Two Section 2 Players Make Baseball America’s Top 100
Ever since being drafted 3rd overall by the Atlanta Braves in June of 2016, Ian Anderson has lived up to high expectations in an organization that is rich in young, talented pitching. Of all the Shenendehowa grad's early accomplishments, the latest might be the most impressive. At only 20 years old, Anderson has quickly climbed the national prospect rankings and in the first release of Baseball America's top 100 for 2019, the hard-throwing righty is ranked #24 and is considered the second ranked player in the entire Braves' farm system.
There is also a second player from the Capital Region in the top 100 and he earned his way there by pleasantly surprising the Blue Jays organization with his power through one full minor league season. Columbia grad Kevin Smith was drafted in the fourth round by Toronto in 2017 and he quickly impressed at Class A Lansing before a promotion to high-A in Dunedin.
Both Anderson and Smith are destined for the big leagues sooner rather than later and Baseball America's Kyle Glaser helps lay out the timeline for us: