do here to get him back to where he was prior to last year, when he seemed like a future All-Star left fielder.

Joey Bart (Jennifer Stewart / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

44. Joey Bart, C, San Francisco Giants

Bart’s full-season debut was marred by two broken bones, the first a fractured metacarpal in his non-throwing hand when he was hit by a pitch in April, the second a broken thumb on his throwing hand when he was hit by a pitch in October. That’s at least his third broken bone somewhere on one of his hands in the last three years, as his sophomore year at Georgia Tech ended prematurely due to another broken finger. Maybe he should back off the plate a little bit, because he’s a pretty good prospect when he gets on the field. Bart is a very good defensive catcher with power, a plus arm and a great reputation for working with pitchers. His swing works pretty well, although he can load a little deep, and he has enough history of striking out that his ability to hit for average is questionable. He’s got a very high floor because of his power and his catch-and-throw skills, while his chance to be more than just a solid regular depends largely on how much contact he makes as the pitching he faces gets better.

45. Kristian Robinson, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

The Bahamian-born Robinson played most of 2019 in the advanced short-season Northwest League, where he would have finished second in average, OBP, and slugging had he qualified, despite being the fourth-youngest regular in the league. Robinson is physical and athletic, listed at 6′3″, 190, with plus raw power and plus running speed already, and the arm strength to play any outfield spot. There’s a lot of swing-and-miss here, some of which is inexperience, and some the result of an overstride that gets him out in front of offspeed stuff and weakens his back side. His idea of the strike zone has improved by leaps and bounds since he signed, however, and he walked at a higher rate than any other teenager in the Northwest League (12.2 percent) before a late-season promotion to the Midwest League. He’ll play this entire season at 19, starting in Low A, and has the highest upside of any of the Diamondbacks’ small horde of top position-player prospects, with his contact rate the biggest factor in whether or not he gets to it.

46. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates

Everybody in Triple A hit for more power last year (thanks to the Happy Fun Ball) except for Hayes, it seems. He still didn’t strike out much, and played elite defense, but hit just 10 homers. Hayes has always projected to power, but it hasn’t been there; even the system-wide changes in Pittsburgh last year that saw a number of hitters, most notably Josh Bell, driving the ball more often didn’t help him. His exit velocities are at or above major-league average, but he needs to get underneath the ball a bit more for home run power. He’s still one of the best defensive players in the minors, possibly an 80 at third, and his contact rate and hand strength should help him at least be an average regular given his defense. But there is more power in this frame and in the swing. Perhaps the new regime in Pittsburgh can get it out of him; if Hayes can hit 20 homers a year, with a batting average in the higher .200s, he’s a star.

47. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals

The Royals took Witt with the second pick in the 2019 draft, one slot ahead of where his father was selected in 1985. Unlike his dad, Witt Jr. is a position player, a shortstop with three pretty promising tools right now in his speed, arm, and glove, facing questions about his ability to hit and make contact. Witt is a 70 runner with an outstanding arm, having earned some interest as a prospect on the mound when he was younger, and he has the actions and footwork to become a plus defender at shortstop, perhaps more than just plus. At the plate, he has a simple swing, but can collapse his back side, making his swing longer and pulling his bat uphill. It’ll produce more power but at the cost of less contact over time. He does have an approach and isn’t a free swinger, so this is a matter of getting him to stay upright through contact, not overhauling his approach or teaching him to recognize pitches. He turned 19 right after the draft and will play at 20 this year, so there’s a bit more pressure on him to hit now, but his ceiling is still very high given his other tools, and the potential for him to become a plus hitter if the Royals can iron out that back leg issue.

48. Francisco Alvarez, C, New York Mets

Alvarez signed with the Mets in 2018 for $2.7 million, breaking Ronny Mauricio’s franchise record, and debuted at age 17 in the Gulf Coast League, where he went 12-for-26 with 4 doubles and 2 homers in 7 games … so the Mets promoted him. Few 17-year-olds play anywhere in short-season ball outside of the complex leagues, aside from the occasional mid-August promotion. Alvarez was the only 17-year-old to get a plate appearance in the Appy League in 2019, yet he still hit .282/.377/.443 with a walk rate over 11 percent and strikeout rate of just 22 percent, both better than the league median. He has a great swing, arguably the best in the Mets’ system, with very strong hands; he makes a deliberate, quick move back, and then his hands explode forward, with a hard swing that already produces hard contact. He’s a catcher, average overall, best at blocking of all the catching skills. A player who can stay back there and has this kind of average/OBP/power potential has enormous, MVP type upside. He’ll play this whole year at 18, probably in Low A, and we’ll get an even better measure of just how advanced he is.

49. Sixto Sanchez, RHP, Miami Marlins

Sanchez throws a fairly-easy 100 mph — I’ve seen him up to 101 — from a 5′10″ frame that has started to fill out in both positive and negative ways over the last two years. It’s an 80 fastball that misses bats, and he throws it for strikes; in his pro career, he’s walked just 64 guys in 335 innings, and his walk rates haven’t risen as he’s moved up the chain to Double A. His secondary stuff lags behind the fastball, with the changeup probably his next-best pitch, while his curveball is less consistent and isn’t very tight. I’ve speculated in the past that someone might try to give him a slider — given how fast his arm is — as it might come in around 90 mph and should have adequate spin on it. Sanchez missed a chunk of 2018 with the elbow flu, but was healthy for 2019. There’s still a fair question about his durability given his size and conditioning; if he can hold up as a starter, though, there’s No. 2 upside, with a high floor in relief if he needs to transition to the bullpen.

50. DL Hall, LHP, Baltimore Orioles

Hall was the Orioles’ first-round pick in 2017, a top-half-of-the-round talent who slid to their pick at No. 21 — and they have to be thrilled that he did, given the arsenal he shows right now. Hall will pitch at 93-96 mph with a plus curveball at 79-83 that has tight, two-plane break, and an above-average changeup in the low-80s. His stuff is electric coming out of his hand, and hitters who try to gear up for the fastball will look foolish when he throws one of his offspeed weapons. He’s an excellent athlete with a good delivery that he could repeat, but doesn’t, often because he rushes through it to try to blow guys up with his fastball. He walked 54 in 80 2/3 innings last year, a big jump in his walk rate over 2018, up to 15.6 percent … but he also struck out a third of the guys he faced. If you saw the stat line, you might think he had some awful delivery or was the left-handed Nick Neugebauer, but he’s athletic, his delivery works, and he has the pure stuff to be at least a No. 2 starter. If and when he learns to measure his tempo and repeat that delivery, he’ll throw more strikes and approach that ceiling.

