Six Dodgers prospects ranked in FanGraphs top 100

The latest national prospect ranking is out, with Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin at FanGraphs unveiling their top-100 on Wednesday. The Dodgers have six prospects in said top 100 in MLB heading into the 2023 season.

A lot of the usual suspects are included, with top Dodgers prospect Diego Cartaya checking in at No. 28, up from 37th last year. Bobby Miller is the next Dodger on the list, ranked 33rd by FanGraphs this year after the pitcher was 94th before the 2022 season.

If you’ll remember from when the Dodgers team prospect rankings were unveiled in early January, FanGraphs is relatively higher on Michael Busch and Andy Pages than most other prospect rankers. Busch is the No. 3 Dodgers prospect, and ranks 46th in this year’s top 100, up from 79th last year.

“Here he’s projected as a bat-only player,” says FanGraphs. “It’s tough to be a 2-WAR DH every year (Bryce Harper’s 2022 100-game line was good for 2 WAR), but Busch has the hit/power combination to do it.”

Pages moved up 28 slots on the FanGraphs top 100, going from 86th last year to 58th this year. The outfielder hit .236/.336/.468 with 26 home runs, 29 doubles and a 102 wRC+ with Double-A Tulsa last year all before turning 22, and was added to the 40-man roster in November.

From FanGraphs:

As you would probably expect from a hitter with such a steep swing (this is about as steep as one can get without it becoming a problem), Pages swings and misses a fair bit, but not enough that it makes his prospecthood feel flimsy. He covers the inner two-thirds of the zone quite well (his in-zone contact rates are actually about as good as Miguel Vargas’), but his desire to pull and lift everything leaves him vulnerable on the outer edge and often impacts the quality of his contact. This approach will probably cause Pages to produce batting averages that are actually beneath his true talent feel to hit, but it’s also a big part of why he’s such a dangerous hitter, one likely to have peak seasons with 30-plus home runs.

This is the highest ranking on a top-100 list this year for Pages, who was rated 67th by Keith Law at The Athletic, ranked 81st by MLB Pipeline, and 90th by Baseball Prospectus.

Last year, the Dodgers had four prospects make the FanGraphs top 100.