Vineland native Josiah Ragsdale, a high-level Major League Baseball (MLB) prospect, recently earned a spot on the 2024 All- New England Collegiate Baseball League 2nd team. The NECBL is second only to the Cape Cod League as a New England summer wood bat league where the highest-level college prospects play.
Ragsdale played for the Vermont Mountaineers.
Throughout the summer, the left-hand hitting outfielder appeared in 40 games and tallied 47 hits in 147 at-bats, 36 runs, 33 drawn walks, 24 stolen bases, 18 runs batted in, five doubles, three home runs, one triple, and a .320 batting average.
He also won the 2024 Christopher Ashmos 10th Player Award and was named WCAX’s Hitter of the Week in July. Ragsdale will enter his first season at Boston College after transferring from Iona in June.
The rising junior spent two seasons with Iona. In 2024, he recorded a .385 batting average, 74 hits, 44 runs, 37 runs batted in, 13 doubles, eight triples, seven home runs, and drew 28 walks, as well as stole 22 bases in 50 games played.
Ragsdale’s statistics led the team in all categories, and he also had a team-high OPS (1.116), on-base percentage (.470), and slugging percentage (.646). In the field, he tallied a .977 fielding percentage with 125 putouts, two assists, and three errors.
He was a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) All-Academic Team honoree, All-MAAC First Team pick, and on the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. I Northeast All-Region Second Team.
In his freshman year in 2023, his batting average was 281, OBP .391, and OPS. 489 across 135 at-bats. He registered 38 hits, four doubles, seven triples, two HR, 22 RBI, 21 runs scored, and 24 walks drawn. He led the MAAC and ranked 4th in the whole NCAA with seven triples.
Most observers have him projected to be picked in the first five rounds of the 2025 MLB Draft and is the No. 16 overall non-draft eligible prospect.
Ragsdale was a top South Jersey player for St. Augustine Preparatory High School, graduating in 2022.
