MLB Pipeline will reveal its 2024 Prime 100 Prospects listing at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 26, with a one-hour present on MLB Community and MLB.com. Main as much as the discharge of the Prime 100, we’ll look at baseball’s prime 10 prospects at every place.
At all times one of many deepest teams of prospects as we unveil the Prime 100 listing, this 12 months is not any totally different, though there’s been a ton of turnover.
Six of final 12 months’s preseason prime 10 graduated to the large leagues through the 2023 season, beginning with No. 1 right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. There are solely two holdovers from final 12 months’s Prime 10 — Phillies prospects Andrew Painter and Mick Abel — with Painter kind of suspended in Tommy John surgical procedure limbo.
This group has been aided by the 2023 Draft, beginning in fact with the man who sits atop it, and atop the Draft class, Paul Skenes. However he’s not alone. There are three different prime of the Draft picks within the prime 10 in Rhett Lowder (No. 7 choose), Chase Dollander (No. 9) and Noble Meyer (No. 10), making this simply the second time — and first since 2012 (Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, Gerrit Cole, Archie Bradley) — that 4 gamers from the earlier 12 months’s Draft have been on the preseason Prime 10 RHP Prospects listing.
1. Paul Skenes, Pirates (2024)2. Jackson Jobe, Tigers (2025)3. Cade Horton, Cubs (2024)4. Andrew Painter, Phillies (2025)5. Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers (2025)6. Rhett Lowder, Reds (2024)7. Mick Abel, Phillies (2024)8. Chase Dollander, Rockies (2026)9. Dylan Lesko, Padres (2026)10. Noble Meyer, Marlins (2026)Full listing »
Prime 10 prospects by place:1/16: RHP1/17: LHP1/18: C1/19: 1B1/22: 2B1/23: 3B1/24: SS1/25: OF1/26: Prime 100
Fastball: Skenes (80)At LSU final 12 months, Skenes averaged 98.6 mph together with his fastball and recurrently hit triple digits. His means to command the pitch, together with a flat method angle and carry, led to a 30 % miss fee on his heater. He maintains it deep into begins and reaches the elite velos with out a lot effort.
Curveball: Misiorowski, Abel, Lesko (55)The scary factor is that Misiorowski’s comparatively newer curve is likely to be his fourth finest pitch, behind his fastball, slider and cutter, however he has such a very good really feel for spin, it’s going to be a helpful possibility for him. Abel has distinct breaking pitches as properly and has stood out together with his means to spin the ball since highschool. Lesko’s upper-70s breaker will get extra constant the extra he’s on the mound put up Tommy John surgical procedure, and it registers excessive spin charges.
Slider: Skenes, Jobe, Horton, Misiorowski (70)4 70 sliders on this listing! Skenes elicited an absurd 62 % miss fee with this pitch at LSU final 12 months, and it was voted as the most effective secondary providing of any pitching prospect within the just lately carried out MLB Pipeline Govt Ballot. Jobe’s slider completed third in that voting, whereas Horton and Misiorowski additionally received a number of votes for his or her nasty breaking stuff.
Changeup: Lesko (70)Professional hitters have but to see the most effective Lesko has to supply right here, and so they higher be careful. It was arguably the most effective of his Draft class, thrown with separation and two-plane motion. It’s a pitch that may make hitters look foolish, and he ought to proceed to regain full really feel for it with surgical procedure in his rearview.
Management: Painter, Lowder (65)Painter gained’t pitch in 2024 due to TJ surgical procedure final summer season, however in his big 2022 season, he walked simply 2.2 per 9 whereas pitching throughout three ranges. Lowder’s really feel for pitching is a giant cause why he went No. 7 general in final 12 months’s Draft and why many see him making a beeline to Cincinnati.
Highest ceiling: SkenesHe wasn’t the No. 1 choose within the Draft for nothing, and the “finest faculty pitching prospect since Strasburg” discuss is legit. He has frontline starter written throughout him and Pirates followers ought to get an opportunity to see him sooner reasonably than later.
Highest ground: LowderSkenes might run all of those classes, however let’s give another person worthy an opportunity. Lowder’s superb stuff to associate with his actually superior really feel for pitching give the Reds a ton of confidence that he’s going to be a giant league starter, and shortly.
Rookie of the Yr Award candidate: SkenesIt’s a query of when, not if, the large right-hander makes his large league debut this 12 months. Sufficient executives thought he’d be up quickly sufficient to compete for ROY honors that he received a number of votes within the survey. If he logs sufficient innings, don’t be shocked if he will get actual Rookie of the Yr votes at season’s finish.
Highest riser & humblest starting: MisiorowskiWhile he did get $2.35 million to signal as a second-rounder, it is a group of first-round picks, and the truth that Misiorowski overcame accidents and was taken that top out of junior faculty is one thing each he and the Brewers deserve credit score for. He wasn’t within the Prime 100 to start out final 12 months, starting the season at No. 7 on the Brewers’ Prime 30 earlier than pitching throughout three ranges and delivering a dominant efficiency within the Futures Sport
Most to show: LeskoKeep this spot heat for Painter subsequent 12 months, however Lesko has big expectations coming into 2024. He threw his first 33 skilled innings final 12 months post-TJ, and the stuff was thrilling even thought he was understandably rusty. The gloves might come off this season, and he actually might take off.
Control: Bubba ChandlerChandler was a two-way participant in highschool (and at the beginning of his professional profession), to not point out a gifted sufficient QB to have performed Division I soccer. From July on final 12 months, together with a one-start end up in Double-A, the super-athletic righty posted a 2.33 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP, .190 BAA and a 9.5 Ok/9 fee.
