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Rookie Roots: Where were MLB's hottest rookies ranked back in high school?

April 8, 2024
By Andy Sroka
Managing Editor, Scouting

We’re a couple weeks into the 2024 MLB season, and there’s some fresh faces making headlines across the game right away. Some new rules and incentives in recent years have made it so teams are more likely to promote their prospects as soon as they’re ready, which has helped bring about more Opening Day debuts than ever before.

Today, we’re highlighting some of the week’s brightest spots from those prospects debuting – and we recall our looks back on them as prep prospects seen by our state staffs back during their high school days.

Jared Jones RHP / La Mirada, CA / 2020

Jones was a highly ranked prep righty in California, the No. 4 on Cali’s board back in 2020. In fact, the three players ranked ahead of him have actually made their Major League marks already: Tyler Soderstrom (Turlock HS; Athletics), Kyle Harrison (De La Salle HS; Giants), and Pete Crow-Armstrong (Harvard-Westlake HS; Cubs). Jones is not to be overshadowed though, considering he’s fresh off a Spring Training in which he made waves that drifted him into the Pirates rotation for the start of 2024. He made his MLB debut on March 30 against the Marlins on the road, and he continued to punch out batters at about the same rate he recorded in the spring. He K’d 10 Marlins in 5.2 innings, and allowed just three runs on three hits, two walks. He followed that up on Friday in his first home start, punching out another seven batters over six clean frames.

Just over a week into the MLB season, Jones leads the league’s rookies in strikeouts.

(Jones vs. Orange Lutheran HS; 2/19/20)

Much was made of his 6-foot-1 stature in high school, especially inside the flamethrower right-handed prep pitcher profile, but Jones has been made huge strides developmentally in pro ball since the Pirates selected him in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft. He’s mostly harnessed his excellent pitch mix that includes a fastball that reached a 99.9 mph max in his debut, spinning at over 2,500 rpm on average. In front of our California staff, Jones was up to 94 mph as a sophomore, and 96 as a junior, and he climbed into the upper-90s in his draft spring.

Mason Miller RHP / Bethel Park, PA / 2016

Miller attended Division III Waynesburg out of high school as an unheralded Pennsylvania prep and struggled in his first two seasons in college before completely erupting as a junior. He led Waynesburg’s conference in all kinds of categories, namely strikeouts, with 97 in 67.2 innings. The COVID-shortened 2020 season affected prospects like Miller most, as he was just beginning to show pro stuff at the time the season was cut short – he punched out 24 batters in 14 innings and back-to-back, seven-inning complete games before the season was canceled.

He transferred to Gardner-Webb for the 2021 season where he shined, throwing 92.2 innings with 121 Ks and a 3.30 ERA and he evolved himself into a third-round pick. Injuries significantly affected him in pro ball, which have likely confined him to the bullpen from this point forward, though he did start six games after debuting for the Athletics in 2023. Just barely rookie eligible still in 2024, Miller’s explosive stuff is looking elite from the ‘pen, and he has eight Ks in five innings this season so far – and his average four-seamer velocity is currently 100.2 mph.

Masyn Winn SS / Kingwood, TX / 2020

Winn was known in high school, and eventually pro ball, for his prolific arm strength that played both across the infield and on the mound. He appeared in 37 MLB games in 2023, retaining rookie status this season and breaking camp as the Cardinals' starting shortstop. Last year, Winn scuffled at the plate across 137 plate appearances, but he's already looking like his best self both defensively and offensively in 2024. He's 8-for-26 so far this season and Winn has made some highlight reel-type of plays manning shortstop so far, showing how his development is coming along after just celebrating his 22nd birthday at the end of March.

Back at Kingwood HS, Winn finished ranked as the No. 6 player in Prep Baseball Texas' Class of 2020 rankings – though he was a top-30-ranked prep nationally. That was an espeically interesting batch of Texas prep talent ranked ahead of him in that class, though Winn has been the quickest to the big leagues all the while as the No. 54 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft – selected after fellow Texas preps Drew Romo (The Woodlands HS; Rockies) and Jared Kelley (Refugio HS; White Sox).

