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DirtySox

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    2024 - MLB Draft Thread

    in FutureSox Board

    Posted · Edited by DirtySox

    Stock watch article on BA today. Pulling out some relevant guys.

    https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-draft-stock-watch-checking-in-on-30-top-prospects/

    Quote

    1. Charlie Condon, OF, Georgia

    Hitting line: .505/.619/.1.184, 19 HR, 1 3B, 11 2B, 10.8 K%, 18.7 BB%

    Condon has been better across the board so far compared to his already impressive 2023 season. He leads all D-I hitters with 19 homers and is still hitting above .500 after 28 games in the season. His average quality of competition probably isn’t yet to the level it will get after a full SEC slate—the average FB he’s seen is 89.7 mph compared to a 90.6 mph average in 2023—but his contact rate is up from 78% to 87%, his chase rate is down from 28% to 22% and his fly ball rate is up from 44.3% to 56.7%. Oh and he’s been running around center field recently as well.

    2. Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon State

    Hitting line: .449/.595/.1.063, 15 HR, 3 3B, 6 2B, 8.7 K%, 22.2 BB%

    Bazzana is third in average, third in homers and third in OPS among Division I hitters and has maintained the sort of elite contact rates he’s become known for (15% miss, 10% in-zone miss) while adding more in-game power. He’s already set a single-season high with 15 homers in just 25 games—less than half of the 61 games he needed to hit 11 homers in 2023—and his isolated slugging has leaped from .248 to .594 while he has also managed to lower his strikeout rate and improve his walk rate. There’s simply not much opposing pitchers can do to slow Bazzana down right now. 

    3. Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida

    Hitting line: .389/.473/.752, 13 HR, 0 3B, 2 2B, 9.9 K%, 12.2 BB%

    Pitching line: 2.18 ERA, 6 GS, 33 IP, 32.8 K%, 16.4 BB%, .138 AVG

    Caglianone has made significant improvements with his plate discipline early in the season despite more modest improvements in his under-the-hood chase and miss rates. His walk rate is up from 5.3% in 2023 to 12.2% this season, while he has cut his strikeout rate basically in half: from 18.2% in 2023 to 9.9% in 2024. In nine conference games in the SEC he has walked five times and struck out five times, and he’s been significantly better in two-strike counts than his first two seasons. He’s hitting .308/.386/.564 with an 18% miss rate and 41% chase rate in two-strike counts in 2024. That’s compared to a .172/.234/.331 line with a 29% miss rate and 61% chase rate in two-strike counts in 2022/2023.

    5. Chase Burns, RHP, Wake Forest

    Pitching line: 2.89 ERA, 7 GS, 43.2 IP, 49.4 K%, 7.2 BB%, .183 AVG

    Burns has been dominant this spring and leads the country or is near the top of the leaderboard in the most meaningful pitching categories. He’s tops among D-I arms with 82 strikeouts and is second behind Hagen Smith with a 49.4 K% and 42.2 K-BB%. Burns has started each week and gone at least 5.1 innings in each outing, and his stuff looks different as well. His average fastball velocity is up nearly two full ticks, from 96.2 mph in 2023 to 98.1 mph in 2024, and he has decreased his slider usage from 41% to 35% in an effort to use his curveball and changeup more frequently. Burns has a 39% miss rate or better with each of his four pitches and is neck-and-neck with Smith for SP1 of the class and a legitimate top-of-the-draft candidate. His most recent outing was his lone true hurdle, as he allowed nine hits and six earned runs—including four homers—against UNC. If he doesn’t let that snowball he should be fine. 

    6. Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas

    Pitching line: 1.54 ERA, 7 GS, 35 IP, 54.5 K%, 7.6 BB%, .136 AVG

    Smith has been lights out this spring and looks like he has improved his body and his delivery in significant ways. He’s fourth in the country with 73 strikeouts but leads all D-I arms with a 54.5 K% and a 47 K-BB%. Smith has not pitched beyond the sixth inning in any of his starts and he’s also not thrown more than 100 pitches in any outing so far this season. Smith’s average fastball velocity is up two and a half ticks from 93 mph to 95.6 and he is throwing all of his pitches in the zone a bit more frequently which has helped lead to a lower walk rate—7.6% in 2024 compared to a career rate in the 13.2-13.5% range. 

    7. Braden Montgomery, OF/RHP, Texas A&M

    Hitting line: .381/.515/.933, 16 HR, 1 3B, 8 2B, 13.4 K%, 19.4 BB%

    The transition from the Pac-12 to the SEC has been a complete non-issue for Montgomery, who continues to make progress as a hitter and recently jumped to No. 2 on the home run leaderboard. He has cut his strikeout rate significantly year-over-year and inversely improved his walk rate and now has more walks (19.4 BB%) than strikeouts (13.4 K%) for the first time in his career. He’s two homers shy of matching his single-season best of 18 in 49% of the plate appearances. He’s still chasing changeups and curveballs a bit too often but has significantly improved his contact against fastballs and sliders. Against 92+ mph velocity he is hitting .400/.571/1.267 with an 87% contact rate.

