Whenever a Draft list is updated for the first time since December, there are bound to be a lot of changes up and down the rankings. This year’s new Draft Top 150 takes that to an extreme, speaking to the volatility and uncertainty of the class outside of the top 11 or so players. There are first-round selections for the taking and several players have stepped up their games to try and snag them.
While there are always new names floating to the top of the rankings this time of year, the 2024 list is unprecedented. There are eight players in the current top 50 who weren’t on the Top 100 at all back in December. The previous high for newcomers was the five who jumped up in 2021. Last year, there were only three.
Those aren’t the only players with serious upward mobility. A pair of players have leapt from the 50-100 range into the top 25 and first-round consideration. One of them is in the top 20, a jump that has only happened once in the past five years. That player was MLB’s current No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday in 2022.
Below is a look at the biggest risers in the class and how much they’ve improved their Draft stock. This week’s MLB Pipeline Podcast provided a complete breakdown on them.
Mayo: “Tibbs is first and foremost a bat, and I think guys who can hit in big college programs who perform are going to float up. What he’s done this year, though, has taken it to an entirely different level. He hit .300 with 10 homers in his freshman year at Florida State. Then he upped that, he had an 1.100 OPS as a sophomore. He hit on the Cape with some power, and then this year, he’s got a 1.300 OPS, he’s got 18 homers.
“I think, to me, the thing that stands out the most is he has twice as many walks as strikeouts so far and tends to be a plus hitter with at least average power. He’s likely, I think, at this point to go probably somewhere in the middle of the first round.”
Callis: “He barely played as a freshman at Clemson, and he barely played in the first month last season at Clemson. He was not getting at-bats. And then, it’s crazy how he got started.
“So, Caden Grice, who was a Draft pick last year, I think got ejected for challenging balls and strikes. It was like a Saturday game, so automatic one-game suspension, they needed to replace him in the lineup. Billy Amick is in the lineup on Sunday, and I think he had something like four hits and then he hit .413 the whole rest of the season and continued to rake in the Cape Cod League.
