Prep Baseball Report

Georgia Class of 2024 Rankings Update


Justin Goetz
Assistant Scouting Director

As the GHSA regular season has ended and we’re well into playoffs, it’s the perfect time to adjust the Georgia Class of 2024 rankings.

As always, the evaluation process is fluid and ongoing with multiple viewings in order to get the best feel for players’ tools and intangibles. It’s important to note that as players continue their development some show marked improvement at a much more rapid pace. That doesn’t indicate that other players got worse or went backwards, it’s just how player development works. As the year unfolds, players make improvements and new prospects pop up on the radar expanding the PBR rankings universe. In addition to the evaluations of players, our scouts, both those in Georgia and nationally, have also had multiple discussions with each other to review our individual lists and then make adjustments based on what we've each seen.

Our rankings are OFP (Overall Future Potential) based, and they aren’t determined by who will be drafted the highest in HS. The focus is on finding the players who will have the most successful baseball career long term, regardless of path. It’s a combination of a player's ceiling and their likelihood of reaching that ceiling. Below are the updated GA 2024 Rankings!


THE TOP-10


RANK   NAME  STATE  SCHOOL  CLASS  POS  COMMITMENT 
1 Michael Mullinax GA North Cobb Christian 2024 OF Georgia
2 Arnold Abernathy
GA North Cobb 2024 SS/OF Tennessee
3 Terrence Kiel
GA Pace 2024 OF/IF Texas A&M
4 Bryce Clavon
GA Kell 2024 SS
5 Duke Stone
GA Jeff Davis 2024 RHP Georgia
6 Rustan Rigdon
GA Metter 2024 SS Vanderbilt
7 Connor Shouse
GA Pickens County 2024 RHP/SS Georgia Tech
8 Dane Moehler
GA Walton 2024 RHP Clemson
9 Ariston Veasey
GA Starrs Mill 2024 C/RHP Georgia
10 Conrad Cason
GA GAC 2024 RHP/SS Mississippi State


FULL 2024 RANKINGS


On The Climb

Nate Taylor RHP / Buford, GA / 2024

Georgia Tech Commit. 6-foot-2, 205 pounds. There’s not a player in our rankings who has made a bigger jump in velocity in the past year. Although he’s jumped 9 mph since our last tweet on him (May 2022), he didn’t just start magically throwing harder. This does not happen without incredible work ethic in the weight room, and tireless work on improving his delivery. His pace in the delivery went from slow throughout to a perfect build of momentum. The kinetic chain is much more well sequenced and he’s now using all of his length, creating nearly twice the separation between his stride and arm action. The arm action has gone from a two piece to a perfectly fluid one piece, matching the pace of his stride identically. He also shows 2 rare traits both he and Bayer have that aren’t widely evaluated currently. The gradual build of pace, backside connection, and separation timing allow him to hyperextend the leg as he begins to stride (down & out phases). This creates more kinetic energy/torque in separation, speeds up the arm out of the hole, and produces more ground force into landing which creates a more violent slingshot effect. He’s also a closed foot lander, which allows him to rotate at peak violence post landing. My reports can occasionally go down deep rabbit holes so I won’t go any further on the subject, but you only see these traits in arms with high end velocity. Nate has also added 15 lbs of strength since last spring, allowing him to maintain explosiveness from 1st pitch to last. Speaking of strength, he has the frame and genetics to work in the 225 range easily. His FB will not only have success due to velo. The carry up in the zone, steep plane down in zone, and his 2 advanced secondary offerings that tunnel with it will make up for the future AVG life on the pitch. Taylors 2 plane downer CB has A/AVG potential, as does his CH that falls off the table. We are confident that he’ll have at least 2 A/AVG or better pitches and a 3rd AVG, leading him to be a sure starter and Top 5 Rd prospect in ‘24.

