2022 mlb international prospects 2022 mlb international prospects

If the Giants are contending for a playoff spot, he may be called up during the 2023 season, perhaps first in a bullpen capacity, but he projects as an eventual impact starter. He spent the bulk of the 2022 season at High-A, where he slugged .513 with 20 home runs and 19 doubles, earning him an early-August bump up to Double-A, where his slugging remained roughly the same while he brought his strikeout rate down a couple ticks. Long, lanky and loaded with tools and projection, Alcantara is a loose, 6-foot-6 outfielder with massive potential. Certain managers are willing to stockpile international talent with the hopes of striking gold on one of them. There Painter showed more refinement, incorporating a handful of changeups into his outings and displaying an ability to vary breaking ball shape in different situations. There was a stretch as an amateur when Frelick was viewed as a potential second baseman, an experiment that didnt really go anywhere. Something is comforting about knowing you have a group of players you can go to when the player pool thins out. A relatively complete player, Baty will likely be better than Eduardo Escobar pretty soon and should be the Mets everyday third baseman in the near future, projecting as an above-average regular. On a universal prospect continuum, Henderson grades out a shade below some of the 70 FV or better prospects from recent years like Shohei Ohtani, Wander Franco, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and (gulp) Gavin Lux (who is now tracking like a 60, thank goodness) because were talking about a corner bat with what might be a 45-grade hit tool. Here are the new Top 30 Prospects lists. Theres no present danger that he needs to revisit third base (which he played plenty of in high school and early in pro ball) or anything like that, and Naylor continues to project as a 2-WAR primary catcher. And while its not the ideal strategy, theres something to be said about coming out of your prospect draft with the best available talent, in hindsight. That outcome seems in play for Merrill after his first full season in pro ball, even though a fractured wrist and strained hamstring both limited his reps and probably impacted his power output in A-ball. After hitting .278/.373/.556 with San Jose, he was promoted to High-A and struck out at a 37% clip during the final month of the season. Among the high school prospects, he not only had perhaps the best chance to remain at shortstop, but he also had one of the better bat-to-ball track records in the class, accumulating a 3-to-1 ball in play-to-whiff ratio on the showcase circuit. Ludwing Espinoza, SS, Ven. Fold below-average third base defense into that picture and while Vargas is going to be a doubles machine and productive big league player, he is probably not a star. While he could stand to be a little more consistent on defense (many balls got through him early this past winter with Licey), the range, bend, hands, and arm strength to play short are all comfortably here. While he was already throwing quite hard, Ortiz came into even more velocity in 2022 and averaged 97 mph on his fastball, up two ticks from 2021. Its not typical for a prospect who was just put on a 40-man roster to have this much perceived volatility or create this level of polarization. The huge swing doesnt detract from Netos feel for contact, which he made plenty of during an aggressive post-draft assignment to Double-A. Braylin Tavera, OF, Dominican Republic Orioles ($1,700,000) More 23. And lvarez wants to show you his power. His overall chase rates remain a little worse than average but theyre not terrifying. Still, hes poised to be a franchise cornerstone for the Orioles looming renaissance. : Orioles+ ($2,297,500) More 21. Hes only been able to pull breaking balls that dont quite finish. A famous prospect since his days as a high school underclassman, Turang has never been a sure bet to do enough offensively to be an impact everyday player. He still needs to find a position, though. Thats a 31% K% and 8% BB% across twice as many innings as the year before, when Miller was being built back up from the shortened 2020 season. It can be challenging for a grizzled scout to predict how players will translate to the next level. He was only 23 at the time, and thus ineligible for a major league deal. Johnson projects as a second baseman with plus contact and power. He produced a 150 wRC+ when healthy and was making among the highest rates of hard, airborne contact in the minors when he got hurt. Berry has plus bat speed and raw power, with an uppercut bat path from both sides of the plate. Its also when their dreams are realized. Before prospects debut, there are some wildly inaccurate hit tool grades on the international talent. While hes taken groundballs at shortstop in the past and is arguably athletic enough to develop there in pro ball, Jones is such a savant in center field that scouts wont typically entertain that notion; he projects as a 70-grade defensive center fielder. Lesko was already the