Baseball America released their mid-season update on Friday and they added one prospect from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the list.
BA has been updating their top 100 throughout the season, mostly just adding a player at the bottom of the list when one other player loses his prospect status. There were a few minor adjustments, but nothing big until today. This list doesn’t include 2018 draft picks yet.
Mitch Keller leads the way in the 14th spot, which was down three spots from their last update. That’s interesting, even if they put the list together before his promotion, because he’s been at his best recently.
Austin Meadows, who won’t be considered a prospect shortly after this weekend (needs 13 at-bats), ranks 31st. That’s down one spot, although it’s up from his early season rankings.
Calvin Mitchell made the top 100 about a month ago and moved up a few spots when other players graduated from the list, but he dropped down to 99 in this update.
That means the 100th spot went to the new player and it’s Oneil Cruz. This isn’t a surprising addition because he’s been on fire lately. He’s hitting .306/.365/.526 on the season, with 15 doubles, seven triples and ten home runs. I don’t think the defensive issues have held his prospect status back, mostly because he seems destined for a corner position and most people take that future move into account.