How Dodgers prospects have moved within top-100 lists

Over the last week or two, a few publications have updated their top prospect lists, which gives us a chance to see where various Dodgers minor leaguers stand now, a few months into the season.

The new list are at Baseball America (top 100), MLB Pipeline (top 100), and ESPN (top 50).

The consensus at the top

Miguel Vargas, on average the 43rd-best prospect in baseball before the season from Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline, and The Athletic, has since graduated thanks to his current status as a major league regular at second base.

The Dodgers had three other prospects rated on all six top-100 lists before the season, and another named to five of six lists.

Diego Cartaya has underwhelmed in his first two months in Double-A Tulsa, hitting just .176/.293/.314. He’s also only caught 22 of 41 games this season, and has started two days in a row behind the plate only twice, both in April. His prospect standing remains mostly the same, even with promotions ahead of him on the preseason list. Cartaya went from 18th preseason at BA to 14th, from 14th to 12th at MLB Pipeline, and dropped at ESPN from 22nd to 24th.

Bobby Miller had his spring training wiped out by shoulder soreness, which delayed the start to his season. After only four starts in Triple-A, he was called up to fill in for an injury-riddled Dodgers rotation and won his impressive major league debut on Tuesday in Atlanta.

Miller had similar list movement to Cartaya, improving from 21st to 15th at BA, 24th to 19th at MLB Pipeline, and dropping from 25th to 30th at ESPN.

Gavin Stone had a rocky start to his Triple-A season, but has pitched well for Oklahoma City in the last month. He’s allowed 10 runs in eight innings in his two major league starts, but will get an extended run in the major league rotation with Dustin May out.

Stone rose from 55th to 44th at MLB Pipeline, 56th to 50 at BA, and went from 55th at ESPN to “just missed” from McDaniel’s top-50 list now.

Michael Busch wasn’t ranked in ESPN’s top-100 in preseason, the only national list he didn’t make. So it’s no surprise he’s not in the top 50 now. He was 4-for-19 with four walks in seven games in his two weeks in his first big league stint, and in Triple-A this season is hitting .304/.439/.456.

Busch rose from 54th to 42nd at MLB Pipeline, and 54th to 46th at Baseball America.

The big mover

Among these three national publications, Dalton Rushing was only ranked in one top-100 list before the season, checking in at No. 98 by ESPN. Now, the catcher is all the way up to 45th at ESPN, with Kiley McDaniel noting, “[Mariners shortstop Cole] Young and Rushing have both shown hitting aptitude and in-game power that is a notch better than what was expected at draft time.”

Rushing is hitting .254/.441/.517 this season for High-A Great Lakes with seven home runs, a 174 wRC+, and almost as many walks (35) as strikeouts (39).

MLB Pipeline now has Rushing as the No. 67 prospect in baseball, with Baseball America rating him as the 76th-best prospect.

Others

Ryan Pepiot made two top-100 lists in the preseason, and then won the Dodgers fifth-starter job in spring training after Tony Gonsolin sprained his ankle. But then Pepiot strained his oblique and his out until at least the All-Star break. But he still made gains on prospect lists, shooting up to 55th from 70th at MLB Pipeline, and going from 55th to No. 49 at Baseball America.

Andy Pages got off to a solid start in Double-A Tulsa, hitting .284/.430/.495 with 16 extra-base hits and a 144 wRC+ before getting promoted to Triple-A, where he played one game before landing on the injured list. Pages was ranked 81st in MLB Pipeline’s preseason list, and is now 64th.

A few Dodgers outside of Kiley McDaniel’s top-50 at ESPN include infielder Rayne Doncon, who is now rated at a 50 future value on the 20-80 scouting scale after his 109 wRC+ start with Low-A Rancho Cucamonga.

Jumping at least two levels into ESPN’s 45 future value tier are Double-A pitchers Kyle Hurt (1.17 ERA, 48.4-percent strikeout rate) and River Ryan (2.17 ERA, 23.1-percent strikeout rate), 100-mph Tulsa reliever Jake Pilarski (1.62 ERA across two levels, 31.6-percent strikeout rate), plus outfielder Chris Newell and catcher Thayron Liranzo of the Quakes, both at the top of the California League home run leaderboard.