Top 2023 MLB Draft Prospects
Baseball America’s draft rankings are an attempt to capture the industry’s consensus on the talent of the 2023 draft class. The list was compiled in consultation with MLB scouts, front office executives, scouting directors, college coaches and other professional evaluators. Ben Badler, Teddy Cahill, JJ Cooper, Peter Flaherty, Bill Mitchell, Tom Lipari, Geoff Pontes and Carlos Collazo contributed to writing and reporting. Chris Trenkle contributed to editing.
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We’re excited to release the first edition of the BA 500 for the 2023 class, with just over a month left before draft day.
The top of the board is mostly similar to our previous update, as the class continues to be led by the generational Louisiana State duo of Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes. We continue to hear that the top tier of players in the class is built on five players: Crews, Skenes, Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford, South Brunswick High (N.C) outfielder Walker Jenkins and Franklin (Ind.) Community High outfielder Max Clark.
A notable addition to the top 10 is Wake Forest righthander Rhett Lowder, who has been one of the most consistent starters in the country and the Friday Night arm for the No. 1 team in the nation.
While the BA 500 is the culmination of a year-plus long process, this is not the finish line just yet. There’s still feedback from regionals, super regionals and the College World Series to gather, and collegiate summer leagues are around the corner, as well as individual team workouts and the draft combine. We’ll continue to tweak our rankings where necessary as we approach the draft.
Below you can see full reports for the top 500 players in the class. Over the next few weeks, we’ll also begin rolling out updated reports for every player, in addition to BA Grades and tools grades for the top players in the class.
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Kyle Teel
Virginia CNotes:Ht: 6-1 | Wt: 190 | B-T: L-R
Preseason Report: One of the most athletic players in the 2020 draft class, Teel was a standout high school prospect who would have ranked among the top 100 players in the class had he not withdrawn from the draft at the time. After reaching campus at Virginia, Teel split time as an outfielder and catcher in his 2021 freshman season before taking over as the everyday catcher in 2022. He’s hit .305/.409/.481 with 15 home runs in two seasons with the Cavaliers, and also served as Team USA’s catcher during the summer. Listed at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, Teel has solid bat speed from the left side and has shown all-fields power in college, with aggressive swings and plenty of moving parts in his operation. There’s a significant hand hitch in Teel’s load that gives evaluators pause and could create issues with timing and consistently getting on plane, though in general Teel has shown a solid understanding of the strike zone. He’s walked at a 12.6% rate and struck out at a 14.2% rate, and in 2022 walked more frequently than he struck out, and doesn’t expand the zone at a high rate, with solid bat-to-ball skills as well. Teel has a few carrying tools behind the plate between his athleticism and plus arm strength, but he’s been a rough receiver at times and needs to refine the finer details of catching to stick at the position. He’s a great runner for a catcher and solid-average overall in the speed department.
Commit/Drafted: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 21.4Less
