Santa Claus is back at the North Pole, and we've officially welcomed 2024. December is one of the rare months in Texas when the baseball calendar almost comes to a complete halt. I say “almost” because I’m sure somewhere there is a workout, a game being played, something happening on a field. I use a lot of this time to work on our rankings, plan for the upcoming spring season and write, which is why you’re here. 

The 2023 baseball calendar was packed: spring high school season beginning the first week of February with scrimmages and ending in early June with the THSCA All-Star Game; Five Tool summer schedule kicking off in late May and running through early August; two weeks at Area Code in August; fall Five Tool schedule, scout team games and prospect workouts after the summer. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I saw a ton of baseball during 2023. December is also a time to think back about the best of the best: best players, performances, games, moments and more. I saw a lot of really good players of all ages, teams, games, events and more. As we wave goodbye to 2023, I wanted to share some “best of” stories from my in-person looks while also emptying my scouting notebook and publishing a lot of reports that have been hanging out in my hard drive. My final project: building lineups with the best prospects from the 2024, 2025 and 2026 classes I saw in person during 2023. 

A few things about this exercise: I tried to avoid stretching the defensive positioning; meaning, I didn’t slot guys into positions that weren’t realistic just to get their talent/prospect status in the lineup. With catchers, I selected players who I felt good about sticking at the position long-term and being able to impact the game defensively as well as offensively. And with designated hitters, I went with one of the best pure hitters in the nation for one team while adding some big right-handed thump and catching depth with the other two teams. There are some positions, like shortstop, that could have filled a huge chunk of these three teams on their own, which means some fantastic prospects at those respective positions were left off simply because I could only pick so many of them. When you mix three classes of players, it does add some imperfect evaluation, for lack of a better phrase. However, I thought it was a fun way to shine a light on the next batch of superstar talents and it makes sense to view many of those types of players as less of a finished prospect and in some cases a little more projectable than their 2024 counterparts. 

Like the list of the best 55 pitching prospects I saw in person during 2023, there are going to be some superstar names left off these three teams like Konnor Griffin, Grady Emerson, PJ Morlando, Coy James and others who I didn’t see in person. Chances are many of these players have extensive coverage already on their profiles and each of the 2024 pitchers listed has already been covered recently with a very detailed scouting report. Let’s continue with the 2023 Certified Dudes of the Year – Second Team:

SECOND TEAM

C – Andrew Costello – 2026 – Cathedral Preparatory School (PA) – Wake Forest commit
1B – Mason Braun – 2025 – New Prairie (IN) – LSU commit
2B – Ty Southisene – 2024 – Basic (NV) – Tennessee signee
SS – Charlie Bates – 2024 – Palo Alto (CA) – Stanford signee
3B – Caleb Bonemer – 2024 – Okemos (MI) – Virginia signee

OF – Noah Franco – 2024 – IMG Academy (FL) – TCU signee
OF – Dante Nori – 2024 – Northville (MI) – Mississippi State signee
OF – Rett Johnson – 2025 – Wayne Country Day School (NC) – NC State commit

DH/C – Cade Arrambide – 2024 – Tomball (TX) – LSU signee
UTIL – Xavier Neyens – 2025 – Mount Vernon (WA) – Oregon State commit
Two-way – Billy Carlson – 2025 – Corona (CA) – Vanderbilt commit

Costello didn’t stand out, relative to the other catchers at Area Code, with his physicality or jaw-dropping raw tools. However, he carried himself with a quiet yet unmistakable confidence that oozed leadership intangibles. After watching a couple of games and seeing how he went about his business, competed in the batter’s box, handled a pitching staff and interacted with peers in the dugout and on the field, I felt fully convicted he’d figure out a way to get to the big leagues eventually. Braun, a one-time Virginia Tech commitment, looks like he crushes souls as an arm wrestler when he’s not sending pitches screaming all over the field and over the fence. I was very impressed with his left-handed swing, how he tracked pitches and how he leveraged his strength to create some of the most notable exit velocity at Area Code. Soon after the event, Braun flipped his commitment to LSU. 

