Best of Spring Breakout: Catchers, pitchers, infielders, outfielders

March 15th, 2024

Spring Breakout is here, and if you can’t tell, we’re just a little excited.

It all started on Thursday, when No. 7 Reds prospect Cam Collier hit the first homer in a 4-1 victory over the Rangers' prospects, and the showdown of the night saw MLB Pipeline's No. 3 overall prospect Paul Skenes fan No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday. We've got three more days to go, with five games on Friday, seven on Saturday and two more to finish things off on Sunday.

We’ve dug deep into looking at the rosters, from top individual prospects to top overall rosters, from best team matchups to examining an under-the-radar prospect for each team, from the prospects with the best tools to … well, you get the idea.

As we prepared to watch all the action, we wanted to break down these talent-laden teams one more way: by position.

Below are the top three teams in four positional groupings: catching, infield, outfield and pitching. Rankings were determined based on who is on the Spring Breakout roster, and it’s noted in a couple of places where players will not be available.

Catcher

1. Dodgers (Dalton Rushing, Thayron Liranzo, Yeiner Fernandez, Jesus Galiz) -- Rushing is the Dodgers’ top prospect and No. 6 on the Top 10 catching prospects list. Liranzo is No. 10 on the Dodgers list, and they’re the only organization with two top 10 backstops on the Spring Breakout roster. Add in Fernandez and that gives three Top 30 guys to choose from behind the dish.

2. Padres (Ethan Salas, Brandon Valenzuela, J.D. Gonzalez) -- Three top 30 guys, and any group with Salas in it almost has to be included.

3. Royals (Blake Mitchell, Carter Jensen, Ramon Ramirez) -- All three are in the Royals top 15, topped by Mitchell, their first-rounder in 2023.

Infield

1. Rays (Junior Caminero, Xavier Isaac, Carson Williams, Brayden Taylor, Adrian Santana, Tre’ Morgan, Willy Vasquez, Cooper Kinney) -- The late addition of Caminero puts this very strong infield group in the top spot, just ahead of the Mariners. That’s three Top 100 guys, led by Caminero, the No. 4 overall prospect in baseball. Don’t be surprised if Taylor, the club’s first-round pick last year, joins that list soon, and Santana and Morgan are two more very intriguing 2023 draftees.

2. Mariners (Cole Young, Colt Emerson, Felnin Celesten, Tai Peete, Tyler Locklear, Michael Arroyo, Ryan Bliss, Ben Williamson, Luis Suisbel, Hogan Windish) -- The Mariners are sending their last two first-round picks (actually their last three, with Harry Ford behind the plate) and this group sports six members of the organization’s top 10 and eight in the top 16. Young and Emerson are both firmly in the Top 100 and some of us already think Emerson is under-ranked.

3. Orioles (Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, Connor Norby, Leandro Arias, Frederick Bencosme, Luis Valdez, Carter Young) -- There’s a drop-off after the start, but it’s kind of like the Salas argument above: any group with Holliday in it has to make the list.

Outfield

1. Nationals (Dylan Crews, James Wood, Elijah Green, Cristhian Vaquero, Andrew Pinckney, TJ White, Brenner Cox, Elijah Nunez) -- It’s hard not to like a group when you start with two outfielders who are in the top 15 of the Top 100 (Crews and Wood). Green’s a former top five pick with ridiculous raw tools. Even with Robert Hassell III and Daylen Lile unable to play because of injury, this is a very, very strong collection.

2. Twins (Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Kala’i Rosario, Jose Rodriguez) -- It’s a solid group even with Jenkins unable to play, with two other Top 100 guys in Rodriguez and Gonzalez and Rosario, the AFL home run derby champion.

3. Cubs (Pete Crow-Armstrong, Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcántara, Brennen Davis, Christian Franklin) -- You have to love that PCA asked to play in the game once he got sent down to create an incredible trio here.

Pitcher

1. Pirates (Paul Skenes, Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, Hunter Barco, Patrick Reilly, Khristian Curtis, JC Flowers, David Matoma, Tyler Samaniego) -- No surprise here with the Pirates having the most impressive collection of pitching prospects in baseball, especially at the top. Even without Jared Jones on this roster, there are four Top 100 guys here, led of course by Skenes, last year’s No. 1 overall pick and our No. 3 overall prospect. The top five names are all at the upper levels, too.

2. Cardinals (Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, Gordon Graceffo, Sem Robberse, Max Rajcic, Michael McGreevy, Adam Kloffenstein, Zack Showalter, Ian Bedell, Brycen Mautz, Quinn Mathews, Edwin Nunez, Pete Hansen, Andre Granillo) -- It’s a big group because the Cardinals are playing two games, but the organization gets points because all of the pitchers on the two rosters are Top 30 guys.

3. Padres (Robby Snelling, Dylan Lesko, Adam Mazur, Ryan Bergert, Austin Krob, Braden Nett, Cole Paplham, Carson Montgomery, Jayvien Sandridge, Bradgley Rodriguez) -- Even with Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte on their way to the White Sox in the Dylan Cease deal, this is a pretty stacked group, topped by the No. 3 lefty prospect in Snelling.