Baseball Prospectus ranks NINE Dodgers in 2023 top 101 prospects

To end a heavy week for national prospect rankings, Baseball Prospectus unveiled its top 101 list on Friday. A whopping nine Dodgers made the list, more than any other team in baseball.

This was foreshadowed a bit in December when Baseball Prospectus released its list of top Dodgers prospects. In the accompanying podcast at the time, Jeffrey Paternostro said pitcher Nick Frasso was going to make the top 101. Frasso, acquired from the Blue Jays on August 2 in the Mitch White trade, was ranked the eighth-best prospect in the Dodgers’ system.

Frasso is ranked the 79th-best prospect in MLB by Baseball Prospectus. But in true ‘Ocean’s 11’ fashion, BP decided the Dodgers needed one more. That’s outfielder Andy Pages, who was among the quartet of players added to LA’s 40-man roster in November. He checks in at No. 90 this year, after showing up at No. 68 before the 2022 season.

Nine Dodgers prospects in the top 101 is the most by any team. The Orioles are next with eight prospects, including three in the top nine and No. 1-overall Gunnar Henderson. No other team has more than five prospects on the list.

Baseball Prospectus has the usual suspects at the top, led by Diego Cartaya at No. 19. He’s the second-ranked catcher on the list, behind only Francisco Álvarez of the Mets at fourth overall. Bobby Miller is ranked 27th on BP’s list, the ninth-highest pitcher on the list, lumped together with a pair of Guardians right-handers Daniel Espino and Gavin Williams, who are 25th and 26th, respectively.

Miguel Vargas is ranked 39th, which is actually a few ticks down from his No. 36 spot before last season. But he’s easily the most major-league ready Dodgers prospect of the group, and most likely to impact the major league team all season.

Gavin Stone, the Dodgers’ fifth-round pick in 2020 out of Central Arkansas, broke out in 2022 with a 1.48 ERA across three levels, and is expected to pitch for the Dodgers at some point this year after starting the season in Triple-A. Baseball Prospectus ranks Stone the No. 50 prospect overall.

“Gavin Stone has the best changeup in minor league baseball, and may have the best non-fastball in minor league baseball,” said Jarrett Seidler on BP’s top 101 prospect podcast on Thursday. Paternostro added, “Once he gets the majors, he’ll have one of the best changeups in major league baseball.”

The only one of six Dodgers who were ranked in the top 100 prospects by Baseball America earlier in the week but is not in the top 101 at BP is pitcher Ryan Pepiot. He was ranked 55th overall by BA. In the team rankings from December, Baseball Prospectus ranked Pepiot the Dodgers’ No. 11 prospect, just behind James Outman at No. 10.

Seidler in a tweet response named Outman when someone asked for a player who missed the top 101 list who “could still end up with a multiple All-Star career.”

Other Dodgers who made the Baseball Prospectus list who weren’t included on the BA list are pitcher Nick Nastrini (No. 54 at BP), the fourth-round draft pick in 2021 out of UCLA who struck out 35 percent of his hitters across two levels in 2022, and catcher Dalton Rushing (56th), the Dodgers’ second-round pick last year who had an eye-popping 213 wRC+ in 30 games in his professional debut.

“It’s very unusual for us to rank prospects who were drafted outside of the top 20 [in the immediately preceding year] in the top 101, and when we do it’s usually at the bottom,” Seidler explained on the podcast about Rushing, who was picked 40th overall in 2022. “Dalton Rushing hit .400 with power in [Low]-A after the draft. By batted-ball analytics models he was also one of the best draftees. He barely played in 2020 because he was stuck behind the aforementioned Henry Davis at Louisville. I do not think we should be knocking a guy because he was stuck behind the first overall pick in the nation.”