Angels top 10 prospects at Baseball Prospectus topped by Brandon Marsh

The Angels top 10 prospects list for 2021 at Baseball Prospectus was released on Monday, and for the second consecutive year outfielders are at the top.

Brandon Marsh and Jordyn Adams rank first and second this year, after coming in second and third last year behind another outfielder, Jo Adell, who exhausted his rookie status in 2020. On Marsh, the club’s second-round pick in 2016 who was added to the 40-man roster in November, Brandon Williams at Baseball Prospectus wrote:

At 6-foot-4 and 215-pounds, the left-handed hitter has yet to tap into his reservoir of power, but his display of hard contact to all fields while hitting .300 at Double-A in 2019 is a great sign of his future offensive potential. His speed translates to plus range in the outfield and he has the arm strength to play all three positions.

Also of note is pitcher Reid Detmers, the Angels’ first-round draft pick in 2020, placing third. The left-hander out of Louisville isn’t yet on the 40-man roster, but was in the team’s player pool and spent time at the alternate training site at Long Beach State last season. The BP crew places an ETA in the majors for Detmers in 2022.

The returnees from Baseball Prospectus’ top 10 Angels prospects in 2020 include shortstop Kyren Pairs, the second-round pick from 2019 who went from eighth last year to fourth this year; shortstop Jeremiah Jackson, remaining at sixth for the second year in a row; outfielder D’Shawn Knowles, down from fourth to seventh; and outfielder Orlando Martinez, up from No. 10 to No. 9.

Pitcher Chris Rodriguez, who along with Marsh was added to the 40-man roster in November, was ranked the team’s No. 5 prospect at BP. “When healthy, the 22-year-old right-hander showcases an electric four-pitch repertoire featuring a heavy, mid-90s fastball,” Williams wrote. “Accompanying the heat are two different breaking balls, a hard lateral slider and a downward-tumbling curveball, along with an effective, dawdling changeup.”