Pound-for-pound I’m not sure there are many better pure baseball players in the nation than Southisene. While his instincts, infectious competitiveness and intangibles fairly garner a lot of attention, he can rake, too. Despite his smaller stature, Southisene handles a heavy barrel well and you can tell he trains for bat speed. He’ll get a long look at shortstop because of his skill, feet and how quickly the ball gets in and out of his glove, but he might fit best as a second baseman at the next level. Bates, Bonemer and Franco were among the top five 2024 position players I saw during 2023. Bates is one of the best athletes in the class armed with outstanding feet as shortstop and one of the best left-handed swings in the nation. Bonemer was also among the five best 2024 position player prospects I saw. He reminds me of seeing Alex Bregman in college before Bregman eventually moved to third base. A true two-way prospect who was also one of the best pitching prospects I saw last year, I liked Franco, who re-classified from the 2025 class, most as a left-handed hitting corner outfielder with a plus arm, good plate skills and developing power with at least a 50-grade future hit tool. 

Speaking of plate skills, Nori’s pitch recognition and strike zone awareness were both advanced and should serve him well as he moves on to the next level. He’s going to be a top-of-the-order hitter with blazing speed and while he doesn’t project much physically, he’s already noticeably strong, twitchy and athletic. I think he can stick in center field and reminds me a lot of Caldwell. Johnson is a similar prospect, although he’s skinny with some projection and doesn’t look like a college running back like Nori. The NC State commit hardly ever whiffs and might have the best plate skills in the country regardless of age. In addition to boasting an elite on-base percentage, Johnson is a menace on the bases with instincts that help his already plus speed play up. 

For the second-straight year, my look at Arrambide at Area Code was significantly better than the spring. It’s like the LSU signee jumps into a phone booth outside the University of San Diego and turns into Superman before he steps onto the field. What I actually think is the elite pitching allows him to stay within himself instead of getting a little too excited versus lesser pitching and let his true hitting tools show, which includes loud, plus raw power. Armed with a plus-plus arm at catcher, Arrambide gives this lineup some catching depth in addition to thunder in the middle of the lineup. Neyens proved he’s among the elite prospects in the 2025 class by emerging as one of the top hitters at the upperclass Area Code event against the best 2024 pitching in the nation. The left-handed hitting third baseman might end up in a corner outfield spot way down the road, but handled third fine with a big arm. He’s also a true two-way prospect who ran his fastball up to 93 MPH and has swing-and-miss stuff. 

Carlson is one of the best defensive shortstops in the country who hardly ever whiffs as a right-handed hitter and can produce plus run times. But he’s also one of the most intriguing right-handed pitching prospects in the 2025 class. His infield athleticism translates to the mound in his easy delivery and his very quick arm/hand easily produces a big heater and elite breaking ball spin. 

P – Trey Rangel – 2026 – The Colony (TX) 
P – Boston Bateman – 2024 – Adolfo Camarillo (CA) – LSU signee
P – Braylon Doughty - 2024 – Chaparral (CA) – Oklahoma State signee
P – Chandler Hart – 2026 - Allen (TX)
P – Justice De Jong – 2025 – Poly Prep Country Day (NY) – Duke commit

It's hard not to chuckle when you watch Rangel because he’s a skinny, young righty who steps on the mound and all of sudden it’s like a flash of lightning happens each time he lets go of the baseball. It almost doesn't make sense. Players his age and size shouldn’t be able to generate exceptional velocity, he touched 94 MPH at Area Code, as easily as Rangel does and he has no idea how good he already is because he can then snap off sliders with spin rates just north of 3200 RPM. Hart, also part of the loaded 2026 class in Texas, is a uniquely good mover for a young pitcher who is 6-6 and touches the low 90s from the left side. He can sink the heater from a low slot and add sweep to his breaking ball with a nasty changeup to use, too. 

We covered Bateman and Doughty in detail HERE. De Jong is a two-way prospect, but it’s impossible to ignore his sky-high ability on the mound thanks in part to his excellent pitch-to-pitch focus on execution. He’s impressive physically with a starter’s delivery and true pitching feel to boost his good curveball and firm changeup that gets whiffs against lefties. It’s not hard to envision at least future 50s across the board for De Jong and a lot of confidence in a right-handed prep pitcher who won’t be viewed as an extremely risky prospect like almost all prep righties are. 

Dustin McComas
Senior Editor and National Scout