Top 100 MLB prospects for 2025, ranked by Kiley McDaniel

Where do budding stars Dylan Crews, Roki Sasaki, Jackson Jobe and Roman Anthony rank among the game’s best prospects? ESPN

Kiley McDanielJan 29, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
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- Kiley McDaniel covers MLB prospects, the MLB Draft and more, including trades and free agency.
- Has worked for three MLB teams.
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It’s time to rank the top prospects in Major League Baseball for the upcoming season, some of whom will be in the majors in 2025 and others who will rise through the minors in the years ahead.

Many of the top prospects on this list a year ago — including Jackson Holliday, Jackson Chourio, Wyatt Langford and Paul Skenes — have graduated to the majors, so it is a perfect time to get familiar with a new wave of future stars ready to make their mark on the sport.

Players who meet MLB rookie eligibility requirements (fewer than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster) going into the season are eligible for this list. For a quick overview of the tool grades on the 20-80 scale that are used heavily throughout this list — and are the industry standard across baseball — along with other key terms used in the ranking, click here.

Today’s list kicks off our 2025 top-prospect coverage. Our prospect coverage will continue with a list of the top prospects who didn’t make the top 100 on Thursday, our ranking of all 30 MLB farm systems comes Friday and team-by-team prospect lists scheduled to follow next week.

Now let’s move on to ranking baseball’s top 100 prospects entering the 2025 MLB season, starting with a Japanese ace who has been all over the headlines in recent weeks.

Jump to team’s top-ranked prospect:

American League
ATH | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE
DET | HOU | KC | LAA | MIN
NYY | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR

National League
ARI | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL
LAD | MIA | MIL | NYM | PHI
PIT | SD | SF | STL | WSH

greyline-30

60 FV Tier

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1. Roki Sasaki, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 23 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

4-Seam Fastball: 60/70 Slider: 55/60 Splitter: 65/70 Command: 40/50

Reminds me of: No single specific pitcher, but shades of a number of different front-line flamethrowers

Type: 6-foot-4 potential ace with three plus to plus-plus pitches

While Sasaki doesn’t fit the traditional profile for a prospect on this list, he is eligible because he signed in the international signing period as an amateur international free agent rather than as a major league free agent and meets MLB rookie eligibility standards (fewer than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster).

Sasaki also fits with some of the top pitching prospects on the last few versions of this list in terms of potential and polish. At his best, he can sit in the upper-90s and get into the triple digits, mix in one of the best splitters on Earth, and a plus slider along with solid strike throwing and a starter-looking delivery. On his best day, some scouts say Sasaki has two 80-grade pitches.

There are still a number of questions to answer and potential adjustments to make, though. Remember Paul Skenes learned his splinker, now his best pitch, after he was the top pick in the MLB draft. Likewise, Sasaki also needs to develop a bit more to become a major league ace.

Sasaki’s velocity and fastball shape regressed a bit in 2024, as did his slider velocity; these both seem addressable with grip, intent and mechanical tweaks from a strong developmental organization. These issues, their cause and the solution were a big topic in presentations teams made and what Sasaki seemed most interested in.

His command (hitting specific spots) is just OK right now, but his level of control (simply throwing it over the plate) goes a long way, including in the best pro league other than MLB, because his stuff is so good. Sasaki could stand to add a cutter and/or curveball to his arsenal to offer different looks. That’s a long list of nitpicks, but don’t get it twisted: Sasaki could be an ace by the end of this season if he makes quick adjustments.

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Roki Sasaki puts on his Dodgers uniform for first time

Roki Sasaki dons his Dodgers jersey for the first time during his introductory news conference.

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2. Roman Anthony, RF, Boston Red Sox

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 45/55 Game Power: 45/60 Raw Power: 65/70 Speed: 55/50 Fielding: 45/55 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Somewhere on the spectrum from Colton Cowser to Kyle Tucker

Type: Lefty-hitting outfielder who is above average at everything and could hit 30-plus bombs

Anthony was a well-known prep prospect who had a rough summer showcase season then emerged as a top-two-rounds prospect with a strong senior spring in 2022. The Red Sox landed him with the last pick of the second round (No. 79 overall), but paid him late-first-round money with a $2.5 million bonus. The main questions at that point were his hit tool and overall offensive impact given that he was a likely corner outfielder.