51. Clarke Schmidt, RHP, New York Yankees

Schmidt had already had Tommy John surgery in the spring of 2017 when the Yankees made him their first-round pick that June. After a 2018 season where he barely pitched around an oblique strain, he had a successful “real” debut in 2019, throwing 90 2/3 innings and finishing with three strong starts in Double A. Schmidt will pitch at 91-95 mph, and he already misses bats with his fastball, pairing it up with a power slurve that’s 80-85 and is best when it’s harder and gets more slider-like tilt to it. He commands both pitches very well for a prospect without a ton of pro experience. His changeup has good action but is a little too firm, it’s as if he has the right grip but needs to improve his feel for the pitch. His delivery is better now than it was pre-Tommy John surgery, staying more closed with a shorter arm path, so while there’s still effort, he looks like a starter now. If he can build up to that workload, he has a fourth starter floor and a ceiling of a good No. 3.

52. Heliot Ramos, OF, San Francisco Giants

Ramos was a top 100 prospect for me after his big 2017 debut summer, but he was overmatched in full-season ball the next year at age 18, and it seemed like he might be farther away from the majors than I originally thought. He bounced back to trounce Cal League pitching in 2019 after getting much stronger over the winter, making harder contact while also boosting his walk rate to over 9 percent. Ramos swings hard with big hip rotation, the kind of movement that will create some swing-and-miss while also leading to huge power. He’s a solid athlete, but the way his body is filling out eliminates any chance that he’s going to play center in the majors; he should be capable in right, though, and has the plus arm to play there. If he keeps refining his approach, he’ll unlock more power as he gets older, and he might be a classic No. 4 hitter with 30-plus homer power, some patience, and too many strikeouts to bat second.

53. Vidal Brujan, 2B, Tampa Bay Rays

Brujan is little but fierce, listed at 5′9″, 155 pounds, but explosive and athletic and capable of playing multiple spots in the middle of the diamond. Brujan is a switch-hitter with a compact but potent swing, rarely missing and making quality contact, albeit without power as his swing isn’t geared to drive the ball that way. He’s a 70 runner who has played a lot of shortstop and is capable there, but he’s already above-average at second base and I think that’s his ultimate position. With his speed and quick first step, however, he could also end up in center field, and would probably be above-average there too. Double A was his first real challenge in pro ball, and while he still made far more than league-average contact, the contact quality was down. He’s been working on ways to get more impact when bat meets ball, and that’ll be the difference between him becoming a borderline star and a quality, infield/outfield utilityman.

Matthew Liberatore (Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

54. Matthew Liberatore, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals

Tampa Bay took Liberatore in the first round in 2018, and it was widely seen as a steal because Liberatore was a top-10 talent who only slid to their pick at No. 16 due to miscommunications over what it would cost to sign him, not because of ability or health. That made it all the more surprising that the Rays traded him this winter for two position players — corner outfielder Randy Arozarena and first baseman/DH José Martínez — who help their club now at the cost of Liberatore’s long-term potential. He’s a great athlete with two above-average pitches;  a fastball that will touch 95-96 mph and a high-spin curveball that’s going to be his out pitch. He also gets high spin on his slider, a new pitch for him in pro ball, and shows some feel for a changeup. Liberatore’s delivery can be quite good, but he doesn’t always repeat it, and I’ve seen him get out of whack when trying to work with runners on base. He didn’t miss as many bats as the Rays expected last year, and had a reverse platoon split, which I have to think is a fluke given the quality of his breaking stuff. I still see No. 2 starter upside, as he’s athletic enough to be able to make adjustments if he puts in the work, and he certainly has the pitches to get there.

55. Brennen Davis, OF, Chicago Cubs

Davis was a two-sport star whose senior spring started a bit late while he finished playing basketball, but the Cubs still grabbed him in the second round in 2018, betting on his athleticism and makeup — he was a favorite among Four Corners area scouts that year. The early returns have been promising, as he’s hit for more contact and a lot more power than I think anyone foresaw this soon. Davis is lanky and has barely begun to fill out, so there’s likely to be more power to come, while he’s already shown he can manage at-bats and use the middle of the field to get himself on base. Despite his 6′4″ frame he already has a very balanced swing, and the Cubs will just have to tighten up some mechanical things since he’s got such long levers. A former shortstop, he’s adapted quickly to center field; he projects to stay there and add value with his range. He’s the Cubs’ best prospect and the highest-upside guy in their system, giving them their best chance for another homegrown star position player.

56. Josh Lowe, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Lowe was all tools and little production before 2019, when he moved up from High A to Double A and improved in just about every way, more than doubling his career high in homers with 18 and reaching a new career best with 30 steals. Lowe, who just turned 22 in early February, was a third baseman in high school with a propensity to swing and miss too often, but he’s corralled that enough to get to his power while turning into a plus-plus defensive center fielder with a patient enough approach at the plate to make his long-but-fluid swing work. He’s still going to strike out, but there’s 30-homer power in here, and with a solid OBP, baserunning value, and potentially 70 defense in center, he might be a quiet star. Unfortunately, his 2020 season will probably start late as he recovers from shoulder surgery to clean up a partially damaged labrum he felt while playing in the Arizona Fall League.

57. Alek Thomas, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

When the D-Backs failed to sign their first-round pick, Matt McClain, in 2018, they still came away with a first-round talent in Thomas, a Chicago-area high school outfielder who was their second-round pick. All Thomas has done since signing is hit: .333/.395/.463 in two short-season stops in 2018, then .312/.393/.479 last year as a 19-year-old in Low A before an August promotion to the Cal League, where he struggled for the first time as a pro. Thomas is a true centerfielder with plus speed and a quick bat, although he’s still fairly unpolished as a hitter and baserunner. His swing can get wild, suboptimal when his game is likely going to be one of high contact rather than power. He has the range for center field but his arm may push him to left in the long run. Thomas should get to average power in time, although I think it’ll manifest more in doubles than homers, with 15-20 homers a good outcome. At the plate, he just needs to calm down his mechanics and keep his front side from flying open; the fact that he’s hit as well as he has without those adjustments should give you some idea of how good a pure hitter he is.

