We made it to the 2023 class.
After the summer circuit finally got underway, we got to take a look at players in Ontario’s 2023 class. As a staff, we felt as though we had seen enough to put together what we feel is a strong Top 50 rankings list in our province.
This class is an exciting one. There’s draft bloodlines, familiar names, athletes, big time bats and big bodies. Without wasting any more time, we present to you our inaugural 2023 Rankings.
The First No. 1
This probably won’t come as much of a surprise, but the lone D1 commit in the 2023 class, and our first No. 1-ranked player in the province is Myles Naylor, out of the Ontario Blue Jays. The third Naylor is the youngest of Josh (1st Round, 2015) and Bo Naylor (1st Round, 2018).
To think there’s a third who is already committed to Texas Tech, like older brother Josh, is pretty remarkable. But our guess is he wants to carve his own path a bit, too.
At 6-1, 190-pounds, Naylor has a big build and may be the biggest Naylor when all is said and done. The body isn’t twitchy yet, but there’s movements in the field that look natural. Right now he’s at shortstop, and it’s still too early to tell if he’ll stick there, but he plays the game with a calmness and was very poised as the youngest player on the field for the CPBL all-star game.
At the plate he was showcased as a switch-hitter when he first hit the circuit, but he stuck more on the right side as the summer went on. From what we’ve seen, there’s some juice in the bat from both sides in BP, but the right-handed side has favoured him a bit more in-game. He put up some real good swings against older arms in September and did not look out of place or over-matched at all.
THE TOP ARM
When we first came out of COVID with our Future Games Trials, Kaleb Thomas got on the mound and caught eyes immediately. He’s not an imposing figure by any means, standing at a slender, wiry 5-11, 170-pounds. He sat 85-86 that day, and a few weeks later at Tigers Scout Day, he was up to 89. The pitch-ability isn’t there yet, and there isn’t a ton of muscle right now, but the frame has a chance to fill out nicely. When it’s good, the slider is tight, but he struggles to command it a bit. Overall, it’s tough to overlook Thomas (a true 2022), who has a shot to come out this spring and be 90+ on the mound with one of the quickest arms in the class.
MIDDLE OF THE DIAMOND
The Mississauga Tigers make a lot of noise in the 2023 rankings and have 4 players in our top ten, starting with catcher and our No. 2 prospect David Stanley. A good looking player at 6-foot-1, 180-pounds, Stanley has some now juice in his bat. We didn’t have much of a chance to see him behind the plate, but his BP is loud, and he’s a 6.85 runner. There’s always been a lot to look forward to with him since we saw him at the Junior Future Games Trials in February. With his athleticism, it’s too early to tell if he’ll stay at catcher, but don’t be surprised to see him elsewhere on the diamond.
One of the players we really like in this class and has a very high ceiling is our third ranked player in outfielder Asafa Jones. A big, strong, physical player, he’s a left-lefty combo, and it has a chance to be something special. There’s power in his bat right now, gap-to-gap hitting ability, to go along with athleticism as he glides to balls in the outfield and shows arm strength in game. There is a lot of tools to like and to dream on with Jones and will be someone who is watched closely from this 2023 class.
