Who Is the Better Prospect: Clint Frazier or Gleyber Torres?

While Clint Frazier is generally seen as the New York Yankees top prospect, Gleyber Torres is making a strong push for the crown in the Arizona Fall League.

Despite being the youngest prospect participating in this year’s Arizona Fall League, 19-year-old Gleyber Torres of the New York Yankees looks like the early favorite for the AFL MVP away, hitting .429/.520/.810 with two home runs, two doubles, and two steals through the Scottsdale Scorpions first 11 contests. As of this writing he leads all AFL batters in batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS.

Torres’s performance was enough to land him the top spot and a glowing write up on this week’s “Prospect Hot Sheet” from Baseball America. Here’s what evaluator Josh Norris, who has been watching Gleyber first hand all week, had to say:

"The Yankees’ prize for sending Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs continues to shine in the AFL. Torres is a powerful hitter who’s shown the ability to hit for both average and power as well as the ability to stick at shortstop. He hit his first AFL home run to the opposite field and his second to the pull-side alley. He is ready for his first taste of the upper levels next season at Double-A Trenton."

This success against advanced competition raises the question of whether Torres has a case for being the top prospect in the Yankees system over outfielder Clint Frazier, the team’s other big prize acquired at the August 1st trade deadline.

The main argument for Frazier appears to be that he is more advanced and closer to the big leagues, but it is worth noting that he struggled terribly after a second half promotion to Triple-A. He hit .230/.271/.385 in 129 International League plate appearances, while striking out an ugly 27.9% of the time.

If Torres continues to rake in the AFL, where the competition is roughly that of Double-A, the playing field between the two Baby Bombers might be evened somewhat, as Double-A is the highest level that Frazier has had success. Of course, Torres’s success is even more impressive when you consider that he’s more than two years younger than his red headed colleague.

The fact that he’s younger and plays a more valuable position (Many scouts doubt Frazier’s ability to stick in center field full time) are both points in Torres’s favor. At the moment, he’s ranked second in the Yankees system behind Frazier on MLB Pipeline’s 2016 Prospect Watch.  Baseball America also had Torres six spots behind Frazier on their Midseason Top 100, although Torres clearly out performed Frazier in the two and a half months of the season after the list was written.

Next: Previewing the Yankees 2017 Right Field Competition

In reality, Torres and Frazier both look like potential superstars, so picking between them is probably just a matter of preference. The difference between them is pretty minimal. Frazier is just one hot month away from a starting job in the Bronx, which I guess still gives him a slight edge, but Torres certainly has been closing the gap this month.