Six Dodger prospects feature highly in preseason rankings
by Christian Romo
Two highly regarded industry publications recently released their top prospect rankings with each featuring a quartet of top Dodger minor leaguers.
Baseball Prospectus featured four Dodger prospects in their Top 101 released on Tuesday:
- C Dalton Rushing (No. 36)
- OF Josue De Paula (No. 48)
- RHP Nick Frasso (No. 67)
- C Thayron Liranzo (No. 70)
Rushing and Frasso both featured on Baseball Prospectus’ Top 101 in 2023, with Rushing moving up 20 spots and Frasso moving up 13 in 2024. This is the first time De Paula or Liranzo have made the list, while right-handed pitcher River Ryan was listed on The Next Ten, Baseball Prospectus’ list of ten prospects that just missed the Top 101.
Baseball America revealed their Top 100 Prospects on Wednesday, also featuring four Dodger prospects:
- Rushing (No. 50)
- RHP Gavin Stone (No. 82)
- OF Andy Pages (No. 96)
- Frasso (No. 97)
Rushing, Pages and Frasso are all new to the Baseball America preseason list, with Stone previously ranked at No .56 in the preseason 2023 list. De Paula and Ryan were listed among the 15 players who just missed the cut in a separate list.
Frasso and Ryan were the two most-used pitchers in a fearsome 2023 Tulsa Drillers pitching staff that featured 2023 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year Kyle Hurt and breakout Dodger rookie Emmet Sheehan.
Frasso pitched to a 3.77 ERA and struck out 10.4 batters per nine innings in 93 innings between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City, while Ryan pitched to a 3.80 ERA with a 9.5 K/9 in 104 1/3 innings over 24 starts between Tulsa and OKC.
Stone, the 2022 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year, made his big league debut on May 3, 2023, and helped lead OKC to its first Pacific Coast League title since 1996.
Baseball Prospectus previously listed Rushing as the Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect heading into 2024, writing he is “as polished a bat as you can find behind the plate in the minors.” The catcher slashed .228/.404/.452/.856 over 381 plate appearances at High-A Great Lakes in 2023.
Liranzo continues the succession of high-ranking Dodger catching prospects after he slugged .562 with a team-high 24 home runs in 418 plate appearances at Low-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2023.
Pages missed most of the 2023 season due to injury but led all Dodger Minor Leaguers with 57 home runs between 2021–22. De Paula played his first season in affiliated ball in 2023, hitting .284 over 340 plate appearances and stealing 14 bases for Rancho Cucamonga.
