Red Sox land three on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list

While we wait for more action on the major-league side of things this offseason, prospect season rolls along. At this point we’ve gotten most every individual team list for the Red Sox from the major outlets, which means we can turn our attention to where the organization as a whole, as well as individual players, fit in the context of the whole league. Baseball America started that process on Monday with the release of their top 100 prospects list, the most prestigious of all prospect lists out there. For the second consecutive year, the Red Sox have three players on the list, the same three players in fact.

Triston Casas headed up the list for BA’s top Red Sox prospects, so it’s not a huge surprise that he comes in as the top Red Sox prospect on this list as well. After landing at number 77 in the midseason update last summer, Casas used his performance at the Alternate Site and Instructs to launch himself up to number 47 on this year’s list. The first baseman lands between Cardinals pitcher Matthew Liberatore and Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez.

In the aforementioned midseason update, Downs was actually the number three prospect on the Red Sox list. He came in at number two in the organization on the top 10 list, and he is second in the organization here as well. The second base prospect lands at number 71 on this year’s list, one spot behind Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk and one spot ahead of Cubs outfielder Brennan Davis.

And finally, the surprise on the list is Bobby Dalbec. Dalbec, of course, made his major-league debut last summer but did not play enough to lose his prospect eligibility. While Dalbec did show off his power against major-league pitching in 2020, the swing and miss is likely going to keep him off most, if not all, other top 100 lists. BA has long seemed to be higher on his potential than most, though, and he makes this list for a second straight iteration. The slugger comes in at number 90 here, one spot behind Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers and one spot ahead of Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell.

It’s also worth mentioning that there is some very real talent coming up in the division. The top two prospects in all of baseball according to this list are Wander Franco, a shortstop in the Rays organization, and Adley Rutschman, a catcher in the Orioles system.