Top Baseball Prospects for 2013
Now updated for 2013's Top Prospects
Scouting Book's Top Prospects list is a Combined List, a calculated summary of the overall valuations of the entire prospect universe.
Remember: this page is the result of an automatic process that re-sorts and re-ranks players often.
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The Best Second Base Prospects for 2013
Overall SB ranking shown in parentheses.
Drafted by the Padres after winning the 2010 Brooks Wallace Award as the best shortstop in NCAA Division I, Jedd Gyorko has always been officially regarded as a third basemen by the organization, despite his smallish stature and better suitability for second. Of course, his bat has been nothing small since joining the Friars: In a season spent mainly in the AAA parking lot, Gyorko smashed a .328/.380/.588 line that included 24 dingers and another 24 doubles, numbers which should translate pretty well to gap-friendly Petco. With numbers like that, the Padres won't mind if they have to fudge his height in the official program. He's ready right now, but the usual contract gerrymandering might delay his MLB debut until June.
Full Scouting Report for Jedd Gyorko
SB 44BA 71SC 51BP 84SN ES 70ML 50
The 22nd overall pick of the 2011 player draft, tiny Hawaiian Kolten Wong already looks like St. Louis's second baseman of the very near future. A polished college hitter with a 1.013 career OPS, he's also a developing fielder who should be able to improve the .964 he recorded in his very first taste of professional baseball. He slashed .335/.401/.510 in 2011 in the A-Level Midwest League, then .287/.348/.405 in the AA Texas League a year later. He's still has room to grow and improve, but he's going to need to be challenged with major league pitching in order to do it. He's ready.
Full Scouting Report for Kolten Wong
SB 59BA 84SC 57BP 90SN ES 96ML 79
A shortstop who's probably better off at second or third, Curacao native Jonathan Schoop's second turn through high-A ball in the Oriole system was a lot more successful than his first. Schoop silenced critics by slashing .271/.329/.375 at Carolina after shredding the low-A Sally League with a .316/.376/.514 line in the spring of 2011. In 2012, facing AA for the first time, he looked a little more grounded (.245/.324/.386) but wasn't beaten by the better pitching and continued to play solid defense. A high-contact hitter with developing power, Schoop is still adding bulk, which should help some of the 24 doubles he hit in 2011 turn into future homers. As it is, he still looks near ready for the bigs, with only another year or so of eyeball-training remaining. He'll return to AA to open 2013, and should apply a new focus. If he takes the expected step forward, he'll be ready for MLB action in 2014.
Full Scouting Report for Jon Schoop
SB 111BA SC BP 80SN ES 50ML
The junior Delino is a shorter, stronger, faster and very much more righthanded version of his father. Which is to say, he's not very much like his father at all. What Delino is is a highly athletic all around ballplayer with superior defensive skills, a contact bat that should play at almost any position and serious plus plus speed. While he's still a ways from MLB, he's been making steady up-the-ladder progress through the minors, putting the work in: it's more than just his built-in athleticism and bloodline that puts him at the front of Houston's weak farm.
Full Scouting Report for Delino DeShields
SB 116BA 99SC 78BP 101SN ES 83ML
A polished college shortstop from St. John's, Joe Panik is the closest thing to MLB-ready in the Giants system today, though he's more likely than not to be deployed at second base for the big club. After signing with the team in 2011, he went straight to low-A Salem, where he promptly hammered out a nifty .341/.401/.467 line with six homers and thirteen stolen bases, all in only 270 at-bats. Last year's .297/.368/.402 line might look like a step back, but considering it came along with a promotion to high-A San Jose, it's very good production. As long as he plays up to his level, he'll be all set as a fixture in SF sometime in 2014, with a callup in late 2013 not out of the question.
Full Scouting Report for Joe Panik
SB 144BA SC BP SN ES ML
With one of the fastest home-to-first sprints since Ichiro and an OBP over .400 in his first season of pro ball, Padres prospect Cory Spangenberg is already looking very capable of sitting atop a San Diego batting order very soon. The versatile infielder played third base in college but will almost certainly be a second baseman in San Diego. He's still a bit rough around the edges, so give him a year to push his way into AA ball before you start expecting him to crack the Padres' everyday roster.
