Exploring the Best Rookies of 2024

MLB's Best Players in their Rookie Season

Major League Baseball’s 2024 rookie class has been considered as one of the best rookie classes in a long time. Today, we will be exploring 2024’s best rookies.

Paul Skenes | RHP | PIT

Since being drafted first overall last July in the 2023 MLB Draft, Paul Skenes has dominated professional baseball. After pitching in Pittsburgh’s minor league system for only a few months, Skenes made his MLB Debut on May 11, 2024 vs the Cubs at PNC Park. Skenes later made his second career start against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, where he dominated Chicago, striking out the first seven batters he faced. When looking at his stat line, Skenes pitched 34.0 innings with a 1.85 ERA & a 0.94 WHIP in the Minor Leagues. So far in the big leagues, Skenes has gone 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP throughout 16.0 IP in his first 3 starts of his big league career.

Evan Carter | OF | TEX

Evan Carter, who entered the 2024 MLB season ranked 9th on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list may have started the 2024 season slow, but it looks like he will be one of Major League Baseball’s biggest stars one day. After being called up by Texas in September, Carter helped the Rangers win their first franchise World Series in October 2023, just a month after his MLB Debut. The 21 year old was drafted in the 2nd round (50th overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft out of Elizabethton High School in Elizabethton, Tennessee. In his MLB career, Carter has hit .225/.319/.770 and has played tremendous defense in the Rangers’ outfield.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto | RHP | LAD

One of LA’s two Japanese phenoms, along with who else but Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has so far lived up to the massive 12 year, $325 million contract he signed with the Dodgers in 2023. After going 15-5 with a 1.68 ERA in 2022 with the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan, Yamamoto decided to come to the United States to play in the MLB. Yamamoto later signed the largest contract for a pitcher in MLB history with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December of 2023. Throughout his first 10 MLB starts, Yoshinobu went 5-1 with 54.0 IP, a 3.17 ERA, & a 1.06 WHIP. Although he has not been completely dominant, the 25 year old Yamamoto has shown great potential on the mound for LA.

Wyatt Langford | OF | TEX

After being picked fourth overall in the 2023 MLB Draft by the World Champion Texas Rangers, Langford did extremely well in the minors leagues, so well he would make the big league roster the following spring. Langford continued to turn heads in his first Spring Training, earning a spot with the reigning champs on their Opening Day roster and he made his MLB Debut on March 28, 2024, Opening Day for Texas. So far, Langford has hit .222/.288/.286 with 13 RBIs, although he was on the Injured List with a hamstring injury for over three weeks.

Jackson Chourio | OF | MIL

Chourio, who signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as an international free agent in 2018 as a 16 year old out of Venezuela, has shown to be a star in the making and possibly the face of the Brewers franchise. To show how talented Chourio really is, the Brewers signed him to an 8-year, $82 million contract extension before he played a single big league game in 2024. Chourio would then play his first big league game on March 29, 2024, Opening Day for Milwaukee after making the big league roster out of Spring Training. So far in his first 50 professional games, Jackson has hit .210/.254/.581 while being Milwaukee's starting right fielder.

Recap

Throughout the first 50 games of the 2024 MLB season, the best rookies have appeared to be Wyatt Langford (OF) & Evan Carter (OF) of the Texas Rangers, RHP Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jackson Chourio (OF) for the Brewers, & RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the LA Dodgers. Any of these players could be on serious contention for the Rookie of the Year award this year, however, the 2024 season is just now starting and many players are bound to make their MLB Debut still this year.

Image Credits:

Paul Skenes: AP Photo / Gene Puskar

Evan Carter: AP Photo / Tony Gutierrez

Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Wyatt Langford: AP Photo / Richard Rodriguez

Jackson Chourio: Stacy Revere / Getty Images

Cover Image : Mike Carlson / Getty Images + Topps