MLB Rank 2024: Predicting next top 100 player for every team - ESPN

To coincide with ESPN's ranking of the top 100 players in baseball for 2024, I'm predicting who will be the next ones from each team to make our MLB Rank list.

For the most part, that means they will either make the top 100 list for the 2025 or 2026 season because every team will have players falling in and out of contention every year. It seems silly to project a minor leaguer who is years away from making the big leagues — though there are circumstances where a prospect makes sense as my pick.

In 2023, 89 players posted 3.0 WAR or higher per FanGraphs, so that's a reasonable line to draw to project someone to make this list. It's important to note that this doesn't mean posting a three-win season, but being perceived as being a three-win talent looking forward, which are two very different things. Only a couple of relievers can get to this leverage-adjusted level of performance (there are just four on this year's list), and even fewer are seen as likely to repeat it. The same goes for players with more limited physical tools. For reference on some of the more unfamiliar names, here is my 2024 top 100 prospects list.

A.J. Smith-Shawver, RHP

The Braves are tied for first — alongside the Dodgers — with eight players on this year's top 100 while also having the 28th-ranked farm system, so their pickings are a little slim for this activity. There are four solid candidates with the potential for breakthroughs in 2024, with veteran pitcher Chris Sale, recently acquired outfielder Jarred Kelenic and 2023 first-round pick Hurston Waldrep all joining Smith-Shawver as various versions of picks to click in 2024.

Francisco Alvarez, C

Alvarez is an easy one here as the 22-year-old hit 25 homers as a rookie in 2023 while playing