Victor Scott

No longer an underrated speedster after a strong Arizona Fall League showing, Scott is a throwback center fielder with 50-steal upside. He has a career .290 average and .367 OBP to go with 107 steals (86 percent success rate) and 11 home runs in 163 minor-league games. Scott capped his 132-game age-22 season with another 23 games in the AFL, slashing .286/.388/.417 with three home runs, 18 steals and more walks (12) than strikeouts (eight). Unlike some slash-and-dash speedsters who go up to the plate trying to dump singles into the opposite field, Scott had pull rates over 42 percent and groundball rates below 50 percent at High-A and Double-A. Good pitchers should be able to challenge Scott inside, but he still projects to be a better pure hitter than recent speedsters like Esteury Ruiz or Billy Hamilton. Not that he doesn't excel at small ball when necessary: Scott hit .708 on 28 bunt attempts last season (24 against lefties), per Baseball America. It's important to note that Scott is a 70-grade defender, so the Cardinals are going to be motivated to try to coax enough offense out of him to justify playing him every day. He could debut as a reserve option later this summer. A move into a prominent big-league role is more likely to take place in 2025. Read Past Outlooks