Baseball America

Jan. 10-24, 1992 Roberto Hernandez ranked as the No. 1 prospect for the White Sox based on his 95 mph fastball and high character. The year before he had defied the odds by overcoming a life-threatening blockage of an artery in his right forearm. Not

FACTORY ATHLETICS TM is BA’s For the Love of the Game Selection Partner CHANDLER, AZ: Because Jack is dyslexic, he struggles to process information, mostly math and reading. While he will never completely overcome his dyslexia, he has figured out how

Success breeds confidence, as the adage goes. If that’s the case, then prospects who excelled in the final month of the minor league season could use that success—and confidence boost—as a springboard into 2020. In this piece, we will journey around

J.J. COOPER @JJCOOP36 Not long ago, the four largest independent leagues dreamed of fielding as many as 60 teams. When the 2020 season begins, the American Association, Atlantic League, Can-Am League and Frontier League will be fortunate if they fiel

TRACY RINGOLSBY @TRACYRINGOLSBY With the clock ticking on the July 31 trade deadline—a deadline this year that was the final word on deals a team can make—the Astros made it clear that it’s not the American League West they are focused on winning It

When Trey Magnuson first saw Gavin Lux in the summer of 2015, the Dodgers’ area scout for the Upper Midwest was immediately drawn to Lux’s athleticism and lefthanded bat. The actions Lux showed at shortstop were rare in a teenager from cold-weather W

Double-A Jackson (Southern) Varsho rode a second-half surge to an .898 OPS that led the Southern League, all while nearly going 20-20 as a catcher. (He fell just two home runs short.) The lefthanded-hitting Varsho stuck with his approach even when th

The growing popularity of the United Soccer League (USL) hasn’t gone unnoticed in baseball, as more than a handful of current baseball ownership groups have become USL owners, enjoying the success that comes from the synergies of two community-first

Charlotte (White Sox) AGE: 22. B-T: R-R. HT.: 6-3. WT.: 185. SIGNED: Cuba, 2017. After a 2018 season marred by injuries, Robert opened the year healthy and showed off a package of five tools, each of which has the chance to be plus or better. He fini

Round Rock (Astros) AGE: 22. B-T: L-R. HT.: 6-5. WT.: 225. SIGNED: Cuba, 2016 (Dodgers). Alvarez led the minor leagues in home runs (23) when the Astros called him up June 9. His ability to crush any pitch over any part of the plate with plus-plus po

Reading won a league-best 80 game, but it still wasn’t good enough to get them to the Eastern League finals. Trenton defeated Bowie to capture the EL title for the fourth time in franchise history. While Erie didn’t make it into the playoffs, the Sea

Amarillo won the Texas League championship in the debut season for the Sod Poodles franchise. The Padres’ Double-A affiliate defeated Tulsa 8-3 in Game 5 of the best-of-five championship series. Led by many of the prospects who help make the Padres’

The California League’s reputation as a hitter’s league continues to take a hit. Now three years removed from High Desert and Bakersfield being contracted, teams in the league scored an average of 4.71 runs per game in 2019, the lowest mark in 30 yea

The Southern League was stacked with prospects this year, with perhaps its greatest quantity and variety of position players in a long time. Despite being a 10-team league, the Southern League’s embarrassment of riches included 15 qualifying players

Two of the top talents to play in the Carolina League both played for Winston-Salem but fell just short of qualifying for the list. Dynamic outfielder Luis Robert hit .453/.512/.920 in 75 at-bats, while 2019 No. 3 overall pick Andrew Vaughn fell seve

How good was the Florida State League in 2019? For starters, it featured Wander Franco, an 18-year-old shortstop with an on-base percentage higher than .400. The FSL also had righthander Joe Ryan, the only starter in the minors to average more than 1

Following up on their Midwest League championship season in 2018, Bowling Green once again managed to grab attention this season. The Hot Rods gave a clear cut example of the Rays’ organizational strength in developing pitchers, with a handful of top

Hickory catcher Sam Huff finished tied for eighth in the South Atlantic League with 15 home runs. That’s remarkable because Huff was promoted out of the league on May 8. In just 30 games, Huff set the league on fire, impressing with his power and sol

The New York-Penn League was stacked with prospects this season, and Aberdeen catcher Adley Rutschman led the wave. Two pitchers managed to shine brightly this season among the position-heavy group. Lowell righthander Noah Song, a Red Sox fourth-roun

Typically a college-heavy circuit, the Northwest League was flooded with young talent this summer. That’s made clear by the prospects on this list and is brought even further into focus by some of the prospects who just missed the cut. Explosive Diam

Year after year, the Appalachian League has turned into a showcase for some of the top young international prospects. In 2016, Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the standout prospect in the league. In 2018, Rays shortstop Wander Franc

The Rookie-level Arizona League continued its rapid growth. Three new teams expanded the league to 21, when just 10 years ago there were 11 teams in the complex league. Seven of the 14 organizations making up the league now have two affiliates, with

While the talent was stacked at the complexes in Arizona for the Rookie-level Arizona League, that wasn’t the case this year in the Gulf Coast League. Several top draft picks just missed qualifying due to their limited playing time. Tigers outfielder

Missoula (D-backs) AGE: 18. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-1. WT: 170. SIGNED: Dominican Republic, 2017 Peguero spent the second half of the 2018 season in the Arizona League at age 17 and struggled with the bat, but he came back to spring training this year notice

As their recent draft class highlighted, the Orioles are focused on addressing a lack of high-end position prospects. However, the work of 22-year-old Ryan Mountcastle at Triple-A Norfolk this season gave the organization a reason for hope. The 2015

If the Dodgers are going to continue their run of success deep into the next decade, their starting pitching prospects will have to have to flourish. The Dodgers have one of the oldest pitching staffs in baseball. Hyun-Jin Ryu is 32. Clayton Kershaw

On May 29, Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright took a big swing, hiring Eric Wedge to be his next head baseball coach. The hire stands out on a couple of fronts. Wedge is a household name not often seen in college coaching. Not only is h

As one of the most talented lefthanded-hitting amateurs in the country, Austin Hendrick’s favorite player is no real surprise. Easy. It’s Ken Griffey Jr. Hendrick loves Griffey’s swing, the pure, smooth stroke that so many kids grow up trying—and fai

When draft picks sign, they typically play right away. High school players usually go to a Rookie-level complex league in Arizona or Florida, while a college player might spend his summer with a more advanced short-season team in the New York-Penn or

MAX ALLEN, a minor league righthander who pitched in the Devil Rays organization from 2002-06, died Aug. 6 in Rincon, Ga. He was 39. WILLIAM “WILLIE” BARTOLOVICH, a minor leaguer who pitched in the Athletics organization in 1953 and ’56, died Aug. 13

JOE SHEEHAN @JOE_SHEEHAN Watching your favorite team finish out its season, you’ve certainly seen some new faces, young players called up from the minors to get a taste of the majors for the first time. Some are prospects, some are filler, but they’r