In the past few years, the strongest positions regarding top-tier talent prospects have revolved around shortstop and starting pitching in my prospect rankings. But this year all five of my top-five outfielders also reside in my top-ten prospects in general, so there aren’t going to be bargains in this grouping for dynasty or prospecting purposes.
However, I feel there’s a good chance all five of these guys are going to be terrific values in redraft leagues in 2024. For instance, the top three prospects we are going to discuss should start the season on the Opening Day rosters for their respective teams and another would have if it wasn’t for an injury. The top two prospects are both top 25 re-draft OFs for me going into 2024 and all five end up in my top 85 re-draft OFs, even though one is hurt and one likely won’t be up until at least the All-Star Break.
I’m not one for wasting words or preamble, so let’s dig into the players, shall we?
Top 5 Fantasy Baseball Prospects: OF
Wyatt Langford (OF – TEX)
Langford is my top prospect overall going into 2024 by a pretty wide margin, he’s so good there is a tier difference between him and the next two studs (Junior Caminero and Jackson Holliday) and if drafting in a prospects-only draft I would highly recommend slotting Langford into the top spot the same way you would slot Ronald Acuna Jr. in a re-draft league. He’s a five-tool guy with elite plate skills, an above average hit tool, 30-plus home run power and the wheels to snag 20 plus bags on the base paths. The funny thing is, he fell in the draft after being discussed as a potential No. 1 pick to the World Series champions. And with a full outfield, this dude is going to have to force his way onto the roster to split duties with fellow prospects Evan Carter, Adolis Garcia and Leody Taveras. But I think this will happen as there was talk of him possibly coming up in the playoffs when Adolis had an injury scare and the Rangers let Mitch Garver walk.
Langford hit .373/.498/.784 in college with 21 homers and nice steals, then worked up four levels to AAA in his first pro-stint slashing .360/.480/.677 with 10 homers and 12 steals, making the minor leagues look like a joke. The 22-year-old could put up Mookie Betts-like numbers in his peak years and I compare him to a Brian Jordan/Christian Walker mash up when watching his video, though he should be a far superior player to both of those guys. I’m so high on Langford, I have him ranked my #19 OF in redraft leagues ahead of guys like Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Randy Arozarena and Mike Trout.
Evan Carter (OF – TEX)
How often is it you can find two top prospects who play the same position on the same team coming off a World Series win? The rich get richer as Carter is slated to be a points league stud. Carter is a line drive hitter, who can hit it to all fields. He has a solid hit tool, unreal plate skills and an above average power/speed combo. He was only 20 years old this past year and should grow into more power. I’d expect in his peak seasons for him to be a 25-homer guy and with his speed could go 25/20 pretty regularly in his prime. A Kyle Tucker stat line is attainable, but I’d compare him more to former Ranger Shin-Soo Choo with more power potential.
Carter had a solid 2023 posting a .288/.413/.450 slash between AA and AAA with 13 homers and 26 steals. He could not have dreamed of a better debut than what he had in 2023, destroying baseballs at the end of the season and the playoffs and hitting at the top of a World Series winning lineup. Carter smashed a .306/.413/.645 slash with five homers and three steals in-season; but don’t fall into the trap of extrapolating his MLB stats from this past year. I expect him to be a points or OBP stud who can go 20/20 at the top of an awesome lineup in 2024. I’m drafting Carter as my No. 24 OF in 2024 redraft leagues ahead of guys like James Outman, Lars Nootbaar, Chas McCormick and Bryan Reynolds.
Jackson Chourio (OF – MIL)
Chourio signed a big eight year, $82 million deal as a 19-year-old which more or less cemented him into the Brewers’ Opening Day lineup for 2024. Chourio has a really quick bat, which leads to way more power than you would expect by looking at his frame. The speed came to life in 2023 and he has superstar potential if he can get the plate skills under control. Right now, he’s already trending toward being a 20/25 bat as a 20-year-old rookie despite some decent strikeout concerns.
Chourio posted a .283/.338/.467 slash between AA and AAA in 2023 (mostly at AA) with 22 homers and 44 steals. While he has more long term power/speed possibility than Carter, his plate skills are far worse which will lead to volatility a la a Luis Robert and Adolis Garcia profile vs. a consistent Choo/Tucker profile I predict for Carter. I’m drafting Chourio as my No. 65 OF in 2024 re-draft leagues ahead of guys like Masataka Yoshida, Ryan Mountcastle, Daulton Varsho, Starling Marte and Jung-Hoo Lee.
James Wood (OF – WAS)
Wood is the first prospect we are going to talk about (and only) who has not yet reached the AAA level, but his skills are just that good and while the general public is not provided EV or statcast numbers from players who have not reached AAA, the 6-foot-7 giant is on the record posting EVs near 115 MPH with ridiculous sweet spot rates. Wood has light tower power and should remind everyone of a lefty Aaron Judge with an above average contact tool. The kid can take a walk as well with an elite chase rate, but has some work to do on covering the holes in his swing due to his enormous size and needs to find some consistency before he’s ready for the full time transition to the big leagues in order to avoid the Jo Adell pitfall. Wood additionally has enough speed to kick in a couple 20 steal seasons in his peak years.
Wood posted a .262/.353/.520 triple slash in 2023 with 26 homers and 18 steals. The Nationals are priming for 2025 rather than 2024, anyway, but if he rakes he should come up around when Elly De La Cruz came up in 2023. Chourio gets the edge for me right now primarily because he’s going to be in the majors to start the year in 2024. I’m likely not drafting Wood in redraft leagues where there are no minor league spots, but if there were minor league spots in a redraft league I would be taking Wood as my No. 82 OF ahead of guys like Luis Matos, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Andrew McCutchen and Hunter Renfroe.
Jasson Dominguez (OF – NYY)
Dominguez might be the last guy we are going to discuss in this article, but he is a five-tool stud and this is the one guy we are discussing you might be able to get a bargain on in dynasty leagues, because he is missing the first half of the season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Dominguez bounced back hard at the end of 2023 as some sites were sinking him in prospect rankings all the way down to the lower end of the top 100 prospects, while I kept him in my top 25 throughout the season noting the bad BABIP luck and excellent under the hood metrics. Dominguez has an average hit tool as a 21-year-old, but has top notch plate skills, while also demonstrating he can be a game changer on the base paths. He smashes pitches high in the zone from both sides of the plate, but needs to work on lifting pitches low in the zone instead of smashing them into the ground. He was doing a good job of this before the injury at the major league level.
Dominguez slashed .265/.377/.425 between AA and AAA with 15 homers and 40 steals in 2023 before being promoted in September to hit .258/.303/.677 with four homers and one steal in only eight games before his injury. He has an elite power/speed combo and reminds me of a switch hitting Betts. If he can continue the progress we saw in 2023 he may very well live up to the nickname of the Martian bestowed upon him when he was only a teenager. I’m likely only drafting Dominguez in re-draft leagues with IL spots and would take him as the No. 39 OF in leagues I can stash him over guys like Tommy Edman, Jarren Duran, Marcel Ozuna and Steven Kwan.
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