Dodgers have 5 prospects ranked in Baseball America’s top 100 for 2022

Baseball America unveiled its preseason 2022 prospect rankings on Wednesday, with five Dodgers cracking the top 100, led by catcher Diego Cartaya.

Cartaya is ranked the No. 23 prospect in baseball by BA after tearing up the formerly-named California League (Low-A West) with 10 home runs in 31 games before turning 20 in September.

“With exceptional poise in the batter’s box, a compact, powerful swing and plus defense behind the plate, he has a chance to be next in a long line of standout Dodgers homegrown catchers,” says Baseball America’s scouting report of Cartaya, who signed for $2.5 million as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2018.

Cartaya was ranked 97th by Baseball America prior to 2020. He was outside the top 100 entering last year, but made the updated midseason list at No. 96.

BA has a catcher-heavy list, with 12 backstops in the top 100, including five catchers ranked above Cartaya at 23. The top prospect is Orioles catcher Adley Rutchsmann, and former Dodger Keibert Ruiz, who was traded to the Nationals in July, is ranked 11th. This is the fifth straight year in the Baseball America preseason top-100 prospects for Ruiz, who the Dodgers signed out of Venezuela in 2014.

Bobby Miller, the right-hander drafted by the Dodgers in the first round in 2020, is ranked 38th by BA, with third baseman Miguel Vargas at No. 40. This is the first time in Baseball America’s top 100 for those two.

Miller had a 2.40 ERA and 30.4-percent strikeout rate in 17 games in his first professional season in 2021, and ended the year at Double-A Tulsa. “His fastball reached 100 mph and was backed by a changeup and curveball which each graded as potential plusses,” says BA.

Second baseman Michael Busch, the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2019, is ranked 76th by Baseball America this year, up 11 spots from last year. Pitcher Ryan Pepiot is No. 99.

In BA’s Dodgers top-10 list released earlier in January, the next prospect after that quintet is outfielder Andy Pages at No. 6 on the team.

Five Dodgers in this year’s top 100 matches their average in Baseball America’s rankings the previous six years. After 2021 ended a streak of at least two Dodgers in the top 50, the team has three ranked in the top 50 this season.