Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
With the season just around the corner, who are the top 10 outfield prospects in MLB?
An Introduction
These lists will be coordinated by Benjamin Chase, one of our MLB contributors at Call to the Pen.
Ben reviewed each MLB organization's top 10 prospects in November and December, then also reviewed the top 125 prospects in the game in January. Throughout spring training, he's also been contributing scouting reports on players that are part of his top 25 prospects in the game.
Each slide will feature two players with a brief write up, then one final slide with a prospect who is not in the top 10, but very possibly could find his way into the top five with an impressive 2017 campaign due the player's high upside.
These rankings are based on dozens of conversations with multiple people around the game about different MLB prospects, and certainly each list could be much longer, but for brevity, we'll stick to 10!
Let's get started with today's position group, the men who cover the outfield. Due to the difficulty of separating out positions in the outfield and where guys will be going forward, I'm going to group all outfielders together.
10. Tyler O'Neill, Seattle Mariners
There may not be a more impressive physical specimen in the minor leagues than O'Neill, in spite of standing just 5'11".
O'Neill was drafted by the Mariners in the 3rd round in 2013 out of high school in Canada. Immediately in his draft year, he made a big impression, with a .310/.405/.450 slash line in 28 games.
The next season, O'Neill fought through injuries and missed roughly half the season, but he showed off big power when he was able to hit for low-A Clinton, clubbing 13 home runs in just 57 games at the level.
O'Neill moved up to high-A Bakersfield in the Cal League in 2015 at age 20, and he showed off his prodigious power with 32 home runs and also flashed his athleticism with 16 stolen bases.
O'Neill went to the Arizona Fall League in 2015, and there he established himself as one of the best young hitters in the game. In just 8 games before an injury ended his time in the AFL, O'Neill hit .333/.355/.733 with three home runs.
O'Neill came in to spring with a focus on plate discipline and a focus on more complete hitting. The results showed, as he hit .293/.374/.508 with 26 doubles, 24 home runs, and 12 stolen bases. He also returned to the AFL for a full AFL season, and he showed well again, hitting .292/.395/.486 with three home runs.
O'Neill has your typical right field type of profile with a big arm and a big power bat. He's not an elite defender, but he can handle a corner well.
O'Neill will likely open the season at AAA for the Mariners, but he's going to make a push for the big leagues very soon.
9. Clint Frazier, New York Yankees
Frazier was the first high school hitter taken in the 2013 draft at #5 overall, and many considered him a legit option at #1 overall in that season's talent pool.
Frazier has displayed exceptional tools across the board in his pro career with plus power, fringe-plus speed, a plus arm, and solid ability in the field and with contact.
He was the centerpiece of the Andrew Miller trade that sent him from the Indians to the Yankees, and while the Indians wouldn't swap the World Series appearance for anything, most likely, they will miss Frazier's bat going forward.
Frazier is not a guy who will likely hit .300 with a swing that isn't necessarily long, but does have some load on the back side. Once entering the zone, there are few with a faster bat in the entire game, leading to raw power that's been easily rated plus-plus.
Frazier has shown excellent ability to control the strike zone, though his strikeout rate did spike in his AAA time for both the Indians and Yankees. He is a guy who will likely be a .350+ OBP guy with big power as a big leaguer.
Frazier is athletic enough to play center field, but his arm and instincts play best in right field. He will likely spend the entire 2017 season in AAA, short of a September call-up, but he should be in line to be starting in the Bronx in 2018.
8. Bradley Zimmer, Cleveland Indians
Zimmer is a true five-tool talent, with all five tools rated as a 50 or better, with plus speed and plus defense his two best attributes.
While in the shadow of fellow Indians prospect Frazier for much of his career, Zimmer took a step forward in 2016 that moved him past Frazier in the eyes of many.
Zimmer's elite defense and balanced profile will likely produce a statistical profile reminiscent of Mike Cameron with similar defensive skills and power/speed combination and also similar strikeout risk.
Zimmer does have very good bat speed that generates his power, but he also has a long swing that leads to plenty of strikeouts. He does have a very good walk rate as well.
