2024 PLW Preseason Power Rankings – Premier League WIFFLE®

PLW is back in 2024 and with the stadium lights not being used, the majority of games have been moved to the weekends that has caused a little bit of a shake up.

21 players and coaches turned in their predictions of where they though teams would finish this year and those results are posted below.

Heading into season 6 there was a lot of question marks if The Ones would even be able to field a team after the loss Scottez Dobbins, Ryan Chen and Cody Schmidt who have been the backbone of management since season one.

The absence of new manager Adam Koutz at the tryouts and any Ones players during winter league left a lot of people in doubt if they’d even have enough to play during the season opener. Fast forward to opening day, The Ones not only showed up, but did so 10 strong and managed to win their home opening series and did so with a chip on their shoulder.

While both Chen and Schmidt remain on the 12 man roster, they are not expected to play many, if any series this year. Veterans expecting to see a lot of playing time will be Adam Koutz, Austin Bull, Adrian Gutierrez, James Stein and Tyler Peter entering into his 2nd season.

Veteran Spencer Barrick expects to miss a lot of weekend games but Koutz was able to add 3 players in this years draft taking outfielder/pitcher Richard Parsons with the 7th overall pick, RHP James Ogburn with the 11th and the infamous Dave Cabbrera 17th. The Ones will win more than 6 games this season, but will they show up enough to stay out of relegation this year?

Will Bryner stay healthy this season? Will we see 2022 or 2023 production out of Wilson? Will Murphy play a single game? Will Brandon Gregg throw more strikes? Who will step up on the mound behind Bryner?

All these questions are leaving players, coaches and fans around the league with much doubt in the once feared franchise Snappers who missed the playoffs for the first time last year. Are they destined for another season in relegation? Anything can happen and that’s why we play the games.

A healthy Bryner returning to MVP form could carrying this team into the playoffs by himself. Bash brother Shane Weber should turn in a full season of games and looks to continue to improve on the mound as well. Greg Kelly returning at 3B with gold glove defense along with former rookie Brandon Medeiros. Manny Santillanes and Chad Tomolo also returning with the addition of former Warbird Matt Petrikas who’s only expected to play a few series when he visits from Jacksonville, FL.

The draft netted two new faces for the Snappers with #2 overall pick Austin Topel and #9 Adam Kennedy. Both former high school baseball players who should see immediate action and hoping to make an impact as this is the first time in several years the Snappers had any 1st round draft picks.

Once again, the Legends fine themselves 8th in the preseason power rankings and eager to prove their doubters wrong. A familiar cast all returning in Nick Sansone, Casey Taravella, Billy Osgood, Trench Picone, James Church and Ethan Wigfield.

While Derrik Corral and Alex Garcia remain on the roster, there’s some question marks around their attendance as games have moved to weekends. Owner/GM Brad Ogden was busy this offseason, acquiring former Lightning player Mikah Garcia in a trade and grabbing 3 former PCL players in the draft. Cayd Watkins with the 3rd overall, Brendon Hite 10th and Jason Buffington 15th.

Cayd Watkins displayed what a powerful bat he posses in limited action in the PCL hitting .429 with a 1.663 OPS and 9 homeruns in just 13 games. With a recent surgery in December, Watkins isn’t expected to be throwing at all this year but should see maximum action at DH as he looks to make an impact with the Legends both in the standings and the rookie of the year race.

Mystery surrounding the Bombers have left voters placing them from as high as 2nd to as low as 8th in this seasons power rankings. No one has heard much from the Fernandez clan this offseason who make up the bulk of the power of this offensive heavy team.

Returning MVP Trevor Bauer has been at the forefront of all of the action this off season and looking to be starting the season in top form. Hollis Hale is hoping to make most of the games and turn in a 25+ homerun season and Kenny Santiwan is excited to start the season with his new team and should make an impact both on the mound and with the bat.

Also returning will be #3 overall draft pick last season Zach Hartwell along with Gavin Kelly and Lonnell Simmons. While the Bombers traded away their future acquiring Brandon Maio last year who is expected to see some innings in a Bomber’s uniform this season, they were able to still find a player in Raul Salazar with the 16th overall pick in this year’s draft.

Last year the Night Owls traded away 3 all star players in Randy Dalby, James Stein and Logan Christie for draft picks going into full rebuild mode. Doing this left them risking their entire PLW lives in relegation which they managed to squeak out a final win against the Warbirds in a PLW death match which sent the loser into wiffleball oblivion.

Now the Owls are cashing in on those rewards in a big way in this years draft. First acquiring rookie stand out Alec Holligan, and drafting former college shortstop Kyle Silva with the #1 overall pick and PCL standout Malik Ogburn 5th overall.

These 3 all star caliber additions will join a returning cast of ace pitcher Levi Lawrence, former rookie sensation Andrew Miller, Bryon Brundgae, Kyle Watanabe and veteran players Barry Hutter, Kyle Loman, Keifer McLendon and owner/GM Beau Evans. Manager Beau Evans looks to have his hands full with a roster loaded with talent and it will be interesting to see how he handles playing time with this deep team.

