Perales to #4 is a big vote of confidence, although jumping Bleis & Cespedes is not all that shocking. This does bring me back to a point I made earlier about how maybe our system's lack of acquiring and developing young pitchers was maybe not quite as bad as we thought it was. (Not saying all is well, now.)
Houck
Crawford
Bello
acquisitions like Whitlock, Slaten, Wink, Fitts, Kelly, Sandlin and non-prospects like Pivetta, Criswell & Bernardino.
Of course, Perales has proved nothing, however, it's nice to see three pitchers in the top 9: Perales 4, Fitts 7 & Sandlin 9.
Most recent 3 in top 9's:
Summer '23: 6 Drohan, 7 Perales, 9 Wikelman (none in top 5)
Summer '22: 5 Walter, 6 Mata, 9 Wink (none in top 4)
Whitlock was our last pitcher ranked #4 (Spring of '21 as a Rule 5 pick)
4. Whitlock
5. Houck
7. Seabold
8. TWard
9. Aldo Ramirez (traded for Schwarber that summer)