High School Players Debuting In Their Draft Summers Might Be A Thing Of The Past
Image credit: Dante Nori (Photo by Stacy Jo Grant)
Only one high school first-round pick has made his pro debut this summer.
The Phillies assigned outfielder Dante Nori to Low-A Clearwater on Aug. 13. The 19-year-old was drafted 27th overall out of Northville (Mich.) High.
While pitchers not pitching after the draft is common, just-drafted position players sitting out the summer is new this year. It is the byproduct of two factors:
(1) A later draft date
MLB pushed its draft date back to July in 2021. It now takes place during All-Star Game weekend festivities. Prior to 2021, the draft took place in early June. That timing allowed high school players to sign and report to Rookie-level affiliates with two months or more left in the season.
(2) An earlier Rookie-level complex league season
For decades, the Rookie-level leagues opened in June and closed in late August. The timing was perfect for that year’s draftees to gain professional experience. But this year, MLB moved Opening Day for the Arizona and Florida Complex leagues to May 4. The seasons closed on July 25.
That left roughly 10 days between the July 14 draft and the end of the Rookie-level ACL and FCL seasons, which are the leagues in which just-drafted high school players are most likely to debut. Therefore, it is logistically impossible for 2024 draftees to play meaningfully in the Rookie complex leagues.
In 2021, prep draft picks including James Wood, Marcelo Mayer, Brady House, James Triantos and Harry Ford played meaningfully in the complex leagues. The same was true for Elijah Green in 2022 and for Walker Jenkins, Bryce Eldridge and Dillon Head in 2023.
In all those instances, the ACL and FCL seasons stretched until late August. Again, those leagues ended in late July this year.
No 2024 high school draft pick played in the complex leagues this year. Among players drafted in the top three rounds, so far only Nori and Phillies second-rounder Griffin Burkolder have gained any pro experience in official league games.
To that point, 18 of the 20 players who ranked among the Top 10 Prospects in the ACL and FCL this year were signed internationally. The exceptions were D-backs 2022 seventh-round second baseman Demetrio Crisantes, who was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery when drafted, and Rays 2023 fifth-round righthander Trevor Harrison, who is following Tampa Bay’s deliberate pitcher buildup regimen.
Both Crisantes and Harrison reached Low-A by the end of June.
While many 2024 college draft picks will be assigned to full-season affiliates this summer, virtually no high school draftee have made their official pro debuts this year. Instead they will play in “bridge league” games at the Arizona and Florida complexes. These games are unofficial, and in some cases are not even games in the strictest sense. The bridge league atmosphere is most similar to instructional league, where teams can bat players out of order or “roll” innings if they don’t want to overtax a pitcher.
There is precedent for this set-up. In the years before the pandemic, the international signing period opened on July 2 rather than Jan. 15, as it does today. Many international signees were too young to participate in official minor league games at the time of their signing, so they spent the summer taking part in unofficial “tricky league” games at the Dominican complexes.
Tricky league participants were generally ready for the Dominican Summer League the following year.
But now that most international free agents are 17 years old when they sign, they report to the DSL in June of their signing years, thus eliminating the need for the tricky league.
Today, a typical progression for top domestic and international prospects looks something like this:
| Age | Domestic Prospect | International Prospect |
| 17 | High school junior | Dominican Summer League (signing year) |
| 18 | High school senior (draft year) | Arizona or Florida Complex League |
| 19 | Low-A | Low-A |
Overall, ACL and FCL representation by players born in the United States was down dramatically in 2024, especially by domestic position players.
The Dominican Republic, Venezuela and the U.S. are far and away the largest suppliers of baseball talent. The following tables summarize the share of ACL plus FCL playing time accumulated by players born in those three countries.
Percentage Of ACL And FCL Plate Appearances By Birth Country
| Year | Dominican Republic | Venezuela | United States |
| 2021 | 34.5% | 24.5% | 26.7% |
| 2022 | 37.9% | 30.2% | 19.4% |
| 2023 | 35.1% | 28.7% | 21.4% |
| 2024 | 40.9% | 31.0% | 13.4% |
American-born players accounted for just 13% of complex league plate appearances in 2024, down from roughly 20% over the previous two seasons. The figure was much higher in 2021, but that might be due to MLB organizations adapting to the new minor league structure put in place that season.
Percentage Of ACL And FCL Batters Faced By Birth Country
| Year | Dominican Republic | Venezuela | United States |
| 2021 | 37.8% | 19.5% | 27.5% |
| 2022 | 40.8% | 23.1% | 22.2% |
| 2023 | 38.2% | 25.0% | 22.5% |
| 2024 | 37.1% | 26.1% | 19.8% |
Domestic pitchers accounted for about 20% of batters faced in the complex leagues this season. That figure is down from 22% the previous two seasons, so the change here is not as dramatic as it is on the hitting side. The change also conforms with overall player development trends. Over time, teams have become far more conservative when it comes to actually pitching their pitchers, especially those who signed for notable draft bonuses.
The makeup of the Rookie-level complex leagues has changed over time, but the average age of position players in the ACL and FCL today is still roughly 19-and-a-half years old, the same as it has been going back more than a decade.
The key difference today versus 10 years ago is country of origin. More Rookie-level complex league players today signed as international free agents rather than draft picks.
