Full-season minor league action returns today. Below, see a few standouts from Complex League play this week, plus our midseason Players of the Year in every system after the first half of play in 2024.

Jacob Wilson, SS, Athletics: Wilson will become the sixth 2023 draftee to reach the majors, as multiple reports state that the A’s are bringing 2023 first-round pick Jacob Wilson to the majors. If Wilson is up for good, he will finish his MiLB career as a .400 hitter, as he’s hit .401/.445/.613 for his 72-game MiLB career. Wilson hit .438/.475/.686 this season between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas (with a injury rehab stint in the Arizona Complex League after a knee injury). Wilson has exceptional contact skills. He struck out just 6.5% of the time. Wilson joins 2023 draftees Nolan Schanuel, Wyatt Langford, Paul Skenes, Hurston Waldrep and Jake Bloss in reaching the majors.

Branneli Franco, RHP, Cardinals: In January, the Cardinals made righthander their biggest bonus recipient in this year’s international signing class. On Thursday, he established a new career high by striking out seven hitters over 4.1 innings. He’d struck out no more than four in any of his previous dozen starts. Franco can bring his fastball up to 94 mph and couples it with a low-80s slider and a changeup with fading action.

Engelth Ureña, C, Yankees: After taking a little bit of time to warm up, Ureña has found his stride and is delivering on the promise he’s shown in fits and starts when his health has allowed. The 19-year-old backstop homered on Thursday as part of a 2-for-3 effort that included a double. He now has seven homers on the season, tied for third in the league. His 18 extra-base hits are tied for seventh in the league. His .988 OPS is third in league, too.

Franklin Arias, SS, Red Sox: In June, Arias was excellent. Then, the 18-year-old shortstop hit .352/.455/.648. Compared to his July, those numbers look like a slump. The righty swinger homered in both ends of his team’s doubleheader on Thursday, giving him six longballs in 49 games. After the outburst, his July numbers look like this: .480/.567/.800 with five doubles, three home runs and more walks (10) than strikeouts (6).

Midseason MiLB Players Of The Year For All 30 Organizations

The full-season minor leagues pause for four days each July during the major league all-star break.

While minor league all-star games are a thing of the past—aside from the invaluable Futures Game—we are now at the perfect vantage point to take stock of the top prospect performers in each organization.

The criteria for our midseason minor league player of the year honorees is simple: We’re looking for the best performance by a prospect in the first half. Without further ado, here are the 30 honorees.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Adrian Del Castillo, C
Triple-A Reno

Righthander Yilber Diaz pitched well in hostile Double-A and Triple-A run environments and made a successful jump to the big leagues, but Del Castillo’s run production while starting 50 games at catcher gets the nod. He hit .319/.396/.607 with 20 home runs in 85 games for Reno while leading the Pacific Coast League with a 1.003 OPS and 204 total bases. 

Atlanta Braves

Drake Baldwin, C
Triple-A Gwinnett

Baldwin’s frozen-rope home run to the opposite field at the Futures Game put a bow on a strong first half spent at Double-A Mississippi and Gwinnett. He hit .265/.357/.401 with 10 home runs in 76 games—46 of them behind the plate—with a strong walk-to-strikeout ratio. Gwinnett shortstop Nacho Alvarez deserves notice for hitting .285/.389/.398 with six homers in 73 games and improving his range afield.

You can find winners for every system below. It is free for all to read.