It’s that time of year again. With the 2022 baseball season right around the corner, MLB Pipeline has spent the past week breaking down the game’s top 10 prospects by position and unveiling its annual Top 100 Prospects list. Now, it's time to dig deeper.

Featuring many of the game’s future young stars, the Top 100 Prospects list will be discussed today on MLB Network at 11 a.m. ET.

2021 National League Rookie of the Year Jonathan India is a former Top 100 prospect, slotting in at No. 53 in 2019. In fact, half of the top six ROY vote-getters in each league last year were Top 100 prospects before bursting onto the big league scene. AL third-place finisher Wander Franco was the game’s top overall prospect heading into the year, while NL third-place finisher Dylan Carlson ranked No. 14. 2021 MVP winners Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper are also Top 100 alumnus, with Ohtani claiming the No. 1 spot in 2018.

When
Today at 11 a.m. ET on MLB Network, in a special featuring analysis from MLB Pipeline prospect experts Jonathan Mayo and Jim Calls.

How the Top 100 is determined
The MLB Pipeline team compiles the rankings using input from industry sources, including scouts, scouting directors and other evaluators. The rankings are an aggregate analysis, taking the players’ skill set, upside, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams into account. 

The list only includes players with rookie status in 2022, meaning players who debuted in ’21 but did not accumulate the playing time to graduate are eligible again this year. First-year players who fall outside of the international pool money rules laid out in the Collective Bargaining agreement — that is, who are at least 23 years old and played in international leagues deemed professional — are not eligible. That excludes some older rookies debuting after careers in places like Japan, Korea and Cuba.

Former No. 1 prospects
The Top 100 lists of the past are littered with future All-Stars and award winners. And plenty of previous No. 1 prospects have lived up to the hype. Ohtani joined Mike Trout (3x winner) and Joe Mauer as former top prospects to grow into MVPs, ’09 number one David Price won the AL Cy Young Award in 2012. Ohtani and Corey Seager (’16) also won ROY honors the same year they were named the game’s top prospect.

MLB.com's Preseason No. 1 Prospect Rankings by Year
2022: Bobby Witt Jr.
2021: Wander Franco
2020: Wander Franco
2019: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
2018: Shohei Ohtani
2017: Andrew Benintendi
2016: Corey Seager
2015: Byron Buxton
2014: Byron Buxton
2013: Jurickson Profar
2012: Matt Moore
2011: Mike Trout
2010: Jason Heyward
2009: David Price
2008: Jay Bruce
2007: Delmon Young
2006: Delmon Young
2005: Delmon Young
2004: Joe Mauer