Baseball America began their rankings of the top 20 prospects in each league on Monday. First up was the International League, where they placed three Pittsburgh Pirates/Indianapolis Indians on the list.
BA ranked Mitch Keller sixth overall in the league, second for pitchers and first for right-handed pitchers. He posted a 3.56 ERA in 19 starts, with a 1.24 WHIP and 123 strikeouts in 104 innings. When Keller was promoted to the Pirates in early August, he ranked first in the league in strikeouts, second in WHIP and ERA.
Ke’Bryan Hayes ranks eighth on today’s list. He didn’t have a great season on offense (the defense was phenomenal), but he finished with 42 extra-base hits and he went 12-for-13 in stolen bases, while playing as one of the youngest players in the league. Hayes also finished strong, with his best stats coming in August.
BA has Cole Tucker as the 18th best prospect in the league, and second among shortstops to Toronto’s Bo Bichette. Tucker was a lot like Hayes, showing outstanding defense, skills on the bases and the offense lagged a bit behind. Tucker had a .261/.346/.413 slash line in 77 games. He spent seven weeks with the Pirates early in the year, then lost his prospect status earlier this month when he record his 131st at-bat in the majors. A few of the other players on this list from BA today have also lost their prospect status this season, including Bichette.
