MLB Opening Day 2022: List of key prospects to start the year on Major League rosters, from Bobby Witt Jr. to Julio Rodríguez

With MLB Opening Day on Thursday, several teams are going through a major franchise inflection point. The Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, and Seattle Mariners will begin the season with their top prospects on the 28-man roster, a departure from previous years of service manipulation from MLB teams toward their most touted players.

Bobby Witt Jr. (No. 2 2019 pick), Spencer Torkelson (No. 1 2020 pick), and Julio Rodríguez (2017 international signing) have all made the Royals, Tigers, and Mariners rosters — respectively. Here’s a list of all the major names opening the season in the big leagues for the 2022 season.

Top prospects opening 2022 on a MLB roster

• SS/3B Bobby Witt Jr. (21) — Kansas City Royals
• OF Julio Rodríguez (21) — Seattle Mariners
• 1B Spencer Torkelson (22) — Detroit Tigers
• SS C.J. Abrams (21) — San Diego Padres
• LHP Reid Detmers (22) — Los Angeles Angels
• RHP Hunter Greene (22) — Cincinnati Reds
• C Joey Bart (25) — San Francisco Giants
• LHP Nick Lodolo (24) — Cincinnati Reds
• SS Bryson Stott (24) — Philadelphia Phillies
• OF Josh Lowe (24) — Tampa Bay Rays
• RHP Joe Ryan (25) — Minnesota Twins
• RHP Matt Brash (23) — Seattle Mariners

Where is Adley Rutschman?

Adley Rutschman will not start the season on the Orioles’ MLB roster as he continues to rehab a right tricep injury. Rutschman finished last season on the Orioles’ Double A team, the Bowie Baysox. While there he slugged .509 for 18 home runs. once Rutschman returns from his tricep injury, expect an extended stint at the Orioles’ Triple-A team in Norfolk before he’s on the roster officially.

Which MLB teams are calling up younger players?

The rostering of Witt, Rodríguez, and Torkelson is encouraging. The Mariners and Tigers in particular are two teams looking to get competitive sooner rather than later, and Rodríguez and Torkelson ostensibly help them toward that end. As an international prospect, Rodríguez could have spent more time in Triple-A, and Torkelson was drafted just two years ago.

However, these are still exceptions to an insidious rule. Teams have been manipulating service time since the advent of arbitration, with teams like the Orioles and Mariners having weaponized it to an almost scientific degree. Service time manipulation and arbitration wasn’t addressed in the recently-negotiated CBA, so expect to see the practice continue. The teams calling up these young players are hoping to compete, and the bad press around service time manipulation has made it a riskier endeavor as more fans pay attention.

Which young MLB player is poised for a breakout season?

One sleeper pick to look out for is C.J. Abrams for the Padres, who has leveraged the unfortunate injury to Fernando Tatis Jr. into a can’t-miss Spring Training performance.

Naturally Spring Training numbers don’t mean much, but it’s hard to ignore Abrams’ slash line of .324/.361/.529 with a pair of home runs in 36 appearances. He does have 10 strike outs in those appearances so there are growing pains at the big-league level, but with his impressive BABIP he’s going to be hard to keep down if he keeps hitting as well as he is.

What does this mean for future MLB draftees?

The reality is Witt, Torkelson, Rodríguez, and Rutschman are prospects who are hard to ignore. They’ve played well at lower levels and done everything right, so keeping them down would be conspicuous. Being a top-level draft pick might get you to “The Show” early, but people outside of the top-10 prospects may still find themselves “working on defense” in Triple-A ball.

The Braves changed the game a bit by forgoing arbitration and signing Ronald Acuña Jr. to an eight-year $100 million contract. Impressive on the surface, but his $12.5 million AAV doesn’t crack the top 20, which is crazy for a player of his talent level. Ozzie Albies was a similar case, as he signed a seven-year $35 million contract. Perhaps teams will follow this model of spending a lot of money up front after a trial run. But only time will tell.

All we know for now is fans of the Royals, Tigers, Mariners, and other teams on this list win. They get to see their young prospects on Opening Day. Hopefully in the future more teams will follow the trend.