Zimmer's biggest attribute, however, is not one of the typical five tools on the scouting sheet. Zimmer comes from an athletic family, with his father playing college baseball and his mother running track. His brother, Kyle Zimmer, is a pitching prospect in the Kansas City Royals organization.
That athletic background has led to incredible natural instincts for the game from Zimmer, as he's displayed with a very high steal rate, in spite of speed that would likely rate as fringe-plus. He also has elite defensive play without that elite speed, but he utilizes tremendous instincts in the field and excellent routes on balls to play up his natural skills even further.
Zimmer could be roaming center field in Cleveland as soon as 2017, though his fellow prospect, Greg Allen, is really more of a pure center fielder, and Zimmer's arm would allow him to play a corner better than Allen's. With both on the cusp of the majors, it's feasible that Zimmer ends up in a corner as Allen slots in next to him.
Zimmer could push for the center field job early in 2017, but he'll likely open the season in AAA.
7. Lewis Brinson, Milwaukee Brewers
Drafted out of high school in Florida by the Texas Rangers in 2012, Brinson was always viewed as a raw athlete that would need development as a baseball player.
He showed this in his first two seasons as he showed plenty of power and speed, hitting 28 combined home runs and stealing 38 bases over 176 games his first two seasons. However, he also struck out over 1/3 of his at bats, at 34.51 percent.
Brinson has drastically reduced his strikeout rate at every step ever since, to just a hair over 20 percent in 2016.
Brinson has struggled some with injuries in his minor league career due to his aggressive approach in the field. However, that aggressive approach allows him to cover incredible ground and truly be a plus-plus defender in center field.
Brinson was moved from Texas to Milwaukee in mid-season 2016 as part of the deal that sent Jonathan Lucroy to Texas, and he excelled with Milwaukee's AAA team after the deal, posting a 1.005 OPS in 23 games.
Brinson will likely open 2017 in AAA as well, but he is still 22 until early May, so he is certainly on track to be "age appropriate" in his time to arrive in the major leagues in spite of his extra development time to work on his contact issues.
6. Manuel Margot, San Diego Padres
Margot was originally signed by the Boston Red Sox as part of their 2011 international free agent class. He stole 33 bases in his first year in the Dominican Summer League in 2012, flashing his big time speed and defense.
From that point forward, Margot has had the eye of evaluators, expecting him to fill in some to his 5'11" frame and provide both power and speed along with his elite defense.
In 2014, in his first full season in the minors at 19 years old, Margot hit .293/.356/.462 between low-A and high-A with 12 home runs and 42 stolen bases.
Boston continued to push Margot, and he really showed no adverse affects as he pushed forward each season.
Before the 2016, Margot was part of the group of prospects that the Padres acquired for closer Craig Kimbrel along with Logan Allen, Javier Guerra, and Carlos Asuaje.
Margot has elite speed and defensive ability along with plus contact ability that allows him to keep his batting average high and his strikeout rate low. His aggressive contact approach has led to a fairly low walk rate.
Margot will open the season as the Padres center fielder, and barring a major issue with his performance, he should be in that role for many years to come.
5. Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros
Tucker was selected 5th overall in the 2015 draft by the Astros as part of a "money deal" to allow the Astros to use their large bonus pool from having the #2, #5, and #40 picks to secure three talents that they believed to be top 10-15 talents in the draft.
So far, the strategy has worked in 2/3 of the selections. #2 selection Alex Bregman had an incredible 2016 and has entrenched himself in the Astros starting lineup for years to come already. Tucker has established himself as a legit top-50 and even top-25 prospect in the entire game. The last of those three selections, outfielder Daz Cameron, has struggled out of the gate some, but there is still plenty of time for him to gain his footing as well.
Tucker had family connections in the Astros organization with brother Preston Tucker in the major leagues as a backup outfielder. Preston is a different type and build of player than Kyle.
Kyle has an athletic, 6'4″ frame that is currently quite lean, though he has added strength since being drafted. He's flashed his impressive athleticism on the base paths, stealing 50 bases in his minor league career thus far in spite of what I would deem average to below-average instincts as a base stealer.
Tucker has the instincts and tools to play any outfield position, with his excellent instincts allowing him to handle center field very well at this time. Tucker has a premium arm that should allow him to handle either corner.
