Top 10 Outfield Prospects: Crews Leads Loaded Class of Talent

The Top 10 Prospect by Position Series continues with a loaded class of outfielders ready to hit Roger Dorn Baseball League Active Rosters in 2024. The group is headlined by 2022 Reserve Draftee Dylan Crews who sparked a wave of collegiate scouting by Burlingame Blue Ducks GM Ryan Walsh that looks likely to lead the club back into contention starting in 2024.

Our Top 10 Prospect Series will conclude with Starting Pitchers on Friday before the RDBL Top 100 is revealed for the first time since 2021 next week.

1. OF Dylan Crews, Burlingame Blue Ducks

Acquired: 2022 Reserve Draft, 2nd Round | ETA: 2025

Crews kicked off the Ducks college-heavy approach in 2022, establishing himself as one of the most decorated amateur bats in the last 25 years. A complete hitter with power and speed to boot, Crews could make a push for an Opening Day job in Washington, but a 2025 activation looks like a safer bet with a potential Triple-A start in 2024.

2. OF Jordan Walker, Asti Grape Stompers

Acquired: 2022 Trade from Lunatic Fringe | ETA: 2024

Overall, Jordan hit a respectable .287/.342/.787 slash line for the season with 16 home runs and 51 RBIs. However, as any club would hope with a 21-year-old big leaguer, Walker showed his promise after his second call-up to the team in June, where he hit a .277/.346/.455 slash line with 14 home runs and 40 RBIs. With strong on-base skills and emerging in-game power, Walker should push for 400+ point seasons for each of the next three seasons making him a pillar for the Grapes and GM Terry Shelley.

3. OF Evan Carter, Alamo Short Stacks

Acquired: 2023 Trade from Idaho Taters | ETA: 2024

Carter’s exceptional October has pushed his stock as high as ever with the Texas Rangers trusting the 21-year-old in the third spot in the order on most nights this October. An OBP-machine, Carter’s skillset aligns perfectly with the RDBL scoring format while adding value on the basepaths. His Playoff performance has pushed him squarely in the Alamo Short Stacks plans for 2024 when he’s excepted to be an Opening Day activation.

4. OF Wyatt Langford, Burlingame Blue Ducks

Acquired: 2023 Reserve Draft, 2nd Round | ETA: 2025

It’s hard not to rave about Langford’s professional debut after being the 3rd overall selection in the MLB Draft out of the University of Florida. Rising all the way to Double-A in a two month span, Langford has as much upside as any prospect on the list and has the ability to have a loud enough Spring Training to make the Rangers consider an Opening Day role alongside Evan Carter.

5. OF Jackson Chourio, Las Vegas Aristocrats

Acquired: 2023 Reserve Draft, 1st Round | ETA: 2025

Chourio and Roki Sasaki were the clearcut best prospects available in the 2023 Reserve Draft with the Las Vegas Aristocrats simply waiting to see who the St. Joseph Jokers selected first. While they couldn’t go wrong, Chourio has added even more shine to his already bright outlook. A middling first half had some, including me, starting to question his overall upside. Chourio seemed to listen to the noise in the industry and turn in an utterly dominant 2nd Half as one of Double-A’s youngest players. While he’s likely to start 2024 in the Minors, he should get his first taste of the big leagues at age 20 this year.

6. 1B/OF Nolan Jones, Mission Viejo Maulers

Acquired: 2023 Trade with Burlingame Blue Ducks | ETA: 2024 (‘23 Playoff Activation)

Some eyebrows were raised when the Maulers acquired Nolan Jones and a 3rd Round Pick for prized catcher Daulton Varsho before the 2023 Draft. The move paid off handsomely as Jones was exceptional in 2023, posting an overall line of .297/.389/.542 with 46 extra base hits. Jones' performance pushed GM Chris Ferraro to activate him for the 2023 Playoffs where he went nuclear, posting the fourth most points in RDBL Playoff History. If he maintains production close to what he showed in 2023, this ranking will be far too low.

