What Happened to The Top High School Baseball Prospects Of The 2010s? Here’s How Their Careers Panned Out

Hundreds of thousands of kids in the United States play high school baseball each year. However, only one of them can be named the best prospect in the country, and that label doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll end up taking the MLB by storm based on the track record of the people who earned it in the 2010s.

Here’s what happened to every No. 1 high school baseball recruit in the United States in the 2010s

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, a total of 472,598 American teenagers played high school baseball in 2025, which made it the fifth-most popular organized boys’ sport in the country.

You obviously need some serious talent if you want to emerge as the top overall high school prospect, which is what the ten guys on this list managed to do in the 2010s based on the rankings put together by Perfect Game.

However, as you see when you take a look at how their careers ended up unfolding, that status only does so much to predict how they’ll end up faring once they take their game to the next level.

2010: Jameson Taillon

Jameson Taillon attracted the attention of scouts as a pitcher at The Woodlands High School in the Texas town it takes its name from, and he was selected behind Bryce Harper with the second overall pick in the MLB Draft in 2010.

He spent a few years working his way up Pittsburgh’s minor league system before suffering a couple of setbacks; he was sidelined in 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and saw his comeback stymied by a hernia that kept him out of action the following year.

He ultimately made his MLB debut in 2016 and has appeared in 242 games with the Pirates, Yankees, Cubs, and Blue Jays over the course of ten seasons while posting an 84-66 record and starting 241 games.

2011: Dylan Bundy

Harper was listed as the top prospect on the Perfect Game rankings in 2011, but by that point, he was already in the minors following his one and only year at College of Southern Nevada.

As a result, I’m going to focus on Dylan Bundy, who was still doing his thing as a pitcher at Owasso High School in Oklahoma. He was widely considered the top player in the country, but he was ultimately the fourth selection in the draft and signed with the Orioles.

Bundy was repeatedly bitten by the injury bug after playing in his first MLB game in 2012. He also had Tommy John surgery in 2014, and the return that was planned for 2015 was derailed by a shoulder issue that led to him going a grand total of 1,290 days between appearances.

He ultimately spent eight seasons in the bigs (he also played for the Angels and Twins), and went 54-65 with a 4.74 ERA before pitching his last game in 2022, two years before he announced his retirement.

2012: Carlos Correa

Carlos Correa is the first player on this list who really managed to live up to the hype they generated in his school, as he was a highly-touted prospect on the travel circuit in his native Puerto Rico who attended a dedicated baseball academy in the town of Gurabo.

He became the highest-drafted Puerto Rican player in MLB history when the Astros selected the 17-year-old shortstop with the first pick in the draft in 2012. He spent a few years in the minors before playing his first game with Houston in 2015, and ended up winning American League Rookie of the Year despite making his debut two months into the season.

Correa’s initial stint in Houston lasted for seven seasons, a run where he earned two of his three All-Star nods while getting a World Series ring in 2017 and a Gold Glove in 2021. He also spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Twins, but he’s been an Astro since he was traded in 2025.

2013: Clint Frazier

Clint Frazier was a force to be reckoned with as an outfielder at Loganville High School, and he initially committed to playing college baseball at the University of Georgia before overhauling those plans after he was selected by Cleveland with the fifth pick in the 2013 MLB Draft.

He never actually played a game for that franchise, and he was still in the minors when he was traded to the Yankees in 2016 before making his debut in the Bronx the following year.

Unfortunately, we have another case where injuries ended up being an issue, as Frazier was dogged by a concussion he suffered in 2018 and bounced from the majors to the minors during the remainder of his time in pinstripes, which came to an end in 2022.

He went on to have short-lived stints with the Rangers and the Cubs, but only appeared in 280 games over the course of seven seasons while posting a .235 batting average before retiring in 2024.

2014: Brady Aiken

As you can probably surmise from the picture I used for this entry, Brady Aiken is easily the biggest bust on this list and also the only player on it who never appeared in an MLB Game.