consensus top high school pitcher in the draft before the curveball showed up, and would have been a top 10 lock had he stayed healthy throughout the spring, but instead he fell to 15th, where he was picked by San Diego. The righty had only made 11 career starts at then-Division-II Bellarmine University, but a successful 2019 summer on the Cape and a lights out draft spring suggested that he was a real prospect. Francisca has huge upside and was ranked as the 5th best overall international prospect for the 2022 international signing period by Fangraphs, 22nd by Baseball America and 28th by. Lesko is arguably the most polished and complete high school pitching prospect to come along in a decade. Ramos often pulls off pitches on the outer edge and swings inside ones hed ideally either contact or spoil. He receives on one knee with the bases empty before utilizing a traditional crouch with runners on, and hes an acceptable receiver and ball-blocker with a plus arm that plays down due to a slow exchange. Andy Acevedo, OF, D.R. Johnson was a well-regarded prospect basically as soon as he reached high school, and there were scouts who were so excited when they first watched him hit that they considered him a future top 5-10 pick when he was only a freshman. Despite being rough around the edges (remember Cappe waited an extra year to sign so he could get more money from the Marlins and has played a full season less than the typical 20-year-old prospect), he has a great tools and projection foundation that is now being reinforced by early-career performance, most notably from a bat-to-ball standpoint. He does play with lots of effort, though, and Mead has enough range that the second base experiment has merit. He has been a hot knife slicing butter all the way through Double-A and shows little signs of stopping. Hes still likely to get to enough power and play good enough defense to be an impact regular for Arizona. -- $400,000Andres Valor, OF, Ven. Compreshensive MLB prospect rankings in a sortable, easy-to-read, feature-rich table. Hes on pace to compete for a big league rotation spot in 2024 and work a full slate of innings, assuming a standard 20-inning bump year over year. Hes a young, switch-hitting catcher with cartoonish offensive numbers (especially from a bat-to-ball standpoint) and uncommon defensive versatility, as hes played a bunch of second base and left field as well. And while the actual date has shifted from July 2 to January 15 in recent years, its significance remains the same. Its worth developing him at catcher for at least a while since that position is at the very top of the defensive spectrum, and Paradas other seemingly viable positions are at or near the bottom. The Tigers did their homework and signed him for an over-slot bonus in the fifth round, where many teams had written him off as unsignable. He performed well during a September call-up to New York, posting a BABIP-aided .306/.404/.429 line in 18 games. There are guidelines for signing prospects. His rate of hard, impact contact is near the top of the scouting scale when you adjust for age and is already comfortably plus relative to the big league rates in some areas (like barrel rate). He sits 92-95 mph while touching higher with his carrying four-seam fastball, and like any good D-backs prospect, moves it well north-south while generating whiffs at the top of the zone; he also has a sinker as a change of pace. -- $500,000, TigersAnibal Salas, OF, Ven. Juliens stock fell early during the 2019 college season as he struggled badly, then he got hot during a tumultuous postseason run; the Twins drafted him on Day Three. Lewis chronic injuries have kept him on this list forever, but were still betting that his tools and personhood will eventually turn him into a good multi-positional big leaguer. More striking than his velocity itself is the ease with which Espino generates it. The international amateur arena is a procedural and ethical mess that has undergone wholesale structural changes several times during my time as a writer, most recently because of what the pandemic did to shift the timeline of each signing period. His pre-trade numbers were impressive and only improved when he joined Rocket-City: In his 29 games with the Angels Double-A affiliate, OHoppe slashed .306/.473/.673 and walked more than he struck out, good for a 194 wRC+ over that span. -- $640,000Rafhlmil Torres, SS, Ven. His swing is already geared for lift, but he doesnt currently have the raw juice to make the most of it. Players have to be registered with Major League Baseball in advance in order to be eligible to sign. McGarry sits 95-96 mph and will bump 99 as a starter. Still, Chourio has big-ceiling company in that part of the leaderboard names like Byron Buxton and Adolis Garca are down there, and Julio Rodrguez isnt far away. On last look, it was stuff that profiled in the middle of a contending teams rotation, rather than at the very front. Romo has a plus glove and plus-plus arm but likely wont make a huge offensive impact. He must turn 16 before he signs and be 17 before Sept. 1 the