Outfielder Jackson Miller Reclassifies For 2024 MLB Draft

Image credit: (Photo by Mary DeCicco/Getty Images)

One of the top players in the 2025 class will now be eligible for the 2024 draft.

Outfielder Jackson Miller, Baseball America’s No. 29 player for the 2025 class, is reclassifying to the 2024 class. A Mississippi commit who turned 18 on Wednesday, Miller is an athletic center fielder who hit .457/.556/.814 this spring at The Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., then followed it up with a big summer playing for the Canes National team and continued his strong performance this fall at Perfect Game’s WWBA World Championship.

Miller, who will play this spring at Dwyer High in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is 6 feet, 180 pounds with a promising blend of tools and righthanded hitting ability. He has strong forearms, and snaps the barrel through the hitting zone with good bat speed and a high contact rate in games. He’s also a plus runner who moves around well in the outfield.

At his last tournament this fall, the heavily-scouted WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., Miller hit .385/.609/.538, and drew six walks with two strikeouts in 23 plate appearances. He showed the ability to manipulate the bat head to square up off-speed stuff—most notably with a double off an 0-2 slider and another double off a 1-2 changeup—and made a diving catch in the left-center field gap.

That showing in Jupiter, Miller said, sparked his decision to make the jump to the 2024 class. While Miller would have been 19 on draft day in 2025—something teams will weigh as a factor against players—that won’t be an issue as a 2024 player.

“I feel like I had a lot more opportunities being younger for the draft,” Miller said. “I was going to be a little old (for the 2025 draft), but I feel like I’m already mature enough to be playing at a higher level, whether it’s college or the draft.

“I feel like there are a lot more opportunities for teams looking at me as a younger prospect coming in, but not necessarily playing like a younger prospect.”

Miller grew up playing with talented players above his grade. He said he found his love for the game playing with Team MVP, where from 11 through 14, he was teammates with Twins righthander Charlee Soto, Rays shortstop Adrian Santana and Red Sox shortstop Antonio Anderson. In the 2023 draft, Soto and Santana were supplemental first-round picks, while Anderson went in the third round.

Miller has been an up-arrow player throughout the summer for the Canes National team, hitting in the middle of the lineup for a team filled with 2025 draft prospects and high-end Division 1 commits. He credited daily work with his mentor, former Mets minor league infielder David Thompson, for his development on the mental side of the game.

“Joining Canes was a big jump in the summer,” Miller said. “Coming together with a group of guys you don’t know, but by the end of the summer, coming all together as one. I feel like even in the fall, training now, I’ve really brought up my game. Mentally, what I do before games, what I’m thinking in the box, I feel like I’ve really matured. If I have a bad at-bat, I know I still have three more at-bats in the game. Whether it’s in the box, in the field or on the bases, I feel like I can make a difference.”

While Miller will be a prominent draft prospect and might not get to to campus, he adds to a Mississippi recruiting class that already ranks No. 6 in the nation for 2024, a group headlined by shortstop Owen Paino, center fielder Slade Caldwell, righthander Cade Townsend and shortstop Hayden Federico.

Several prominent players who had been in the 2025 class have reclassified to be eligible to the 2024 draft. That includes the No. 1 player in the country, Konnor Griffin, an outfielder, shortstop and righthander from Mississippi. Lefthander/outfielder Noah Franco, lefthander Cam Caminiti, lefthander David Shields and outfielder/lefthander Michael Torres are other former 2025s who are eligible for the 2024 draft.

From last year’s draft, outfielder George Wolkow reclassified from the 2024 to the 2023 class, and signed with the White Sox for $1 million as a seventh-round pick this year. Righthander Walter Ford reclassified from 2023 to 2022, and signed with the Mariners for $1.25 million as a supplemental second-round pick. Cam Collier also was also in the 2023 prep class but became eligible for the 2022 draft, though he did it by playing at Chipola (Fla.) JC for the 2022 season. Collier was the Reds’ first-round pick (18th overall) and signed for $5 million. Cubs infielder James Triantos reclassified from 2022 to 2021, signing for $2.1 million as a second-round pick.

In some cases, players who reclassify do make it to campus. Catcher Brady Neal moved from the 2023 to the 2022 class, and while the Brewers drafted him in the 17th round, he opted not to sign. He went to Louisiana State and was the team’s starting catcher early in his freshman season, though a back injury kept him out of action after April 7.