Which prospects will fare best in the bigs this year? We drafted teams

March 10th, 2023

We're in the business of projecting all prospects, even the ones who might not make the Majors for another half decade. But if you were to rank the 900 prospects on our organization Top 30s by urgency, as in the ones you need to know about now, you'd probably do well to set your sights on those with a big league ETA of 2023.

With that in mind, MLB Pipeline experts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo were given the following task on the latest episode of the Pipeline Podcast: draft the best team comprised of Major League-ready prospects, either those who have already debuted or are on the cusp of the show. At the end of the year, we'll look at each player's actual results and determine which squad came out on top. 

Here's a pick-by-pick recap of that draft, along with each player's ranking on the Top 100, followed by analysis from the "general managers" themselves.

1. JC: Corbin Carroll, OF, ARI (No. 2)
2. JM: Gunnar Henderson, 3B/SS, BAL (No. 1)
3. JM: Jordan Walker, OF/3B, STL (No. 4)
4. JC: Triston Casas, 1B, BOS (No. 23)
5. JC: Francisco Álvarez, C, NYM (No. 3)
6. JM: Ezequiel Tovar, SS, COL (No. 25)
7. JM: Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, BAL (No. 7)
8. JC: Michael Busch, 2B, LAD (No. 54)
9. JC: Sal Frelick, OF, MIL (No. 30)
10. JM: Ken Waldichuk, LHP, OAK (No. 76)
11. JM: Logan O’Hoppe, C, LAA (No. 53)
12. JC: Oscar Colas, OF, CWS (No. 85)
13. JC: Josh Jung, 3B, TEX (No. 34)
14. JM: Endy Rodriguez, OF, PIT (No. 55)
15. JM: Edouard Julien, 2B, MIN (NR, MIN No. 4)
16. JC: Royce Lewis, SS, MIN (No. 45)
17. JC: Hunter Brown, RHP, HOU (No. 43)
18. JM: Jordan Diaz, 1B, OAK (NR, OAK No. 7)
19. JM: Garrett Mitchell, OF, MIL (NR, MIL No. 4)
20. JC: Kyle Harrison, LHP, SF (No. 18)

Team Callis

C: Francisco Álvarez
1B: Triston Casas
2B: Michael Busch
3B: Josh Jung
SS: Royce Lewis
OF: Corbin Carroll
OF: Sal Frelick
OF: Oscar Colas
RHP: Hunter Brown
LHP: Kyle Harrison

Favorite pick: Royce Lewis at No. 16. I was locked into getting him once Jonathan took Ezequiel Tovar, and I think he’s poised to have a very good year.

Best late-round pick: I already mentioned Lewis, so let’s say Hunter Brown at No. 17. The Astros always have a guy who makes a run at Rookie of the Year, and this year it’ll be Brown.

Player from Mayo's team I wanted: Outfielders are scarce and I hoped Jonathan might not take Jordan Walker with the second or third pick, but I knew he would.

Best player still on the board: Miguel Vargas, 3B/OF/1B, Dodgers. I’m a big believer and almost took him over Josh Jung at third base, but Jung has more opportunity. I should have taken Vargas for one of my outfield spots, though.

Team Mayo

C: Logan O’Hoppe
1B: Jordan Diaz
2B: Edouard Julien
3B: Gunnar Henderson
SS: Ezequiel Tovar
OF: Jordan Walker
OF: Endy Rodriguez
OF: Garrett Mitchell
RHP: Grayson Rodriguez
LHP: Ken Waldichuk

Favorite pick: Gunnar Henderson. I have to go with getting the No. 1 prospect, right? I was happy when Jim took Corbin Carroll first so I could nab the best prospect in the game and put him at third, where I thought there was a huge drop-off after Henderson.

Best late-round pick: Logan O’Hoppe. Full disclosure, I wanted O’Hoppe as my catcher heading into this thing, but I wasn’t sure what I would do if I was forced to choose between him and Francisco Álvarez. I think O’Hoppe will be a better defender and there’s a more sure-fire path to regular playing time, while it’s a little unclear if Álvarez will play enough this year. So when Jim took Álvarez, I knew I could wait and take my guy with my 11th pick.

Player from Callis' team I wanted: Triston Casas. The first baseman prospect pool is shallow to begin with, but add in finding guys who are going to play a lot in the big leagues this year and it’s even tougher.

Best player still on the board: Putting aside Andrew Painter because his elbow leaves his status up in the air, I might echo what Jim said about Vargas, especially since I whiffed putting him in my outfield. The same could be said about Brett Baty, who should get plenty of ABs in New York.

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Jacob Resnick is a contributor to MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @jacob_resnick.