Tyler Bayer OF / South Forsyth, GA / 2024

Kennesaw State Commit. 6-foot-4 180 pounds. Few players in the state have had a 2023 like this ultra projection athlete. He came out blazing, dominating nearly every start he made for the War Eagles. What impressed us most was his ability to hold FB velo throughout the entire start, despite being only at the ground floor of his eventual physical ceiling. Why does he deserve to be at No. 16? It simply comes down to projection, athleticism, and current stuff. With a prototype RHS frame that you see in the hardest throwing starters in baseball today (DeGrom, Verlander, Wheeler), he passes the eye test immediately. Nothing makes velo jump like physical maturity and strength gains. We believe Bayer will at worst end up in the 210-215 lb range. When a player who already moves at a high level of explosiveness throughout the delivery adds strength, the jump is inevitable. His pace builds gradually in his smooth delivery and he creates a slight crossfire angle that allows him to rotate even more violently through his lead leg block (which is very advanced for his age). His hand break is perfectly timed and is the key to him using his stride and front arm as levers, creating more tempo+momentum in the arm action, and feeling hip/shoulder separation. He understands how to create easy velocity, and throw strikes while doing it. This is an ode to his overall athleticism, natural feel for how his body moves, and mindset on the hill. Ty’s FB (88-90 T91 5x) really jumps on hitters due to extension, and the pitch showed MLB avg life (bore) often. With it already flashing A/AVG life, we feel the pitch has plus potential overall with the life to match. It even flashes some torpedo-like sink at the bottom of the zone. The 80-83 SL is the go-to off his heater and tunnels very well with it. It shows gyro profile at times with late depth, but has an electric combo of sharp lateral bite and depth at its best. His ability to control the pitch, and the current velo+life lead us to believe this is an A/AVG to plus pitch in the future. As the weather heats up this summer, we feel the stuff will tick up steadily and his status as a draft prospect will rise right along with it. 

Levi Clark C / Walton, GA / 2024

Tennessee Commit. 6-foot-2, 195 pounds. This finder of barrels has been making his case to be among an elite group of LakePoint Legends all spring, and we feel this summer he will blow the door down with big EV barrels game by game. A Levi barrel is a completely different sound than most with both wood and metal, a much more distinct sound. I liken it to the sound of a heavy axe chopping straight through a log in one clean swoop. One of the most important traits you’ll find in good MLB hitters are the force in their hands created through contact, as they must have the hand+wrist strength to match the impact of 95-100 mph FB’s and hard SL’s on a regular basis. Clark is elite for his age in this department, well before his eventual physical ceiling. His swing mechanics are also extremely rare, especially at his position. He stays on his legs from start to finish with an advanced sink and the hips are the engine of the swing, creating a perfectly sequenced upper half. He’s a backside dominant hitter with elite linear connection who keeps his head and upper half behind the baseball at all times. His load is extremely simple and there’s no wasted movement getting into launch position. The advanced simplicity leads to very good body control, and allows him to focus on timing up release points instead of having parts in the swing get in his way. While most good hitters tuck their back elbow as the hands are thrown, Levi’s starts to tuck before the hands are thrown, creating one of the cleanest knob led swing paths in recent memory. This also allows him to manipulate the barrel to all fields with ease, and even barrel pitches off the inner/outer edges of the zone. Levi also has great feel for catching the ball on the barrel perfectly in front of the plate on all pitch types, attacking the ball before it gets on him. He’s impressed us a lot behind the plate showing advanced receiving, toughness, willingness to block, and impressive catch & throw. We will have to focus more on the defense this summer, but we’re certain his bat will lead to big prospect status in the future. He’s going to hit for average and power.

Zaelyn Smith OF / Coffee County, GA / 2024

Alabama State Commit. 6-foot, 180 pounds. Playing deep down in south GA, it’s very easy to be overlooked despite being on a good HS team. This happens consistently to players in the more rural, less populated counties in the Peach State. But like fellow Coffee Co alumni Tyreek Hill, the cream of the crop will always rise to the top. That’s exactly what happened for Zaelyn at our LakePoint GDC tournament this February. Not only is he an elite athlete, but he’s one of the purest hitters in the state. He came into GDC as my #1 sleeper draft target in the event, and left as one of my favorite draft follows in the entire state. What solidified him to us as a top player in the class was his 98 EV and 2 QAB’s off ‘23 draft prospect and UGA commit RHP Ethan Sutton. But he did far more than just barrel a live 91 mph FB and work a BB vs a top draft arm. Zaelyn also showed exceptional pitch recognition and ability to decelerate, launching a ball to deep CF on a 74 mph CB. In the tourney, he produced EV’s of 98, 96, and 93 mph. He not only showed us exceptional timing and bat speed, the force his hands create through contact as well (bat strength). At this point I surely knew, this player is of the highest quality. This is a player who makes hitting look easy, and he can adjust on the fly to anything a pitcher throws at him. He also showed a natural ability to manipulate his swing path and body on multiple instances based off pitch location To go with his pure hitting ability, Zaelyn has elite swing mechanics that you typically see in MLB hitters. The quiet rhythm in his hands, perfect hip pace, and separation timing stand out. His swing flows like water in perfect sequence. The chest loads the hands for him, and his trigger/load is compact & repeatable. He gains optimal ground in stride (base doubles) creating ideal lower half momentum which allows his upper body & hands to stay relaxed and focus on timing. His head stays extremely still underway despite the stride length, and he’s light on his feet which shows how well balanced he is. But he’s from just a hitter, this is an impact defender with a current A/AVG or better run tool. His instincts might be even better than his speed, as he reads the ball very well off the bat and tracks ball flight with ease. Smith is just as smooth in CF as he is at the plate, gliding from gap to gap with precise routes. What separates him even further is his current MLB average arm that will continue to get stronger and should end up with plus accuracy. Dynamic in every way, we feel this player will become a huge name this summer.

