Colt Emerson

Emerson is a really good pure hitter, but the rest of the overall fantasy package is to be determined. He walked more (18.1 BB%) than he struck out (14.0 K%) while hitting .293 as an 18-year-old at Single-A, and he hit .374 in 24 games in 2023 and hit .370 as one of the youngest players in the Arizona Fall League this year. Emerson struggled to a .225/.331/.317 slash line in 29 games at High-A shortly after his 19th birthday, and he missed a lot of time, especially in the first half, with a broken foot. Even amid his struggles in the Northwest League, Emerson boasted a 0.50 BB/K, so he was hardly overmatched. Emerson is a doubles maven, tallying nine doubles in 13 AFL games and 27 doubles in 94 career games in the minors, but he didn't homer in the AFL and has six homers thus far in pro ball. He hits the ball very hard (31.0 Hard%) for a teenage shortstop, but he ran groundball rates over 48 percent at Single-A and High-A last year. Emerson went 15-for-17 on stolen-base attempts in 70 games, so while he only grades as a 50-grade runner, he should be able to chip in double-digit steals early in his career. More over-the-fence power will certainly come, but it's unclear if he'll settle in as a 15-20 homer threat or a 20-30 homer threat. Read Past Outlooks