6:16 AM UTC
With the action of the 2023 season in the rearview mirror and almost a month to go before Spring Training games get underway, the reveal of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list for 2024 is imminent.
Watch MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger and Dan O’Dowd count down the list with Pipeline’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. And stay tuned immediately afterwards for bonus coverage as Sam Dykstra will join the crew for the Pipeline Prospects Postgame show on MLB.com and MLB.TV.
It’s the 20th anniversary of MLB.com’s first top prospects list, and the 2024 edition of our Top 100 Prospects promises to be as stacked with game-changing talent as any.
Who will be No. 1 this year? Who will make the biggest leap? Who’s taking a step back? And which prospects have cracked the list for the first time?
Answers are coming Friday evening.
How the Top 100 is determined
The MLB Pipeline team compiles the rankings using input from industry sources, including scouts, scouting directors and other evaluators. The rankings are an aggregate analysis, taking the players’ skill set, upside, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams into account.
The list only includes players with rookie status in 2024, meaning players who debuted in ’23 but did not accumulate the service time (45 days on the active roster), at-bats (130) or innings pitched (50) to graduate are eligible again this year. First-year players who fall outside of the international pool money rules laid out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement — that is, who are at least 23 years old and played in international leagues deemed professional — are not eligible. That excludes some older rookies debuting after careers in places like Japan, Korea and Cuba, like Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Former MLB No. 1 prospects
Former No. 1 prospects include the likes of Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Joe Mauer and numerous other players who count MVP trophies, Cy Young Awards or Rookie of the Year honors among their respective accomplishments. Last year’s AL Rookie of the Year, Gunnar Henderson, was No. 64 when the 2022 list was unveiled and topped the list at this time last year.
MLB’s preseason No. 1 prospects by year
2023: Gunnar Henderson, 3B/SS, BAL
2022: Bobby Witt Jr., SS/3B, KC
2021: Wander Franco, SS, TB
2020: Wander Franco, SS, TB
2019: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, TOR
2018: Shohei Ohtani, RHP/OF, LAA
2017: Andrew Benintendi, OF, BOS
2016: Corey Seager, SS, LAD
2015: Byron Buxton, OF, MIN
2014: Byron Buxton, OF, MIN
2013: Jurickson Profar, SS, TEX
2012: Matt Moore, LHP, TB
2011: Mike Trout, OF, LAA
2010: Jason Heyward, OF, ATL
2009: David Price, LHP, TB
2008: Jay Bruce, OF, CIN
2007: Delmon Young, OF, TB
2006: Delmon Young, OF, TB
2005: Delmon Young, OF, TB
2004: Joe Mauer, C, MIN
