Prospect stats of the year -- each team’s best of 2024

We don’t only deal in tools around here. Performance (i.e. what players do with those tools) matters, too.

Stats form much of baseball's vocabulary. It’s part of how we tell the stories of the game. Look no further than the 2024 Major League season, when Shohei Ohtani recorded the first 50-50 campaign in MLB history. Everyone who saw the three-time MVP play this summer knows how dominant he can be, but attaching those numbers next to his name in the record books illustrates the point all the more.

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Although there weren’t any 50-50 seasons in the Minor Leagues in ‘24, we did see plenty of dominance in the lower levels throughout the year, dominance worth remembering before we turn toward 2025. Here is one standout prospect statistic from each farm system in '24:

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AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

Blue Jays: .406 OBP
Alan Roden, OF (No. 12)
This is specifically referencing the 24-year-old outfielder’s OBP over 71 games with Triple-A Buffalo. Roden was solid in his season-opening turn with Double-A New Hampshire but kicked things up a notch at the Minors’ top level, thanks to his ability to make tons of contact on swings in the zone and keep whiffs low against fastballs and breaking pitches. The lefty slugger can expand the zone at times, but he still runs healthy walk rates that could make him a high-OBP option for the Jays by next summer.

Orioles: .964 OPS
Coby Mayo, 3B/1B (No. 1/MLB No. 8)
Among all hitters in the Minors with at least 400 plate appearances, Mayo finished fourth with that .964 OPS. He also finished second in slugging percentage (.592) and ISO (.299) while making his big league debut at age 22 and cementing himself as one of the best power-hitting prospects in the game.

Rays: 104 SB
Chandler Simpson, OF (No. 4)
The No. 70 overall pick in the 2022 Draft became the first Minor Leaguer to eclipse the century mark in steals since 2012 with his performance at High-A Bowling Green and Double-A Montgomery. Unlike in 2023, when Simpson tied his friend Victor Scott II atop the MiLB leaderboard with 94 each, no one was all that close to him this year. Orioles No. 4 prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. finished second with 74. Simpson could put 110 in play if he spends another full season in the Minors in ‘25, but it’s likelier he ends up with Tampa Bay by then if this trend continues.

Red Sox: 180 wRC+
Kristian Campbell, 2B/OF/SS (No. 3/MLB No. 10)
Our pick for Hitting Prospect and Breakout Prospect of the Year, Campbell produced a .330/.439/.558 slash line in 115 games across High-A Greenville, Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester in his first full season. That line doesn’t take into account run environments, so while he didn’t lead the Minors in any of the three categories, he did post the highest wRC+ among Minor League full-season qualifiers, comfortably beating out second-place finisher Cooper Ingle (160).

Yankees: 24 HR
Ben Rice, C (Graduated Top 30)
The Dartmouth product’s breakout came in '23, when he went deep 20 times in 73 games across three levels. He beat that mark by four on his way to the Bronx this summer, leading Yankees Minor Leaguers in the process despite playing only 79 games at Double-A and Triple-A. He was at his best with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he produced 12 homers and a .661 slugging percentage in 30 contests.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

Guardians: 37.6 K%
Matt Wilkinson, LHP (unranked)
Jump on board the Tugboat hype train. (If you don’t know, Wilkinson has one of the best nicknames in baseball.) The '23 10th-rounder faced 463 batters between Single-A and High-A in his first full season and struck out 174, placing him in second in the Minors despite throwing “only” 118 2/3 innings. His 37.6 percent K rate was best among all qualifiers, including those with smaller samples in short-season ball, and forced his way into Top 30 consideration despite his status as a mid-round pick.

Royals: 18 HR/26 SB
Blake Mitchell, C (No. 2/MLB No. 51)
Mitchell’s power helped make him the eighth overall pick in the '23 Draft, and he showed it off with his 18 homers in 111 games, mostly at Single-A Columbia. But with below-average speed, he wasn’t expected to steal bases like he did in his first full season. In fact, his 26 bags were third-most among Minor League catchers behind Harry Ford (30) and Bryan Lavastida (27). Combine the power and speed, and Mitchell was one of only two 18-18 backstops in the Minors alongside fellow Top 100 prospect Agustin Ramirez (25 HR, 22 SB).

Tigers: 1.6 BB/K ratio
Kevin McGonigle, SS/2B (No. 3/MLB No. 31)
The Tigers were enthused to add McGonigle with the No. 37 overall pick in '23 and over-the-moon with his early results in the Minors, particularly when it came to his plate discipline. The left-handed-hitting middle infielder walked 46 times while striking out only 28 in 74 games between Single-A and High-A before suffering a season-ending right hamate fracture. His K/BB ratio was best among 1,081 Minor Leaguers who got at least 300 plate appearances in '24.

