It wasn’t really that close as Daniel Espino captured 43% of the vote, outpacing Gavin Williams (27%) for the No. 1 spot on our 2023 prospect ranking list.
Cleveland’s first-round draft pick out of high school in 2019, Espino is the top-ranked prospect in the Cleveland system, and based on performance when he was healthy, he absolutely deserved it.
Espino entered the 2022 season on a ridiculous wave of hype that saw him compared to Jacob DeGrom and Stephen Strasburg, and he proved worthy of it based on his early appearances. The talented 21-year-old (at the time) made his Double-A debut and the results were incredible.