Cleveland Baseball Insider's 2024 Season Top 50 Prospects: No. 40 INF Nate Furman
As we prepare for a new year and spring training to begin, there’s no better time to bring you an up-to-date look at Cleveland Baseball Insiders' top 50 prospects.
Rankings are based on seeing the players live, watching videos, and having conversations with evaluators within and outside of the organization, as well as other writers.
While prospect lists are fun and entertaining for fans, they are not an end-all-be-all in terms of who makes it eventually to the major leagues. Remember, Jose Ramirez was never a top-100 prospect nationally and players like Steven Kwan and Will Brennan weren't considered top-20 prospects in the Guardians organization by many outside publications.
The ultimate goal here is to inform our readers and give you information on some of the young talent in the organization that they can follow and look forward to seeing in the future at the MLB level.
Nate Furman - INF
AGE - 22 | BATS - L |
DOB - 7/23/2001 | THROWS - R |
HT - 5'8' | DRAFTED - 2022 4th Round |
WT - 180 | ETA - 2025 |
Furman was drafted in the fourth-round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of UNC Charlotte as a draft eligible sophomore signing for $300K. He made his pro-debut during the 2023 season splitting time with Low-A Lynchburg and High-A Lake County.
Scouting Grades
Hit - 60 | Arm - 50 |
Power - 20 | Field - 55 |
Run - 70 | Overall - 40 |
Furman is a high-energy type player that plays the game hard and has a terrific work ethic, along with great character and overall makeup. His best tool is most likely his 70-grade speed. He gets down the line fast and is quick out of the batter's box. He has great instincts and is a plus-runner on the bases.
His best skill is his ability to get on-base, which he showed in college and in his first season as a pro. Furman has tremendous bat-to-ball skills and takes pitchers into deep counts with the ability to foul off tough pitches. He has a quick and compact swing with outstanding contact and the ability to spray the ball to all fields. Furman has an innate ability to draw a walk with his patient approach at the plate.
Furman needs to work on his power production. He produced just 13 extra base hits and didn't hit a home run over 441 plate appearances. While he will never be a home run hitter, his offensive ceiling is limited. If Furman can add a little pop to his game and produce some higher exit velocities and show some gap power, it would definitely help his game and keep defensive alignments honest from playing him to shallow.
Defensively, his best position is second base where his arm plays well and where he spent the majority of his first pro-season. Furman also can handle the hot corner at third, but his arm is considered just average there.
2023 Stats
G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | ISO | OPS | wRC+ |
108 | 353 | 74 | 93 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 65 | 54 | 37 | .263 | .397 | .306 | .042 | .703 | 113 |
Furman got off to a tremendous start to his pro-career at the Low-A level with Lynchburg earning a promotion to High-A Lake County after just 40 games.
Over those 40 games, Furman hit .328 with a .486 OBP and a 159 wRC+ over 175 plate appearances. He proved to be the perfect table setter in the Hillcats offense scoring 43 runs, stealing 27 bases while posting a 20.0 percent walk percentage and a 1.84 BB/SO rate.
Furman was unable to duplicate the same success at the High-A level with Lake County over his final 68 games to end the 2023 season. He hit just .227 with a .340 OBP and an 83 wRC+ over 266 plate appearances. His walk percentage dropped to 11.3% while his BB/SO rate fell to 0.86 as well.
Overall, he hit .263 with a .397 OBP and a 113 wRC+ over 108 total games between Lynchburg and Lake County. He led all Guardians minor league players that had at least 400 plate appearances with a .397 OBP, 14.7 BB%, 12.2 SO%, 1.20 BB/SO and SwStr% at 3.2%. Furman also finished 2nd overall in the system in SB with 37, 3rd in walks with 65 and tied for fourth in runs scored with 74.
2024 and Future Outlook
Look for Furman to start his 2024 campaign back at High-A Lake County where he finished his 2023 season. If he gets off to a good start and puts up numbers for the Captains like he did with Low-A Lynchburg he could find himself earning a promotion to Double-A Akron possibly by mid-season.
Furman's ceiling may depend on his development of more hard contact and power at the plate. If he does show some growth in that department along with his high contact rate and on-base skills he could see similar growth as a prospect like fellow Guardian Steven Kwan did in his time in the minors. They have a lot of similar skill sets at the plate. If this happens, he could be a sleeper top of the order average to above average starting second baseman at the MLB level.
Furman's floor is that of a utility or reserve infielder that can handle second and third base and possibly shortstop in a pinch if needed. His speed could be beneficial as well as a pinch runner as a reserve. If Furman would be able to handle a position change to center field or at least show he could handle the outfield it could improve his chances of reaching and helping at the MLB level with more position flexibility.
