TAMPA BAY RAYS TOP 10 PROSPECTS

1. WANDER FRANCO, SS

AGE: 19. B-T: B-R. HT.: 5-10. WT.: 170. SIGNED: Dominican Republic, 2017. SIGNED BY: Danny Santana.

TRACK RECORD: Wander Franco hit .325 in 2019 and managed to lower his career batting average. His .339 average was the best among all Florida State Leaguers with 200 or more plate appearances. He did that while being four years younger than the average FSL hitter and a year younger than anyone else in the league. Franco has always had a knack for being his team’s vocal leader. It’s partly because of his talent, but it’s also because of his high-energy personality. He is exceptionally competitive in whatever he does, and he’s comfortable in the spotlight that has followed him ever since he signed as the No. 1 prospect in the 2017 international amateur class. It helps that he’s part of a baseball family—his older brothers (both also named Wander) are also minor leaguers, and his uncle is longtime major league shortstop Erick Aybar.

There are hitters with exceptional awareness of the strike zone. There are others who do an excellent job of identifying pitches. There are those who have a knack of controlling the barrel and covering the entire plate. Franco has all of those attributes, plus the ability to drive the ball with power when he make contact. He has some of the best bat-to-ball skills in the minors and an excellent feel for the strike zone. He’s comfortable hitting down in the count because he can spoil pitches. He shows plus-plus raw power from both