The PCL team that shocked PLW nation in last year’s challenger’s tournament has been chomping at the bit to get the 2024 PLW season started. An offseason trade sent super star PCL player Gavin Mansell to the Cajuns to bring Pharaoh owner/GM Logan Christie to the team.

Christie and Alonzo Valencia the only veteran PLW players on a roster full of rookie of the year candidates. Josh Bosnos, Seth Barden and Parker Trask all with over a 1,000 OPS last year look to bring some power to this year’s rookie class. Trask and Bosnos a dual threat as they combined for over 150 innings pitched last year with sub 2 ERAs.

Rylee Baxa had a great second have on the mound last year and a driving force in the challenger’s tournament throwing 9 innings against the Warbirds and Owls only giving up a couple of runs. Defensive specialist Gage Sarna, Codie Willis, Beau Hall and Tera Hall (not related) PLW’s first female player round out the roster of returning players.

Having traded all of their draft picks to load up their team prior to the trade deadline in PCL, the Pharaohs made a draft day trade with the Sandvipers to acquire California player Dustin Staggs the founder of SoCal Wiffle Ball in Fullerton, CA. Staggs looks to make it out to 30+ games and make an impact on the mound and the plate this year.

The biggest story in Sandviper camp was the lost of long time ace pitcher Tom Gannon. Gannon threw 100+ innings each of the last two seasons and contribute both with the bat and gold glove defense in the outfield.

Their lineup doesn’t lack depth however after leading the league as a team in every offensive category, the vipers will look to try to slug their way into the playoffs. Returning players Justin Hicks, Jordan Keegan, Kenny McDowall, Andrew Petrovsky, Marc Tavano and Adam Tanic look to lead the offense with Michael Dean and Dustin Flentie as valuable utility players to that make this team as solid as any. While Jordan Robles and Donn Roach hold roster spots, they’re not expected to see much action this year.

In the draft, the Vipers used their 4th overall pick on 22 year old college player Landon White who is currently on the disabled list with a broken wrist but looks to be a quick recovery and expected to make his rookie debut as soon as it heals. The biggest question mark for the Vipers, how will they replace 100+ quality innings? AJ Petrovksy, Adam Tanic, Kenny McDowall, Jordan Keegan, Dustin Flentie or rookie Landon White, they’ll need more than just one of these players to step up on the mound if they want to be playoff contenders this year.

After a heart breaking extra inning loss to the Bombers in the wildcard, the Vaderz found themselves watching the rest of the playoffs from home just a season removed from winning the championship. Now with a full roster returning and hopes of Ethan Ibarra possibly moving back, the Vaderz have their eyes set on the trophy and being the first repeat champion in PLW history.

Their offense led by Kyle Eder, Alec Hutt, Nate Stepna and Gio Battistoni, all combined for over 1,000 OPS behind spark plug lead off hitter and ace pitcher Billy Santiwan who may miss some series due to working in the restaurant industry on the weekends.

Former rookie of the year winner Tanner Roundy, power threat Jerome Byndloss, veteran pitcher Jason Walker all returning along with Owner/GM Sesai Alacron and Tynoa Shigemoto. Although the Vaderz were silent in this year’s draft they did acquire defensive wiz Tyler Willinsky off waivers.

The returning champs finally got some credibility in the power rankings but they are still not satisfied seeing another team ahead of them.

An offseason that traded away playoff MVP Logan Christie to acquire PCL super star Gavin Mansell has Owner/GM Andrew Ledet confident for a big season and perhaps a back to back title for the Cajuns. The Cajun’s roster will also see returning players Cody Runnalls, Sashi Bobba, Cy Young winner Ryan Ruesch, Cody Giordano, Nathan Ruesch, Kyle Baker and smooth catching outfielder David Harley Jr all ready to defend their title.

Besides Gavin, the Cajuns made some additional moves, drafting Chris Gearing, acquiring former Warbird Devlin Daniel and trading for veteran reliever Dave Seifert.

Coming off a loss to the Cajuns in the finals, their peers feel the Lightning have what it takes to win it all this year.

Chad Phillips is happy to see a returning cast of ace pitcher Jayk Purdy, national phenom Randy Dalbey, rookie of the year Tyler Hallead, spark plug 5 tool player Justin Spurrier, power hitting Bruce Huson and lefty killer Tim Reilly with Josh Towers taking a roster spot but not sure about his availability this year.

Phillips took no chances this offseason by acquiring former Warbird Jaedyn Traut, 8th overall pick Joey Franklin, drafting Jake Atnip with the 12th overall selection and claimed Justin Farnum off waivers after trading away Dave Siefert to the Cajuns.

It’s going to be a great year for PLW! With such parody in the league and talent throughout, do these rankings really mean anything? My sneaky pick to win it all this year… The Legends!

Potential Rookie of the Year Candidates is a long list!