Cleveland Baseball Insider's 2024 Season Top 50 Prospects: No. 47 INF Luis Merejo Jr.
As we prepare for a new year and spring training to begin, there’s no better time to bring you an up-to-date look at Cleveland Baseball Insiders' top 50 prospects.
Rankings are based off seeing the players live, watching video and having conversations with evaluators within and outside of the organization, as well as other writers. While prospect lists are fun and entertaining for fans, they are not an end-all-be-all in terms of who make it eventually to the major leagues. Remember, Jose Ramirez was never a top-100 prospect nationally and players like Steven Kwan and Will Brennan weren't considered top-20 prospects in the Guardians organization by many outside publications.
The ultimate goal here is to inform our readers and give you information on some of the young talent in the organization that they can follow and look forward to seeing in the future at the MLB level.
Luis Merejo Jr. - First Base / Third Base
AGE - 17 | BATS - R |
DOB - 6/28/2006 | THROWS - R |
HT - 6'2" | SIGNED - 1/15/2023 |
WT - 185 | ETA - 2028 |
The now 17-year-old corner infield prospect Merejo Jr. signed for $340K as an international free agent on January 15th, 2023, out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Luis was actually born in Port St. Lucie, Florida but moved to the Dominican Republic when he was 14 years old making him eligible to be selected as an international free agent. He made his professional debut during the 2023 season in the Dominican Summer League.
Scouting Grades
Hit - 40 | Arm - 50 |
Power - 55 | Field - 40 |
Run - 45 | Overall - 40 |
Merejo Jr. possesses a very mature approach at the plate for such a young player. His best tool being his plus power that eventually once he fills out his 6-foot-2 long frame might transition to plus, plus power potential. He has the ability to hit to all fields with a short compact stroke with terrific bat-to-ball skills and produces hard contact consistently.
Merejo is athletic enough he has a chance to stick at third base but may eventually need to transition to first base or a corner outfield position in the future. He has an average to above average arm and has average speed.
2023 Stats
G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | ISO | OPS | wRC+ |
40 | 134 | 23 | 43 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 32 | 20 | 26 | 1 | .321 | .441 | .485 | .164 | .926 | 147 |
In a Guardians deep 2023 international first year player class that included Welbyn Francisca, Jose Pirela, Yaikel Mijares, Yerlin Luis among others it was Merejo Jr. who led all of them in AVG .321, OPS .926 and wRC+ 147 in Dominican Summer League action. He did all this while spending the first two-thirds of the season as just a 16-year-old.
Over his 40 games Merejo Jr. collected 12 extra base hits including four home runs while driving in 32 runs and drawing 20 walks. His bat-to-ball skills were evident striking out just 15.3% of the time over 170 plate appearances.
On defense he started 22 games at first base, 14 games at third base and four at designated hitter.
2024 and Future Outlook
Merejo Jr. should begin the 2024 season in the Arizona Complex League despite still being only 17 years old still when the season starts in early June.
Two things to look for from Merejo Jr. in 2024 is increased power production as he continues to fill out and mature. The second is will he be able to still hit for average as well as keep his strikeout rate low as he faces more advanced pitching moving forward.
While Merejo Jr. is not close to reaching the MLB level, he does have an exciting mix of tools including one that all Guardians fans currently covet, power. His ceiling is extremely high, but the continued development of his bat will take him as far as he goes.
Currently a hit first prospect he may need to move off third base and make a full move to first base or possible a corner outfield position down the line. As Luis frame continues to fill out, he may lose some of the agility and quickness to handle the hot corner.