Aiken was a pitcher at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego who was selected with the first overall pick by the Astros in 2014, but he ultimately declined to sign with the team due to a dispute over a signing bonus linked to a physical that detected an issue with his throwing elbow.

He ultimately enrolled as a postgrad at Florida’s IMG Academy in 2015, and Houston’s concerns were validated when he underwent Tommy John surgery in March of that year. Cleveland still decided to take a chance on him with the 17th pick, but it did not end up panning out for either party.

Aiken struggled to find his game in the minors, and ultimately took an extended hiatus that led to his career fizzling out in the early 2020s before pivoting to a career as an agent.

2015: Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers grew up playing baseball with Bo Bichette before emerging as a top prospect at Lake Mary High School in Florida, and he nixed his plans to continue his career at Florida State after the Rockies got him with the fifth overall pick in 2015.

It took him a while to work his way up the ranks, but the second baseman finally made his MLB debut with Colorado in 2019. He also grappled with injuries that repeatedly sidelined him during his time with the club, which declined to bring him back after he became a free agent in 2024.

He got a shot with the Astros in 2025 but only appeared in 43 games in the majors before suffering a season-ending injury after colliding with a teammate in a Triple-A game. The Red Sox gave him another shot in the minors in 2026, but he fell victim to a shoulder injury during spring training that kept him out of commission for the entire campaign.

2016: Jason Groome

We’ve got another underwhelming journey courtesy of Jason Groome, who initially pitched at Barnegat High School in New Jersey before transferring to IMG Academy and ultimately heading back home as a senior.

He was viewed as a potential top pick but went to the Red Sox with the 12th selection before entering their minor league system. Groome also needed Tommy John surgery (are you sensing a theme?) in 2018, and he was able to make it as high as Triple-A before Boston traded him to the Padres.

He was never able to crack the MLB roster in San Diego, and he most recently played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association of Professional Baseball.

2017: Hunter Greene

We’ve finally got another player who was able to break through after turning heads in high school, which is what Hunter Greene did as a pitcher at Notre Dame High School in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Greene had committed to play at UCLA, but he also reassessed his plans after he was selected by the Reds with the second overall pick in 2017. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but he needed Tommy John surgery in 2019, and he continued to climb his way up the minor league ranks after returning before Cincinnati tapped him for his first MLB outing in 2022.

That season (and his sophomore one) were also impacted by physical setbacks, but he finally got into a groove in 2024 before being named to the All-Star Team. However, injuries have continued to be an issue (he had his second Tommy John procedure in 2026), and he’s posted a 27-31 record and a 3.82 ERA in the 92 games he’s started to date.

2018: Matthew Liberatore

Matthew Liberatore pitched at Mountain Ridge High School in Arizona and planned to stay close to home after committing to the University of Arizona. However, as was the case with the other players on this list who were eyeing college, he opted to go pro after the Rays got him with the 16th pick in 2018.

It took him four years to get to the majors, and he’d been traded to the Cardinals by the time he made his MLB debut in 2022. He initially split his time between the club and Triple-A while serving as a starter and a reliever in St. Louis in 2023 and 2024, but he was able to earn a permanent spot in the rotation in 2025.

Since then, he’s gone 14-26 with a 4.73 ERA.

2019: Bobby Witt Jr.

We’re capping things off with one of just a handful of players on this list who’ve actually had sustained success at the Major League Level: Bobby Witt Jr., who ended up being a bit of a sensation due to his play as a shortstop at Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas.

He retracted his commitment to Oklahoma State after the Royals drafted him with the second overall pick in 2019, and he quickly rose through the minors before earning a spot on the opening day roster in Kansas City in 2022.

Witt had his breakout season in 2024, as he earned his first of three straight All-Star selections and finished with the highest batting average in the league while securing the first of what would end up being back-to-back Gold Gloves, Silver Slugger, and All-MLB First Team selections.

He’s only five years into his career, but all signs point to him being the most successful prospect who topped the rankings in 2010 based on his résumé so far.

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