Twins: 0.6 BB/9
Zebby Matthews, RHP (Graduated Twins Top 30)
There are strike-throwers, and then there is Matthews. Among pitchers in the Minors with at least 90 innings, no one was more frugal in giving up free passes. His absurd 16.3 K/BB ratio also led the Minors (114/7 K/BB), and he reached the Majors in August.

White Sox: 2.24 ERA
Noah Schultz, LHP (No. 1/MLB No. 16)
Schultz allowed four earned runs in four innings in his second start of '24, on April 13. He didn’t surrender more than two earned runs in a single outing for the remainder of the regular season, a stretch of 21 starts (five with High-A Winston-Salem, 16 with Double-A Birmingham). Mind you, the White Sox capped Schultz at four innings per start to get him through the whole season healthy, but he was still mighty effective with those guardrails in place, leading to the low ERA.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

Angels: .184 BAA
Caden Dana, RHP (No. 1/MLB No. 68)
Not only did Dana lead the Double-A Southern League with his .184 opponent average, he also topped the circuit in ERA (2.52), WHIP (0.94) and strikeouts (147) before making his big league debut at age 20. The .184 BAA placed him sixth among all Minor League pitchers with 100 or more innings pitched.

Astros: .161 BAA
Miguel Ullola, RHP (No. 8)
The 22-year-old right-hander’s 92-95 mph fastball is downright unhittable with its flat approach angle and special carry up in the zone. How unhittable? Ullola held opposing hitters to a .161 average in 28 appearances (27 with Double-A Corpus Christi), the lowest opponent average by a qualified pitcher in '24. Overall control remains an issue (14.0 BB%), but when Ullola is hitting his spots, there is little opposing batters can do.

A’s: 6.6 K%
Jacob Wilson, SS (No. 1/MLB No. 24)
After he left Grand Canyon University with a career 4.4 percent strikeout rate, we knew Wilson, the A’s first-round pick in '23, wasn’t going to swing and miss much as a pro. And while injuries kept him off the field more than he would have liked, he still struck out just 15 times in 226 plate appearances in the Minors for a 6.6 percent rate that led all Minor Leaguers with 200 or more plate appearances. That number “skyrocketed” to 9.7 over 28 big league games.

Mariners: 105 RBIs
Lazaro Montes, OF (No. 3/MLB No. 47)
Montes continues to solidify himself as one of the best future run producers in the game. He reached High-A as a teenager and that RBI total put him tied for third among all Minor Leaguers, behind only Deyvison De Los Santos and non-prospect Jason Vosler (tied with 32-year-old Kyle Garlick). Montes posted a .309/.411/.527 line in Single-A to earn the promotion while cutting his strikeout rate and drawing plenty of walks.

Rangers: 35.4 K%
Kohl Drake, LHP (No. 20)
Drake struggled during his pro debut in '23, but came back stronger and more athletic. That led to him finishing third in the Minors in strikeout rate, with a 148/31 K/BB ratio over 106 innings. His 2.29 ERA was eighth in the Minors and he held hitters to a .196 average while going from Single-A to Double-A this year.

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

Braves: 162 SO
Lucas Braun, RHP (No. 21)
Proof that you can miss bats without plus stuff, Braun used his four-pitch mix to lead Braves organization hurlers with 162 K’s while splitting the year between High-A Rome and Double-A Mississippi. He also topped the system with his 3.25 xFIP and 20.5 K-BB percentage, while his 1.14 WHIP was second.

Marlins: 24 HR
Joe Mack, C (No. 9)
It took a while, but it looks like the 2021 draftee is figuring things out. Mack attacked fastballs much more effectively this year and led Marlins prospects in homers, extra-base hits (54), total bases and RBIs. His 24 homers were fifth among all catchers in the Minors.

Mets: 34.2 K%
Jonah Tong, RHP (No. 10)
The 21-year-old righty enjoyed a breakout season that saw him climb from Single-A St. Lucie to Double-A Binghamton, thanks to a 92-94 mph fastball with elite induced vertical break and an above-average mid-80s curveball. Tong struck out 160 of the 468 batters he faced in those three levels and even fanned as many as 52.9 percent of his opponents during a four-appearance run in the Florida State League.

Nationals: 39.2 K%
Travis Sykora, RHP (No. 2/MLB No. 79)
Washington had high hopes for its '23 third round pick, given his 6-foot-6 size, promising velocity and good splitter. But Sykora may have already put himself ahead of schedule with his huge '24. The 20-year-old struck out 129 batters in 85 innings with Single-A Fredericksburg, and his 39.2 percent K rate topped the 551 Minor League pitchers with at least 80 innings this season.

