Jefferson Rojas – Picture by Jefferson Rojas

Welcome to my annual preseason All-Star team!

Most of you could probably do this post blindfolded as I’m sure I could this year. Over the next few days I’m going to pick some players who I think will be the stars at the first half of the 2024 minor league season.  the only requirement to be selected is for me to think that they’ll still be in the minor leagues after the first half of the year ends in mid June.

That’s small prerequisite eliminates a few people. Matt Shaw…not gonna be on my list today. PCA, not gonna be on my list today. And here’s a shocker, Cade Horton, he won’t be on the list Friday because that’s when I’m doing pitchers.

Let’s get to the hitters portion of the All-Star team!

Catcher – This is Moises Ballesteros all the way. I’m excited to see him play at Tennessee at 20 years old. I’m really looking forward to see how he does month-to-month. His power should play a little better as the air is a little bit warmer in the Southern League than it was in the Midwest League last year.

Runners up – I am going with Michael Carrico and Carter Trice to both breakout this spring at Myrtle Beach. Their bats are probably just too good.

First base – I’m going to throw a surprise in here and roll with Felix Stevens. The man who led the system in home runs last year between Myrtle Beach and South Bend is probably going to be the guy who does it again in 2024. Because of the backlog of players in Triple-A, he’s probably going to start the year in South Bend. 

Runner up – I am going to go with Brian Kalmer who should also be at South Bend to start the year. Stevens and Kalmer may end up doing the DH/1st base thing for the first month or two. I’ll be interested to see if Kalmer can pick up where he left off from his bodacious debut of 2023.

Second base – I’m rolling with Pedro Ramirez. the switch-hitting 19-year-old will be arriving to Davenport, Iowa on April 5, and I’ll be there to see him make his High-A debut. I’m pretty pumped about seeing him hit from both sides of the plate that weekend.

Shortstop – This is Jefferson Rojas all the way. I will be picking him every day of the week and twice on Sundays for the immediate future. I am also excited to see him play for South Bend this spring starting in Davenport.

Third base – Matt Shaw is not going to take that long in the minors. He’s already pushing the envelope of getting to Chicago. That means that BJ Murray is going to be my guy at 3B. The only thing I need him to do is to hit for power. That’s cause I like dingers!  No shocker there.

Outfielders – PCA could be in Chicago by the middle of June and that opens the door for who could be All-Stars in the first half. Let me take two names and put them on the board quickly and I don’t really need to discuss them a lot. Those would be Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara. As for who the third outfielder would be, I’m going to go with Christian Franklin. With Franklin playing in Tennessee, he should do well hitting in that environment just like Ballesteros will.

Honorable Mention: As for Parker Chavers, he fell just short for me. I know, a surprise. As for Cole Roederer, he’s close. We saw him have his best season last year and he stayed healthy. I am pulling for Cole to get it done this year. He’s looked good in the few games I have seen this spring.

Designated hitter– I’m going with James Triantos on this one. He has the ability to hit Double-A pitching just based on his Arizona Fall League tenure. However, He’s going to face much better pitching this year in the Southern League than he did in Arizona, which was a little down last year. Still, Triantos has the potential to do well. With only seven opponents in the Southern League, other teams are going to get to know him really fast, and he needs to be able to make adjustments that everyone thinks he can.

As usual, there are going to be surprises and breakouts. We could see them anywhere from Myrtle Beach up to Iowa this year. It’s going to be exciting.