2023 Preseason Top 100 Prospects

The 2023 Prospect Handbook is at the printer. All 30 team Top 10s are published. Pitchers and catchers are less than a month away from reporting to spring training.

All of that can only mean one thing: It’s time for the grand finale, the 2023 Top 100 Prospects.

This year’s list is headed by Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson, the reigning Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year who showed hints of his ability in Baltimore during the final stretch of the regular season.

Henderson joined budding star catcher Adley Rutschman—the Orioles’ first- and second-round picks from the 2019 draft—as potential cornerstones on a Baltimore roster that looks poised to reach October for the first time since 2016.

He’s not the only baby bird ready to hatch. Righthander Grayson Rodriguez ranks No. 6 overall and places behind only Phillies righty Andrew Painter among the game’s top pitching prospects.

Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, rounds out Baltimore’s trio of Top 15 prospects. As an amateur and in a brief sample as a pro, Holliday drew effusive praise from scouts and executives around the game.

Henderson is followed at the top by D-backs outfielder Corbin Carroll, who responded well to an aggressive assignment in 2022 by bashing his way from Double-A to the big leagues.

Carroll, Arizona’s first-rounder from 2019, has an enticing blend of hittability, power, speed and defense that could make him a fixture at the top of Arizona’s lineup and the lynchpin in the team’s efforts to rise in a powerful NL West.

Henderson and Carroll open the year atop the list but likely won’t be there long. Both should graduate within the first few weeks of the regular season. If that happens, they’ll give way to Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio, the breakout star of the 2022 minor league season.

At just 18 years old, Chourio showed enough skills and tools to jump over the Arizona Complex League and into full-season ball in early May. He opened his time in Low-A with a bang and never stopped hitting in a year that saw him finish in Double-A. He has as much upside as any player on this list.

Painter, the top-ranked pitcher on the list, blazed a similarly scorching trail as Chourio. He overpowered the completion at three stops with a tantalizing blend of stuff, poise and command. In doing so, he joined Chad Billingsley, Forrest Whitley, Zack Greinke, Dylan Bundy and Clayton Kershaw as the only prep pitchers since 2006 to reach Double-A in their first season after the draft year.

Painter just edged Rodriguez and Marlins righthander Eury Perez for the nod as the game's top pitching prospect. Perez followed his breakout 2021 season with a similarly special 2022 when he spent most of the year bullying hitters throughout the Southern League.

As always, this list is a mix of our staff members’ opinions and the input from talent evaluators around the game. J.J. Cooper, Matt Eddy, Geoff Pontes, Kyle Glaser, Josh Norris and Carlos Collazo each submitted personal Top 150 rankings, which were then tabulated into one composite list for feedback from scouts and executives.

After heeding their opinions, adjustments were made. The results are what you see before you.

We hope you enjoy.