Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Baseball America

AUGUST 2023 VOLUME 43 ISSUE 8 DE LA CRUZ CONTROL REDS ROOKIE SENSATION ELLY DE LA CRUZ RANKED NO. 1 ON OUR JUNE UPDATE OF THE TOP 100 PROSPECTS. HE GRADUATED TO THE BIG LEAGUES WITH HONORS IN JULY WHILE SHOWCASING HIS INCREDIBLE POWER, SPEED AND ARM STRENGTH. ON JUNE 23, DE LA CRUZ BECAME THE YOUNGEST PLAYER TO HIT FOR THE CYCLE IN MORE THAN 50 YEARS, AND THEN ON JULY 8 HE STOLE SECOND, THIRD AND HOME IN THE SPAN OF TWO PITCHES. HE IS PICTURED HERE SLIDING SAFELY INTO HOME.…

The names at the top of the Top 100 Prospects change, but one theme remains constant. Once again, an Orioles prospect ranks No. 1. This time it is 19-year-old shortstop Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft who zoomed to Double-A in mid July. Holliday follows in the footsteps of catcher Adley Rutschman and third baseman Gunnar Henderson, who ranked as the No. 1 prospects in baseball heading into the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Holliday is the favorite to complete the Baltimore hat trick in 2024. If he ranks No. 1 next spring, Holliday would be the third consecutive Orioles prospect to rank No. 1 on the canonical preseason Top 100 Prospects. That would be a first. Holliday spent three-plus months at Low-A Delmarva and High-A Aberdeen…

2018 FLORIDA 5. Jonathan India, 3B, Reds (5 WAR) 18. Brady Singer, RHP, Royals (6) 33. Jackson Kowar, RHP, Royals (–2) 2016 LOUISVILLE 5. Corey Ray, OF, Brewers (0 WAR) 26. Zack Burdi, RHP, White Sox (–1) 32. Will Smith, C, Dodgers (14) 2015 VANDERBILT 1. Dansby Swanson, SS, D-backs (18 WAR) 8. Carson Fulmer, RHP, White Sox (–1) 24. Walker Buehler, RHP, Dodgers (14) 2008 MIAMI 7. Yonder Alonso, 1B, Reds (8 WAR) 12. Jemile Weeks, 2B, Athletics (2) 27. Carlos Gutierrez, RHP, Twins (N/A) 2004 RICE 3. Philip Humber, RHP, Mets (1 WAR) 4. Jeff Niemann, RHP, Rays (4) 8. Wade Townsend, RHP, Orioles (did not sign) 1989 FRESNO STATE 14. Steve Hosey, OF, Giants (–1 WAR) 19. Eddie Zosky, SS, Blue Jays (–1) 22. Tom Goodwin, OF,…

Melendez Breaks Out After Early Struggles Through his first nine games of the season, first baseman Ivan Melendez had as many hits as he did stints on the injured list: two. His season—and his professional career, really—had not gone according to plan, but the depth of the 23-year-old’s struggles helped get him back on track. “I was like, ‘It can’t get any worse at this point,’ ” Melendez said. “You get to a certain point and you’re like, ‘You’ve got what you got, and you go out there and play and tune out all the noise.” After that miserable start, Melendez proceeded to be just the type of slugger the D-backs envisioned when they drafted him in the second round in 2022 from Texas. In 49 games from May 5…

The Futures Game took place on July 8 in Seattle. hits—including two for extra bases—and five runs. Futures Game MVP Nasim Nuñez of the Marlins hit a three-run double to lock up the 5-0 victory for the National League. Offense was subdued overall in this year’s game. There were just 11 total Brewers righthander Jacob Misiorowski was the data standout of this game. He hit 100 mph 10 times and threw 11 of the 12 hardest pitches. Red Sox righthander Luis Guerrero was the only other pitcher to hit 100 mph. While Misiorowski easily locked up the best fastball superlative, a number of other Futures Gamers also opened eyes. BEST PLAYER Nasim Nuñez SS, Marlins The 22-year-old middle infielder came to the plate once and connected for an RBI double…

SCOUTS IN THEIR OWN WORDS. THE PLAYERS. THE JOURNEY. THE STATE OF THE GAME. Richard Jimenez has made a habit of unearthing under-the-radar players in his nearly 14 years of scouting for the Reds. Jimenez signed Jose Siri, Aristides Aquino, Wandy Peralta and Dauri Moreta all for less than $125,000 out of the Dominican Republic when few other teams were interested. Those signings set the stage for Jimenez’s greatest coup of all: signing Elly De La Cruz for $65,000 in 2018 as a rail-thin 16-year-old who few teams even knew about. “(Our scouts) took me to Carlos ‘Niche’ Batista’s academy and they put a workout together,” said Jimenez, who was then the Reds’ director of Latin American scouting. “Elly De La Cruz wasn’t a part of it because he was…