58. Marco Luciano, SS, San Francisco Giants

Luciano received $2.6 million from the Giants in July of 2018, then debuted last summer in the Arizona Rookie League at age 17, where he finished third in the league in OBP at .438 and fifth in slugging at .616. He’s 6′2″ and lanky, with loose hands and a lot of room to fill out, but shows plus bat speed and already has the ability to drive the ball. He has good enough hands to stay at short and a plus arm, though his frame points to him potentially outgrowing the position. That isn’t a huge issue, since his bat looks like it will play anywhere on the diamond. Luciano’s season was exceptional for a 17-year-old, but he’s still raw as a hitter with some swing-and-miss in the zone. He’s a fringy runner, so if he moves off short it might be to a corner. His combination of patience and early power is unusual for someone his age, and he has such an exciting frame, and a swing that should continue to produce hard contact. He may not move quickly like Wander Franco or Vlad Guerrero, Jr., but Luciano should be the Giants’ first homegrown Latin American star since Pablo Sandoval.

59. Logan Gilbert, RHP, Seattle Mariners

Gilbert had a down spring in his junior year at Stetson due to a case of mono, but the Mariners still took him in the first round off of his great extension, command, and their history with him from the previous summer on Cape Cod. It has paid off quickly, as Gilbert got his velocity back, sitting at 93 as a starter in 2019 and frequently hitting 95, dominating hitters up through and including Double A. His fastball plays up because he has some of the best extension out front of any pitcher in baseball, and his curveball is an out pitch for him already, while he continues to work on the slider and changeup. He had no trouble with left-handed batters last year and showed above-average control. Gilbert will pitch up with his stuff and won’t be a groundball pitcher; I’m not especially worried that he’ll be homer-prone, given his extension and the quality of his two main pitches, but it is one variable to consider when thinking about his ceiling. I see a high-probability mid-rotation starter, an innings guy who’s above-average at run prevention, but there’s at least some small risk his flyball tendencies hold him back.

60. Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, Baltimore Orioles

Rodriguez was the 10th overall pick in 2018 out of a high school in rural Texas, yet was advanced enough that the Orioles sent him to Low-A Delmarva last spring to work as a starter on very limited pitch counts. He completely overwhelmed hitters there, striking out 34 percent of hitters at the level. I saw him multiple times, and most opposing batters couldn’t catch up to his fastball, which would sit 94-96 mph. He can elevate it for swings and misses, but he understood that he could just rear back and blow it by guys as well. He’ll show four pitches, with a curveball that flashes above-average but isn’t consistent, showing 11-5 break with good spin and some depth within the strike zone, and a slider that was below-average when I saw him. He’s huge, 6′5″ and listed at 220 but already stronger, built like a workhorse top-of-the-rotation starter. His delivery, however, is very stiff and abrupt, with a big pause that cuts down on how much he can use his legs and a little bit of cross-body action because of where he lands. His command and control are about where you’d expect a 19-year-old pitcher’s to be, maybe a little ahead of that, and if he just gets those to average he’s going to be a capable major-league starter. A tighter curveball and progress with his changeup would get him to a No. 2.

61. Kyle Wright, RHP, Atlanta Braves

Wright has the makings of a durable mid-rotation or better starter and has had success up through Triple A, but his two major-league stints haven’t been as promising and he clearly has work to do on his command. Wright was throwing as hard as ever in the majors last year, and his slider, already a plus pitch, was even sharper. But major-league batters hit his four-seamer hard, and he seemed to have trouble commanding it. It’s up to 98 and has generally above-average (but not elite) spin, yet hitters put it in play 24 times against just 5 swings and misses. Those are small samples, but are concerning given the pitch’s characteristics. That’s the bad news; the good news is nobody hits his slider, which touches 90 mph, and he has a viable changeup and curveball as well, along with a workhorse build. He misses spots too often with that four-seamer, and it might be because his arm is a tick late relative to his front leg. His stuff is too good for these results.

62. Braxton Garrett, LHP, Miami Marlins

Garrett was the 7th overall pick in the 2016 draft, made four pro starts in 2017, and then blew out his elbow. He did not return to action until April of 2019. The good news is that everything came back intact. He’s 89-93 mph again with a plus curveball and good feel for an average changeup that’s still improving. His control, which was immaculate in high school, lagged behind but was approaching major-league average by the end of the summer, and he was always competitive around the zone, avoiding bad misses where he might get hurt. He was a touch homer-prone in the Florida State League last year, and he does need to keep working on his control and command, as he probably has 95 mph in his arm but doesn’t try to pitch there and may always work with average velocity. He’s a high-probability starter, but more of a back-end guy than I originally thought, unless something changes with his stuff.

63. Josiah Gray, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Gray was one of the two prospects who went to the Dodgers in the ill-fated trade that sent Alex Wood, Yasiel Puig, and Matt Kemp’s Albatross Contract to the Reds last winter. Cincinnati got nothing from those players, while Gray and Jeter Downs both took big steps forward in their new system. A second-round pick out of Division II Le Moyne in 2018, Gray dominated at three levels last year, with 147 strikeouts and 31 walks in 130 innings, finishing his year with Double-A Tulsa. Gray has one of the most dominant fastballs in the minors; nobody hits it, even though it’s mostly 90-95, while his slider is already above-average and plays up because of how good his fastball is. His changeup is a work in progress, although he’s using it more now, and his command of his two primary pitches has also improved. He’s still a little raw as a pitcher and can make too many mistakes in the middle of the zone, which seems like an experience issue given how well his delivery works. He has No. 2 starter upside, although the lack of an average changeup and his inexperience do earn him some reliever tags from scouts who’ve seen him.

64. Xavier Edwards, 2B, Tampa Bay Rays

Edwards was the Padres’ second pick, 38th overall, in the 2018 draft, and went to Tampa Bay this winter in the Tommy Pham trade. Edwards was a shortstop in high school but is mostly a second baseman now, and that’s probably where he’ll play in the majors, although center field will always be on the table because of his speed. Edwards has four tools, just lacking power, with excellent hand-eye coordination and a very advanced approach for his age. His strikeout rate between Low A and High A last year was just 9.6 percent, putting him 8th out of 359 qualifying full-season A-ball hitters in 2019. He’s got a good swing for line drives and eventually some doubles power, but it’ll never be home run power and he just needs to concentrate on gaining strength to make his contact more impactful. He’s a plus runner and an above-average defender at second who could end up plus or better in time. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Tampa Bay move him to other positions as well, since that’s often their m.o. with athletic hitting prospects. At second, he looks like an above-average regular who’ll hit for average with strong OBPs, no pop, and base-stealing value too.

