Each year, players from the previous year's draft class begin to cement themselves as legitimate prospects who were perhaps undersold heading into the draft.
Last season, players like Tanner Bibee, Bryce Miller, Ricky Tiedemann, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Justyn-Henry Malloy emerged early and just kept getting better. Bibee, Miller and Tiedemann finished the year as Top 100 Prospects.
These improvements in skills are often the product of professional instruction and coaching, strength gains or a combination of the two. This year, we focused on players drafted after the first round in 2022 who stood out early in the season to prime themselves as full-fledged breakout candidates.
ROBBY SNELLING, LHP, PADRES
Low-A Lake Elsinore
Snelling earned rave reviews this spring in the California League. The Padres' supplemental first-rounder out of a Reno high school dominated through nine appearances. The 19-year-old Snelling struck out nearly 30% of batters while limiting them to a .201 average and allowing a 1.01 WHIP. In 41.2 innings he had allowed just six earned runs.
Snelling's pitch mix consists of a four-seam fastball that sits 92-94 mph and touches 95, with 18 inches of induced vertical break. He pairs his fastball with a slurvy low-80s breaking ball and a mid-80s changeup he shows the ability to kill ride on. He has a projectable pitch mix with at least above-average stuff overall. Look for Snelling to rise up prospect rankings in the coming months.
TYLER LOCKLEAR, 1B, MARINERS
High-A Everett
This story is from the June - July 2023 edition of Baseball America.
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This story is from the June - July 2023 edition of Baseball America.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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