7. OF James Wood, Maltese Falcons

Acquired: 2023 Trade with Mission Viejo Maulers | ETA: 2025

After selecting Wood with the 3rd Overall pick in the 2023 Reserve Draft, GM Chris Ferraro was forced to include the young outfielder in a blockbuster deal with the Falcons as they pursued the Playoffs. The 6'6 Wood developed a bit of a strikeout issue last season which finished north of 30%, but it came with 26 home runs, 28 doubles, eight triples and a .874 OPS across two Minor League stops. He's ticketed for Triple-A to start 2024 and likely to be on a similar timeline as RDBL's 5th ranked prospect Dylan Crews in the Nationals organization.

8. OF Jasson Dominguez, Mission Viejo Maulers

Acquired: 2021 Trade from Alamo Short Stacks | ETA: 2025

The club got extremely close to an in-season activation for Dominguez following his splashy New York debut, a move that would have been a disaster as he went down with an elbow injury that will sideline him for most of 2024. Despite the delay in joining the Active Roster, Dominguez showed plenty to have the Maulers excited about the future. He made his MLB debut on Sept. 1 and proceeded to hit four home runs during his eight-game stretch, posting a .980 OPS during that span.

9. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Asti Grape Stompers

Acquired: 2022 Reserve Draft, 10th Round | ETA: 2025

A stellar year at Triple-A led to Crow-Armstrong jumping into the Top-15 of Minor League prospects while earning him a late season promotion to Chicago for his big league debut. The long-term vision for Crow-Armstrong is him as the team’s everyday centerfielder. He flashed his stellar defensive skills during his three weeks with the big league club last month. But the short term question is whether he will be a part of the team’s immediate plans for next year. That he was used primarily as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement (while going 0-for-14 with seven strikeouts at the plate) in September is somewhat telling, but the starting job next April will depend largely on if Cody Bellinger is still on the team. In the context of a full season, an o-for-14 stretch is aggravating but not alarming or even indicative. Crow-Armstrong has a .301 batting average and .891 OPS in 885 minor league at-bats, but that stretch could give the club pause to put all of their eggs in PCA to start the season, pushing a potential activation to 2025 for GM Terry Shelley.

10. OF Colton Cowser, Asti Grape Stompers

Acquired: 2023 Reserve Draft, 1st Round | ETA: 2024

Colton Cowser came into the season as a top 50 prospect and ended it in the top 15 in many publications. The outfielder started 2023 looking to build on a late call-up to Norfolk in 2022. He ended the year as the MVP of the Triple-A championship game and undoubtedly one of the best players at the minors’ highest level. Yet, 2023 will perhaps be better remembered for Cowser’s underwhelming time in the majors than his exploits for Norfolk. If Cowser can make adjustments against major-league pitching he could very well be a good number two hitter in the Orioles lineup for a while, posting high on-base percentages and 15-20 home runs every year, but we’ve seen this profile sputter in the majors before, as he doesn’t have a traditional carrying tool on the scouting sheet or in the underlying data which elevates the risk.

Free Agent Spotlight: LHP Cole Ragans

Throughout the off-season, we will place a spotlight on some of the most interesting Free Agents set to hit the Auction Market in 2024 for the 11th Roger Dorn Baseball League Draft. With a wave of money to spend and a talented Free Agent Class, the 2024 Auction Draft is set to see historic spending yet again with a wave of Activations driving up the overall cap space across the league.

Our Free Agent Spotlight Off-Season series will start with one of the more intriguing names set to hit the market in 2024 -- Kansas City Royals left-hander Cole Ragans.

LHP Cole Ragans

Positional Free Agent Rank: 7

Overall Free Agent Rank: 21

Cole Ragans was two different pitchers in 2023 for two different clubs. He worked solely as a reliever for Texas with too many walks and homers as part of a rather leaky bullpen. It was that situation which led the club to deal the talented lefty to Kansas City for Aroldis Chapman. The deal has been a win-win in the short term, but one Texas will regret for years to come if Ragans continues to shove as he did once reporting to the Royals.