65. Bryse Wilson, RHP, Atlanta Braves

Wilson has one of the best fastballs among minor league starters, and his success with it, along with changes the Atlanta player development staff helped him make to his delivery after he was drafted, is the main reason he raced to the big leagues in just two years out of high school. His fastball sits 93-96 mph, and he throws it a lot — over 70 percent of the time in the majors — yet hitters consistently swing at it and miss, even when the pitch is in the zone. Wilson’s disease is his breaking stuff. He throws a curve and slider but neither is average, as he doesn’t get great spin on the ball; he’ll often get better spin on his four-seamer than on his breaking stuff. His early arrival in the majors has thrown off his timeline, but he just turned 22 in December and has a fastball that will play in some role. If he can get to just an average breaking ball, more likely a slider at this point, he’s a mid-rotation starter.

66. Shane Baz, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays

Baz was the headliner coming back to the Rays in the 2018 trade that sent Chris Archer to Pittsburgh — a deal that also included Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow, so it’s worked out rather well for Tampa Bay — and his full-season debut in 2019 showed both his strengths and weaknesses clearly. Baz works with premium stuff, usually 95-97 mph as a starter, hitting 100 in the Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game when he worked an inning in relief. He also has a power slider in the mid-80s, which got up to 92 in that shorter stint. His command and control remain below-average, probably grades 40 and 45 respectively, and his changeup is a clear fourth pitch for him, helped by a consistent arm slot and some natural fade. His arm is consistently late, which is often a negative indicator for durability and command, but so far he’s been healthy and has no problem generating this kind of ridiculous velocity as well as very high spin rates on his fastball, slider, and curve. If he does have to go to the ‘pen eventually, however, we can already see that he would have some of the most unhittable stuff of any reliever in baseball.

Deivi Garcia (David Richard / USA Today)

67. Deivi Garcia, RHP, New York Yankees

Garcia just keeps missing bats, punching out nearly two men per inning last year in High-A Tampa and then striking out 37 percent of the batters he faced in Double A before finishing with “just” a 25.3 percent strikeout rate in Triple A. He does it with mirrors, working 90-95 mph with average spin rates, fooling hitters with a lot of deception in the delivery and the fact that he’ll throw any of his four pitches in any count. His curveball is 76-79 with two-plane break, and he can throw it for strikes; his changeup comes in in the mid-80s and has good action that fades away from lefties. Last spring, he added a slider at 85-87, which on some nights was his best pitch, and further fills out his bag of tricks. The knock on Deivi is that he’s small — 5′9″ or 5′10″ and maybe 165 pounds — and he doesn’t do it especially easily, without a lot of power from his lower half. The delivery may also inhibit his command; he gets a lot of chases in and out of the zone, but his command is below-average, especially that of his fastball. I think he can start, and if he holds up he has mid-rotation potential. But I’ve also seen him at 93-96 in short bursts, and once through an order he could be devastatingly good.

68. JJ Bleday, OF, Miami Marlins

Bleday was the fourth overall pick in the 2019 draft, after a huge spring for Vanderbilt that saw him lead Division 1 hitters in home runs. Bleday showed not just power but patience and the ability to hit before the draft, even though he has an unorthodox swing, with a hand hitch that gives him the look of someone swinging an axe uphill. He has the arm to profile in right field and moves well for his size (6′3″, 205 already), and his power/patience combination should make him a regular there. The question with Bleday will be whether the excess movement in his swing prevents him from hitting for enough average and contact, or if his strength and hand-eye are so exceptional, like Hunter Pence’s, that he can overcome it and become an above-average regular.

69. Jordan Balazovic, RHP, Minnesota Twins

Balazovic just missed my 2019 list, then went to High-A Fort Myers and all but demanded inclusion on this year’s rankings, taking a big step forward for the second straight year. Balazovic will sit in the 93-95 mph range, touching higher than that, with an above-average if slurvy breaking ball in the low to mid-80s and an average changeup. He’s shown at least major-league average control already, with 43 walks in 155 1/3 innings over the last two seasons between Low A and High A. He’s tall with long levers and still looks like he’s learning to control his body as he grows into it, which makes the low walk rates all the more impressive. Balazovic has committed himself further to his conditioning this winter, and given his frame he could easily put on another 15 pounds of muscle for more durability. That will be key, as he’ll probably be asked to throw 120-plus innings for the first time this year. He has the three pitches, athleticism, and control to be a mid-rotation starter, and there’s still growth potential for him to get beyond that if the secondary pitches develop further.

70. Jeter Downs, 2B/SS, Boston Red Sox

Downs was part of the big trade that sent Alex Wood and Yasiel Puig to the Reds a year ago, just a year and a half after the Reds took him with the 32nd overall pick in the 2018 draft. He took a big leap forward with the Dodgers last year, leading the California League in doubles (with 33) and homers (with 19) at age 20, even though he was promoted to Double A for the last two weeks of the season — and hit five more homers there. He’s really not a shortstop, but should be above-average at second base or third. And the power he’s shown now, especially after the Dodgers helped him better understand how to manipulate the barrel to drive the ball when he gets the right pitch, will play anywhere. Even after an awful April where he hit .213/.276/.371, he showed no panic at the plate and kept improving his approach, making swing adjustments as the season went on. He’d probably be a star if he could handle shortstop as an everyday player, but even at second or third he should be an above-average regular for a long time.

71. Mitch Keller, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

Keller is just two innings short of losing his rookie eligibility, so this is probably his last time on my prospect rankings, and his outlook is cloudier than ever after multiple unsuccessful stints in the majors. Keller has velocity, a plus curveball that is a definite out pitch, and a hard slider that missed a ton of bats in the majors — but his fastball tends to flatten out, and he doesn’t have a viable third pitch yet for lefties. His changeup is a non-factor when he even throws it, and after several years he hasn’t found a grip that works, so lefties got on base at a 43 percent clip against him in the majors. He’ll sit 94-95 mph and can get it up to 98, so arm speed is not an issue, but he gets too much of the plate with the fastball; major-league hitters won’t miss it if they know they don’t have to watch for some change-of-pace pitch. His breaking stuff is good enough for him to go through right-handed hitters multiple times a game, but without more fastball movement or more deception, he’s in a sort of prospect limbo where he has a starter ceiling but, right now, a more likely outcome in a relief role.

