Reviewing Baseball America Dodger Top 30

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 27, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

Several weeks ago Baseball American came out with their updated prospect list which made me go back and look harder at their original Dodger top 30 which came out in Jan/Feb of 2017.

The Hits:

• Bellinger as the top prospect was prophetic. In reading the BA review they thought he had 30 home run power, they didn’t think he’d hit almost 30 home runs by the all-star game. Glowing reports about his athletism proved true. Nailed this.
• Alex Verdugo at number 4 and the 2nd best position prospect has done nothing but hit at AAA and continues his climb up the prospect charts.
• Willie Calhoun at five has also lived up to the billing. If he had a position he might be the highest ranked hitter but he’s still trying to make do at 2nd base.
• Number six Andrew Toles started out the year as Dodgers starting left fielder and certainly looked liked someone who could handle the position all year until he had the season ending surgery.
• Dustin May at 13 was a solid choice and May has done everything to deserve this.  BA had May higher than MLB, David Hood, and Fangraphs.

The Misses:

• Gavin Lux at number 9. You can understand the lofty ranking given his 1st round pedigree from 2016.  This looks like a big whiff as he has struggled with his assignment to the Loons. Showing no power and barely hitting .200 the only thing Lux has going for him was some early signs of patience. He might bounce back but he won’t be a top ten prospect next year.
• Walker Buehler  was ranked 11th which was the highest of any of the prospect sights. Everyone else had Walker in their top top 7, and now at midseason BA has moved from 11th to their top rated Dodger prospect.
• Johan Mieses was ranked 15th and probably won’t be a top 30 prospect by the end of the season. Johan failed miserably at AA and has been demoted back to A+ ball to get his confidence back. This was an aggressive ranking for Johan but it did not pan out.
• Hard to imagine Dodger Minor League Player of the Year, Edwin Rios didn’t make the top 30. He continued to mash in AA and has been promoted to AAA where after a slow start he has got it going.
• Not ranking Dennis Santana who excelled at A+ and is now in AA and easily one of the Dodgers top five pitching prospects.
• Not ranking Starling Heredia. The big bonus baby has a bigger pedigree than Lux but went unranked. He’s now turning heads in the Pioneer League. He’s three years younger than Jeren Kendall who already made the BA midseason top 10 Dodger prospect list. Heredia could be better.
• Not ranking Caleb Ferguson or Devin Smeltzer. I bet they are above Sopko and Sborz by seasons end.

Below is the table.