Tucker will likely open with Houston's high-A affiliate in 2017, but it'd certainly not surprise if he moved quickly to AA, and looking at spring video, he's certainly continued to add positive strength to his frame that should allow for impressive numbers to continue.
4. Austin Meadows, Pittsburgh Pirates
If Meadows could just stay on the field, he very well could be the #1 overall guy on this list. Injuries have clipped multiple seasons for Meadows since he and Clint Frazier were the hot debate among draftniks before the 2013 draft.
Meadows has a tremendous left-handed swing that oozes athleticism. He very well could end up being the best power hitter among the ultra-talented Pittsburgh outfielders, and multiple people have compared his offensive upside to that of current Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen.
Thus far, Meadows has shown more gap power than home run power, topping out at the 12 home runs he hit in 87 games in 2016, but he's slugged .480 for his minor league career, so the power has certainly been there, and he's stolen 17+ bases each of the last three seasons, even with injury.
Meadows showed very well in AA last year, and he was injured roughly the same time he got to AAA, so he didn't really get a shot to put his best foot forward there.
His name has been off-limits in offseason trade talks the Pirates have had, and many rumors have been that the team has been looking at moving McCutchen in order to create space for Meadows to come up to the team.
Meadows will likely move to AAA, and even if McCutchen finishes out his contract in Pittsburgh, he could be gone after 2017, though the team does have a very affordable 2018 option on McCutchen, so Meadows will be in the Pittsburgh outfield quite soon.
3. Victor Robles, Washington Nationals
As the Nationals discussed multiple trades this offseason to solve their outfield and/or closer issues, putting previously untouchable pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez on the market.
However, there was one guy the team wasn't willing to put into any trade, per reports, and that was Robles.
Robles was a 2013 international signing for the Nationals, and he got his start in the 2014 season in the Dominican Summer League, but it was his performance in 2015 that really put him on the prospect map.
Between the Nationals GCL team and their New York-Penn affiliate, Robles hit .352/.445/.507 with 20 extra base hits and 24 stolen bases in just 61 games as an 18-year-old.
This past season, Robles opened in low-A and played well, earning a promotion to high-A. He did deal with an injury midseason that took him a couple weeks to get him back into the swing of things.
Overall on the 2016 season, Robles put up a .280/.376/.423 line with eight triples, nine home runs, and 37 stolen bases.
Robles has excellent speed and defense in center field along with good gap power. He'll likely not be a guy to hit 20-25 home runs as he's fairly physically maxed out at 6'0″ and roughly 190-195 pounds currently.
Robles could open in AA in 2017, and he'll not even turn 20 until mid-May.
2. Eloy Jimenez, Chicago Cubs
When many teams went over the international free agent allotment in the previous CBA, they would "go big" by signing dozens of players that season, signing off half of a Baseball America top 30 IFA list.
The Cubs went a different route in 2013 when they simply nailed down the top two prospects in the entire class and then grabbed a few filler pieces, letting those top two guys be the reason for going over.
So far, that decision has shown to be the right one as one of those players was shortstop Gleyber Torres, who the Cubs traded this past season to the Yankees and has developed into a consensus top-10 prospect.
The other is Jimenez, who has come up with a bit of a slower path thus far, but he exploded with his production in 2016 in the Midwest League, hitting .329/.369/.532.
Jimenez looks the part of an impressive power hitter, and his home run in the Futures Game in San Diego last summer was one of the more impressive home runs of the entire year.
Jimenez has the prototypical right field profile, with a mammoth 6'4″ frame that is listed at 205 pounds, but could even be another 20 pounds at this point. He has the big arm and big power you'd want in a right fielder as well.
Jimenez also offers a fairly controlled bat through the zone, however, allowing him to have solid contact ability that projects to a guy that could hit .265-.280 with big power.
He showed well at the Arizona Fall League after just playing low-A ball in 2016, so it's possible the Cubs could skip Jimenez a level, but with their outfield in place a few more years, there's no reason to rush him, so he'll likely open in high-A this season.
1. Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox
This slide is particularly fun because of the absolute contrast. If Jimenez and Benintendi both walked off of a team bus together and you were asked to identify which was the consensus #1 prospect in the game was without knowing either player, it's pretty easy to figure who the uninformed person would choose!
