TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Baseball America asks minor league managers to choose the players with the most impressive scouting tools in their leagues. We call the exercise Best Tools and have been bringing it to you since 1983.

Each year, minor league managers’ choices highlight familiar names as well as novel ones. Mainstream names and up-and-comers. We think Best Tools provides a valuable overview of minor league talent in a given season and that the results hold up over the years.

Some players don’t stick around long enough in a single minor league for a managerial consensus to build around them.

For others, their names appear frequently on the ballots we receive. These are their stories.

1. BOBBY WITT JR., SS, ROYALS

DOUBLE-A NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TRIPLE-A OMAHA

Entering the season, Witt was one of just two players in the 2021 Prospect Handbook with five tools graded as 60 or higher on the 20-80 scouting scale. He