Tying It All Together: Top 30 Graduated Prospects In 2022

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The offseason is prospect season.

Over the course of three issues in November, December and January, Baseball America publishes Top 10 Prospects rankings for all 30 organizations.

This year we added something new. We ranked the top overall graduated prospects from last year’s Top 10s.

Players are ranked by updated end-of-season BA Grade, which gauges each player’s realistic upside on the 20-80 scouting scale, where 50 is average. A Risk assessment deducts points—10 for High, five for Medium and none for Low—to determine each prospect’s Tier.

In the vast majority of cases, these graduated prospects were also top 2022 rookies—but not always. Players retain rookie status as long as they don’t exceed 130 at-bats, 50 innings or 45 days on an active MLB roster in a season or seasons. But sometimes rookie pitchers exceed 45 days without surpassing 50 innings.

So in this BA ranking, which was developed by the BA editorial staff, you will find three pitchers—Brewers lefthander Aaron Ashby and relievers Camilo Doval of the Giants and Andres Muñoz of the Mariners—who we classified as prospect eligible in 2022 even though they were not eligible for Rookie of the Year awards.

Rk	Player	Pos	Org	2023 Age	BA Grade	Risk	Tier	Upside Role
1	Julio Rodriguez	CF	Mariners	22	75	Low	75	Franchise CF
2	Adley Rutschman	C	Orioles	25	75	Low	75	Franchise C
3	Michael Harris	OF	Braves	22	65	Low	65	All-star CF
4	George Kirby	RHP	Mariners	25	70	Medium	65	No. 2 starter
5	Bobby Witt Jr.	SS	Royals	23	65	Medium	60	All-star SS
6	Spencer Strider	RHP	Braves	24	65	Medium	60	No. 2 or 3 starter
7	Nick Lodolo	LHP	Reds	25	60	Medium	55	No. 3 starter
8	Riley Greene	OF	Tigers	22	60	Medium	55	First-division CF
9	Reid Detmers	LHP	Angels	23	55	Low	55	No. 3 or 4 starter
10	Jeremy Peña	SS	Astros	25	60	Medium	55	First-division SS
11	Oneil Cruz	SS	Pirates	24	60	Medium	55	First-division SS
12	Steven Kwan	LF	Guardians	25	55	Low	55	First-division LF
13	Andres Muñoz	RP	Mariners	24	55	Low	55	All-star closer
14	Vinnie Pasquantino	1B	Royals	25	55	Low	55	First-division 1B
15	Jhoan Duran	RP	Twins	25	55	Low	55	All-star closer
16	CJ Abrams	SS	Nationals	22	55	Medium	50	Regular SS
17	Vaughn Grissom	2B	Braves	22	55	Medium	50	Regular 2B
18	Bryson Stott	SS	Phillies	25	50	Low	50	Regular 2B
19	Brayan Bello	RHP	Red Sox	24	60	High	50	No. 3 or 4 starter
20	Aaron Ashby	LHP	Brewers	25	55	Medium	50	No. 3 or 4 starter
21	Hunter Greene	RHP	Reds	23	55	Medium	50	No. 3 or 4 starter
22	Joe Ryan	RHP	Twins	27	50	Low	50	No. 4 starter
23	Edward Cabrera	RHP	Marlins	25	55	Medium	50	No. 3 or 4 starter
24	Camilo Doval	RP	Giants	25	50	Low	50	First-division closer
25	Nolan Gorman	2B	Cardinals	23	55	High	45	Regular 2B
26	Brendan Donovan	2B	Cardinals	26	45	Low	45	Multi-position UT
27	Matt Brash	RP	Mariners	25	50	Medium	45	First-division RP
28	Felix Bautista	RP	Orioles	28	50	Medium	45	First-division closer
29	Spencer Torkelson	1B	Tigers	23	55	High	45	Regular 1B
30	MacKenzie Gore	LHP	Nationals	24	50	Medium	45	No. 4 or 5 starter

Honorable Mention: Ten more names at the 45 tier are listed here in alphabetical order: Roansy Contreras, RHP, Pirates; Ezequiel Duran, 3B, Rangers; Shea Langeliers, C, Athletics; Michael Massey, 2B, Royals; Jose Miranda, 1B, Twins; MJ Melendez, C, Royals; Lars Nootbaar, RF, Cardinals; Keibert Ruiz, C, Nationals; Robert Suarez, RP, Padres; and Alek Thomas, CF, D-backs. Note: Nootbaar and Ruiz were not rookie eligible in 2022