MLB Pipeline unveils LAD top 30

Phil Gurnee ♦ February 27, 2018 ♦ 2 Comments

MLB Pipeline just unveiled their LAD top 30 prospects.  No surprises at the top with Walker Buehler / Verdugo / Ruiz taking the top three spots.

New additions to 2018 from the 2017 spring list who were drafted in 2017 are Jeren Kendall, Connor Wong, Morgan Cooper, James Marinan, and Donovan Casey. Interesting that Wong was drafted in the 3rd round but is ranked 15th compared to 2nd round pick Morgan Cooper who was ranked 21st. Cooper did not pitch professionally in 2017 so he has yet to pitch in the Dodger organization while Connor Wong had a very successful professional debut.

New additions from 2018 that were not ranked in the 2017 spring top 30. Cristian Santana goes from being unranked to number 14. That is quite a jump. Caleb Ferguson goes from unranked to 16th. Errol Robinson, Tony Gonsolin, Matt Beatty,  Kyle Farmer, Romer Cuadrado, and Luke Raley round out the players new to the 2018 top 30 ranking.

Players falling from the list that are still in organization are Omar Estevez, Josh Sborz,  Carlos Rincon, Johan Mieses, and Andrew Sopko. I have to admit I’m surprised at the exclusion of Omar Estevez.  He didn’t wow anyone last year but at the same time he was very young for his league. David Hood was also not impressed with him so I guess baseball doesn’t think much of him. That is to bad because he cost the Dodgers six million back in Nov of 2015. If he blows out that will be another Cuban signing that has not panned out.

Players who are no longer on the list because they graduated to the majors are Cody Bellinger and Brock Stewart.

Players no longer on the list because they are no longer in the Dodger organization are Willie Calhoun(2nd), Trevor Oaks(15th), ONeil Cruz, Brendon Davis, AJ Alexy(16th), and Jacob Rhame.

I put their current ranking from their new team in parenthesis.

Biggest jumps – Dennis Santana 15 spots, DJ Peters 13 spots, Dustin May 12 spots, Keibert Ruiz 10 spots.

The 2016 number one picks  had some big drops.  Gavin Lux went from 7 to 13 and Jordan Sheffield from 9th to 18. However other 2016 draft picks are moving up such as Mitch White, Will Smith, DJ Peters, Dustin May.