Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Ricky Tiedemann is the best left-handed pitching prospect in baseball and ranks 22nd overall, according to Baseball America’s 2024 top-100 prospects list.
After being the lone Blue Jays prospect on the list to open 2023, Tiedemann is joined by infielder Orelvis Martinez in the top-100 this time around.
Martinez fell off Baseball America’s pre-season list last year, but earned his way back onto the 2023 mid-season rankings and opens 2024 ranked 90th.
Tiedemann dealt with a biceps injury that cost him a chunk of his summer in 2023, but returned late in the year to make his triple-A debut and win Pitcher of the Year at the Arizona Fall League.
The 21-year-old spent time across four levels in 2023, racking up 82 strikeouts over 44 innings. He posted a 3.68 ERA while walking 23 hitters and allowing just a single home run.
In the Arizona Fall League, Tiedemann made four starts, striking out 23 over 18 innings with a 2.50 ERA for the Surprise Saguaros on his way to the top pitcher honour.
Baseball America said the six-foot-four southpaw has, “a chance to develop three plus pitches with above-average command.”
Martinez, meanwhile, impressed across two levels in 2023, belting 28 total home runs in 125 games and slashing .243/.340/.496. The 22-year-old made improvements in his swing decisions at the plate, resulting in his walk rate jumping over four per cent.
Baseball America said, “he possesses some of the best quality of contact in the minors, as he shows the ability to consistently backspin flyballs to his pullside.”
The Baltimore Orioles have the top prospect in Baseball America’s rankings for the third straight year, with 20-year-old Jackson Holliday claiming the No. 1 spot.
Catcher Adley Rutschman and infielder Gunnar Henderson were ranked first in 2022 and 2023, making the Orioles the first team to have a prospect ranked atop Baseball America’s pre-season list in three consecutive years.
Holliday, the first-overall pick in the 2022 draft, shot up Baltimore’s system in his first full professional season, starting the year in low-A and finishing it with the team’s triple-A affiliate. Across all four levels, the left-handed hitting shortstop posted a .941 OPS with 12 home runs, 30 doubles and 24 stolen bases in 125 games.
Joining Holliday in the top-five were Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio, Tampa Bay Rays infielder Junior Caminero and Texas Rangers outfielders Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford.
The top-two picks in the 2023 draft and former teammates with the National Championship-winning LSU Tigers, Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews, also cracked the top-10.
This was the first year that Baseball America didn’t include “foreign professionals” on the list, so recent MLB signings Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jung Ho Lee and Shota Imanaga we ineligible to be ranked.
The Orioles, Rays, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres were tied for the most prospects in the top-100, with six apiece.
Brewers infielder Tyler Black was the lone Canadian ranked, coming in at No. 70 after a strong 2023 campaign.
The Toronto native spent time in double-A and triple-A, posting a .930 OPS with 18 home runs, 12 triples and 55 stolen bases. Milwaukee selected Black 33rd overall in the 2021 MLB Draft.