Fantasy Baseball Draft Prospects: Jackson Holliday, Jared Jones, Jung Hoo Lee (2024)

These prospect rankings are based on FANTASY value, not real-life value. Considering such, hitters generally weigh a bit heavier for me due to the injury risk and higher volatility of prospect pitchers. Proximity to the majors is also prominent in these rankings since we are looking at guys for only 2024.

Rather than getting into writing little bios on all of these hitters, I’ve decided to keep my rankings simple. I’ll provide the 2023 stats of each player across all levels, a player comp, a small blub on the player’s prime skills for fantasy, and an explanation of my ranking with expectations for 2024 with ATC projections and my thoughts on these projections. I’ve also included fScores for any players I expect to debut in 2024, which highlights what my fScore projections believe the player is capable of at the pro level for immediate impact.

If you are curious about the fScore ratings, you can check out my fScore rankings and information on the fScores by following THIS LINK.

NOTE: Rookie status is determined by 130 ABs or 50 IPs at the Major League level. I did opt to include the foreign imports in this equation but did not include Shane Baz (who would be ranked 5th behind Chourio) or Mason Miller (who would rank 14th).

Top Prospects to Target for Redraft Leagues

Jackson Holliday (SS- BAL)

2023 A/A+/AA/AAA: .323/.442/.499, 12 HR, 24 SB

Age: 20

ETA: Opening Day 2024

fScores: 107 fContact, 133 fDiscipline, 91 fPower, 91 fSpeed, 53 fDurability

Comp: Wander Franco

Prime Skills: Quick bat that can reach all fields but projects out more as a line drive and doubles hitter than a big power bat. Holliday has ridiculous Kwan-esk plate discipline. Not the fastest runner, but could steal 15-20 bags at the major league level in a season.

Projections (ATC): .258/.346/.386, 8 HR, 7 SB (114 games)

Ranking Explanation: I think there’s a much higher chance of Holliday breaking camp with the team as the starting 2B than what the projection systems have, and if he breaks camp, he’s likely sticking with the team all year. I bet he slashes something closer to .275/.370/.410 with 13-16 homers and 10-15 steals, depending on how much the team lets him run.

Jung Hoo Lee (OF – SF)

2023 KBO: .318/.406/.455, 6 HR, 6 SB

Age: 25

ETA: Opening Day 2024

fScores: 110 fContact, 154 fDiscipline, 69 fPower, 84 fSpeed, 87 fDurability

Comp: Brendan Donovan in CF mashed with Ha-Seong Kim…

Prime Skills: Lee specs out as a moneyball style leadoff hitter who is high contact, high on-base with limited power and speed upside. He might only end up with Benintendi or Verdugo-type numbers and would be a better buy in points or OBP leagues than in categories-based leagues.

Projections (ATC): .288/.356/.422, 9 HR, 10 SB (135 games)

Ranking Explanation: Lee is going to play a lot from Opening Day and is currently projected to lead off daily for the Giants. The projections look about right for Lee, but I would expect a full slate of games (155 or so) pending injury. As noted, in points leagues, I might bump him up to seventh or so just because he’s likely to get a ton of plate appearances.

Jared Jones (SP – PIT)

2023 AA/AAA: 126 1/3 IP, 146 Ks, 50 BBs, 3.85 ERA, 1.24 WHIP

Age: 22

ETA: Early 2024

fScores: 84 fPDurability, 108 fStuff, 93 fControl, 99 fERA

Comp: Lance McCullers Jr.

Prime Skills: He gets a ton of whiffs, primarily riding his fastball/slider combo. He could work on limiting the walks a bit more, but could be a #3 for Pittsburgh long term pretty easily. He has some higher heat, averaging 96-97 with the fastball.

Projections (ATC): 62 IP, 54 Ks, 27 BBs, 4.91 ERA, 1.46 WHIP

Ranking Explanation: The projection systems aren’t high on Jones and I don’t really blame them, because my fScores are a little cold on him too despite the above average stuff. He profiles only as an 11-12% K-BB guy as a rookie, and I think while the projections might be a worst-case scenario, we are probably looking closer to the Zips projections of 119 IP, 11.3% K-BB, 4.46 ERA, and 1.35 WHIP.

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