MLB Pipeline has Dodger prospects on the move up and down, and even out.

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 26, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

The mid-season MLB Pipeline top 30 prospect list came out today and as was expected, several notable prospects were on the move up, while others were on the move down.

The February edition of the MLB Dodger top 30 pipeline looked like this.

Many prospects from the Pipeline Pre-2018 are gone from the list for various reasons. Some graduated like Walker Buehler, some were traded like Yusniel Diaz, others simply dropped off, and one even did a surprise retirement Imani Abdullah.

The top two are no surprise with Verdugo and Ruiz.

Will Smith, however, is now number three moving up from the nine spot.

As we were speculating before, Dustin May is now the top pitching prospect and holds the 4th spot, making his first move into the top ten.

Dennis Santana is right behind Dustin May at 5.

2016 Number one pick Gavin Lux had made a great showing this summer and has become the top-ranked infielder at 6.

Mitch White still has some believers and has only dropped to 7. Yadier Alvarez and Jeren Kendall are 9 and 10 but why I have no idea. Kendall is simply here because he was the number one pick in 2017 and not because of anything he has done with the bat. The man is 22 in the offensive Cal League and still can’t make contact.  Yadier Alvarez has been moved to the bullpen after a series of poor starts and maybe that is where he can find his game.

After what Caleb Ferguson did this year in the minors and his best Andrew Miller imitation in the majors I don’t get how he’s ranked 11th behind Kendall and Alvarez who will have to make huge strides to ever see a major league game.

Quite a few 2018 signees show up. Diego Cartaya leads the pack at 12. He was the top international signing by the Dodgers and was born in…………….2001. In fact, this list now has three players born in the year 2000 or later. We really are in the 21st century now.

Michael Grove was the 2nd round pick of 2018 and he pops in at 13 but before you get excited about that just remember that the 2017 second round pick was Morgan Cooper and he was ranked 21st last year and is no longer ranked as he has yet to throw a professional pitch for the Dodgers.

Tony Gonsolin with a big move up from 24 to 15. Edwin Uceta went from unranked to 16.

On the flip side, Cristian Santana(26), Starling Heredia(27), and Jordan Sheffield(28) are barely hanging onto the top 30 after being ranked 14, 17, and 18 in the preseason.  Starling Heredia has been my biggest disappointment this summer but he’s still just 19.

I was happy to see Marshall Kasowski make the list at 25. One of the great comeback stories given the injuries he had received in a vicious head-on car accident.

Shortstops are all over the place. Lux is number 6, Drew Jackson at 21, Errol Robinson at 22, and Ronny Brito at 24.