2024 Top MLB Draft Prospects

By Carlos Collazo

Baseball America’s draft rankings are an attempt to capture the industry’s consensus on the talent of the 2024 draft class. The list is compiled in consultation with MLB scouts, front office executives, scouting directors, college coaches and other professional evaluators.

The 2024 draft class is led by a solid group of 10 players that have become a near-consensus top tier of talent.

Georgia outfielder and third baseman Charlie Condon, this year’s college player of the year, tops the group after putting together one of the most memorable offensive seasons in college baseball. Oregon State second baseman and hitting machine Travis Bazzana follows closely behind.

While most scouts consider Condon and Bazzana the clear 1-2 of the class, the next eight players are difficult to line up and separate, with differing orders depending on the scouts and teams you talk to. 

The group includes four college hitters: West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt, Florida slugger Jac Caglianone, Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery and Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz; two college pitchers who dominated in an offense-friendly environment: Wake Forest righthander Chase Burns and Arkansas lefthander Hagen Smith; and the top two high school hitters in the class: Mississippi shortstop and outfield Konnor Griffin and California shortstop Bryce Rainer.

While the top of the 2024 class is solid, the class as a whole falls short of an exceptional 2023 draft class. There’s a distinct fall off beyond the top tier. 

“It’s definitely a below-average (class),” said one scout. “I guess if you cut the draft off after the top 10 picks it would be a good draft.”

Teams picking outside of the first 10 picks have a huge cluster of players that have been difficult to sort through and separate all spring, which could lead to plenty of chaos on draft day with boards that diverge sooner than is typical. 

The 2024 class is one of the weaker high school draft classes in recent memory which combined with a second tier of college pitchers that have plenty of question marks should lead to a first round that’s heavy on college bats.

While the strength of the class is college hitting, there are more corner profiles among that demographic than a year ago and no-doubt shortstop profiles from both the college and high school ranks could be more difficult to find than usual at the top of the draft. 

Below BA subscribers can see the full top 500 with scouting reports for each player and BA Grades and tools grades for the top 200 players in the class.