2022 MLB Top Draft Prospects
The BA 500 is an attempt to capture the industry’s consensus on the talent of the 2022 draft class—not to predict where players will be selected. The list was compiled in consultation with major league scouts, front office executives, scouting directors, college coaches and other professional evaluators. Ben Badler, Teddy Cahill, JJ Cooper, Kyle Glaser, Joe Healy, Tom Lipari, Bill Mitchell and Carlos Collazo contributed to reporting and writing. Chris Trenkle contributed to editing.
Related: 2022 MLB Mock Draft Version 4.0
July 15: A last-minute rankings update to account for player movement and prospects removing themselves from the draft.
Georgia high school outfielder Druw Jones continues to lead the class in the No. 1 spot, as the industry’s consensus top prospect.
Given the extreme attrition to the top-end pitching talent of the class, it’s a hitter-heavy group up top, with high-upside high school players like SS Jackson Holliday, SS Termarr Johnson and OF Elijah Green.
For teams more inclined to chase the safer college demographic, there are plenty of proven bats to be found among the top 10 as well: SS Brooks Lee and C Kevin Parada have cases as the best pure hitters in the college class, while 3B/1B Jacob Berry, 2B Jace Jung, OF Gavin Cross and 3B Cam Collier have varying degrees of high-level hitting ability and power.
Prep righthanders Brock Porter and Dylan Lesko lead the pitching class, with power arms and elite changeups to go with them, while former Vanderbilt star Kumar Rocker ranks at the top of the non-prep pitching demographic.
BA Grades
Baseball America has used BA Grades and risk factors for minor league prospects as part of our team top 30 rankings and annual prospect handbook for more than a decade. Starting in 2021, we assigned the top draft prospects BA Grades as well. This is an attempt to further contextualize the talent of the class and create a more seamless transition from amateur to professional talent rankings.
Below is a brief overview of BA Grades:
For the BA Grade, we used a 20-to-80 scale, similar to the scale scouts use, to keep things familiar. However, most major league clubs put an overall numerical grade on players, called the Overall Future Potential or OFP. Often the OFP is merely an average of the player’s tools.
The BA Grade is not an OFP. It’s a measure of a prospect’s value, and it attempts to gauge the player’s realistic ceiling. We’ve continued to adjust our grades to try to be more realistic, and less optimistic, and keep refining the grade vetting process.
BA Grade Scale
|
Grade |
Hitter Role |
Pitcher Role |
|
75-80 |
Franchise Player |
No. 1 starter |
|
65-70 |
Perennial All-Star |
No. 2 starter |
|
60 |
Occasional All-Star |
No. 3 starter, Game’s best reliever |
|
55 |
First-Division Regular |
No. 3/No. 4 starter, Closer |
|
50 |
Solid-Average Regular |
No. 4 starter, Setup reliever |
|
45 |
Second-Division Regular/Platoon |
No. 5 starter, Middle reliever |
|
40 |
Reserve |
Fill-in starter, Low-leverage reliever |
|
35 |
Quality Org Player |
Quality Org Player |
Risk Factors
Low: Likely to reach realistic ceiling, certain big league career barring injury.
Medium: Some work left to refine their tools, but a polished player.
High: Most top draft picks in their first season, players with plenty of projection left, players with a significant flaw left to correct or players whose injury history is worrisome.
Very High: Recent draft picks with limited track record of success or injury issues.
Extreme: Teenagers in Rookie ball, players with significant injury histories or players who struggle with a key skill, especially control for pitchers or strikeout rate for hitters.
