Morning Rundown: Top shortstop prospects, BA updated top 30
MLB Pipeline releases their top 10 shortstop prospects and Baseball America updates each teams top 30.
MLB Pipeline continued its countdown towards its top 100 prospect list by ranking the top 10 by each position.
Wednesday, it was shortstop, one of the more stacked positions, with a former first-overall pick that played at four different full-season affiliates in 2023.
Jackson Holliday, BAL
Colson Montgomery, CHW
Jordan Lawlar, ARI
Jackson Merrill, SD
Marcelo Mayer, BOS
Brooks Lee, MIN
Carson Williams, TB
Adael Amador, COL
Cole Young, SEA
Marco Luciano, SF
It’s crazy to think that I went and saw Holliday play in Fredericksburgh (Single-A) at the beginning of the season, only to see him jump to Triple-A by the end.
It's hard to get a true idea after just one game, but Holliday certainly impressed, picking up a couple of hits, showing off his speed around the bases, and looking strong defensively.
Lawlar and Mayer were both options of the Pirates when they had the first overall pick in 2021, where they eventually took Henry Davis. Lawlar made his major league debut last year, while an injury slowed Mayer down a bit.
I also remember watching Williams launch a couple of home runs off of Derek Diamond late in the season with Bowling Green.
I also saw Luciano pick up a base hit in person last year for Richmond while facing Altoona.
After releasing its top 100 list last week, Baseball America updated its top 30 rankings for each team on Wednesday.
We already knew the top 10 from a previous article and podcast but got 11-30 yesterday.
There are some interesting names throughout the list and quite a few relievers. I won’t go into too much detail since it’s under a paywall, but one name that did crack the list was a bit of a shocker - Brandan Bidois at 29.
There is a lot to like about his game, good fastball shape, sharp-breaking curveball, and an above-average cutter - but still a different take to see a Single-A reliever on a top prospect list.
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Several interesting calls here beyond Bidois. Harrington, Cheng and Brannigan seem high at 6/7/12, although that may have more to do with the system not being very good. Gorski at 15 is curious for a AAA player who's been passed over twice in R5. Alika Williams (22) is awfully high for a Mario Mendoza clone. Brazoban at 24 seems premature, especially with Yordany DLS not even on the list. Carlson Reed is interesting, but he's a college draftee who has yet to pitch above R ball. To me, college guys need to be viewed with a ton of skepticism until they do something in AA.
Surprised Bidois wasn't ranked higher on his mustache alone. We have 2 in the top 10 on Mustache Aficionado. If Bubba works on his we could have 3 before mid-season. Skenes and Bidois are leading the way with their lip blankets.