Minor League Hit+ Leaderboards By Age In 2024

Just like last year, Baseball America measured performance throughout the 2024 season based on underlying metrics via the Hawkeye data gathered across the minor leagues. The RoboScout model incorporates some of this Statcast data to assess the minor league performance of hitters and pitchers and evaluate their future major league performance. This article lists some of the hitters who excelled in these metrics in 2024.

Our Methodology

In order to calculate an all-encompassing number across a variety of metrics, we used weighted on-base average (wOBA) as a baseline and built our “Hit+” score weighted by each metric’s correlation to wOBA. This number measures production versus the average in a similar fashion to weighted Runs Created (wRC+), moving up and down from the average score of 100. The main inputs to this metric were contact rate, 90th percentile exit velocity, chase rate, barrel rate and expected weighted-on-base-average-on-contact (xwOBAcon).

All metrics were also independently assessed against pitch types–fastballs, offspeed pitches and breaking pitches–and regressed to the average to account for sample size variance. For example, because a hitter with a contact rate of 90% after 5,000 swings is more likely to have a future contact rate of 90% than a hitter who has a contact rate of 90% after only three swings, and because the impact of the regression will more significantly influence the hitter with the smaller sample size, a hitter with a very low number of plate appearances is more likely to have a HIT+ score nearer 100, as his future performance would be significantly regressed toward the mean.

A hitter’s performance against the different pitch types was then rebalanced so that the average for each metric and pitch type was centered on 100 with a standard deviation of 10. Although a hitter almost certainly would not face an equal amount of breaking pitches, offspeed pitches or fastballs in the future, for the purposes of assessing a relative true talent, they were all weighted the same. This was deemed acceptable for the purposes of this exercise, as a hitter would theoretically be gameplanned to face the pitches against which he would be most vulnerable. This would naturally boost the hitters for whom no obvious exploitable weakness was present.

One other important note: For this exercise, the hitter’s performance in a metric is compared to the overall minor league average and not to the minor league average at the level where the hitter played.

Mainly this is because the discrete performance at each level was unavailable. What this means is that a hitter who had an overall 75% contact rate on breaking balls acquired over 100 swings in Double-A and 400 swings in Triple-A would have the same “Contact” score against breaking balls as a hitter with a contact rate of 75% acquired over 500 swings in Low-A.

This is important to note as, for example, although Leodalis De Vries (Padres) has the 10th-highest Hit+ score for a 17-year-old, much of his performance resulted after facing more advanced Low-A pitching, as opposed to some of the other hitters ranked who only faced Dominican Summer League pitching.

Please note the Hit+ scores do not reflect a player’s defensive or running ability.

Below are the top 10 for each age, minimum 100 plate appearances on the season.

Age 16 (min 100 PAs):

Name	POS	org	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Juneiker Caceres	OF	CLE	120	96	106	100	117
Stiven Martinez	OF	BAL	94	112	120	98	107
Johan Rodriguez	IF	CLE	106	91	98	105	102
Saul Gomez	IF	BAL	103	103	93	95	99
Moises Bolivar	SS	LAD	103	91	100	92	98
Richard Matic	3B	NYY	104	86	87	113	98
Yaxson Lucena	OF	STL	107	92	87	113	98
Evan Estevez	OF	SFG	89	105	100	107	96
Ashly Andujar	SS	COL	113	92	80	86	95
Estiven Morillo	OF	CLE	100	98	86	111	94

Age 17 (min 100 PAs):

name	pos	org	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Jesus Made	SS	MIL	117	113	109	117	125
Justin Gonzales	OF	BOS	115	100	116	99	119
Eduardo Beltre	OF	MIN	100	134	118	104	116
Edward Florentino	OF	PIT	112	101	105	111	115
Yeiferth Castillo	OF	CLE	121	96	94	100	114
Jaset Martinez	OF	CIN	111	100	103	108	113
Luis Cova	OF	MIA	114	92	100	113	112
Luis Pena	SS	MIL	115	101	101	94	111
Adriander Mejia	C	BAL	112	103	98	106	111
Leodalis De Vries	SS	SD	100	126	107	105	110

Age 18 (min 100 PAs):

name	pos	org	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Edgleen Perez	C	NYY	115	109	112	130	125
Colt Emerson	SS	SEA	119	103	107	118	123
Miguel Rodriguez	C	BAL	125	91	93	116	118
Josias Ramirez	OF	CHC	108	105	117	109	118
Eric Bitonti	SS	MIL	92	130	134	115	117
Arnaldo Lantigua	OF	LAD	111	113	101	112	117
Franklin Arias	SS	BOS	110	105	111	112	116
Starlyn Caba	SS	PHI	126	89	82	122	115
Luis Escudero	2B	NYY	117	99	90	117	113
Eduardo Quintero	OF	LAD	114	104	92	113	113

Age 19 (min 100 PAs):

name	POS	ORG	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Kevin McGonigle	SS	DET	130	94	111	118	130
Josue De Paula	OF	LAD	111	113	115	125	124
Demetrio Crisantes	SS	ARI	119	117	111	108	124
Zyhir Hope	OF	LAD	110	118	108	120	123
Walker Jenkins	OF	MIN	123	100	102	111	121
Marco Vargas	SS	NYM	116	97	107	119	121
Jaison Chourio	OF	CLE	118	101	103	119	120
Sam Shaw	2B	TOR	123	88	96	122	119
Engelth Urena	C	NYY	114	106	102	115	118
Bryce Eldridge	OF	SFG	94	132	134	102	117
Jefferson Rojas	SS	CHC	119	103	107	98	117
Michael Arroyo	SS	SEA	102	125	123	107	117
Blake Mitchell	C	KCR	101	119	117	117	116
Samuel Zavala	OF	CHW	111	91	106	126	116
Aidan Smith	OF	TBR	102	126	115	110	115

