Being a prospect in Major League Baseball requires a degree of patience that few people in the world can match. These are players who, for the most part, have been signed or drafted to multi-million dollar contracts when they are between the ages of 18 and 21.
One common term you will hear, especially during the spring when some stats can get inflated by small sample sizes and inconsistent competition is “MLB ready.” Is this guy ready to step into the big leagues today and play a significant role for their team?
As spring begins, there are many notable prospects coming into camp with that ability, or with a few minor tweaks that can be worked out at the highest level of professional baseball.
Even though there are more than 25 prospects who fall into the MLB ready category, or are incredibly close, we wanted to highlight the best of the best in this particular group.
Keep in mind that these are the players whose skills would translate to the big league’s best right now, so a lot of prospects who will appear high on a top 100-ranked list (Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, Miguel Sano, etc.) will not be seen here because they have a lot to work on and won’t be ready until late in 2014 at the earliest.
Note: All stats courtesy of MiLB.com unless otherwise noted.