Benintendi was really not well-known in high school either, being drafted by his home town Cincinnati Reds in the 31st round out of high school before he chose instead to go to Arkansas.
After being the most impressive hitter in what is typically one of the elite college baseball conferences, Benintendi was selected #7 overall in the 2015 draft by the Boston Red Sox.
Benintendi stands just 5'10" and 170 pounds listed. The height listing could even be generous at that number, but when you view Benintendi's frame, you see the natural strength he has, particularly in his forearms and wrists, that allows him to generate plenty of power off the bat.
While Benintendi likely doesn't profile as a guy who will hit 30 home runs or steal 30 bases, he's the type of guy who should be fairly consistent for quite some time, hitting for a good average and providing 20ish home runs along with some speed and excellent base running.
Benintendi also joins with fellow Boston outfielders Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Mookie Betts to form one of the best defensive outfields in the game as all three could play center field for many other teams. Benintendi has the unenviable task of navigating the Green Monster, but he has already shown his well-known work ethic in spending extra time reading the ball off the Green Monster to get used to his position.
Benintendi got injured during his time in Boston, which is the only reason he's even still rookie-eligible and prospect-eligible at this point, something that should be taken care of within the first week or two of the season. He should be a predominant favorite for the American League Rookie of the Year for 2017.
Ronald Acuna, Atlanta Braves
The Braves have scouted strong in Venezuela and neighboring Curacao for many years, and after signing Andruw Jones from Curacao, it's no surprise that many players from that nation have an affinity for the Braves.
This year in the international market, one of the better prospects in recent international memory signed with the Braves out of Venezuela in Kevin Maitan, and he had been rumored to be a Braves target for multiple years.
Acuna was not one of those guys who was seen as a high-impact guy immediately upon signing. The Braves signed him from Venezuela in the 2014-2015 international free agent signing period for just $100,000, a fairly minor signing bonus in the Latin market.
Acuna has shown ever since that he was well worth that investment and more. In two seasons and just 97 games played, Acuna has hit .287/.385/.434 with eight home runs and 30 stolen bases.
Acuna was on his way to a season that would have rocketed him to the absolute elite before an injury cost him the majority of 2016. He played in the Australian League this winter, hitting .375/.446/.556 in that league before coming over and absolutely impressing everyone this spring in spring training, currently hitting .296/.387/.444.
More from Call to the Pen
Acuna has incredible bat speed, which allows him to put on impressive shows in batting practice currently. He also possesses a plus arm and speed to burn currently, though that projects to come down to roughly above-average to fringe-plus as he fills into his frame.
Acuna shows very good instincts in center field and if it weren't for the presence of uber-elite center fielders in the farm system like Ray-Patrick Didder and Cristian Pache, Acuna'd be easy to project as a center fielder long-term.
His arm should allow for a smooth transition to either corner, however, and as he fills into his frame, it's very likely that he develops into a middle-of-the-order bat that has a bat path likely to be more of a .270ish hitter but with legit 25+ home run upside and the ability to handle center or be fairly elite defensively on a corner.
He's already been showing up on many top-100 lists this winter in spite of the lack of playing time (top-50 on my top 125 this past January), but he could be a legit top 10 sort of player at this time next season with the balance of elite talent he has at a young age.
Acuna was set to open in high-A, but with the big showing he put on in major league spring training this year, he could be on the fast track to AA.
Agree? Disagree? Make your voice heard with a comment down below!
Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia among 14 newcomers on baseball Hall of Fame ballot
Juan Soto next team odds: Yankees, Mets favored to land star outfielder
2025 MLB free-agent rankings, team fits: Where does Roki Sasaki slot in?
Juan Soto sweepstakes: Is he the Yankees' to lose? Analyzing 9 potential suitors
-
Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia among 14 newcomers on baseball Hall of Fame ballot
Juan Soto next team odds: Yankees, Mets favored to land star outfielder
2025 MLB free-agent rankings, team fits: Where does Roki Sasaki slot in?
-
Juan Soto sweepstakes: Is he the Yankees' to lose? Analyzing 9 potential suitors
