Baseball Prospects to Watch In 2024 Based on Assignment

By Benjamin Chase

Yesterday in this space, the opening assignment of the top 25 players in the offseason Baseball America top 100 prospect list. Today, the focus shifts to prospects that aren’t getting that level of attention, but perhaps should be.

When assignments were announced for Opening Day for the minor leagues over the past week, many assignments stuck out. These are ten of interest, but there are tons more, and you’re encouraged to check out MiLB.tv to watch all the great minor league action this season that’s available!

RHP Logan Evans and SS Cole Young, Seattle Mariners

Few players received as much “hype” for his spring performance as did Evans, the Mariners’ 12th-round selection last summer’s draft out of the University of Pittsburgh. He added velocity over the offseason and was one of the most impressive minor league arms in spring action. Young is widely-regarded as a top-50 prospect, but the Mariners’ first-round pick in 2022 out of high school in Pennsylvania had less than 50 games experience at High-A in 2023. Both players were surprisingly assigned to Double-A Arkansas.

LHP Alex Clemmey and IF Rafael Ramirez, Jr., Cleveland Guardians

Clemmey was widely-loved by prospect hounds coming into the 2023 draft, and when he was selected by the Guardians, his stock soared. The 6’6” lefty has a tremendous fastball but could use polish on his breaking stuff, and Cleveland is widely-regarded as a top organization for developing breaking pitches. Ramirez, whose father was a utility infielder for 13 years in the 1980s and 1990s, was a 2022 international signee by Cleveland and has significant upside potential both offensively and defensively. Both Clemmey and Ramirez will open the season with Cleveland’s Single-A affiliate, Lynchburg.

LHP Hunter Owen, Kansas City Royals

In a draft that was known to be deep in college pitching and overall talent, it was fairly expected that someone would slip in the 2023 draft. Few would have seen the Royals potentially landing one of the steals of the draft in Owen, who struggled to get on the mound and stay on the mound in three seasons with Vanderbilt. After sitting out the rest of the 2023 season once the Royals selected him in the fourth round, Owen was assigned to High-A Quad Cities and will open the season working out of the bullpen where his impressive raw stuff could allow him to move quickly.

Nelson Rada, OF, Los Angeles Angels

A lefty-swinging centerfielder hailing from Venezuela, Rada has been the subject of multiple “jumps” in his young career. The 18-year-old skipped past the Arizona Complex League in 2023, straight to the Single-A California League, where he was one of the youngest players in the league, but held his own, hitting .276/.396./346. His excellent defense and on-base skills encouraged the Angels that he could handle another skip, jumping over High-A and beginning the 2024 season in Double-A as the youngest player at that level to open 2024.

John Cruz, OF, Miami Marlins

Cruz was just part of the return that the Yankees sent to the Marlins for infielder Jon Berti, though Cruz alone may prove that deal to be a lopsided one in Miami’s favor. The big right fielder crushed 10 home runs in less than 50 games in his first stateside action in Florida last season. This year, the 18-year-old will take his thunderous bat to Single-A Jupiter to open the season.

LHP Kyle Carr, New York Yankees

Cruz’s former franchise is well-known for its ability to develop unheralded pitchers into potential trade chips, though they’ve yet to push one of those development projects into success in the big league rotation. Carr could be the next guy they give a shot to be the first development story to stick. The lefty turned heads on the backfields this spring after the Yankees selected him in the third round last summer. His first minor league assignment is in High-A with Hudson Valley.

Byron Chourio/Brandon Winokur/Walker Jenkins, OF, Minnesota Twins

Any one of these three guys would be very intriguing to watch in their first full-season assignment with Single-A Fort Myers. The great part is that they’re all three there together! Chourio was acquired from the Marlins in the Pablo Lopez/Luis Arraez deal before last season. Winokur, though technically still playing shortstop, is 6’6” and the 2023 third-rounder will likely end up in the outfield long-term. Finally, Jenkins was in the discussion for the top overall selection in the draft and has all the hype of a future cornerstone player for the Twins. The best part is that Fort Myers has added home broadcasts of their games, so you can see these three more often in 2024!

Jacob Wilson, SS, Oakland Athletics

Considered one of the most-advanced offensive players available in the 2023 draft, the shortstop and son of former big leaguer Jack Wilson went in the first round to the Athletics. Wilson is a skilled defender and has already shown that his high-contact approach will work at the plate, which should allow him to succeed with an aggressive promotion to Double-A to open his first full professional season.

Chase Dollander pitching for the University of TennesseePhoto byKelsey Grant

Chase Dollander, RHP, and Sean Sullivan, LHP, Colorado Rockies

Two of the best college arms available in the 2023 draft both ended up in the Colorado system, and many are quickly dismissing both Dollander and Sullivan due to a bias against any pitching prospects in the Colorado system. While that has been a valid stance in the past, recent drafting has proliferated the Rockies’ farm system with talented arms. Dollander and Sullivan will open the season fronting the rotation for High-A Spokane where they combined to strike out 21 over 11 shutout innings in their season debuts.

RHPs Brandon Sproat and Noah Hall, New York Mets

Hall and Sproat went from competitors in the Southeastern Conference to teammates after the Mets drafted the pair in the second and seventh rounds, respectively, of last summer’s draft. It was the second time the Mets had drafted Sproat, having selected him in the third round the year before. Both Sproat and Hall bring excellent raw stuff to the High-A Brooklyn rotation and could quickly establish themselves among the group of excellent former college arms that are already filling the upper-level rotations in the organization.

While there are dozens more intriguing opening assignments across the minor leagues in 2024, that should whet your appetite for minor league baseball this season!

Benjamin Chase is a newspaper reporter for the Plainsman in South Dakota. His passion for the game of baseball has led to numerous writing and podcasting credits over the years. Currently, Benjamin is a co-editor for IBWAA’s Here’s the Pitch newsletter, writes for his Medium site, Chasing Baseball Greatness, and also is a co-host of the Pallazzo Podcast prospect show. He’s on most social medias under the username biggentleben.