Baseball Prospectus top 101 prospects includes 7 Dodgers

Baseball Prospectus unveiled their top 101 prospects in baseball for 2018, and the Dodgers had their best national-list showing to date with seven prospects rated in the top 100.

Walker Buehler, like the other lists to date, is the headliner, but at No. 21 on the Baseball Prospectus list has his lowest national ranking this year.

With seven prospects in the top 101 the Dodgers trail only the White Sox, with eight on BP’s list. The Braves and Phillies also have seven prospects each.

Dustin May, drafted by the Dodgers out of high school in Texas in the third round in 2016, made his first appearance on one of these national lists, ranked by Baseball Prospectus at No. 69.

May posted a 3.63 ERA in 25 games across two Class-A levels in 2017, including 23 starts for Great Lakes. In 134 minor league innings in his first full pro season May struck out 128 strikeouts and 27 walks. The right-hander turned 20 in September.

Yusniel Diaz also makes his first 2018 national list, ranked at No 73. Diaz, who turned 21 in October, hit .292/.354/.433 with 23 doubles and 11 home runs in 114 games between Class-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa in 2017. He was ranked 90th by Baseball Prospectus last year.

Yadier Alvarez makes his second appearance on a national list this year at No. 41, 11 spots higher than his ranking by Keith Law of ESPN. Alvarez was ranked 26th by BP in 2017.

Alex Verdugo is the other Dodger to appear on this list the last two years, checking in at No. 25 in 2018 after he was ranked 58th last year.

FanGraphs also unveiled their top 100 list on Monday, with catcher Will Smith ranked 64th, one of four Dodgers on their list.

Also released on Monday are the top 100 prospects based on 2018 ZiPS projections, a data-driven alternative ranking from Dan Szymorski at ESPN. Four Dodgers are on that list, led by Buehler at No. 39.

Buehler and Verdugo are the only two Dodgers ranked in the top 100 in all the national lists to date.