Five Diamondbacks Make Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects List
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Baseball America released their Top 100 Prospects list for the 2023 season and five players in the Diamondbacks organization made the list, with all five ranking within the top 30, more than any team. See links to individual story pages for each player.
- No. 2: OF Corbin Carroll
- No. 12: C Gabriel Moreno
- No. 13: SS Jordan Lawlar
- No. 24: OF Druw Jones
- No. 27: RHP Brandon Pfaadt
Inside the Diamondbacks Top 30 Prospects List
Carroll, Moreno, and Pfaadt all figure to play a significant role in the 2023 season. Carroll is slated to be one of the team's everyday outfielders, Moreno will have an opportunity to work his way into becoming the D-backs' everyday catcher, and Pfaadt, who's had a meteoric rise in these rankings, could develop into a key rotation arm. Moreno is no longer rookie eligible, having spent 61 days on Toronto's roster last season, but has the full six years of control remaining.
The significance of a prospect landing on a Baseball America Top 100 List is huge in the prospect promotion incentive. Arizona has two players on this current list who could be in the thick of the 2023 National League Rookie of the Year race in Carroll and Pfaadt. Both players also finished the 2022 season in MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list, sitting at the No. 3 and No. 90 spots. It's likely they will both land on the Top 100 list when Pipeline makes an update in 2023, making them eligible for this incentive. Should Carroll or Pfaadt make the Opening Day Roster and win Rookie of the Year, the D-backs stand to gain a draft pick right after the first round as Seattle did for Julio Rodriguez winning the award last season.
Not too far behind is Jordan Lawlar, who was having a solid campaign in the Arizona Fall League before suffering a fractured scapula and missing the last two weeks. He was still able to get 500 plate appearances between the Minor League season and the fall league, allowing him to stay on track for the big leagues. Depending on the team's situation at the shortstop position, Lawlar may come up sooner rather than later, as the team will be relying on a 33-year-old veteran in Nick Ahmed or a 23-year-old Geraldo Perdomo for the vast majority of the 2023 season. Should Lawlar have a good season between Double-A and Triple-A, he could be sniffing the big leagues on a more aggressive timeline than even Carroll did in 2022.
Jones is even further behind, with zero reps since getting drafted second overall by the D-backs in the past draft. He offers the highest potential ceiling of all the prospects in the system, but the lack of pro reps and requiring surgery to repair an injured shoulder negatively impacts his prospect ranking just a bit. He'll have a chance to show he can handle Low-A pitching, with the opportunity in High-A waiting if Jones is easily able to make the adjustment. Jones could be on a timeline for potentially seeing big league action as early as the 2025 season, but won't likely be a regular until 2026.
The D-backs will need to hit on their top prospects in order to successfully build a sustainable contender. The pressure on these players to reach their ceiling is immense because the benefits it provides the organization in terms of wins and ability to collect more talent.