Ragans averaged 92.1 mph with his fastball in nine starts for the Rangers in 2022. Texas shifted him to the pen this year, and though he struggled to a 5.92 ERA in 17 appearances, it was very notable that his velocity jumped four mph. Incredibly, he held on to those gains and even went up a tad further after the Royals transitioned him back to the rotation. He wound up with an 89/27 K/BB ratio in 71 2/3 innings over 12 starts for Kansas City, which has his stock sky-high entering 2024.

The Honolulu Hammerheads claimed Ragans on 8/7, one week after the Deadline players must be on your roster to be Keeper eligible for the following season.

Potential Fits

The interest in Ragans is expected to be widespread, with every RDBL club looking for a backend rotation option with sky-high potential. That demand is likely to push Ragans into the $30-35 range, provided he puts together a solid Spring Training.

Prediction: $32 to Honolulu Hammerheads

The Heads had their eyes on Ragans for most of 2023 after his move to the Royals, snatching him up in early August. GM Ross Horiuchi would love a reunion with the ability to put Ragans behind Sonny Gray, Tanner Bibee, Michael Wacha, Brandon Pfaadt and potentially Chris Sale of Reese Olson to form a talented and high-upside rotation.

Top 10 Shortstop Prospects: Holliday Tops Second Position List

Our Top 10 Prospects by Position Series continues with a loaded class of Shortstops led again by Las Vegas Aristocrats phenom Jackson Holliday who looks primed for his big league debut in 2024. Eight of the Top 10 shortstop prospects look poised for Opening Day roles or early 2024 debuts in another major wave of young talent ready to join RDBL Rosters.

Our coverage of the Top 10 Prospects by Position will conclude with Outfielders and Pitchers over the coming days before concluding with the RDBL Top 100 for the first time since 2021.

1. SS/2B Jackson Holliday, Las Vegas Aristocrats

Acquired: 2023 Trade from Idaho Taters | ETA: 2025

Awarded Baseball America’s Player of the Year in the Minor Leagues, Holliday has ascended into RDBL’s top hitting prospect. Originally a selection of the Idaho Taters, Holliday was one of the highest profile prospects to be traded in League History as the Las Vegas Aristocrats were able to pry him away. He’s on track to make his big leagues in 2024 with a potential Playoff activation or 2025 Opening Day addition to follow.

2. SS/3B Elly De La Cruz, Cloverdale Clovers

Acquired: 2022 Reserve Draft, 2nd Round | ETA: 2024

De La Cruz has some of the loudest tools of any prospect in recent memory, slugging majestic home runs while causing havoc on the bases on a nightly basis. His 2023 Rookie campaign was filled with a bit too much swing and miss, something that is worrisome for Cloverdale Clovers GM Chris Shelley, but potentially something he can overcome given his strong track record in the Minors. If he does, this ranking will look quite low at this time next year.

3. SS/2B Matt McLain, St. Joseph Jokers

Acquired: 2021 Reserve Draft, 5th Round | ETA: 2024

McLain was one of baseball’s breakouts in 2023, slashing .290/.357/.507 while taking over the starting shortstop spot for the Cincinnati Reds. He torched Triple-A to start the season, hitting .340/.467/.688 and looks the part of a Top-10 producer at the position over the next three seasons for the St. Joseph Jokers who will look to build around McLain and Gunnar Henderson.

4. SS Jordan Lawlar, Asti Grape Stompers

Acquired: 2021 Reserve Draft, 1st Round | ETA: 2024

Lawlar is coming off back-to-back seasons of 15+ HR and 35+ SB in 105 games or less while also posting a walk rate north of 11% in both seasons. Lawlar also dropped his strikeout rate from 25.1% to 20.6% and his SwStr rate from 23.4% to 12.2%. Overall, Lawlar has slashed .291/.390/.503 in 207 minor league games with a 650 PA pace of 25 home runs and 52 stolen bases and will enter 2024 with a chance to earn an Opening Day spot, though a crowded depth chart in Arizona could push him back one additional season.

