SNAKES INVADE NORTHWEST

Typically a college-heavy circuit, the Northwest League was flooded with young talent this summer. That’s made clear by the prospects on this list and is brought even further into focus by some of the prospects who just missed the cut. Explosive Diamondbacks prospect Kristian Robinson overwhelmed evaluators with the tools and skills he showed against much older competition, and he was just the center of an NWL-champion Hillsboro squad that was the beneficiary of a seemingly endless pipeline of tooled-up players.

The Hops’ pitching staff alone included fireballer Luis Frias, who manhandled the league for just shy of 50 innings, as well as five of Arizona’s first six picks in this past year’s draft. The sixth pick, outfielder Corbin Carroll, fell shy of qualifying for this list but was nonetheless impressive in his time in the NWL.

Everett righthander George Kirby went the entire summer without walking a batter, thus living up to his reputation as a pitcher with excellent command and control, but fell a few innings shy of the requirement for Top 20 consideration. All in all, the 2019 NWL was filled with tremendously skilled prospects from Opening