Age 20 (min 100 PAs):

Name	POS	ORG	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Roman Anthony	OF	BOS	110	113	117	115	123
Sal Stewart	3B	CIN	117	115	113	103	123
Cole Young	SS	SEA	121	100	105	117	121
Thayron Liranzo	C	DET	97	120	128	121	120
Hendry Mendez	OF	PHI	119	95	103	115	119
Jackson Holliday	2B	BAL	103	110	124	119	119
Angel Genao	SS	CLE	116	109	113	101	119
Carter Jensen	C	KCR	104	109	123	114	118
Luke Adams	3B	MIL	112	105	96	127	117
Moises Ballesteros	1B	CHC	112	110	118	90	116
Logan Wagner	3B	LAD	102	110	120	113	116
Pedro Ramirez	2B	CHC	119	100	105	96	115
Victor Ortega	C	MIA	119	92	96	115	115
Cameron Decker	SS	LAD	96	124	123	110	114
Ryan Clifford	1B	NYM	93	120	121	118	114

Age 21 (min 100 PAs):

Name	POS	ORG	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Luke Keaschall	2B	MIN	119	112	117	120	128
Nacho Alvarez Jr.	2B	ATL	124	108	104	110	123
Max Acosta	SS	TEX	116	104	122	106	122
Robert Hipwell	3B	SFG	106	119	116	121	121
James Wood	OF	WAS	107	118	115	105	120
Kala’I Rosario	OF	MIN	104	110	120	119	120
Adael Amador	2B	COL	117	107	104	115	119
James Triantos	2B	CHC	131	95	98	91	119
Emmanuel Rodriguez	OF	MIN	93	118	122	130	118
Edgar Quero	C	CHW	110	114	117	107	118
Tre’ Morgan	1B	TBR	117	100	111	102	117
JJ Wetherholt	3B	STL	109	95	111	117	117
Cam Smith	3B	CHC	110	113	109	105	117
Allan Castro	OF	BOS	105	110	118	113	117
Daylen Lile	OF	WAS	114	104	113	104	117

Age 22 (min 100 PAs):

Name	POS	ORG	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Mike Boeve	2B	MIL	125	116	119	114	132
Chase Meidroth	3B	BOS	133	101	100	123	129
Cooper Ingle	C	CLE	127	106	109	116	128
Alex Freeland	SS	LAD	113	114	126	123	128
Kristian Campbell	2B	BOS	113	131	119	113	127
Nate Furman	2B	CLE	123	107	109	117	127
Chase DeLauter	OF	CLE	123	105	103	107	124
Nick Yorke	2B	PIT	113	111	120	106	122
Milkar Perez	3B	SEA	115	105	111	117	120
Jacob Wilson	SS	OAK	132	112	92	92	120
Romeo Sanabria	1B	SDP	111	112	117	108	120
Agustin Ramirez	C	MIA	111	120	114	99	120
Jacob Gonzalez	SS	CHW	123	104	107	98	119
Abimelec Ortiz	1B	TEX	107	125	123	92	119
Luis Matos	OF	SFG	126	114	100	83	119

Age 23 (min 100 PAs):

name	pos	org	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Dalton Rushing	C	LAD	112	130	134	122	134
Drake Baldwin	C	ATL	118	113	126	111	129
Josh Kasevich	SS	TOR	134	96	107	103	127
Kyle Manzardo	1B	CLE	115	118	123	111	127
Leo Jimenez	SS	TOR	117	104	119	112	126
Javier Vaz	OF	KCR	133	91	94	122	124
RJ Schreck	OF	TOR	119	108	112	118	124
Rafael Flores	1B	NYY	98	130	136	112	123
Brennan Milone	3B	OAK	113	108	117	129	123
Matthew Lugo	3B	LAA	105	124	126	103	121

Age 24 (min 100 PAs):

NAME	POS	org	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Adrian Del Castillo	C	ARI	112	141	125	104	128
Nick Cimillo	C	PIT	111	124	120	118	126
Miguel Vargas	OF	CHW	114	119	111	119	124
Alan Roden	OF	TOR	126	111	102	103	123
Payton Eeles	2B	MIN	124	102	105	116	123
T.J. Rumfield	1B	NYY	122	105	105	104	120
Johnathan Rodriguez	OF	CLE	103	121	122	107	120
Addison Barger	OF	TOR	112	116	110	102	119
Jake Rucker	2B	MIN	113	100	124	103	119
Wade Meckler	OF	SFG	117	104	104	117	119

Age 25 (min 100 PAs):

name	pos	ORG	Contact%	xwOBAcon	Barrel%	Chase%	HIT+
Mario Camilletti	OF	CHW	118	105	124	126	130
Jose Fermin	2B	STL	128	110	106	111	128
Edouard Julien	2B	MIN	108	124	125	116	126
Liam Hicks	C	DET	130	94	101	126	126
Cal Mitchell	OF	SDP	109	125	129	113	125
Niko Kavadas	1B	LAA	91	146	143	118	124
Anthony Seigler	C	NYY	116	94	122	124	124
Turner Hill	OF	SFG	132	98	94	123	124
Dillon Dingler	C	DET	107	131	124	103	122
Carson Taylor	C	PHI	109	120	115	118	121