5. SS/3B Noelvi Marte, Luantic Fringe

Acquired: 2022 Trade from Lake Merced Goutfish | ETA: 2024

A long-time prospect, yet still just 22-years-old, Noevli Marte made his big league debut in 2023 and took full advnatage, planting himself firmly into the Reds plans for next season. Marte slashed .316/.366/.456 over 35 games, finishing on a dominant stretch where he hit .387 in September. A crowded infield could further strengthen his positional eligibility with a potential move to the outfield, making Marte an elite activation option for the Fringe in 2024.

6. SS Anthony Volpe, Cloverdale Clovers

Acquired: 2022 Reserve Draft, 1st Round | ETA: 2024

The Clovers resisted the urge to activate Volpe who earned the starting job in New York thanks to a big Spring. GM Chris Shelley is certainly glad they did as Volpe endured his share of struggles but came out with 159 games played while posting a 20/20 season. There were stints of strong performance to build on with the speed he displayed giving Volpe a strong floor for 2024.

7. SS Jackson Merrill, Lunatic Fringe

Acquired: 2023 Reserve Draft, 1st Round | ETA: 2024

In 114 games this season, Merrill slashed .277/.326/.444 with 25 doubles, 15 home runs, and 15 steals. While he doesn't have a big-time power/speed blend, Merrill should be average to above-average in the power/speed department with the ability to flirt with 20/20 early in his career. That should come with a higher AVG as well as Merrill has consistently displayed strong contact skills around or above 80% and doesn't strike out that often either, finishing 2023 with a 12.1% mark. With Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado locked into the left side of the infield in San Diego for years to come, Merrill is likely to flip to the other side of second base with an expected debut in early 2024.

8. SS Marcelo Mayer, Alamo Short Stacks

Acquired: 2023 Trade from Idaho Taters | ETA: 2025

It was a Tale of Three Seasons for Mayer in 2023. The first two months he mashed in the South Atlantic League, posting a near .900 OPS and earning a promotion to Double-A. His next two months in Double-A were a struggle, as pitchers exploited a hole in his swing at the bottom of the zone while working through a shoulder issue that ultimately ended his season. Mayer will head back to Double-A to start 2024 with the Stacks hopeful his drop in production was more health related than a reflection of his skillset and future upside.

9. SS/2B Adael Amador, Alamo Short Stacks

Acquired: 2023 Trade from Lake Merced Goutfish | ETA: 2025

In just 69 games this season, Amador racked up 15 doubles, 12 home runs, and 15 steals with a .287/.380/.495 slash line and more walks (39) than strikeouts (37). If he didn't miss around half of the minor league season recovering from surgery on his right hamate bone, Amador might be in the top 10 overall discussion heading into 2024. While Amador might not have the flashy power/speed blend that most of the names ahead of him in my rankings have, he's still around average game power and speed, maybe even above average in the power department. That's enough to flirt with 20/20 seasons when half of your games are going to be in Coors Field. Add in a plus or better hit tool and outstanding approach, and you have a well-rounded offensive middle infielder with a fairly high floor as well that should be ready to take on a full-time role in Colorado in 2025.

10. 2B/SS/3B Ronny Mauricio, Lake Merced Goutfish

Acquired: 2021 Reserve Draft, 2nd Round | ETA: 2024

Mauricio has a carrying tool in his plus power, but his below-average on-base ability has generally weighed down his overall offensive production. Mauricio has the electric bat speed and twitch to produce majestic drives to his pull side, and his first MLB hit was a 117.3 mph double that was the hardest hit ball by any Mets hitter in 2023. He also led the Mets with one of the highest chase rates in MLB, undone by poor swing decisions against sliders and changeups. The switch-hitting Mauricio is much stronger from the left side, hitting .284/.334/.497 with a 21% strikeout rate against righthanders in the upper minors and majors. He is an above-average runner and efficient basestealer who went 7-for-7 in his MLB debut. Mauricio is a steady defensive shortstop with a plus arm who fanned out to second base, third base and left field at Triple-A to create avenues to Queens. Playing outfield was abandoned in August, but he looked at home at second and third in New York where he figures to play a prominent role in 2024.