Baseball America’s rankings of the Top 100 prospects for 2023 are here.
For the second straight year, the Orioles have the game’s No. 1 prospectus.
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After catcher Adley Rutschman was the No. 1 prospect in baseball last year, this year it’s his teammate, Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson, who steps in at the top of the list. Baseball America’s 2022 Minor League Player of the Year, Henderson was Baltimore’s second-round pick in 2019, the year they drafted Rutschman with the first overall pick. They now look like cornerstone players on a Baltimore roster that’s positioned to become a perennial playoff contender.
He’s not the only baby bird ready to hatch. Orioles righthander Grayson Rodriguez ranks No. 6 overall and places behind only Phillies righty Andrew Painter among the game’s top pitching prospects.
Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, rounds out Baltimore’s trio of top 15 prospects. As an amateur and in a brief sample as a pro, Holliday drew effusive praise from scouts and executives around the game.
Henderson is followed at the top by D-backs outfielder Corbin Carroll, who responded well to an aggressive assignment in 2022 by bashing his way from Double-A to the big leagues.
Carroll, Arizona’s first-rounder from 2019, has an enticing blend of hittability, power, speed and defense that could make him a fixture at the top of Arizona’s lineup and the lynchpin in the team’s efforts to rise in a powerful NL West.
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Henderson and Carroll open the year atop the list but likely won’t be there long. Both should graduate within the first few weeks of the regular season. If that happens, they’ll give way to Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio, the breakout star of the 2022 minor league season.
At just 18 years old, Chourio showed enough skills and tools to jump over the Arizona Complex League and into full-season ball in early May. He opened his time in Low-A with a bang and never stopped hitting in a year that saw him finish in Double-A. He has as much upside as any player on this list.
Painter, the top-ranked pitcher on the list, blazed a similarly scorching trail as Chourio. He overpowered the completion at three stops with a tantalizing blend of stuff, poise and command. In doing so, he joined Chad Billingsley, Forrest Whitley, Zack Greinke, Dylan Bundy and Clayton Kershaw as the only prep pitchers since 2006 to reach Double-A in their first season after the draft year.
Painter just edged Rodriguez and Marlins righthander Eury Perez for the nod as the game’s top pitching prospect. Perez followed his breakout 2021 season with a similarly special 2022 when he spent most of the year bullying hitters throughout the Southern League.
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Best Curveballs Among 2023 Top 100 Prospects
Breaking down the best curveballs among Top 100 Prospects.
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