2 The Bigs

By Matt Castagna: Feb 7, 2024

Another day, another Diamondback’s prospect. We have already profiled Jordan Lawlar, Druw Jones & Ivan Melendez in the past. People may wonder why we keep circling back to this team? Well, it’s clear. Not only do the Diamondbacks cultivate talent, but they do it especially well with outfielders. Highlighted of course, by the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, Corbin Carroll. However, they have had a bevy of other outfield prospect graduates that have made an impact at the major league level as well. The D-Backs scouting and development department will be heavily focused on one name in 2024, Druw Jones. However, there are some other names in the system that can turn heads this year. For this prospect, it wouldn’t be the first time that he played second fiddle to a highly touted outfielder. This kid played alongside Gavin Cross at Virginia Tech, who went on to be a 1st-round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals.

With that let’s dive in, with our prospect spotlight… Jack Hurley. Jack is someone who can quietly shoot his name up to the top the Diamondback prospect list with a good 2024. 

Hurley really cemented his name in the baseball circuit with his outstanding 2022 collegiate season, where he hit .375 with a 1.116 OPS, 14 home runs and 10 stolen bases. He followed that up with an another impressive season in 2023 with a .320 AVG, 1.127 OPS and 17 home runs. When July rolled around, the Diamondbacks were ready to swoop in and take the sweet swinging Hurley with a 3rd round selection in the 2023 draft. Scouts described Hurley as someone who has the capability of being a 5-tool player at the big league level. Which is not thrown around often especially for a 3rd round selection.

Hurley faced the very common learning curve in his first year in pro-ball. He had a high strikeout rate of 30.4% in High-A, but it came with an extremely small sample size (82 at-bats). On the positive end, he did improve his average on the way up, going only 2/11 in Rookie-Ball, to hitting nearly .300 in High-A. Slashing .276/.374/.409 in his first year, across three levels, with a 30% K-rate? Seems like the ceiling could be high once he gets comfortable at the plate.

Being a 2023 selection, he’s a player you can find in the Bowman Draft 2023 set. With the unreasonable prices for a 2023 Draft Hobby, this is a perfect player to focus on the singles market. You can get a base auto as cheap as $8 and a colored auto as low as $40. With the power and 5 tool potential he’s someone I’m willing to spend on and watch him take the desert city by storm.