72. Adrián Morejón, LHP, San Diego Padres

Morejón signed with the Padres in 2016 for an $11 million bonus under the old international signing rules. Since then he’s been very good when healthy, but has hit the injured list too many times. He’s young, turning 21 at the end of February, but has yet to throw more than 65 innings in any regular season around arm and back issues, including two IL stints in 2019 due to a left shoulder impingement. When healthy, Morejón will show a plus fastball that sits mid-90s and has hit 98 in short stints, a plus changeup, and a solid-average curveball, and his delivery isn’t especially high-effort. He has some deception against lefties, and uses the change to fool right-handers with his fastball. His stock is down now because he ended the year on the major-league IL with the second bout of shoulder trouble, and so far he hasn’t shown he can hold up as a starter. But with the three pitches and potential for average command/control in time, he has enough mid-rotation starter upside to keep him among the Padres’ top pitching prospects.

73. Jordan Groshans, 3B/SS, Toronto Blue Jays

Groshans was the Jays’ first-round pick in 2018 and got off to a terrific start in 2019 in the full-season Midwest League, hitting .337/.427/.482 in 23 games for Lansing before a left foot injury ended his year. Groshans has a pure hitter’s swing and has shown an elite ability to make adjustments to pitchers so far in his brief pro tenure. He rotates his hips early, and the power he has shown to date comes more from his hand strength than his legs — although that’s as much a timing issue as anything, and if it ever becomes an issue it’s probably fixable. A third baseman in high school and in 2018, Groshans moved to short last year and wasn’t terrible, but third or second remain more likely long-term positions for him. If he improves at short enough to stay there, his average/contact/OBP combination would make him a potential star even without big power. A full, healthy year in 2020 will help establish just how advanced his bat is and whether he has the power to be a star even in a corner.

Carter Kieboom (Geoff Burke / USA Today)

74. Carter Kieboom, 2B/3B, Washington Nationals

Kieboom’s value is almost entirely tied up in his hit tool, which I’ve had multiple scouts and execs tell me could be a 60 at its peak, likely making him an above-average regular at second or third. That’s far and away the most important variable for Kieboom, who isn’t a shortstop and whose other tools are short; he’s a 40 runner at best and projects to average power, with the possibility of above-average defense at second or third with time and work. He’s hit well — both for average and contact — everywhere he’s played except for the majors last year, when he looked overmatched in an 11-game stint. He has the bat speed to hit good fastballs, and seems to pick up spin well enough, although his bat path can put him on top of the ball too often. He looks like he has the right combination of swing and approach to get to that 60 hit tool, although I think a 55 is a safer bet; that, with average power and above-average defense at either likely position, would make him a solid regular for a long time.

75. William Contreras, C, Atlanta Braves

Contreras’ older brother is Willson, the Cubs catcher (for now), but William is the toolsier player and has a lot more upside on both sides of the ball. As a hitter, he has a very easy swing with good follow-through, makes a lot of hard contact with strong exit velocities, and doesn’t strike out excessively despite always being young for his levels. Atlanta challenged Contreras to improve his defense if he wanted to get to Double A, and he did, getting better at blocking and framing over the course of the season to earn the promotion, while throwing out a third of opposing runners. He’ll play all of 2020 at age 22, and looks poised to take a big step this year at the plate, given his hard contact numbers and the fact that he’ll get to repeat Double A to start the season. His ceiling remains extremely high, a true catcher who provides value with his glove while hitting for average with 20-plus homers.

76. Alek Manoah, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays

The top college pitcher — and the second one selected — in the 2019 draft, Manoah had a dominant spring for West Virginia, punching out 144 batters against 27 walks in 108 innings for the Mountaineers. He’ll sit 94-95 deep into games, touching 98, with a four-pitch mix that includes an above-average changeup at 86-88 with great arm speed. His breaking stuff is less consistent, with the slider more of a chase pitch for righties while the curveball is more effective in or near the zone. He’s very big at 6′6″ and 260 pounds, and he pitches with intent, attacking hitters consistently with his fastball to set up everything else, including, quite often, more fastballs. He pitches from the stretch all the time, which is atypical but not a red flag, and was used a little heavily by West Virginia in the spring. Other than that, he checks all the boxes for a mid-rotation starter.

77. Tony Gonsolin, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Gonsolin just missed my top 100 last year, and now he just barely qualifies for it, as he’ll lose rookie eligibility with just 10 more innings pitched in the majors. After working in both starting and relief roles last year, he should spend the year in the Dodgers’ rotation, as he’s become a four-pitch pitcher and has weapons to get hitters on both sides of the plate, including a knockout splitter. Unlike most split-fingered fastballs, Gonsolin’s has fade like a hard changeup, rather than that abrupt bottoming-out we expect from such a pitch. It works, though: Hitters swung and missed at 20.7 percent of the splitters he threw last year, and its presence helped make his four-seamer more effective. His slider is also plus and he actually had a higher whiff rate on that pitch (23.7 percent, all per Statcast) than he did on the splitter, so he has a defined out pitch for lefties and another for righties. He can start, clearly, and is athletic enough (as a former two-way player for St. Mary’s) to continue to improve his command and control, with a fourth starter floor but quite a bit more ceiling beyond that.

78. Nick Lodolo, LHP, Cincinnati Reds

Lodolo declined to sign with the Pirates as a compensation round pick in 2016, then ended up going to the Reds with the 7th overall pick in 2019, so his decision worked out — especially since he stayed healthy in college. He works from a slot slightly below three-quarters and dominates lefties with a big, sweeping slider around 79-82 mph, as well as a fastball they don’t pick up well that’s 91-94 and can touch 96. He has a usable changeup with some fading action, a very positive sign given his arm slot, and is pretty serious about the whole “throwing strikes” thing, facing 74 batters after signing and walking none of them. I’ve had scouts describe him as “boring good,” which I think is apt. Lodolo will miss some bats, and get a lot of chase swings on the slider, but he probably won’t be a huge K% guy. He projects as a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter, maybe just slightly better than that, unless his stuff ticks up a grade from where it is now.

