MLB Top 100 Prospects Includes Five Dodgers

After a couple weeks of rolling out positional lists, MLB.com finally released their pre-season top-100 prospect list. The Dodgers were heavily represented with five prospects.

Over the last few weeks, Dodger prospects have been named in five of the seven positional prospect lists released by MLB.com. The only two positions the Dodgers DON’T have a top-10 prospect at are catcher, third base and in the outfield.

The 2015 top-100 list featured five Dodger prospects, as did the 2016. Four of the five are the same, and the one difference is Jose Peraza (71) out (traded to Cincinnati) for Frankie Montas (traded to Dodgers from CHW). 

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The headliners are the two top-five prospects, Corey Seager (1) and Julio Urias (4). They were named the top shortstop and left-handed pitching prospects, respectively, in all of baseball and MLB made a case for each of them being the top prospect (Seager, Urias). Each of them have been written about ad nauseum at this site and you should probably know them by now.

It’s easy to call the Dodgers’ farm top-heavy, as they’re the only team that can claim two top-five prospects in baseball. However, the Dodgers also have three of the remaining 95 prospects.

The Dodgers are a franchise built on pitching, and this is clear with four pitchers in the top-100. After Urias, Jose De Leon (24th), Grant Holmes (62nd) and Montas (95) are all studs that would likely be the top arm in most other farm systems. De Leon was the Dodgers’ 24th round pick in the 2013 draft and has been trending upward ever since. His 2013 season was ugly, but a 2.22 ERA in 2014 put him on the prospect map, and he didn’t disappoint in 2015. He posted a 2.99 ERA and struck out 12.8 batters/nine innings, splitting time between high-A and AA. JDL will turn 24 in August and could see a September call up or be ready for next season. He’ll be a non-roster invitee at Spring Training.

Holmes was the Dodgers’ first round pick (22nd overall) in 2014 and hasn’t been exceptional, but also hasn’t been alarmingly bad. Through his first 151 innings in the minors, Holmes owns a 3.32 ERA. He spent all of last year at A-Great Lakes and is probably farther away from making an impact in LA than any of the other listed pitchers.

Montas was acquired from the White Sox in a three-team deal, and might project best in the bullpen. He can light up the radar gun and has a putaway slider. He got a cup of coffee in the majors last year and allowed eight runs in 15 innings. In 112 minor league innings before his call up, Montas posted a 2.97 ERA. His control is the main issue, but if his floor seems to be a solid reliever and he could be a number two or three in a rotation.

Micah Johnson and Cody Bellinger were each featured in the top prospect lists for second base and first base, respectively. However, neither were in the top-100 overall prospects. Montas wasn’t listed as a top right handed pitching prospect, but made the list.

The only top-100 prospect the Dodgers lost was Peraza. FWIW, the Diamondbacks traded a very solid 25-year-old OF (Ender Inciarte), the No. 8 prospect (Dansby Swanson) and the No. 56 prospect (Aaron Blair). For Shelby Miller.