Deyvison De Los Santos is Minor League Baseball's 2024 home run king

[Ely Sussman]

Despite facing much older competition throughout the season and being traded to a new organization midway through, De Los Santos went yard more often than any other minor leaguer.

Deyvison De Los Santos led Minor League Baseball in home runs this year and it wasn't even close. The Miami Marlins first baseman went deep 40 times during the 2024 MiLB regular season, which concluded on Sunday. Ryan Ward of the Los Angeles Dodgers ranked second with 34 homers. It's the most home runs by any player in a single minor league season since MJ Melendez in 2021 and the largest gap between the MiLB leader and runner-up since Ryan Howard in 2004. 

DDLS joins Dallas McPherson (42 HR in 2008) as the only players to have won an MiLB home run title while playing for a Marlins affiliate. However, the vast majority of his round-trippers (28) came as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization—De Los Santos and fellow prospect Andrew Pintar were traded to the Marlins on July 25 in exchange for A.J. Puk.

The trade that sent DDLS to the Marlins—and took him away from the ultra-hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League—only added to the degree of difficulty. The most recent example I could find of a minor league home run king who changed organizations midway through the season was Edwin Little in 1955.

The correlation between minor league homers and major league success is not particularly strong. Looking back at the past decade, Kris Bryant and Pete Alonso immediately became stars in The Show, while all of the other single-season leaders during that period have been replacement-level players.

 

MiLB HR Kings, 2014-Present

• 2014: Kris Bryant (Cubs), 43
• 2015: AJ Reed (Astros), 34
• 2016: Dylan Cozens (Phillies), 40
• 2017: AJ Reed (Astros), 34
• 2018: Pete Alonso (Mets) and Ibandel Isabel (Reds), 36
• 2019: Kevin Cron (Diamondbacks), 39
• 2021: MJ Melendez (Royals), 41
• 2022: Moisés Gómez (Cardinals), 39
• 2023: Yunior Severino (Twins) and Shay Whitcomb (Astros), 35
• 2024: Deyvison De Los Santos (Diamondbacks/Marlins), 40

Age is an important variable, though. De Los Santos, who turned 21 in June, is the youngest home run leader since Joey Gallo blasted 40 dingers as a 19-year-old in 2013.

De Los Santos was Fish On First's fifth-ranked prospect following the trade deadline. Despite homering frequently with Triple-A Jacksonville, he didn't improve his prospect stock overall. In 49 games with Triple-A Reno, he slashed .289/.338/.588 with a 121 wRC+ and 22.9 K%; in a similarly sized 50-game Jumbo Shrimp sample, he slashed .240/.284/.459 with a 85 wRC+ and 28.4 K%.

The main issue was a steep increase in how often he whiffed on pitches in the strike zone, particularly secondary pitches. For context, his post-trade 71.9 Z-Contact% would rank last among qualified MLB hitters this season (85.3% is the MLB average). Whether it's a matter of sharpening his pitch recognition ability or dialing down the ferocity of his swing, improving in that area is crucial to his long-term outlook.

Assuming that De Los Santos is not called up during the final week of MLB regular season, the next step would be selecting him to the Marlins 40-man roster in mid-November, protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft. He'll enter spring training with an opportunity to compete for a 2025 Opening Day job.

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[Slacker Mills]

What are the chances of De Los Santos becoming an average Major Leaguer? I'd go with about 15%.

White, Snelling, Mazur, Noble Meyer, Dax Fulton. Which of them becomes an average Major Leaguer? I'm hoping for two or three.

Alcantara, Perez, Cabrera, Weathers, Luzardo, Garrett, Max Meyer. Is there a healthy rotation there for the start of next season? Does Meyer head to the pen? Will Alcantara and Luzardo be traded by midseaon?

[Slacker Mills]

Who will back up Joe Mack next season? Ramirez, Ignofo, or Fortes?

Where will the Marlins find three starting outfielders (or 2 1/2 if Sanchez is kept to platoon)?