2023 CBA Top 80 Prospects

After a… controversial first rankings, BSPN is proud to present its second annual Top Prospects post. Plenty of newcomers made the list after an especially deep talent pool forced the CBA to have two drafts instead of one. The Last Ranked column indicates the number of spots a player has gained or lost over the course of the year.

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Ranking Player Team Points Last Ranked
80 SP Brian Latimer IND 1 NR
79 CL Brian Ayre DAL 2 NR
78 SP Song-I Kim DC 3 NR
77 SP Elias Mera CAR 4 NR
76 SS Jose Perez BAP 5 NR
75 SP Sean Schaefer POR 6 -43
74 3B Chad Collins BAP 7 -19
73 SP Scott Bradford IND 8 NR
72 1B Ricky Soto DC 9 NR
71 CF Bill Santos SAC 10 NR
70 SP Kenny DeWitt LA 11 -60
69 SP Carlos Rodriguez SLC 12 NR
68 C Bobby Stutz BAP 13 NR
67 CF Jeremy Munroe CHI 14 NR
66 RP Danny Scarlett ARI 15 -8
65 LF Chris Goglin WCH 16 NR
64 SS Sean Chase PHI 17 +15
63 SP William Stannard FLA 18 -21
62 SP Jeff Dunham DC 19 -34
61 3B Josh Green PHI 20 NR
60 1B David Bache PHI 21 NR
59 CF Noah Hicks LA 22 NR
58 SP Jose Lopez AUS 23 -27
57 SP Dane Goldfarb LA 24 -41
56 SP Daniel Marston OKL 25 NR
55 CL John Neuman HOU 26 NR
54 CL David Bonilla SAC 27 -13
53 SP Juan Sanches IOW 28 NR
52 1B Bill Bischoff MIA 29 NR
51 3B John Weatherford MIA 30 -5
50 2B Josh Martin DAL 31 NR
49 CL Alberto Cerna SLC 32 NR
48 3B Justin Bryant LA 33 -29
47 1B Justin Roberts PHI 34 NR
46 SP Tony Borrero SAC 35 -34
45 RF Ricardo Garcia BOS 36 NR
44 1B Danny Fernandez BAP 37 NR
43 CL Jerry Ortiz BOS 38 +26
42 RP Luis Aguilera LA 39 NR
41 CL Leo Ramirez IOW 40 NR
40 3B Mike Frantz DC 41 NR
39 2B Matt Duncan NY 42 NR
38 SP Sergio Avena WCH 43 -11
37 RP Curt Benjamin OKL 44 NR
36 1B Sean Brodmerkel DC 45 NR
35 C Dave Torres DC 46 0
34 SP Pat Kenny BRK 47 -17
33 1B Oscar Herrera CAR 48 NR
32 RF Juan Salazar AUS 49 NR
31 SS Ernie Horton DC 50 +23
30 SP Matt Eldred DC 51 +13
29 SP David Williams LA 52 NR
28 CL Dave Conklin LA 53 -2
27 1B Lorenzo Morales IOW 54 +13
26 1B Rafael Medina IND 55 NR
25 1B Teo Nederlof SAC 56 NR
24 SS Andy Rodriguez BAP 57 NR
23 1B Mario Rosales WCH 58 NR
22 SP Alberto Cruz CAR 59 NR
21 LF Francisco Ramirez DC 60 -10
20 CF Soong-Yong Kim POR 61 -11
19 CL Jose Perez NY 62 NR
18 1B Guan-Pei Yao BAP 63 NR
17 CF Ezequiel Ortiz BOS 64 -9
16 RP Chris Allen BAP 65 -1
15 SP Omar Luna DC 66 -9
14 CF Ken Karbach DC 67 -7
13 1B Dermott Main DC 68 NR
12 CF Tom Bridges BRK 69 NR
11 CL Billy Kearns DC 70 +14
10 CL Estaban Sanchez OKL 71 NR
9 CF Efrain Rodriguez DET 72 NR
8 3B Kyle Shepherd DET 73 NR
7 SP Jesse Buchert DET 74 -2
6 SP Tony Varela CIN 75 NR
5 1B Ryan Wright MEX 76 -1
4 SP Seth Paddock MIA 77 NR
3 CF Justin Jordan DC 78 NR
2 LF Orlando Burgueno MEX 79 +19
1 CF Chris Cochran DET 80 +1

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Team Points Number of Prospects Prospect List
DC 670 13 3, 11, 13, 14 ,15, 20, 30, 31, 35, 36, 40, 62, 72
BAP 247 7 16, 18, 24, 44, 68, 74, 76
LA 234 7 28, 29, 42, 48, 57, 59, 70
DET 225 4 1, 8, 9
MEX 155 2 2, 5
AUS 146 2 7, 32, 58
OKL 140 3 10, 37, 56
BOS 138 3 17, 43, 45
MIA 136 3 4, 51, 52
SAC 128 4 25, 46, 54, 71
IOW 122 3 27, 41, 53
WCH 117 3 23, 38, 65
BRK 116 2 12, 34
CAR 111 3 22, 33, 77
NY 104 2 19, 39
PHI 92 4 47, 60, 61, 64
CIN 75 1 6
POR 67 2 20, 75
IND 64 3 26, 73, 80
SLC 44 2 49, 69
DAL 33 2 50, 79
HOU 26 1 55
FLA 18 1 63
CHI 17 2 67, 78
ARI 15 1 66

 

With these rankings, you may start off going, “What? Bay Area dropped off a cliff! What is wrong with these rankings?” Well, players must not have been in the major leagues at the time of the rankings. With time spent in between writing and publishing, there may be a few discrepancies, but most of these players are prospects. Scott Golden? Would have been #1, but already has been pitching in the Premier League (and killing it, might I add), so he was not eligible for this list.