79. Oneil Cruz, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates

I’m in the camp that says Cruz can’t be a shortstop; he’s 6-foot-7, and only one player in MLB history that tall has played even an inning at shortstop — Joel Guzmán, who played nine innings at short for Tampa Bay in 2007, and was truly incapable of playing the position. But Cruz can hit, and run, and really throw, and he looks like he’ll come into power — how could he not, given his size? His strikeout rates are not that high given his strike zone and the length of his arms, but I will be watching to see how well he can cover both sides of the plate as he faces better pitching in Double A and up. Cruz broke a bone in his foot sliding into second base last year, costing him all of May and nearly all of June, and wasn’t running as well when he returned, but he has above-average speed — it helps when it’s only three steps from one base to the next — and should be an asset on the bases. As for his position, I’d ultimately bet on center or right field rather than the infield, just given his height and the effort already required to get low for ground balls, but I like the average/power/fielding upside he’d have anywhere in the outfield to make him an above-average regular.

80. Brailyn Marquez, LHP, Chicago Cubs

Marquez is the Cubs’ top pitching prospect and the most promising arm they’ve had in their system since they traded Dylan Cease in the José Quintana deal. Marquez has been up to 102 from the left side, holding 96-100 deep into games as a starter, with a power slider at 86-88. It’s an Aroldis Chapman kind of combination, with some feel for a changeup that was better for him in the second half of 2019. His delivery is tough to repeat and points towards a closer’s profile rather than a starter’s; he spins off his front heel, his arm is late relative to his landing, and he tends to drop his arm a little and sling the ball. Some guys overcome these issues and remain starters, and he has top-of-the-rotation stuff if he can. My bet is that he ends up a very high-end closer who can go two innings when needed because he has the third pitch to get right-handed batters out, too.

81. Brice Turang, SS, Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers’ first-round pick from 2018 came into pro ball with no-doubt defense at short but a fair number of questions about his bat, from his bat speed to his ability to make contact to whether he’d get to any power. The early returns from his first full pro season are promising, especially given the low offensive baseline for good defensive shortstops, as he posted a .367 OBP and walked nearly as often as he struck out between Low A and High A as a 19-year-old. Turang had a more rotational swing in high school, but he’s loosened his hands up, which so far has led to more contact without power. With strong walk rates so far — he actually walked at a slightly higher rate in High A than Low — it’s enough of an offensive skill set to project him to play every day, even if he peaks at just 5-8 homers a year. He’s also a plus runner with great instincts on the bases, with an 86 percent success rate in 51 stolen base attempts in pro ball. Right now, he looks like a soft regular at short. His swing was stronger and more geared to drive the ball before the draft, and if he gets back to that without any loss of plate discipline, there’s 5 WAR potential.

82. Nolan Gorman, 3B, St. Louis Cardinals

Gorman’s first full pro season was a mixed bag. He showed some of his prodigious power, but more in the range of 60 game power rather than the 80 raw he has; yet he improved quite a bit defensively. Gorman has the potential to get to 30-plus homers regularly, but has to hit enough to get there. He’s very aggressive in the zone right now, so even though he doesn’t chase excessively he struck out in 30 percent of his PA between Low A and High A last year. He came into pro ball with real questions about his defense at third, but improved substantially thanks to the Cardinals’ player development staff and is now a 50 to 55 defender there, with a plus arm as well. His range of potential outcomes is very wide, given that strikeout rate. But the success of Joey Gallo has opened teams’ eyes to players of that archetype, and while Gorman doesn’t have Gallo’s interplanetary sort of power, he has more hit tool than Gallo did, and far more value on defense too.

83. Jesus Sanchez, OF, Miami Marlins

Sanchez was one of the Rays’ top prospects coming into last season, but after a mediocre start to the year, they dealt him to the Marlins at the deadline for relief help in the form of Nick Anderson and Trevor Richards, after which Sanchez had the best month of his season. Sanchez swings hard, with exceptional data when the ball leaves his bat, yet has better bat control than you’d expect, staying upright through contact and swinging and missing less than you’d expect from the force in his swing. He is aggressive early in counts and could stand to be more selective, as there’s above-average power here that he doesn’t get to because he doesn’t wait for his pitch. He’s played some center throughout his pro career and is competent to play it occasionally, but his long-term future is in right. This kind of bat speed and ability to make hard contact is unusual, and while the Rays seemed disappointed in his lack of production, the Marlins are better situated to be patient with his bat.

84. Travis Swaggerty, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

Swaggerty was the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft out of South Alabama, coming off a difficult junior year where he tried to hit for more power and ended up losing too much contact rate in the process. The Pirates worked with him over the course of 2019 to reduce some of that extra noise, cutting his stride and keeping his back side more firm to get him better balance through contact, while also developing his pitch selection. As he shortened things up and kept his head steadier, Swaggerty saw better results; if we split his season into two equal halves, he hit .214/.312/.319 in his first half and .316/.383/.443 in the second while cutting his strikeout rate. He’s a 60 runner and pure center fielder who projects to stay there, and now that he’s cleaned up at the plate, his outlook for more and better quality contact is rosier — enough to project him as an above-average regular in center with some power and added value from his range as well.

Josh Jung (Steven Branscombe / USA Today)

85. Josh Jung, 3B, Texas Rangers 

Jung was the 8th overall pick in 2019 out of Texas Tech, with a strong track record of hitting for average with strong OBPs in college, all of which carried over into his first pro summer with the Rangers. Jung stays very balanced through contact with some loft in his finish for line-drive power and some rotation to gain power from his legs. He’s a third baseman now, capable of staying there in the long term with work, with good hands but without quickness or great lateral agility. He’s hit everywhere he’s played so far, and struck out just 16.2 percent of the time with Low-A Hickory, even though he’d come straight from hitting with composite bats all spring. His upside is really a function of his power; he seems very likely to hit and to at least be adequate defensively at third. At 15-20 homers, where he seems to be now, he’d be a solid regular; at 25+ homers, the Rangers would have an All-Star. Jung’s power potential is an unanswered question; he shows good plate discipline but struggles a bit against better-quality stuff.