Full Scouting Report for Cory Spangenberg
SB 154BA SC BP SN ES ML
A twelfth round pick out of Oregon State back in 2010, infielder Stefen Romero has quietly risen to legitimate prospect status thanks to a solid work effort and a good all-around offensive toolset. Somewhat of a late bloomer, the righthanded Romero zipped up the depth chart in 2012 by raking .357/.391/.581 at High Desert. The performance earned him a quick promotion to AA, where he fared even better, slashing a .347/.392/.620 line against pitching that should have overmatched him.
Full Scouting Report for Stefen Romero
SB 156BA SC BP SN ES ML
Ryan 'Scooter' Gennett is a fast-rising middle infielder in the Milwaukee Brewers system. A small-framed fireplug, the lefty-swinging Gennett destroyed high-A Brevard County last year just the way he chewed up low-A Wisconsin the year before. His .334/.406/.740 performance probably merits another promotion, but his sloppy baserunning and lack of power might necessitate a little more training time in high-A first. In the field he played second base exclusively, leaving shortstop in his past, and while his glovework isn't exceptional, it should be good enough to get his bat into play. If he can round the rough edges of his game, he will be ready for the two-hole in the Milwaukee order sometime in 2013.
Full Scouting Report for Scooter Gennett
SB 196BA SC BP SN ES ML
An offensive-minded infielder from Japan's Pacific League, Kensuke Tanaka slashed .300/.350/.363 with in 505 plate appearances last season for the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Widely known as a solid glove man, he also showed plus speed and basestealing ability early in his career, though that has faded as he's matured.
Full Scouting Report for Kensuke Tanaka
SB 225BA SC BP SN ES ML
A strong infielder with a nice line-drive stroke and an eye that's beyond his young years, second base prospect Taylor Lindsey showed better glovework than expected in low-level pro ball. He'll try to take his sparkplug style of play up to A-level in 2013. He's a couple of years away from scratching a living from the Anaheim dirt, but he's exactly the sort of scrappy, line-drive hitting middle infielder that the Angels are so good at drafting and developing. He's probably no superstar, but he will stick in MLB and play well when his time comes.
Full Scouting Report for Taylor Lindsey
SB 257BA SC BP SN ES ML
New York's second round pick in the 2010 Draft, young Angelo Gumbs was the first high school position player drafted that year, which should help you guess the gist of his ups and downs. To wit, and by the book: he's a gifted athlete, one of the best pure physical specimens in the Yankee stable, with all the signs of plus speed and power hanging on his room-to-grow frame.
Full Scouting Report for Angelo Gumbs
SB 269BA SC BP SN ES ML
A well-rounded infield prospect signed as a young IFA from Venezuela, Cesar Hernandez is currently pushing at the ceiling of the Phillies minor league system. At the plate he's a solid line-drive hitter with the potential to hit for a high average with a little pop, while on the bases, he shows near-plus speed, though he's still not very good at using it effectively. A natural second baseman who can also play a decent shortstop, it's been long-assumed he'd need to bump either Chase Utley or Jimmy Rollins to lock down a major league job: no easy task, either way. Still, with both those veterans aging and growing more expensive, his window of opportunity is approaching. And he seems ready to make a grab at it, too: that .304/.345/.436 in 2012 came in his very first taste of AA baseball, pushing him to the front of the Phillies prospect pack.
Full Scouting Report for Cesar Hernandez
SB 272BA SC BP SN ES ML
A high-quality hitter laboring deep in the shadows of the Atlanta system, Tommy La Stella combines exceptional plate discipline with good pop. That .302/.386/.460 line from high-A Lynchburg last came with 32 extra base hits in 85 games, and he could look even better in AA, once adjusting a little. His speed is above average, and his baserunning skills are already very good. His glove is less tested but seems capable, especially at second base. While he might not be a tip-top prospect, he's a very good one, and could be contributing in a Braves lineup sometime in 2014.
