With the action of the 2022 season a few months in the rearview mirror and not quite a month to go before Spring Training games get underway, the reveal of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list for 2023 is imminent.
Watch MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger and Steve Phillips count down the list with insight from Pipeline’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo at 7 p.m. ET/4 PT on Thursday.
This will mark the 20th year MLB.com has put out a top prospects list, and the 2023 edition of our Top 100 Prospects promises to be as stacked with game-changing talent as any.
At the close of the 2022 calendar year, the top spots were filled with a slew of potential MLB All-Stars who got a taste of the big leagues last year (the Mets’ Francisco Álvarez, the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, the D-backs’ Corbin Carroll, the Cardinals’ Jordan Walker) and elite talent from across the Minor Leagues (the Yankees’ Anthony Volpe, Red Sox counterpart Marcelo Mayer, the Marlins’ Eury Pérez, the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio).
Who will be No. 1? Who will make the biggest leap? Who’s facing a step back? And which prospects have cracked the list for the first time?
Answers are coming Thursday evening.
How the Top 100 is determined
The MLB Pipeline team compiles the rankings using input from industry sources, including scouts, scouting directors and other evaluators. The rankings are an aggregate analysis, taking the players’ skill set, upside, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams into account.
The list only includes players with rookie status in 2023, meaning players who debuted in ’22 but did not accumulate the service time (45 days on the active roster), at-bats (130) or innings pitched (50) to graduate are eligible again this year. First-year players who fall outside of the international pool money rules laid out in the Collective Bargaining agreement — that is, who are at least 23 years old and played in international leagues deemed professional — are not eligible. That excludes some older rookies debuting after careers in places like Japan, Korea and Cuba.
Former MLB No. 1 prospects
Former No. 1 prospects include the likes of Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Joe Mauer and numerous other players who count MVP trophies, Cy Young Awards or Rookie of the Year honors among their respective accomplishments. Last year’s AL Rookie of the Year, Julio Rodríguez, was No. 18 when the 2020 list was unveiled, No. 5 at the beginning of 2021 and No. 3 this time last year.
MLB’s preseason No. 1 prospects by year
2022: Bobby Witt Jr., SS/3B, KC
2021: Wander Franco, SS, TB
2020: Wander Franco, SS, TB
2019: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, TOR
2018: Shohei Ohtani, RHP/OF, LAA
2017: Andrew Benintendi, OF, BOS
2016: Corey Seager, SS, LAD
2015: Byron Buxton, OF, MIN
2014: Byron Buxton, OF, MIN
2013: Jurickson Profar, SS, TEX
2012: Matt Moore, LHP, TB
2011: Mike Trout, OF, LAA
2010: Jason Heyward, OF, ATL
2009: David Price, LHP, TB
2008: Jay Bruce, OF, CIN
2007: Delmon Young, OF, TB
2006: Delmon Young, OF, TB
2005: Delmon Young, OF, TB
2004: Joe Mauer, C, MIN