86. Evan White, 1B, Seattle Mariners

The Mariners’ decision to sign White to a long-term contract even though he has yet to appear in the majors was something of a surprise, as he’s not the kind of potential superstar, core player with whom teams usually do that sort of thing. But it reflects Seattle’s belief in his remaining upside and the high probability that White becomes a useful regular in the short term. He’s an outstanding defensive first baseman across the board, at least a 70 there, which helps raise his floor, but the value of that contract (6 years, $24 million) will come down to White’s power. White hit 18 homers last year for Double-A Arkansas, which plays in a pitcher-friendly park; the next-highest total was 12, and White’s 18 was the second-best home run total for any Arkansas player in the last five seasons. The Mariners worked with him to elevate the ball more, in contrast with his collegiate swing, which often chopped the ball right into the ground. It’s not a big-fly-power kind of swing, but should help him hit line drives with the right launch angle to put 20-plus into the seats. He’s aggressive early in counts and could probably get to more power, at the cost of some contact, by becoming more patient and waiting for a pitch he can drive. His defense and pure hit tool, which is a 50/55 right now, makes him a near-certain regular, while that newfound power potential gives him a chance to be a half to full grade more.

87. Hunter Bishop, OF, San Francisco Giants

Bishop, whose older brother Braden debuted for the Mariners last year, was the 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft after a breakout spring for Arizona State that came after two disappointing seasons in Tempe. Bishop hit .342/.479/.748 for the Sun Devils in 2019, with 22 homers, posting very high exit velocities and drawing more walks in one spring than he had in the previous two combined. He continued to demonstrate patience and power in pro ball, while also showing his propensity to swing and miss a lot more with the wood bat. A center fielder everywhere he’s played so far, Bishop won’t stay there, profiling as a solid-average left fielder with a below-average arm. His swing is sound and produces enough hard contact to suggest he’s a 30-homer guy in the majors, but he’ll have to tighten up his pitch recognition to keep his strikeout rates manageable to reach that ceiling.

88. Ryan Rolison, LHP, Colorado Rockies

Rolison came off his sophomore summer on Cape Cod looking like a top-half-of-the-first-round guy, a polished college lefty with a potential out pitch in his curveball but a change in his delivery left him coming way across his body, costing him command and raising questions about whether he could start. The Rockies took him with the 22nd overall pick, and after getting him more online to the plate, they have their new top pitching prospect. Rolison will pitch at 92-94 with a plus curveball that helped him dominate lefties last year, holding them to a .214/.282/.364 line even though he spent most of 2019 in the pitchers’ hell of Lancaster. (If any sort of minor-league contraction or realignment happens, Lancaster should be first against the wall. It’s like playing games on the surface of Titan.) He has a slider and changeup as well, although the latter pitch is still fringe-average and he’ll need to improve it a half-grade for righties. Getting out of the Cal League will also help matters, as Rolison was punished by the league’s homer-friendly environment but shouldn’t be that prone to the longball given his stuff. Maybe that’s a negative indicator for when he gets to Coors Field, but he has enough command and more than enough control to learn to work around that issue, and the plus curveball gives him a putaway pitch to help him profile as a mid-rotation starter.

89. Orelvis Martinez, SS, Toronto Blue Jays

Martinez was just 17 in the GCL but hit 7 homers, good for second in the league behind a 21-year-old org player, while also showing the plate discipline of a player a few years older. Signed in 2018 for $3.5 million, Martinez has impact tools across the board, with big-time bat speed and raw power already, as well as a 60 or better arm and great hands in the field. He’s a bit thickly built and is going to be very strong when he fills out, so the odds are he’ll end up at third base rather than at short, with a good shot to be above-average at the hot corner. He’d gotten away from the leg kick he used as an amateur but restored it last summer and went on a tear to finish his first pro season, hitting 6 of those 7 homers in August, showing the ability to hit velocity and pick up breaking stuff as well. He’s still so young that you want to temper your enthusiasm, but he could be the Jays’ best prospect in a year.

90. Triston Casas, 1B, Boston Red Sox

Casas was Boston’s first-rounder in 2018 out of a Florida high school and spent 2019 in Low A, where he hit .256/.350/.480 at age 19, good for fifth in all of Low A in slugging percentage. Casas has a solid swing where he can get to real power when he rotates his hips, but he can get locked up on pitches up the zone. He has a real two-strike approach, similar to Juan Soto’s, where he widens his stance substantially and chokes up on the bat to go for contact, which also reduces his power. He has a very good eye for his age, and his approach gets him into a lot of counts where he can hit for power, giving reason to think he’ll get to 30-plus homers in time. He started the season by trying to hit from an extreme crouch, resulting in a .208/.284/.364 line in April, but went on a tear after reverting to his usual stance, showing the power and patience required to profile as at least an above-average regular at first base.

91. Diego Cartaya, C, Los Angeles Dodgers

Signed for $2.5 million in 2018, Cartaya looks like an offensive catcher who’ll end up an asset on defense over time. He has a strong right-handed swing with elite bat speed and big-time power, and he is already adjusting to pro pitchers with legitimate velocity and showing he can drive the ball to all fields. He has a plus arm, sets a good target for pitchers behind the plate and plays with a ton of energy, but needs work on the less concrete aspects of catching like game-calling. He turned 18 in September after the season ended and could be ready for full-season ball this year. Catchers are risky for a variety of reasons, but Cartaya has middle-of-the-order upside and looks like he’ll end up at least a 55 defender, too.

92. Matthew Allan, RHP, New York Mets

The Mets put almost all of their 2019 draft eggs in two baskets, first-rounder Brett Baty and third-rounder Allan — whom they paid first-round money — then signed less expensive college seniors with later picks to stay within their draft pool. Allan has now stuff with a good delivery and the right combination of present physicality and projection. He’ll pitch at 92-95 mph, touching a little higher, with an out pitch already in his downer curveball and some feel for his changeup, a pitch he never used in high school, with good fade and an idea of where to use it. My main concern with Allan as he moves up will be his fastball quality; it’s a four-seamer without much life or movement to it, so he’ll need to use his curveball and changeup more rather than just relying on velocity. You can dream on Allan to become a top-of-the-rotation starter, but I think a solid No. 2 outcome, meaning a consistently above-average major-league starter, is a more realistic projection.

