With the 2024 draft having just concluded, I thought it would be a good exercise to take a peak back at the 2023 draft class and see if we can uncover any hidden gems in the class. Often, fantasy players will focus on the first, maybe second round of the draft but the rest of it…well tends to be forgotten for the most part. I know before I started writing and being part of the “industry” that’s where my focus would lay. I would pay attention to the Pirates draft and the first round or two and then rely on various lists for my FYPD drafts.

For this exercise I will look at players drafted past the sixth round that might have slipped through the cracks. I will also include a recommendation on depth of league to pick them up in, or just merely to keep an eye on.

Charles McAdoo, 3B/2B PIT (9%)

.323/.407/.557 13 HR, 16 SB, 11.3% BB, 22% K

Ok, this one might be easy and not exactly a hidden gem at this point, sue me. There’s nothing like easing your way into an article with a lay-up.

McAdoo was drafted in the thirteenth-round last year out of San Jose State and signed for $150,000 after having a .952 OPS with 11 homeruns in his final year. Upon being drafted, McAdoo was immediately sent to Single-A like most advanced college bats where he hit .302 with five home runs and five stolen bases.

Starting off this season at High-A, McAdoo continued mashing earning a promotion to Double-A at the end of June. He has largely impressed for Altoona, hitting .279/.380/.544 with four home runs and two stolen bases in just under 80 plate appearances with a .265 ISO. Although he is more of a free-swinger by evidence of a 34% O-Swing rate, McAdoo has been able to walk at a 13% rate while only striking out 22% of the time. Although we have no Statcast data in Double-A, the games I have watched he’s able to find the barrel more often than not. He’s a pleasant surprise in a system that is sorely lacking a top-end offensive prospect outside of Termarr Johnson. They may have struck gold with McAdoo.

He's been primarily playing third base for Altoona and some right field. He has a cannon of an arm and will fit at either position in my opinion. You may have seen the spectacular play where he threw a runner out from about 10 feet outside the line of third base after showing impressive range knocking the ball down.

We have him currently ranked right outside of our top 200, but I expect the next update will have him vault up a few spots. He’s rostered in nine percent of Fantrax leagues, so he’s most likely not available anywhere for free. I would say with confidence that if your league rosters 150 prospects or more he needs to be rostered. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to check in with the manager that has him and see if you can work a trade out for him.

Alex Mooney, SS/3B CLE (2%)

.278/.353/.459 10 HR, 31 SB, 9.1% BB, 21.6% K

Mooney received a one million dollar signing bonus in last years draft, being one of only two players (the other being George Wolkow) to receive such a bonus after the sixth round. The Duke product is known for a general ability at being good, not great at all facets of the game, something the Guardians seem to target year after year. His last year at Duke as a sophomore, Mooney had a .938 OPS with eight homeruns and 21 steals.

After signing, he did struggle at Single-A but received an assignment to High-A to start the 2024 season. Mooney has shown an ability to handle fastballs well but still struggles with breaking balls. There is some whiff to his game, with a 30% whiff rate and a below average zone contact rate of 76%. He has been getting to his power with the ten home runs, and 19 extra base hits and in the looks at him that I’ve had he attacks pitches in the zone and that’s backed up by 71% zone swing rate.

Mooney is a heads-up runner and smart on the basepaths, he isn’t the fastest around but has been able to steal 31 bags at an 81% success rate.

I think he’s worth a roster spot in leagues that have at least 350 prospects, although he sits outside of our top 500 for now. He’s in a good organization that should be able to capitalize on his strengths. He’s able to play both third base and shortstop with the majority of the time being spent at the hot corner. He will need to get into his power more for the more prototypical third base prospect but could find himself in the mold of Ke’Bryan Hayes, without the Gold Glove defense.

Michael Forret, RHP BAL (3%)

12 games started, 3.78 ERA, 22% K-BB

Coming out of a junior college in Florida, Forret was drafted in the fourteenth-round in last year’s draft. He has an easily repeatable delivery, although he will lose the thread once in awhile like any young thrower. While in junior college he sat in the low-90’s but after getting in the Orioles system and visiting Tread in the offseason he now sits 95 comfortably with nice shape to it. He has three potential plus pitches including his fastball, a sweeper that he’s comfortable throwing to either side and changeup that may be his best pitch he can throw to anyone as well. Forret will also toss in a curveball at times.

In one look, he had an impressive sequence against Termarr Johnson who has been on a bit of a heater. He started out with high and away fastball that was called a ball and then threw three straight sliders in on the hands before striking him out with an impressive front door curveball.

He still has work to do commanding the pitches and he has a bit of an elevated walk rate at High-A at 11% but that’s more due to him pecking around the corners instead of having a bunch of non-competitive pitches. As he learns to trust himself more, I think the walk rate will go down into the single digits. Overall, he has a starter’s repertoire and the frame to handle the workload.

Forret is currently ranked at 325 but should be higher as some of the rankers didn’t include him in our top 300, such as myself. Like the great Shaquille O’Neal once said, “I owe you an apology, I wasn’t really familiar with your game.” In any leagues that roster 250 prospects or more Forret should be added at this point. He’s only at three percent rostered so he may be available for free on your waiver wire.

Let me know in the comments if there’s a personal favorite that was deeper in the draft that you think should have been included in this.

Thanks for reading.