following year -- in practical terms, that means players born between Sept. 1, 2005, and Aug. 31, 2006, will be eligible to sign in the upcoming signing period. The 2022 international free agent signing period began today, and as expected, the Yankees have made a big addition. Lots of scouts think he ultimately projects in relief, but hes holding his velocity deep into games and has some other pitchability traits that suggest he could continue to start. Ortiz is a slick shortstop defender with a plus hit tool and very little pop. During his time in New Yorks system, he underwent an overhaul to his mechanics and now throws with a more typical starters delivery, characterized by impressive flexibility in his shoulders and back. 1st Round. He doesnt track pitches especially well (his head often flies all over the place) and he has mediocre barrel variability, so hes likely to swing and miss at an above-average clip in the big leagues, but hes going to get to an absurd amount of power for a catcher and produce at an All-Star offensive level for that position. His four-seamer sits comfortably around 96 mph with gravity-defying carry, and a scout Tess spoke with described his curveball as having the potential to become a similarly elite offering. 2022 MLB Draft While our 2021 Top Prospects list continues to expand and mature, today we take a look even further into the future and the Top 100 prospects in the 2022 class. Williams was a two-way high school player who was talented enough to be considered a prospect as both a shortstop and a pitcher. Prez shows bend and balance in his lower half as he propels himself way down the mound and releases on the doorstep of the batters box, making hitters extremely uncomfortable. A bat-only prospect with a well-rounded offensive skill set, Steer may end up a 30-grade second base defender or just play 3B/1B/LF. Johan Barrios, OF, Venezuela Brewers ($1,385,000) More 24. Hes likely to develop feel for that pitch over time and have a more complete arsenal at peak. He made six appearances with the big league squad (four of them starts) for a total of 33 innings and lasted at least five frames in all but one of them (his only shorter appearance was in relief, and he pitched the final 3.2 innings of the game). Except Ortiz hit 19 homers and had 60 total extra-base hits in the upper-minors last year, and while he doesnt project to produce that kind of power against big league stuff, its enough damage to project Ortizs offense above the median bar at shortstop. : Astros+ ($2,250,000) More 18. Remember that there was pre-draft consternation around his age (he was well over 19), which draft models tend to penalize prospects for because of the historical success of younger players. Carlos Silva, C, Ven. Wood was a divisive amateur prospect, with some scouts seeing him as a center fielder with 70 raw power projection and others seeing him as an eventual first baseman with hit tool risk. Hes graded with the optimism that these traits will help him manage the swing-and-miss enough to be a multi-time All-Star. Even though hes still eons from the big leagues, the Cubs were compelled to put Alcantara on their 40-man roster during the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. -- $340,000Jose Pirela, OF, Ven. OHoppe started the 2022 season at Double-A in the Phillies system before the Angels snagged him as part of the Brandon Marsh deadline deal. He now sits 96 mph and will touch as high as 102, though he typically tops out at 99 in any given start. A massive part of fantasy baseball dynasty leagues always has been and always will be prospects. Once a two-way prospect, Winns skills in the batters box quickly won out, and hes been developed solely as a position player. Adan Sanchez, INF, Panama Cubs ($1,500,000) More 44. But from June through mid-August, his two-strike fastball usage diminished to just 40%, with his curveball right behind it at 34%. -- $750,000, Blue JaysDavid Guzman, OF, Ven. His finishing pitch, though, is his slider, a nasty upper-80s sweeper that generated a 50% whiff rate and 38% chase rate in 2022. The bumps and bruises that come with catching 100 games often make it tough for catchers to sustain peak offensive performance, and Cartaya hasnt been exposed to that yet. Luis Morales, RHP, Cuba: Athletics+ (3,000,000) More 6. His feeds around the bag sometimes lack touch and accuracy, but hes otherwise a capable shortstop defender and would easily be plus at third base. Ranking players is a challenge regardless of their age. A backfield wunderkind who stood out immediately because of his rare combination of size and athleticism, Alcantara has been a top 100 prospect at FanGraphs for a couple of years now. There are plenty of outstanding dynasty managers. In a bodily sense, he was also unlike any amateur prospect most scouts had ever seen. The Rangers forfeit $500,000 each for Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. Casas has plus-plus power and enough bat-to-ball skill to weaponize it. Under the current system, players with verbal agreements often work out at their future teams complex