3 Dodgers named top-100 prospects by FanGraphs, with Andy Pages, Jacob Amaya near misses

The usual three Dodgers were included in the top-100 prospects at FanGraphs on Wednesday, led by pitcher Josiah Gray at No. 29, his best national ranking to date. Catcher Keibert Ruiz is ranked 80th and second baseman Michael Busch is No. 85, the sixth top-100 list for Ruiz and fifth for Busch.

But we’ve talked a bit about those three over the last month or so, as all these lists came out. Let’s go a little deeper here, thanks to FanGraphs expanding its top 100 to include 133 players (keeping every player with a future value of 50 on the 20-80 scouting scale).

That gives us two more Dodgers we haven’t talked a ton about, but perhaps will soon as both are non-roster invitees at Camelback Ranch.

Outfielder Andy Pages is the youngest player in Dodgers camp, having just turned 20 in December. He hit 10 home runs in 212 plate appearances as a 17 year old in the Dominican Summer League in 2018, then blasted 19 homers in 279 PA with rookie-level Ogden in 2019. Pages has a .305 isolated power in his two professional seasons to date.

Pages is ranked 117th by FanGraphs, and called “a launch angle unicorn” by Eric Longenhagen:

He can hit balls out with a flick of the wrist, even when he hasn’t taken his best swing. His speed under way and defensive instincts give him a chance to stay in center field, which would obviously give Pages a little more margin for error as a hitter. If he stays in center, he has a star-level ceiling. If not, then he has a whiff-prone, traditional right field profile driven by obvious impact power. Even if the latter occurs, it’s very likely Pages not only gets to all of his raw power, but might outperform it because of how often he’s able to lift the baseball.

Shortstop Jacob Amaya is right behind Pages at No. 118 in the FanGraphs rankings.

Baseball America and MLBcom both rated Amaya both the best defensive infielder in the Dodgers’ farm system and BA also tabbed his strike zone discipline as the best in the organization. Longenhagen at FanGraphs said of Amaya, “One of the more polished bats in the minors in terms of his approach and ability to make contact, Amaya is also likely to stay on the middle infield.”

It’s prospect week at FanGraphs, with several other articles in addition to the top-100 list. On Tuesday, Ben Clemens identified a small group of mid-tier hitting prospects that he likes, with two more Dodgers mentioned here.

Of third baseman Miguel Vargas, Clemens said, “Vargas might just hit too much to miss the majors,” but also noted with only seven in 559 plate appearances across both Class-A levels in 2019, Vargas will need to improve his power, especially if defensively he ends only suited for first base.

Omar Estevez, who like Vargas is also a non-roster invitee to camp, turns 23 in February and has already played a season in Double-A. Clemens on what he likes about Estevez: “He already elevates and pulls the ball with the best of them, which gives me hope that he’ll continue to hit for power even at higher levels. Subjectively, Estévez feels to me like one of those guys who will just out-hit his physical tools every year.”

But for a warning sign: “One downside of being a sum-is-more-than-the-parts player: if one of the parts breaks, the whole thing does, too.”

Here’s an updated look at the Dodgers to make top-100 lists this preseason.