Keith Law of The Athletic highlighted a group of LA prospects who show high levels of potential.
The Dodgers have made their presence known in many prospect lists this preseason. Most recently, a total of eight Los Angeles prospects made their way to The Athletic’s top 100 list.
Keith Law highlighted the list of players, with catcher Diego Cartaya leading the LA pack at number 6.
The Dodgers added Cartaya to their 40-man roster in November after his successful showing in the minors. The 21-year-old hit .254/.389/.503 with 22 home runs and a 139 wRC+ between Low-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes.
Law complimented Cartaya’s early growth:
“Cartaya hammers fastballs and offspeed, posting high exit velocities and often out-muscling pitchers with his pure strength, while already showing a good feel for the strike zone even before he turned 21 in September. He’s already better on defense than he was a year ago, but he can catch the ball too close to his body, limiting him probably to fringe-average receiving at his peak, and has had some trouble throwing out runners despite plus arm strength. None of that will matter if he continues to hit for power and get on base like he has so far, and there’s every reason in tools and performance to date to say that he will.”
Below is the full list of Dodgers on Law’s list and how they ranked. Eight prospects is the most amount of any team, which speaks volumes to the incredible pool of talent.
6. Diego Cartaya
23. Miguel Vargas
28. Bobby Miller
39. Gavin Stone
62. Dalton Rushing
67. Andy Pages
74. Michael Busch
89. James Outman
Law is actually the first of insiders to recognize Outman on his list, as the outfielder is listed towards the bottom. Though the outfielder has room for improvement, he does have the potential to make his way to the roster with the powerful tools he possesses.
“Outman has made some real swing changes since the Dodgers took him off an unremarkable couple of years at Sacramento State, and he’s performed better and better even as they’ve moved him up aggressively due to his age. He’s one of the best athletes in their entire system who might have four pluses on the scouting report, definitely a plus run, plus arm, plus power guy who might be a plus defender in center as well. There’s too much swing and miss in the zone here to say he’ll be more than an average hitter, but with his other tools, that makes him a potential star, especially if he can do more against lefties than just hit for power.”
With Outman and the rest of the guys on this list still very young, they have the ability to develop— especially within a winning system like the Dodgers. After all, being classified within a Top 100 prospects list is already a promising sign. It’s only up from here for these young players.