Every month at BaseballAmerica.com, subscribers get exclusive access to BA writers to ask any question they want. Below are BA Mailbag excerpts from July. It appears that Druw Jones is out again for an extended period. Are we getting close to a lost season yet? Miggy from Chicago It’s trending that way for the 19-year-old D-backs outfielder, unfortunately. Let’s see how he recovers and if he can get back in time to play a month-plus of games uninterrupted. —Kyle Glaser Mick Abel has had a very uneven season but still maintains top 50 spot on the Top 100 Prospects. Is this just growing pains or should we start to wonder if he’s just not going to have the command needed to reach his ceiling? Jack from Pennsylvania Both things can…

AN ANALYTICALLY INCLINED LOOK AT THE GAME The full-season minor leagues pause for four days at the MLB all-star break, providing a vantage point to assess Minor League Players of the Year for all 30 organizations. The criteria we use is simply best performance by a prospect. This is not a listing of best overall prospects in each organization. All statistics cited are through July 9. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Ryan Bliss, 2B Double-A Amarillo In a major bounceback season, the 2021 second-rounder out of Auburn hit .358/.414/.594 with 12 homers and 30 steals in 68 games. The 23-year-old Bliss led the minor leagues with 105 hits and placed fourth in the batting race. ATLANTA BRAVES Ignacio Alvarez, SS High-A Rome The Braves are rich in young pitching prospects with upside but…

1. JACKSON HOLLIDAY ORIOLES, SS After tearing up the Class A levels, Holliday earned a mid-July promotion to Double-A Bowie. The No. 1 overall pick from 2022 is one of the purest hitters in the minors and shows strong on-base skills. He’s primed to be another Orioles gem. 2. JACKSON CHOURIO BREWERS, OF After a slow start in the Southern League, Chourio started to show flashes of his tre-mendous talent in the second half. At his best, the 19-year-old can hit for average and impact and play a tremendous center field with speed that also plays on the bases. 3. DYLAN CREWS NATIONALS, OF 2023 DRAFT PICK The Nationals snagged the top position prospect in the 2023 draft from the No. 2 slot. Debating whether Crews or James Wood is the best…

MAJORS › Commissioner Rob Manfred and union head Tony Clark dish on hot topics PAGE 41 MINORS › The best tools from the best prospects on display at the Futures Game PAGE 42 COLLEGE › Coach of the Year Jay Johnson got buy-in from his star-studded squad PAGE 44 DRAFT › Three key themes for which the 2023 draft will likely be remembered PAGE 46…

Baseball America and Louisville Slugger launched the Prospect Pad during All-Star Weekend in 2016 as a way to connect with the top prospects in baseball on the eve of the Futures Game. During that initial weekend, BA talked to up-and-comers such as Eloy Jimenez, Alex Bregman and Joe Musgrove. Then, in 2017 we touched base with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker at the Prospect Pad. In 2018, it was Fernando Tatis Jr., Pete Alonso, Hunter Greene, Dylan Cease . . . And the list goes on. A veritable who’s-who of young baseball talent has passed through the Prospect Pad in the past seven years. And to celebrate the launch of our new website in 2023, we wanted to go even bigger with the event. So we…

Wake Forest had a historic season in 2023. The Demon Deacons won a program-record 52 games and made their first trip to the College World Series since 1955. While Wake Forest’s bid to win a championship fell short, the program is in great shape for 2024. Despite having 10 players drafted, including ace righthander Rhett Lowder and power-hitting third baseman Brock Wilken in the first round, Wake Forest is loaded with talent. No school has had more than three players selected in the first round of a single draft, a feat most recently accomplished by Florida in 2018, when third baseman Jonathan India (fifth overall) and righthanders Brady Singer (18th) and Jackson Kowar (33rd) were first-round picks. Wake Forest has a chance to set a new record in 2024 with…

Healthy Kjerstad Marches Toward MLB After two years of health setbacks, 24-year-old outfielder Heston Kjerstad was showing in his first full minor league season that his power was worth the wait. It took until last June for the No. 2 overall pick in 2020 to get on the field after missing all of 2021 with myocarditis—inflammation of the heart muscle—and then injuring his hamstring during spring training in 2022. Kjerstad played 65 games last season at Low-A and High-A and put up an .851 OPS with five home runs as he re-acclimated himself with the game. An MVP performance in the Arizona Fall League signaled that he was ready for the upper levels. Kjerstad impressed in big league spring training before being assigned to Double-A Bowie and hitting 11 home…

1. CHALK UP TOP All year we heard the same five names at the top of the board: Dylan Crews, Paul Skenes, Wyatt Langford, Walker Jenkins and Max Clark. As it played out, each of the top five players were selected among the top five picks, making the 2023 draft similar to the 2019 class, which was notable for its top six: Adley Rutschman, Bobby Witt Jr., Andrew Vaughn, JJ Bleday, CJ Abrams and Riley Greene. Teams drafting at the top didn’t play games and simply took the best available talent. That seems to be the way the industry operates when there’s a standout group at the top of the draft. The first five picks went like this: Skenes (Pirates), Crews (Nationals), Clark (Tigers), Langford (Rangers) and Jenkins (Twins). In…