We start off right where we left off last year – DC ahead, but this year takes it with a cushion. With 14 prospects cracking the top 80, DC’s farm contains 1 out of every six prospects on this list, and has a future major league roster in the minors. They have the same number of prospects as the next two teams on this list – notably, Los Angeles and Bay Area – but don’t have as many top prospects as Detroit. Jeff Dunham took a dive, dropping 34 spots in the new rankings, which worries a few fans with that fifth rotation spot looming with an empty hole. However, with a strong middle of the lineup forming in Justin Jordan, Ken Karbach, and Dermott Main, along with good pitchers like Omar Luna, Matt Eldred, and Billy Kearns, DC looks poised to start a run for promotion in the upcoming years.

Bay Area comes up next, and you can tell that their overall points took a hit due to their callups of Todoroff and Shinkle. Chances are they slide into the #2 spot if not for those callups, as Mike Todoroff, Tyler Shinkle, and Hector Diaz continue to be slotted into the Bay’s roster. They picked up great pieces in Guan-Pei Yao and Andy Rodriguez in the draft, and teams can’t forget about Chris Allen coming out of the bullpen. The future is soon around the bay.

Next up is LA, which barely got edged by the Pandas in terms of prospect quality. LA’s bullpen looks to be in good hands, with David Williams, Dave Conklin and Luis Aguilera coming in to slam the door at the end of the game. The rest of their prospects, though, seem to be suffering. Their lone hitter, Justin Bryant, fell 29 spots. Their top starter, Dane Goldfarb, fell 41 spots in the rankings. However, perhaps their biggest flop is SP Kenny DeWitt – in just over a year with LA, he’s fallen 60 spots, from 10 to 70. Scouts are saying that mechanics became inconsistent and led to a jerky delivery, causing his potentially hall of fame level pitches to flatten out. We can only hope that LA finds what’s wrong with DeWitt and corrects it.

Detroit has an interesting farm system – we only take the best of the best. They’ve got #1, #8, and #9, certain to be stars in the CBA for years to come. The rest of their system is pretty bare after the trades for Tovar, and the picks they sent for Shepherd and Golden won’t allow them to restock quickly. With their great record, we can see Detroit staying up at the top in points, but not in the number of prospects. Newcomers Kyle Shepherd and Efrain Rodriguez take the list by storm and propel Detroit to the second spot.

Remember when people said that Miami wouldn’t be any good this year? They’re showing us all wrong, and they’ve got the fifth ranked farm to boot. The majority of those points come in Seth Paddock, who was called up to the Bronze League and has been pitching well. Outside of that, first basemen Justin Roberts and Bill Bischoff presume to be future 1B and DH of the team, while 3B John Weatherford appears to be destined to hold down the hot corner.

Mexico City rides the strength of two prospects to the sixth spot on the rankings. We all knew entering the season that Ryan Wright would be producing soon, as the superstar 16 year old who was drafted in the first round of the inaugural draft was days away from playing. It turns out he would be loaned later in the season to play in the majors. Super prospect Orlando Burgueno was a smart pickup in the move that brought Kamar Alston as the main piece to Mexico, and that trade that once seemed lopsided for LA now seems to have an obvious winner with Mexico City.

OKC seems to be focusing on their pitching, as relievers Esteban Sanchez and Curt Benjamin head the list. SP/RP Daniel Marston follows up, but the dynamic duo at the end of the pen will help the Mammoths escape the ice age that they’re trapped in.

Boston enters the fray at eighth, and they’ve got an interesting set of prospects to look at. CF Ezequiel Ortiz dropped nine spots due to his inability to produce at the plate, while RF Ricardo Garcia, the mistake pick, continues to show the big bat potential out in right field. Closer Jerry Ortiz can’t be slept on, as he moves up the rankings and shows that one day he will be able to produce at the back of the pen.

The big scouting discovery Teo Nederlof starts off the list for Sacramento, with a big bat that rivals first round selections Guan-Pei Yao, Dermott Main, and Ryan Wright. After that, International Free Agent signing Tony Borrero stays around the midpoint of the rankings, while closer David Bonilla should anchor the pen. Sacramento took Bill Santos in this draft, and he looks to be a nice piece in the outfield for years to come.

Rounding out the top 10 is Iowa, with 1B Lorenzo Morales anchoring the lineup. Their future pitching isn’t too rough either, with closer Leo Ramirez for the back of the pen and starter Juan Sanchez to anchor their rotation.

Other notable pieces of information to look at: Cincinnati made a big move when it traded for Tony Varela – he now provides a big piece to build around for the future of the bleak Cincinnati farm. Wichita lost points it would have wanted, but still has starter Sergio Avena to lead their rotation. Brooklyn’s Pat Kenny dropped 17 spots, but still projects to be a good starter, while the player they traded up to take at #2, Tom Bridges, enters the list at #12 overall. Carolina’s three big IAFA signings make the list at #22, 33, and 77. Philadelphia’s rebuild may be slow, but their selections of Josh Green and David Bache point them in the right direction. For Dallas, Danny Crews aged out of prospect eligibility, leaving them lower in the rankings than one might think they should be. The four teams that did not contain a prospect in this list were Denver, Midwest, San Diego, and Atlanta.


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