Full Scouting Report for Tommy La Stella
SB 278BA SC BP SN ES ML
A UCD product drafted by the Orioles in the 13th round of the 2009 Draft, Tyler Kelly is an accomplished hitter without an obvious fielding position. He's started at every position other than center and catcher for the Oriole teams in the last two years alone. No matter where the Orioles slot him, though, he's always raked enough to surpass scouting expectations. He slashed .327/.425/.467 across three levels of play in 2012, but what really jumps out at us is that 72:79 strikeout to walk ratio. The Orioles have sexier prospects, but none who look as ready to plug into an MLB lineup as Kelly. He should see bench, UT or injury-filling duty in 2013.
Full Scouting Report for Tyler Kelly
SB 299BA SC BP SN ES ML
A gifted all-around infielder from Puerto Rico, Kansas City prospect Christian Colon hasn't quite lived up to the hype associated with his draft ranking, but there's nothing about him that says 'bust', either. A plus contact hitter with good speed, excellent baseball instincts and soft hands, Colon, won't hit 40 home runs in any league any time soon, but he should be a good enough contributor at all other aspects of the game to bless the Royals roster before the end of 2013, if only as a benchy utility type.
Full Scouting Report for Christian Colon
SB 317BA SC BP SN ES ML
The most promising middle infield prospect in the Marlins' system today, Noah Perio is a California boy with a solid frame and a quick, line-drive swing. With a good set of all-around tools, he's not a standout in any one category but on the upside, he doesn't have any clear weaknesses, either. Still young, he'll be looking to build on the so-so .248/.293/.311 line he posted at high-A Jupier in 2012. We're looking forward to seeing how he adjusts to leagues with better pitching. Maybe this year.
Full Scouting Report for Noah Perio
SB 330BA SC BP SN ES ML
Small but tough, Red Sox prospect Sean Coyle is a scrappy infielder from Pennsylvania who seems engineered to perform well in Boston. Coyle's batting eye looks sabermetrically-promising already, and when he swings, he displays great bat speed from a short, compact stroke.
Full Scouting Report for Sean Coyle
SB 363BA SC BP SN ES ML
A gritty, hard-noised infielder taken by the Nationals in the second round of the 2012 draft, Anthony (Tony) Renda will be compared to Dustin Pedroia for the rest of his career. And it's not just his small size and tenacity that earn the comp, either: Renda has plus bat speed, which means in time he could disply enough power to bang balls into outfield walls and occasionally over them. For now, though, he's a singles hitter with great hustle and baseball instincts, which means he could be a fan favorite in Washington by 2015.
Full Scouting Report for Tony Renda
SB 379BA SC BP SN ES ML
A power-hitting second base prospect imported from Tampa at the tail-end of 2012, Marlin Derek Dietrich should provide Uggla-like numbers for the team soon. He can get a bit chase-and-pull happy, so by 'numbers' we mean both home runs and strikeouts. Still, he's young enough that it's not completely impossible he may gain a sharper eye and taste for actual strikes in the years to come.
Full Scouting Report for Derek Dietrich
SB 425BA SC BP SN ES ML
Three years after signing an IFA bonus totally three quarters of a million dollars back in 2009, the very young Twins prospect Jorge Polanco stepped up in rookie-league Elizabethton last year, slashing .318/.388/.514 with five homers and six stolen bases spread across 51 games while showing a real plus glove all over the diamond. It looks like all that winter ball and coaching paid off on defense, too, as the smallish prospect seems to be growing into a strong, potent athlete. He might not be the nimble, rangey shortstop that most Dominicans aspire to be, but Polanco is already looking like a solid second baseman from our seat, so that's how we'll label him for now. Give him a few years to refine his overall game and he'll be a good one.
Full Scouting Report for Jorge Polanco
SB 432BA SC BP SN ES ML
Top Prospects 2013
Combined Ranking
