Red Sox place three in top 50 on Baseball America’s top 100

This is the time of year in which top prospect lists are released, but there is no list bigger than Baseball America’s. It is the most prestigious prospect ranking home on the internet, and has ruled this kingdom for years. On Friday, they released this year’s top 100, and the normal trio of Red Sox prospects made the list. You can find the list here, and if you’re a subscriber you can see the full scouting reports here.

Andrew Benintendi was unsurprisingly the first Boston player listed, and he took the number one overall spot yet again. This makes thrice for Benintendi in that spot, also taking the prize on Keith Law’s list as well as MLB.com’s. There’s not much more to say about Benintendi as a player, but there were some interesting quotes from evaluators included in his report. One called the young outfielder a “once-in-a-decade hitter.” Another said he had the potential to hit 20-25 home runs with 50 doubles on top of that at his peak. For its part, BA gave him a 70 hit tool, which grades out as elite.

Following Benintendi for the Red Sox was Rafael Devers, who came in at number 18. This is actually Devers’ lowest ranking thus far, after coming in at 11 for Law and 17 for the MLB crew. It is still a great ranking, of course. The highlight of his blurb from BA was his defensive grades. They gave Devers a 55 glove and a 60 arm, meaning both rate average or above. This is a huge development, as sticking at third is looking like less and less of a problem every day.

Finally, there is Jason Groome at number 43. Like Devers, this is his lowest spot. It’s two slots below where MLB Pipeline ranked him and a whopping 23 spots below Law’s ranking. The latter seemed aggressive at the time, and is even moreso now. That’s strictly because of professional experience, though. Groome is obviously talented, and the BA crew certainly agrees. His writeup raves about his delivery and polish, even comparing him to Jon Lester and Andy Pettitte. I think all of us would take that kind of pitcher in Boston’s rotation in a few years.

As for the former Red Sox, there were plenty of those as well. Yoan Moncada came in at number two. Anderson Espinoza and Manuel Margot came in at 21 and 24 respectively. Finally, Michael Kopech was number 32.