You know the offseason is wrapping up when everyone is posting their top prospect lists. Today it was MLB Pipeline unveiling their Top-100 prospects after both Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America published their lists earlier. Dylan Crews, James Wood, and Brady House are ranked at №7, №14, and №48 respectively on MLB Pipeline’s list. Honorable mention to Yohandy Morales who was named a Top-10 third baseman in all of the prospects at that position. While he did not make the Top-100, Morales has to be close to breaking through on the list. Also of note, with House ranked so high as a third baseman, is there a position switch to the other corner of the infield for Morales? All of them are expected to receive non-roster invites (NRI) for big league camp with the Washington Nationals next month in West Palm Beach, Florida.
While Crews, Wood and House are in everyone’s Top-100 projections, two players fell out with Robert Hassell III and Elijah Green sliding after tough 2023 seasons. Cade Cavalli is out of Baseball America’s Top-100 and still in the rankings for Baseball Prospectus at №85. Cavalli went down with a UCL tear in his right elbow in Spring Training last year, and missed the entire season. His ETA to return to the Nats is in the mid-season.
Here is what we had from Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus so far with the prospect rankings: Crews (Baseball America – №6, Baseball Prospectus – №5), Wood (BA – №11, BP – №7), House (BA – №55, BP – №69), and Cavalli (BA – unranked, BP – №85). Expect numbers soon from FanGraphs, Prospects Live, Keith Law at The Athletic, and Kiley McDaniel at ESPN.
There are people who don’t agree with the rankings, and that is all part of the process to debate the numbers. Some are upset over Wyatt Langford, in particular, being ahead of Crews in the rankings. Well, just remember that Juan Soto moved up so quickly he never made it into the Top-20 rankings. Senzel becomes the perfect example of a Top-10 ranking across the board in 2018 and that never translated to top MLB success to this point. Soto was №56 in that 2018 Baseball America ranking. Kind of where House is today. Again, this is why the only thing that matters is sustained success at the MLB level.