(Winn; 3/10/20)

Jackson Merrill OF / SS / Severna Park, MD / 2021

Merrill is one of two Maryland prep products on this list, and he’s started his Major League career on a high note. And despite playing almost the entirety of his MiLB career at shortstop, Merrill is playing center field for the Padres after breaking camp with the team after a stellar spring, in which the team used to deploy the prospect in left and center fields to work on his defensive reps. All the while, and ever since he was the No. 27 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Merrill has flashed an advanced hit tool for his age. He was accelerated through the minors after starring in his first full season of pro ball, and now, a week before his 21st birthday, Merrill leads all rookies in hits (11) is slugging .440 with three extra-base hits in his first 25 at-bats and his .866 OPS leads all rookies with at least 25 at-bats.

(Merrill; Spring 2020)

Back in high school, Merrill was a late-bloomer type, and especially as a pro prospect. He turned it on in his draft spring and became Prep Baseball Maryland’s Position Player of the Year.

Michael Busch 1B / 3B / Simley, MN / 2016

Busch has taken a winding path to the big leagues despite being a pretty famous name by his sophomore year of college. Busch’s left-handed bat was special as a Minnesota prep, though injuries limited his pro attention and directed him to college instead as the state’s No. 3-ranked player. He earned 135 at-bats as a freshman at North Carolina and he grew his batting average by over 100 points, from .215 to .317, as a sophomore, slugging .521 in 2018. Fully on the pro map now, in his draft spring, Busch was just as good at the plate, upping his slugging to .547, and the Dodgers used their No. 31 overall pick on him.

(Busch; 6/16/15)

Busch continued to hit across every level within the Dodgers’ system despite projecting more and more like a corner infielder, and more likely first baseman of the future. He was mostly blockaded positionally on the big league club and that prevented him from making his debut until 2023 after another fast start in Triple-A. Though, his time in L.A. was the first in which he didn’t thrive offensively right away, and the Dodgers opted to trade him in the offseason to the Cubs, which were seeking first base aid. Well, even in a new home, Busch is producing familiar stat lines, hitting .296 in nine games with three extra-base hits, reaching base at a .375 clip.

At the time he graduated from Minnesota’s Simley HS, Busch was the No. 3 prospect on the state’s board, behind Nick Hanson (Prior Lake HS, 2016) and Matt Wallner (Forest Lake HS, 2016; Twins). Both those players earned pro opportunities in their own ways: Hanson, the top player in the class that year, was a third-round pick by the Reds out of high school and injuries hampered his development; Wallner was a two-way standout at Southern Miss and he hit 58 career homers there. Wallner was the No. 39 overall pick by the Twins, drafted just nine picks after Busch, and he’s since hit 16 career big league home runs.

Blaze Alexander SS / 2B / IMG Academy, FL / 2018

The 11th round pick out of high school in the 2018 MLB Draft tallied six hits hits in his first 21 at-bats at the Major League level, having earned the opportunity to join the Dbacks on Opening Day. He was productive in his first taste of Triple-A action back in 2022, and an injury prevented him from making his 2023 Triple-A debut before June 13, though he picked up where he left off the year prior. That set the table for a big spring, and a subsequent MLB debut on Opening Day. He also knocked his first homer against the Yankees on April 3.

(Alexander; 3/26/18)

Back in high school, Alexander was a top-20-ranked player in Florida’s Class of 2018, though of the 19 players ranked ahead of him, he’s the third to reach the big leagues, behind Triston Casas (American Heritage HS; Red Sox) and now-teammate Slade Cecconi (Trinity Prep HS; Diamondbacks).

Trey Lipscomb 3B / Urbana, MD / 2018

Lipscomb, a Maryland prep, committed to Tennessee in high school after a decorated multi-sport career at Urbana HS. It took him a little while from him to crack the Vols’ everyday lineup, especially amid the COVID-shortened season of his sophomore spring, but in 2021 Lipscomb finally started to see some more playing time and, as a senior, he really blew up, hitting .331 with 24 homers. He earned a ton of postseason recognition and he became a third round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft as a result.

(Lipscomb; 3/29/18)

This year, and without ever touching the Triple-A level, the Nationals decided to call on Lipscomb after injuries hampered their projected Opening Day roster. Thus, Lipscomb has six hits this season so far in his first eight games on the infield, and that includes a solo homer in his second big league start.

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