There R Giants #1: Kyle Harrison
Ta Da!!!!
Photo Credit: Trey Wilson | Richmond Flying Squirrels
Top 50 time is here! So far we’ve looked at:
50: Victor Bericoto
49: Chris Wright
48: Sean Roby
47: P.J. Hilson
46: Alexander Suarez
45: Mikell Manzano
44: Diego Velasquez
43: Carson Ragsdale
42: William Kempner
41: Seth Lonsway
40: Shane Matheny
39: Sean Hjelle
38: Brett Auerbach
37: Ricardo Genovés
36: Hunter Bishop
35: Nick Zwack
34: Erik Miller
33: Spencer Miles
32: Manuel Mercedes
31: Trevor McDonald
30: Ryan Reckley
29: Gerelmi Maldonado
28: Will Bednar
27: Ryan Murphy
26: Will Wilson
25: Nick Swiney
24: Jose Cruz
23: R.J. Dabovich
22: Adrian Sugastey
21: Patrick Bailey
20: Tristan Beck
19: Randy Rodriguez
18: Jairo Pomares
17: Carson Seymour
16: Landen Roupp
15: Tyler Fitzgerald
14: Heliot Ramos
13: Keaton Winn
12: Eric Silva
11: Cole Waites
#10: Reggie Crawford
#8: Mason Black
#7: Luis Matos
#6: Vaun Brown
#5: Grant McCray
#4: Aeverson Arteaga
#3: Casey Schmitt
#2: Marco Luciano
We arrive at the top of our list! Have we come to the destination you anticipated?
I’ve found, in making this year’s list, that I’ve come to value proximity to the majors more this year than in some years past — perhaps that’s the influence of rooting for a major league team that has been creakily desperate for an infusion of young blood, STAT!
So as easy — and fun — as it is to talk about the projection and high upside of my #1 guy, Kyle Harrison, the fact of the matter is really this: three highly regarded 20-year-olds showed up in Eugene last spring hoping to push their fast-rising careers to new levels. Of that trio — last year’s top three prospects in the system on There R Giants’ and all other outlets’ rankings of the system — one of them pushed his way out of the High A level during the season (before we’d even made it to Memorial Day!). One of them got to test himself against the heightened challenge of Double A ball — and showed he was more than up to that challenge. One of them is ticketed for Triple A this year and has already been discussed by the organization’s senior decision maker as an important part of the 2023 major league team. One of them is being shepharded for major league success by Logan Webb. One of them is getting “Rookie of the Year” odds in the ubiquitous gambling venues that have insinuated themselves into every surface of the game.
There are reasons that separation of the group of prodigies occurred last year — there are explanations and understandable causes. But let’s make no mistake — there WAS a separation in the top group in 2022. Harrison took the mound for the Giants on Wednesday standing on the precipice of a highly anticipated major league debut that could come before we hit summer’s first night. Marco Luciano and Luis Matos — the other two 20-year-olds who reported to Eugene last year with hopes of fast promotions — enter spring training knowing they have some challenges to overcome just to make their Double A debuts come Opening Day (though there is some good news on the Luciano front as we’ll see later).
Without diminishing the possibility that all three of these kids end up as excellent big leaguers, there was not, to be honest, much question in my mind who should be the top prospect in the system this year. Prospect rankings are snapshots in time, and the snapshot we’ll remember from this point in time is of the guy who demolished levels like Godzilla stomping down on cities.
It’s almost hard to remember that — oh yeah, Harrison actually spent time in Eugene last year, too, making a laughing stock of the High A level by striking out LITERALLY one-half of the batters he faced (59 of 118)! That got him a quick flight east, where he became the youngest pitcher who has ever appeared on a Richmond Flying Squirrels’ staff. After a very short adjustment period, he spent most of the summer building a strong argument for being the best pitcher who has ever appeared on a Richmond Flying Squirrels’ staff.
The season ended up being a nearly unbroken series of triumphs for the kid who wasn’t old enough to buy a drink for most of it. That makes Kyle my top guy!
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