Top 20 Canadian MLB prospects 2023

By: Scott Mitchell

With the World Baseball Classic set to return this spring for the first time in six years, there’s a renewed microscope on the country-by-country pecking order and who’s producing the most high-end baseball talent.

While Canada is nowhere near the powerhouse level of the Dominican Republic, U.S., Japan, Puerto Rico, Venezuela or Cuba, there’s been more progress made into the next tier over the past 20 years, and it shows up both on major-league rosters as well as minor-league pipelines around the game.

This year, and every year moving forward during my Blue Jays top 50 prospects week in January, I’ll be adding a new wrinkle — the top 20 Canadian prospects.

Six provinces are represented on this inaugural list, with Ontario leading the way with 12 of the 20 names.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: LHP Adam Shoemaker, Atlanta Braves (2021 11th round, Cambridge, Ont.); SS Nate Ochoa, Washington Nationals (2022 sixth round, Burlington, Ont.); C Lamar King Jr., San Diego Padres (2022 fourth round, Vancouver, B.C.); 1B/3B Damiano Palmegiani, Toronto Blue Jays (2021 14th round, Surrey, B.C.); OF Jordan Nwogu, Chicago Cubs (2020 third round, Ottawa, Ont.); RHP Cedric De Grandpre, Atlanta Braves (2022 13th round, Saint-Simon-de-Bagot, Que.); 1B/3B David McCabe, Atlanta Braves (2022 fourth round, Oshawa, Ont.).