and have resources available to them there that they wouldnt have at home in the time between when they come to a verbal agreement and when they actually sign. Ramirez has to cut some mechanical corners to swing as hard as he does right now, and that leads to swing-and-miss risk that adds to whats already present because of his propensity to chase, but that might be ironed out as he gets stronger and can take a more traditional swing. lvarez only ran a 75% Z-contact and 66% overall contact rate in the minors, which is near the bottom of the big league catching continuum, and almost identical to Joey Bart and Jorge Alfaro, who have struggled to find big league footing on offense. Naylors speed is also rare for a catcher. Working with a private instructor on a daily basis during the pandemic, Volpe completely re-engineered his swing, which now produces impact power, especially for a middle infielder. Julien has perhaps the best plate discipline in the minors and can bang em when he actually swings. Reiner Lopez, RHP, Ven. Twenty-five of the players on the 2021 Top 50 International Prospects list are from the Dominican Republic. Position-wise, there are 20 infielders, 18 outfielders, five catchers, six pitchers and one two-way player. Torres was a different case. Mauricios measurable power is already plus (45% hard-hit rate, 114 mph max exit velo), and at a strapping 6-foot-4 or so, he might still grow into more. He has a mid-80s cutter/slider that doesnt often have vertical depth, but it does have great length for how hard it is. Its hard to make any assumptions about him based on his shortened 2022 season, but he still looks like the same type of player hes been historically, assuming the power comes back when hes fully healthy and that the back issue isnt a persistent one. Lucianos bat speed is incredible but his barrel accuracy is not. These are the international bonus pools for the 2022-23 signing period: Clubs that received a Competitive Balance Pick in Round B of the Draft (Athletics, Brewers, Mariners, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Tigers and Twins) received a pool of $6,366,900 while clubs with a Competitive Balance Pick in Round A (D-backs, Guardians, Orioles, Padres, Pirates, Rockies and Royals) received $5,825,500. A decade ago, players with no professional experience were not considered viable draft picks, even in most deeper settings. Teams will be allowed to trade international bonus slots during this signing period starting Jan. 15. I know Im not the only one champing at the bit for those sweet prospect lists! He has a shot to break camp with the big club and play a huge role on the next Orioles contender. It will be interesting to see how Tovars speed helps inflate his extra-base output in Coors Field; he might end up turning a lot of doubles into triples there. He had a paltry 7% swinging strike rate to go along with an amazing 90% z-contact% and 85% overall contact rate. window.FGWebsite_head_section.buildProspectsListTop100Controls(); There is still a front-end arm here, as well as a big, sturdy-looking frame that theoretically should be able to eat a ton of innings. Those penalties are over. He can be beaten with high velocity more regularly than anything else, but if pitchers miss and catch too much of the meat of the zone, that mistake is going to get hit hard somewhere. He doesnt have big, over-the-fence power, and instead boasts premium feel for contact and a great idea of the strike zone that makes him a dangerous lefty stick who grinds away at opposing pitchers. Of course, Nolan Arenados presence through 2027 dictates a move regardless of how Walker looks over there. He is the younger brother of Marlins prospect Jose Salas, and he could end up being the best player in the family. He left Arizona with top-five pick buzz and ultimately went first overall to Baltimore. The Rays stole Mead from the Phillies in what seemed like a relatively innocuous trade at the time, a swap that sent a low-level developmental sleeper (Mead) to Tampa for depth starter Cristopher Snchez. Rodriguezs changeup, which falls through a trap door just as it approaches the plate, is among the best secondary pitches in the minors, garnering a 42% chase and whiff rate in 2022. Hassell doesnt have premium ball-striking power and is probably a corner outfielder, so the contact piece of his profile needs to rebound in a big way for him to continue projecting as a regular. Enrique Jimenez, C, Ven. Lesko looked like he had two plus pitches on board as a high schooler. Hes added a hard slider/cutter to his amazing-looking curveball, but his fastball still doesnt miss bats and his report reads like Aaron Sanchezs did. The addition of a leg kick in 2021 increased his power output without disrupting his timing at the plate, and now Steer has a well-rounded hit/patience/power toolkit that would profile in a 50 FV capacity at any non-first base position. We gravitate toward up-the-middle defenders littered all throughout the minor leagues, and really only tend to push corner bats onto the list when theyre close to the big leagues, or