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.