    9. Konnor Griffin, OF/SS, Jackson Prep, Flowood, Miss.

    Hitting line: .574/.724/.983, 5 HR, 1 3B, 8 2B, 5.1 K%, 32.6 BB%

    Pitching line: 0.42 ERA, 33 IP, 50.8 K%, 8.2 BB%, 

    Griffin is the sole prep player in this draft class who gets significant buzz in the top-10 range. He’s done nothing to add any questions to a profile that was already exciting and among the most toolsy in the class, though some scouts have liked him enough on the mound that they might even prefer him as a pitcher. The majority of teams are likely more enamored with his huge upside as a hitter where he has plus raw power and double-plus speed. High school stats are far from meaningful, but Griffin has performed and he’s also stolen 57 bags in 25 games—among the most in the country per Maxpreps. 

    18. Cam Smith, 3B, Florida State

    Hitting line: .438/.500/.714, 8 HR, 0 3B, 7 2B, 16.7 K%, 7.1 BB%

    Smith looks like an entirely different hitter this season compared to his 2023 freshman year with FSU. There was plenty made about an improved approach he showed in the Cape Cod League last summer and he has carried that over to the spring. He has cut his strikeout rate significantly from the 28.7 K% he had as a freshman, and that has come with much better swing decisions (26% chase rate in 2024 and 37% chase rate in 2023) and more contact (18% miss rate in 2024 and 29% miss rate in 2023) while also just swinging less frequently (41% swing rate in 2024 and 48% swing rate in 2023). Smith’s approach is entirely different and he is also employing a different posture at the plate with a more crouched stance and lower handset. He’s hitting the ball on the ground more often but his slugging percentage and isolated slugging are still up year-over-year and he’s already at eight homers through 26 games after homering 12 times in 51 games in 2023.  

    20. Bryce Rainer, SS/RHP, Harvard-Westlake HS, Studio City, Calif.

    Rainer has had plenty of positive feedback this spring. He has loud tools with power, arm strength and physical projection remaining on his 6-foot-3 frame and a real chance to stick on the left side of the infield. Some scouts think his foot speed will move him to third base while others believe he will pick it well enough to stick at shortstop. While his preference seems to be hitting full time, the fact that he has a tremendously easy arm action and a pair of plus pitches on the mound creates a nice fallback option.

     

    2024 MiLB Catch All

    in FutureSox Board

    Posted · Edited by DirtySox

    Quote

    Noah Schultz, LHP, White Sox
    There is no doubting Schultz’s prodigious arm talent. He brings loads of lightning from the left side every time he takes the mound. Problem is, health has kept him from taking the mound as often as he or the White Sox would like. His 2023 season was delayed by a flexor strain and then ended early by a shoulder impingement. In his final spring tuneup, the Illinois-bred lefthander looked as untouchable as ever, and there’s a whole host of Reds prospects who can verify.

    Over three innings, Schultz carved with three pitches that graded at least plus, including a two-seamer that sat in the upper 90s and peaked at 98 and a slider sharp enough to make lefties reconsider their line of work. Perhaps most impressively, Schultz showed the ability to sweep the pitch away from southpaws or dot the corner armside against righties. If he can take the ball every five days, he’ll have a case as the best lefthanded pitching prospect in the sport.

    Quote

    Jake Eder, LHP, White Sox
    Eder opened his career with the Marlins by jumping directly to Double-A in his first season as a pro. He was dazzling with Pensacola, where he competed for the Southern League’s ERA crown before suffering an injury that required Tommy John surgery. Eder returned in 2023 and pitched to mixed results before being sent to Chicago in the trade that made Jake Burger a Marlin. He finished the year with Double-A Birmingham and then added more time in the Arizona Fall League, where he struggled with control and command over six outings.

    Eder pitched three innings in an intrasquad game toward the end of spring and was excellent, recording six strikeouts and getting 10 whiffs overall while pounding the zone with a four-pitch mix that included a cutter in the 86-88 mph range in addition to his usual fastball-slider-changeup array. If he brings the same crispness into the season as he showed on the backfields, he could add some more shine to an overhauled White Sox system.

    10 Prospects who Impressed on the Arizona backfields. Eder hype rising?

    https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/10-mlb-prospects-who-impressed-on-the-arizona-backfields/

    • Thanks 3

    4/1 Braves @ White Sox, 1:10pm CT

    in 2024 Season in Review

    Posted

    1 hour ago, fathom said:

    He’s got the age factor and if he’s answering questions about his velocity, he’s going to skyrocket

    He was sitting between 92 to 94 yesterday which is about where he usually is I believe. Though I find it funny we thought Mena's fastball was light, but then acquired Thorpe.

    • Like 1

    2024 - MLB Draft Thread

    in FutureSox Board

    Posted · Edited by DirtySox

    Via BA.

    Quote

    37. Levi Sterling
    RHP

    Ht: 6'4" | Wt: 190 | B-T: R-R

    School: Notre Dame HS, Sherman Oaks, Calif. Commit/Drafted: Texas

    Age At Draft: 17.9

    Previous Rank: 50

    Sterling has starter traits and an array of projection indicators in his favor. He’s one of the youngest players in the class, on par with a 2025 prospect as he won’t turn 18 until September 2024 after the draft. At 6-foot-4, 190 pounds, he has a tall, lean frame with ample room to fill out and add to a fastball that has touched 94. There should be significantly more velocity to come. He pairs his fastball with an upper-70s curveball that he has impressive feel to spin with sharp bite and good depth to miss bats. It’s a potential plus pitch, and he has similar feel to spin his low-to-mid 80s slider. Sterling has also flashed a promising changeup in the low-80s with swing-and-miss properties. He’s one of the better strike-throwers in the class too, with athleticism that helps him repeat his sound, fluid mechanics. Sterling is committed to Texas.

     

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