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2017 prospect rankings: 60-41

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Today's group is guaranteed to make you feel old, with three sons of players who were all still in the majors as of 2009, and the first player born in the 2000s to appear on any of my annual top 100s.

This score of players also includes the top prospects from Miami, Toronto, Tampa Bay, and Oakland.

Editor's note: Age is the player's age as of July 1, 2017.

Top 100 prospects ranked 1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60 | 61-80 | 81-100 | Index


60. Thomas Szapucki, LHP, New York Mets
Age: 21 (6/12/96) | B/T: R/L
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 205
Top level: Short-season A-ball | 2016: NR

Szapucki was the Mets’ fifth-round pick in the 2015 draft as a 19-year-old senior out of high school in West Palm Beach, but he pitched just two innings that summer after he signed, so he came into 2016 as just another guy in the system. Then he delivered a true breakout season, as he moved from the Appy League to the New York-Penn League and dominated at both stops. He did so working a 92-96 mph fastball with a wipeout curveball and good command of both pitches, as well as a nascent changeup that he has taken from nonexistent to average in a year.

His season ended in mid-August after just nine starts and 52 innings due to back soreness, but before that, he showed at least mid-rotation potential, between the out pitch in the curveball and the ability to throw everything for strikes. This will be a big year for him developmentally, as he’ll be asked to throw most of a full season, and his stuff alone should dominate low-A hitters. His potential to turn into even a solid No. 3 starter would be an enormous success story for a team’s fifth-round pick.