Phillies: 130 wRC+
Justin Crawford, OF (No. 3/MLB No. 53)
Crawford made it to Double-A for the first time and finished with a .313/.360/.444 line. There’s concern about how often he hits the ball on the ground but that 130 wRC+ is a sign that he’s doing more than just legging out singles. His ground-ball percentage dropped nearly 10 points from '23 and he tripled his home run total (3 in '23 to 9 in '24).

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL

Brewers: 0.94 ERA
Craig Yoho, RHP (No. 21)
From June 18 to Aug. 24, Yoho didn’t allow an earned run over 19 straight relief appearances (21 2/3 innings) for Double-A Biloxi and Triple-A Nashville, striking out 41 in that span. When that streak ended on Aug. 27, the '23 eighth-rounder started a new one with eight straight scoreless outings to end his season. The All-MiLB Prospect First Teamer finished first in the Minors (min. 50 IP) in ERA as well as with his 42.4 percent strikeout rate and 1.43 FIP.

Cardinals: 202 SO
Quinn Mathews, LHP (No. 3/MLB No. 77)
The Stanford star saw his velocity pick up in his first full season after going in the third round in '23, and the results followed. His 202 strikeouts across all four full-season St. Louis affiliates were most in the Minor Leagues and made him only the second pitcher in the Minors to eclipse the 200-K mark since 2011. The plurality of those came at Double-A Springfield, where Mathews fanned 70 in 52 1/3 frames.

Cubs: 20 HR/30 SB
Matt Shaw, INF (No. 1/MLB No. 22)
The apparent heir to Chicago's big league third-base job, Shaw was one of only four players in the Minors to finish with a 20/30 season, slashing .284/.379/.488 with 21 homers and 31 steals. He earned Double-A Southern League MVP honors as a result and was more productive in 35 Triple-A games (.929 OPS) than in 86 Double-A contests (.841 OPS).

Pirates: 22.3 K-BB%
Bubba Chandler, RHP (No. 1/MLB No. 15)
Chandler just kept getting better and better as the season wore on, finishing in Triple-A and clearly knocking on the big league door for '25. His 22.3 K-BB percentage was one of many categories he led all Pirates arms in (among pitchers with 100 or more IP). He also topped the organization in strikeouts (148), K/9 (11.1) and xFIP (3.37).

Reds: 0.88 BB-K%
Sal Stewart, 2B (No. 4/MLB No. 76)
A wrist injury cut short what might have been a truly extraordinary season for Stewart as a 20-year old in the High-A Midwest League. Stewart’s feel for hitting really stood out and that 0.88 BB/K ratio topped all Reds hitters with at least 250 plate appearances, as did his 144 wRC+.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

D-backs: .603 SLG
Adrian Del Castillo, C (No. 14)
Known as an offensive catcher out of Miami when he was the No. 67 overall pick in '21, Del Castillo took until his fourth season to truly dominate the Minors. But dominate he did. His .603 slugging percentage – aided by 26 homers and 65 total extra-base hits – in 105 games at Triple-A Reno was tops among Minor League full-season qualifiers. He showed promising pop in the Majors, too, with a .525 SLG and he should be a part of Arizona’s catching conversation again in ‘25.

Dodgers: 142 wRC+
Dalton Rushing, C (No. 1/MLB No. 39)
The Dodgers named Rushing their organizational player of the year and he was also singled out as the top prospect in the Double-A Texas League. Between Double-A and Triple-A, his 26 homers tied for second among all Minor League catchers and his 142 wRC+, which was fourth-best among backstops with at least 400 PA, topped all Dodgers Minor League hitters.

Giants: 19 and 23
Bryce Eldridge, 1B (No. 1/MLB No. 35)
That’s the Giants '23 first-round pick’s age and home run total from '24. He led all full-season teenagers in homers and SLG, while ranking second in OPS (.890) and fifth in wRC+ (137) while going from Single-A to Triple-A in his first full season. He was just one of three teens to have more homers than his age (Montes, Cam Collier).

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Padres: .996 OPS
Leodalis De Vries, SS (No. 2/MLB No. 28)
To be clear, this was De Vries’ OPS in his final 35 games from July 1 onward with Single-A Lake Elsinore before a strained right shoulder ended his regular season early. But that stretch – during which he owned a .284/.407/.589 line – would have been good for anybody, never mind a 17-year-old who skipped over two complex leagues to head straight to full-season ball. The run – followed by De Vries’ solid performance in the Arizona Fall League – strengthened his place as one of the game’s best shortstop prospects.

Rockies: 1.17 BB/9
Sean Sullivan, LHP (No. 10)
Sullivan fits the mold of pitchability lefties perfectly and he showed why in his first full season. He finished the year with a 125/15 K/BB ratio over 115 total innings between High-A Spokane and Double-A Hartford. That 1.17 BB/9 led all Minor League pitchers (min: 100 IP) and he also topped the list with his 8.33 K/BB ratio.