if we have an abnormal degree of confidence that they will continue to hit all the way through the minors. Hes going to reach base a ton and hit for power. He has very little experience at second and looked okay making routine plays there during the few reps he got in 2022, but its tough to project him there full-time based on how his range, hands, and actions look at third. Thanks as always, keep up the great work! He has impeccable hitters timing and a swing that is equal parts balanced and explosive, generating plus all-fields power despite barely utilizing any sort of stride. Priesters four-seamer is divisive. He has the strength to do damage the other way, but save for the occasional pitch on the outer edge, hes geared to pull. The defense will hopefully hold as Carter ages, and Jake Marisnick presents a precedent in this regard. As has been the case with past classes, after these players sign, they will be pulled off the International Players section of The Board and warehoused in a ranking of their signing class for record-keeping purposes. lvarez begins in an open set up and then straightens out upon swing initiation without taking a big step or needing a timing mechanism. You run the risk of essentially wasting your entire draft while the managers around you are adding safer bets. The Padres pitching development track record isnt great and perhaps theyre not the team best suited to coax a great breaking ball out of Lesko, but as long as his stuff is the same coming off of TJ, hes already in position to project as a 50. He is short to the baseball and still generates huge, all-fields power, swinging with so much effort and might that sometimes his head rattles around and his helmet flies off as hes making contact. Kenni Gomez, OF, Cuba Astros ($775,000) More 43. Edwin Solano, SS, D.R. there is going to be more power here) and impact, up-the-middle defensive ability. : Mariners ($4,700,000) More 3. Jeter Martinez, RHP, Mex. There isnt an official source from which to draw that info early on. His stolen base total itself is not an indication of speed, but Naylor is running home-to-first as fast as 4.10, which is a plus run time, and he should swipe double-digit bases in his physical prime, relevant for fantasy-playing readers. 1 prospect in this year's international class is Dominican shortstop Roderick Arias. After sitting 94-95 mph in 2021, hes now parked in the 96-98 mph range for entire starts, and his hardest sliders (in the 85-87 mph range) are nearly 10 mph harder than his average curveball was in 2021 (77 mph). -- $300,000, Red SoxFranklin Arias, SS, Ven. We already know MLB and the MLBPA are discussing pushing the . He lacks a traditionally projectable frame, but Amador has still gotten stronger over the last year and he flashed more power than expected. -- $840,000Carlos Mateo, RHP, D.R. There are bonus pool penalties for signing a qualified free agent, and teams that receive a competitive balance lottery draft pick (i.e. An outstanding international find for $175,000, Peraza is a plus-run, plus-glove shortstop with average pull power. The Phillies moved McGarry to the bullpen just before he was promoted to Triple-A at the end of 2022. section: | slug: mlb-international-signing-period-top-players-including-the-cuban-ohtani-and-everything-else-to-know | sport: baseball | route: article_single.us | The bumps and bruises suffered from catching can sometimes level players for whole seasons, and Davis had a lot of them in 2022. But Browns fastball has the sort of action that gives pitchers margin for error in the strike zone, and his stuff is so nasty that he can be imprecise and still beat hitters. And Chourio has that kind of power. He began the 2022 slate on a delay and rehabbed in extended spring training until the very end of April. He also throws a changeup and a slider, both of which show promise, though neither was featured much in his 2022 mix. His frame is maxed out, and Marte is not currently mobile enough to project as a big league shortstop defender. On paper, Amador is still generating flat, groundball and line drive contact a lot of the time, but we think his feel for the barrel and for the zone together will enable him to hit for average power at maturity, maybe more as a left-handed hitter. The improved fastball utility and Bibees slider command give him two major league-ready weapons, while his deliverys consistency and his long standing feel to pitch generate optimism around the continued growth of his changeup, which hes using more often now than when he was in college. "Consensus No. Holes will get exposed, and weaknesses will become magnified. He doesnt have to be put on the 40-man until after the 2024 season, but the rate at which he has been promoted so far indicates hell be in the mix for a rotation spot sooner than that. Chourio is a hard-swinging center fielder with plus power and speed. Romos offensive performance is impressive considering he only turned 21 near the end of the 2022 season, though in another sense its troubling because hes such a physical guy and yet has such poor ball-striking power.