Cartaya highlighted in The Athletic top 100 prospects

Jan 30, 2023 - 3:55 PM

Keith Law at The Athletic on Monday shared his top 100 prospects in MLB entering the 2023 season. Eight Dodgers are ranked in his top 100 — more than any other team — led by catcher Diego Cartaya at No. 6 overall, his highest ranking to date on national prospect lists this year.

Cartaya was rated the 14th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline, who unveiled their list on Friday. The Venezuelan catcher was ranked No. 18 by Baseball America and 19th by Baseball Prospectus.

Law also had the highest national prospect ranking for Cartaya entering the 2022 season, rating him No. 13.

Cartaya hit .254/.389/.503 with 22 home runs and a 139 wRC+ between Low-A Rancho Cucamonga and High-A Great Lakes including a 138 wRC+ and 13 home runs in 62 games after getting promoted to the Loons. The Dodgers added the 21-year-old Cartaya to the 40-man roster in November.

“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,” Law wrote. “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.”

Cartaya isn’t the only catcher in Law’s top 100 prospects. Dalton Rushing, the Dodgers’ second-round draft pick last year out of Louisville, mashed his way to a No. 62 ranking. Rushing was also rated 56th overall by Baseball Prospectus this year, and just missed making Baseball America’s top 100.

James Outman rated the 89th-best prospect by Law is the first national top-100 list the outfielder has made to date.

“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,” Law wrote. “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.”

Five Dodgers prospects have shown up on every national top-100 list to date. That includes Miguel Vargas ranked 23rd by Law, pitcher Bobby Miller at No. 28, pitcher Gavin Stone 39th (his highest ranking to date), and Michael Busch ranked 74th. Cartaya, Vargas, Miller, and Busch were in Law’s top 100 prior to 2022 as well.

Also returning to Law’s list is outfielder Andy Pages, who hit .236/.398/.506 with 26 home runs and a 102 wRC+ in Double-A Tulsa and had a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League. Law ranked Pages 67th this year, up nine slots from last year. Pages was also ranked 81st by MLB Pipeline and 90th by Baseball Prospectus. Like Cartaya, Pages was added to the 40-man roster in November.