Three Red Sox prospects make the top 30 on FanGraphs top prospects list

The lockout continues to roll on, and while the two sides are at least meeting every day this week, and so far for substantial amounts of time in each meeting, they are still quite far apart. For now, it’s still not at all clear when the season will start, and the idea of things beginning on time is just becoming more and more unrealistic.

The good news? We still have prospect stuff to talk about. Over at FanGraphs, it is prospect week, and the main attraction with anything like that is always going to be the top 100 list. FanGraphs published theirs Wednesday afternoon, though “top 100” is a bit of a misnomer. They actually ranked every prospect they see as having at least a 50 Future Value on the 20-80 scale, giving them a list of 114 prospects. Boston has three names on that list, which at first glance is disappointing, but all three prospects are in the 55 Future Value tier (a tier which ranges from 16 through 32). As always, we encourage you to click the link above to read the scouting reports alongside each player, of which we will make light note but not delve too deeply.

The list starts with Triston Casas making a return to the top of the Red Sox list. (FanGraphs hasn’t actually published their Red Sox organizational list quite yet, but he is the top among Sox prospects on this national list.) Casas has been number two on a whole lot of the national lists this winter, somewhat surprisingly, and has even made an appearance in the third spot. But here, the FanGraphs crew is clearly a big fan, putting him at the top of the FV 55 tier at number 16. He’s sandwiched between San Diego Padres infielder C.J. Abrams and St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Jordan Walker. They, correctly in my view, point out that it is Casas’s plate discipline that really makes him potentially a special hitter.

Not too far behind Casas is Marcelo Mayer, who is the highest ranked prospect from last summer’s draft class and comes in at number 19 overall. He’s sandwiched between San Francisco Giants shortstop Marco Luciano and Philadelphia Phillies right-handed pitcher Mick Abel. They rate Mayer’s hit tool as his best offensive tool and peg him as a potential future All-Star.

The final prospect to make this list was, of course, Nick Yorke, who made the biggest move among Red Sox prospects last summer. The surprise 2020 first round pick made good on that selection and now is ranked here as the number 29 prospect in the game. The second baseman is ranked Seattle Mariners right-handed pitcher George Kirby and Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña. FanGraphs notes that his defense is still a question and he could be a 40 grade infielder (i.e. below-average), but that his bat is good enough to make up for that.

That there are only three among the top 114 prospects on this list is a bit disheartening, as on average there would be four for most teams in the league, and we have seen a fourth prospect on some of these lists whether it be Jarren Duran or Brayan Bello. That said, few teams are as well-represented in the top portion of the list, and I would guess that when the Red Sox list does come out both of those players will be 45 FV, right on the cusp of this list.