Jose Israel Garcia (Joe Robbins / Getty Images)

93. Jose Israel Garcia, SS, Cincinnati Reds

Signed for $5 million back in 2017, Garcia suffered a shoulder injury near the end of his debut season in 2018 that required surgery, cutting into the start of his second year in pro ball. He returned at the end of April and proceeded to have a breakout season, boosting his rate stats in every category and leading all High-A hitters with 37 doubles. Garcia is a true shortstop with good actions and enough arm, probably never plus there but good enough to stay, while his offense improved by leaps and bounds last year, to the point where he’s an above-average regular at the position. Garcia has quick hands and a simple swing that produces plenty of contact, but last year he started to get stronger and drive the ball more, providing more reason to believe he’ll get to 15-plus homer power at his peak, with high batting averages and doubles power.

94. Braden Shewmake, SS, Atlanta Braves

Shewmake was expected to end up at third base out of the draft, but opposing scouts who saw him over the summer now think he can stay at short. His approach now is geared towards contact, but he has 60 raw power and the thinking is that he can get to that in time as he adjusts to pro ball. Atlanta sent him right to Low-A Rome out of the draft, and he responded by hitting .318/.389/.473 with just a 12.8 percent strikeout rate, incredibly impressive for a player who had just spent all spring hitting with a tin bat against college pitching. He might end up an absolute steal between his promise of future plus defense at short and the outside chance he gets to that plus raw power in games.

95. Brett Baty, 3B, New York Mets

The Mets’ first-round pick in 2019 was the oldest high school prospect in the class: Baty turned 20 this winter, but he also doesn’t require the projection we typically expect of teenaged prospects to see him producing in a major-league lineup. Baty is big, 6′5″ and at least 235, but agile for his size, and he has very fast hands at the plate with obvious power. The Mets challenged him after he signed — appropriate given his age — and had him spend most of the summer in the advanced rookie Appalachian League rather than the Gulf Coast League. He responded with a promising debut full of the Three True Outcomes, hitting 7 homers in 51 games across three levels, with a 15.4 percent walk rate and 28.5 percent strikeout rate. He’s probably going to end up at first, given his sheer size, but he moves better than you’d expect and has the hands and arm for third, so I expect him to stay there in the short term. It’ll come down to contact and power for Baty, who has middle-of-the-order potential, and does have the bat speed and idea at the plate to keep that strikeout rate in check.

96. Corbin Martin, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks

Martin debuted last spring for Houston, blew out his elbow four starts later, and went to Arizona with three other players in the trade for Zack Greinke at the deadline. Assuming his recovery goes well, he’s a potential four-pitch starter with a fairly high floor at the back of a rotation. Martin is showing more upside thanks to improved velocity that saw him average 95.2 on his four-seamer in the majors, along with high spin rates on his slider (his best pitch) and curve. He can rely too much on the fastball and got punished in the majors for trying to pitch with it in the upper half of the zone; his secondary stuff — which includes a changeup he doesn’t use that often — is good enough that he shouldn’t have to lean too much on the heater. He’s built like a durable starter and has a history of throwing strikes. It’s odd to say this about a player who was injured, but Martin was the key to the Greinke deal and is now the best pitching prospect in Arizona’s farm system.

97. Ivan Herrera, C, St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals have done a tremendous job in the catching department in the last five years, converting Carson Kelly to the position before trading him, getting Andrew Knizner in the seventh round, and signing Herrera out of Panama in 2016. Born on my 27th birthday, which makes me … OK shut up, Herrera is a well-balanced prospect with a very advanced approach at the plate and strong catch-and-throw skills. I saw Herrera work the count to get to a fastball he could drive, and scouts I asked generally agreed that his approach is geared towards hitting, but I did speak to one scout who felt his approach was too passive. The Cardinals worked to get Herrera to where he is defensively, putting him on a throwing program to get his arm to above-average and helping him with blocking and receiving. He can show some immaturity and needs to bring the same energy to the park every day, especially given the demands on a catcher’s mind and body over the course of a season. There’s at least solid-average regular upside here, and, I think, another gear of power to come as he reaches his 20s.

98. Geraldo Perdomo, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks

Perdomo played a full season between Low A and High A at age 19, and then played in the Arizona Fall League as one of its youngest players. He performed everywhere he went, going .275/.397/.364 in the regular season with more walks than strikeouts, then .316/.417/.418 in 21 games in Arizona. He has outstanding plate discipline and hand-eye coordination, so he doesn’t expand the zone and rarely swings and misses, with great instincts and game awareness on both sides of the ball. He’s an average runner with a plus arm and projects not just to stay at shortstop but to end up at least a 60 defender there. His main obstacle now is strength; he’s got years of gains ahead of him, with a ton of room on his 6′3″ frame to get there, but his potential to hit for higher averages and eventually 12- to 15-homer power depends on him adding that kind of muscle. Perdomo performed in 2019 even though he had just 13 plate appearances all year against pitchers younger than he was, which reflects his advanced approach, his makeup and his feel for the game. If he fills out as expected, he could end up a star.

99. Jasson Dominguez, OF, New York Yankees

Dominguez signed for $5 million last July and earns raves as the most talented player to come out of Latin America since at least Wander Franco, and is more physically mature than most kids who sign at age 16 (and thus potentially ready for full-season ball sooner). Dominguez has an outstanding swing with superior bat speed, and he’s a 70 runner with a plus arm and plus raw power. He’s a centerfielder now — I’ve now spoken to two teams who wanted to sign him and make him a catcher — whose chance to stay there will come down to how well he holds his speed as he reaches adulthood. He is 5′10″ and physically maxed out, so there’s no projection here; his development will likely all come in the form of plate discipline, pitch recognition, learning reads in the outfield, and so on. International scouts saw him against relatively good competition, so there’s optimism that he’s ready to go out and rake in pro ball right away.

100. Quinn Priester, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

The first high school pitcher taken in the 2019 draft, Priester is everything you’d want to see in a teenaged pitching prospect, with stuff, size, delivery and good feel to pitch. He was at 90-94 mph as a starter last spring and has been 93-95 in shorter stints, filling the zone with strikes thanks to a repeatable arm action. His best pitch is his curveball, already above-average, which he can use to get called strikes to both sides of the plate. He hasn’t needed or shown much of a changeup yet. Priester uses his lower half well to generate velocity, and gets raves from the Pirates for his work ethic so far. As long as he develops a changeup, he looks like a mid-rotation starter in the making; to be more than that, he’ll have to add velocity and/or turn that curveball from a 55 into a plus.

[Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that Braden Shewmake played at shortstop in college.]

(Top graphic: Getty Images)