Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
I don’t normally do this, but seeing as four of my Top 35 prospects — Yusniel Diaz (2), Dean Kremer (20), Rylan Bannon (21) and Breyvic Valera (Next 5) from the midseason Top 30 were traded, I decided to put out a revised list. And Zach Pop (No. 81 preseason) was pushing for the Top 30-35 as well.
This isn’t a reordering of anyone, just shifting players up while moving guys from the “Next 5” into the Top 30 and replacing them with other “Next 5” prospects.
You can read all about the eligibility in the original Top 30 post. Same rules still apply. Here’s the revised list.
2018 Midseason Top 30 REVISED
1. OF Alex Verdugo
2. C Keibert Ruiz
3. C/3B Will Smith
4. RHP Dennis Santana
5. LHP Caleb Ferguson
6. RHP Dustin May
7. RHP Mitchell White
8. SS Gavin Lux
9. RHP Yadier Alvarez
10. 1B/3B Edwin Rios
11. OF DJ Peters
12. CF Jeren Kendall
13. SS/2B Drew Jackson
14. C Connor Wong
15. RHP Michael Grove
16. 1B/3B Matt Beaty
17. C Diego Cartaya
18. OF/1B Luke Raley
19. RHP Tony Gonsolin
20. SS Ronny Brito
21. RHP Josh Sborz
22. 3B Cristian Santana
23. RHP Ariel Hernandez
24. 2B/SS Omar Estevez
25. OF Starling Heredia
26. RHP Jordan Sheffield
27. 3B/1B Miguel Vargas
28. RHP Jesus Vargas
29. OF Cody Thomas
30. 2B/CF Tim Locastro
Next 5
RHP Morgan Cooper
RHP Melvin Jimenez
LHP Robinson Ortiz
SS/2B Errol Robinson
RHP Jerming Rosario
Notes
Jesus Vargas is a 19-year-old who is performing relatively well in Low-A Great Lakes. He has a low-90s fastball that has touched the mid-90s. He’s currently on the 7-day disabled list.
Thomas might be one of the more athletic players in the system. While he’s a bit old for High-A (23), he’s starting to find his stroke. The strikeouts are concerning (32.5 percent), but he’s as raw a 23-year-old college draftee can be.
Locastro has already seen the majors and should be a solid utility player at the next level. His speed is his best asset.
As for the “Next 5” guys, Cooper was the Dodgers’ 2nd-round pick last year and has yet to throw a professional pitch. Jimenez was really good last season, but his stuff has backed up a bit and is looking more and more like a reliever. But he’s even younger than Jesus Vargas (18).
Ortiz is sleeper in this system. He’s 18 and is holding his own in the Arizona Rookie League. He reminds me, physically, a bit of Julio Urias.
Rosario was the Dodgers’ second-largest signing of the current July 2 class ($600,000). He has a good fastball/changeup combination. If his breaking ball rounds into form, he could shoot up this list. Oh, and he’s just 16.
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That’s it for this update. There will be an All-Prospect Team in a couple months, but no other rankings until the Top 100 comes out next year. And yes, I’ve already started working on that. I’m sick.
