Majors-ready talent headline Baseball Prospectus top 10 Dodgers prospects

Baseball Prospectus unveiled its list of top ten Dodgers prospects for 2023 on Friday, a list that includes five players who figure to make an impact in the majors in the coming season.

While the names at the top are impressive, and expected, the Dodgers system is also plentiful. From the Baseball Prospectus report, which was written by Jeffrey Paternostro and Brandon Williams: “The Dodgers have drafted, signed, or acquired prospects with some of the best pitch characteristics and contact profiles around. They are now reaping the benefits with the deepest system in baseball and one of the best overall.”

Paternostro in a subsequent tweet called the Dodgers system “staggeringly deep in terms of potential above-average major leaguers.”

Diego Cartaya is ranked the top prospect in the Dodgers system, and will likely end up near the top of most national top-100 lists in baseball. While the catcher was added to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster in November, Baseball Prospectus lists his major league ETA as 2024, which makes sense considering the 21-year-old Cartaya has yet to play above High-A.

Three players in BP’s top-10 Dodgers prospects have ETAs of 2023, plus Miguel Vargas, who debuted in the majors in August. Vargas is ranked the No. 3 prospect in the system by BP, who noted his positional versatility and called him “The latest Dodgers Swiss army knife.” Williams wrote, “Vargas is ready to find major-league success in 2023 and beyond.”

Bobby Miller, the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2020, is ranked second in the Dodgers system.

“By my count that’s four plus-or-better pitches in the repertoire,” Paternostro wrote. “Yeah, the command isn’t great, and he may be a frustrating starter at times, but Miller is going to be a starter, and a good one.”

Gavin Stone, like Miller drafted in 2020 (he was selected the fifth round), and like Miller isn’t yet on the 40-man roster but both figure to pitch for the Dodgers at some point in 2023. Stone had a 1.48 ERA in 121⅔ innings in 2022 across three minor league levels, including sub-2.00 in High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, and was named Dodgers minor league pitcher of the year. He is ranked fourth in the Dodgers system, with BP saying “his changeup might flat out be the best in the minors.”

Michael Busch has the other 2023 ETA in the majors, and ranked seventh in the system by Baseball Prospectus. He was added to the Dodgers 40-man roster in November.

Others of note in the Dodgers’ top-10 list including 2022 top draft pick Dalton Rushing, who came out raking at the plate in his first taste as a professional, at No. 6. BP calls Rushing one of the best catching prospects in baseball.

Nick Frasso had a 1.83 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 54 innings in 2022 coming back from elbow surgery, ending his year in Double-A Tulsa. He was acquired from Toronto in the Mitch White trade on August 2, and is ranked eighth in the Dodgers system by BP.

“Like Stone, he was mostly a reliever in college, so there may be further gains to come if he can stay healthy and stick as a starter in 2023,” Paternostro wrote. “That could make him one of the best pitching prospects in baseball this time next year. Or it just might make him the Dodgers eighth-inning guy by August.”