Diego Cartaya one of six Dodgers in top 100 prospects at The Athletic

Dodgers catcher Diego Cartaya has already made a name for himself despite only just turning 20 years old. He leads a contingent of six Dodgers listed in the top 100 prospects in MLB for 2022, as ranked by Keith Law at The Athletic.

Cartaya has been on the prospect radar since signing with the Dodgers as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in July 2018, and in his first year in the domestic minors excelled in 2021, even if only for a short burst. Cartaya hit .298/.409/.614 with 10 home runs in 31 games for Low-A Rancho Cucamonga at age 19 before getting sidelined by a hamstring injury.

“Cartaya is going to be a monster at the plate with patience and power, and he’s improving as a defender across the board with enough of a baseline to leave no doubt that he’ll stay at the position,” Law wrote. “He needs more reps as a hitter and catcher, of course, with just 80 pro games under his belt, but he’s already so skilled for his age that he has No. 1 overall prospect upside.”

That’s high praise for Cartaya from Law, who rated the catcher as the No. 75 prospect in baseball before the 2021 season.

Of the three national prospect lists released so far, Law is the highest on Cartaya, who was ranked 23rd by Baseball America and No. 55 at Baseball Prospectus. Looking at those three ratings, a consensus is starting to emerge.

In addition to Cartaya, both pitcher Bobby Miller and infielder Miguel Vargas have been ranked in the top 100 on all three lists so far (actually, in the top 63). Law has Miller as the No. 50 prospect in MLB with Vargas 63rd.

Both Miller and Vargas were ranked outside of the top 100 by Law before the 2021 season. Someone who was on last year’s list remains this year. Second baseman Michael Busch, drafted by the Dodgers in the first round in 2019, is ranked No. 53 by Law, up from 74th in 2021.

“He struggled to do damage against lefties, with a .198/.355/.354 split against them, but wasn’t exactly overmatched against them, drawing walks and making contact, just without the impact,” Law said of Busch. “That’s a smaller hill to climb than one where a left-handed batter is striking out excessively on left-handers’ breaking stuff.”

Busch also reached the top 100 at Baseball America, at No. 76.

Law also has power-hitting outfielder Andy Pages ranked 76th this year, and the Dodgers contingent is rounded out by infielder Eddys Leonard at No. 98.

Leonard hit .297/.390/.539 with 22 home runs and 29 doubles in 107 games between Low-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes while playing shortstop, second base, third base, and even center field, all before turning 21 in November. The Dodgers added Leonard to the 40-man roster in November.