Caden Marcos SS / Kell, GA / 2024

UGA Commit. 6-foot, 175 pounds. This is a player who’s earned every bit of his new ranking, starting with his wood bat bomb at PBR Cup last September. Not only has he gotten bigger, stronger, faster, but the swing mechanics have gone from solid to elite. Having such a compact, repeatable swing and being able to manipulate the swing path to all pitch locations brings a different level of confidence as a hitter. It allows Caden to focus on approach, timing, pitch recognition, and consistently making the right swing decision. These are 4 traits that separate him from most hitters in the state, and it allows him to consistently hit the ball to all fields with authority vs the highest quality of arms. Although he may not have the most raw power in the class, his hitting intangibles and aptitude will allow him to deliver more power production on a consistent basis than most. But don’t sleep on his bat strength, he’s very strong for his size with a proportional well built frame and creates some big time impact vs high velocity FB’s. His dynamic swing path allows him to barrel the toughest of pitches in all areas of the zone - he can flatten or steepen the barrel to combat pitchers who want to work him vertically, shrink close to the body to take care of the inner half, and inside out with absolute ease to cover the outer half. There’s simply nowhere to beat him, and he’s an extremely competitive AB at all times who will gladly take a walk when he doesn’t see a pitch he likes. The athleticism has continued to pick up as he matures physically, and there’s certainly more to come on that front. He’s very instinctive as a defender, and always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He has the anticipation and smooth hands to be an average MLB defender at the position and the arm is currently near avg. If he ends up at 2B, he’s an A/AVG defender. This is a bat you can count on vs quality arms, and his overall baseball feel and continued uptick in athleticism has us very excited for his future outlook. We are excited to see Caden take off as a prospect in his 1st summer being scouted as a pro prospect!

Adam McKelvey LHP / Roswell, GA / 2024

Uncommitted. 6-foot-4, 240 pounds. Standing 1 spot outside our national rankings is a player who could have just as bright of a future D1 OL/DT if he wanted to. You just don’t see players with this size and athleticism on the baseball field, they typically play in the trenches on the gridiron. XL frames that move like this are often among the hardest throwers in each class (see Mac Heuer, Jevarra Martin, etc). But his physical traits are only part of why I'm all in on this arm. He has one of the rarest, most unique FB’s in the class already, and is only at the tip of the iceberg velocity wise. The pitch spun at an average of 2409 RPM (T2473) last fall, 200 RPM above MLB AVG for a LHP. That was 4 mph ago when he was 83-87! The pitch now works in the 86-89 range T90, and surely is putting up RPM’s well above 2500 now. But the incredible metrics don’t end there, McKelvey averaged 20.2 IVB on his FB (T23.1 IVB) last fall, allowing it to be absolutely dominant up in the zone vs any hitter in the zone with true riding life. Those metrics are plenty enough to allow the pitch to dominate up in the zone, but there’s one more thing that makes the heater even more special. At 7.4 ft of extension, he has well above average MLB (6.5 ft) extension which plays up his effective velocity and allows his FB to really jump on hitters quickly. The ease at which he moves throughout the delivery is shocking for his size, and he has a very good understanding of how to build pace gradually for effortless velocity. He creates exceptional rhythm in the form of compact footwork, the hands & lift knee work as one to create good separation timing. He has a loose, mid depth arm action that works fluidly as one piece despite a slight wrap. It’s tough to pick up out of hand as he has a slight crossfire in his delivery from a near L3/4 slot. He takes full advantage of his height with the length of his stride, and his chest gets over the front knee well allowing him to finish better with the release point to be more out front. This beastly southpaw is going to have a plus FB regardless, but he can throw even harder now with more connection in the delivery. His SL has remarkably improved in the past 6 months, with much more consistent shape and life overall and has had very good success against both RHH and LHH with it this spring. His feel for the CH (heavy w/ late tail) is innate, as he already shows exceptional arm side command of the pitch. With serious velo projection, rare FB metrics, effortlessness, and feel for 2 offspeed pitches, McKelvey has a real chance to be a draft prospect next spring.

Other Notable Risers

Daniel Sams, RHP, Lovett
 


Charlie Foster, LHP, Brookwood

Damian Brown, RHP, Buford

Ryan Johnson, RHP, Cartersville

Johnny Calloway, LHP, Islands