Anthony was then one of the handful of prospects we get every draft who immediately looks notably better than expected in pro ball. He’s probably still a right fielder but has improved athletically to where he can also play a solid center field. His bat-to-ball ability, exit velos and pitch selection were all notably better than expected right after he signed and have stayed that way during his rise through the minors.

There’s legitimate star potential here with the plus-plus raw power to potentially hit 30 homers, above average on-base skills, and the speed, arm and instincts for real baserunning and defensive value. That was the sales pitch for Kyle Tucker at this point in his career, though Anthony has less bat-to-ball ability, more raw power and more speed than Tucker did at this point.

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3. Walker Jenkins, RF, Minnesota Twins

Age: 19 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 50/65 Game Power: 40/55 Raw Power: 50/60 Speed: 50/45 Fielding: 45/55 Throwing: 50/50

Reminds me of: J.D. Drew

Type: Smooth lefty hitter with incredible feel to hit along with above-average power and athleticism

I first closely scouted Jenkins in the summer between his sophomore and junior year of high school and immediately wrote “J.D. Drew?” in my notes because of his sweet swing, advanced hit tool and power/speed combo. Luckily, that report has held up 3½ years later. In the interim, Jenkins went fifth overall in one of the most loaded drafts of this century and now has jumped past Dylan Crews and Max Clark, who were drafted ahead of him.

Jenkins’ selling point is his plus plus bat-to-ball skills, which is helped by his efficient swing, but that also maximizes his raw power, giving him 25ish homer upside as well. He’s a fine runner with good instincts who is mostly playing center field now and will be an option there, but will likely slide to a corner spot in the big leagues. This wide base of skills and long track record makes Jenkins one of the safer and highest probability regular among teenage prospects in recent memory; he would’ve been the top overall pick in many drafts and should be the top prospect in baseball in the next 12 months.

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4. Marcelo Mayer, SS, Boston Red Sox

Age: 22 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 40/50 Game Power: 45/55 Raw Power: 60/65 Speed: 45/40 Fielding: 45/50 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Lankier, lefty-hitting Willy Adames if it all clicks

Type: Smooth-handed and sweet-swinging shortstop with 25-30 homer upside

Mayer had long been hyped as a potential top pick since early in his high school career, and he delivered on that, going fourth overall in the 2021 draft out of a SoCal high school. His pro career through 2023 was more good than great, relative to those weighty expectations. The 2024 season was a step forward, with scouts reporting that he had more life to his game physically, with better run times, better range on defense and looser movements.

He also ticked up across the board in more measurable ways: his chase rate was down 3%, his swing rate was down 3%, his max exit velo was up 3 mph, his high-end exit velos jumped a tick even adjusting for natural progression, while his line drive and hard-hit rate spiked. Mayer’s homer totals aren’t as strong as his raw power grades because he doesn’t lift and pull the ball as much as is theoretically ideal for his power. There will be push-pull mechanical and approach decisions to make in his career in terms of lift, raw power, contact and patience — and that has all been playing out in the minors, as well.

Mayer is a strong defender who grades as an average defensive shortstop even without flashy range, foot speed or arm strength. He projects as a potential All-Star who posts above-average on-base percentages and hits 20-25 homers while playing shortstop. His short-term big league fit looks to be second base in the second half of 2025 if everything goes to plan, eventually becoming double play partners with fellow highly touted prospect Kristian Campbell.

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5. Carson Williams, SS, Tampa Bay Rays

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Hit: 30/40 Game Power: 45/55 Raw Power: 55/60 Speed: 55/55 Fielding: 60/65 Throwing: 70/70

Reminds me of: Early-career Trevor Story or later-career Dansby Swanson

Type: Power-over-hit shortstop with Gold Glove potential

I think there’s a tier break after the first five to seven on this list, and Williams fits near the back of that group because the swing-and-miss inherent in his game could undermine his offensive profile. That said, he’s in this group because he’s at least above average at everything else on the field while being a plus-plus defender and thrower at shortstop. This provides a high floor as a low-end regular or premium utility guy.

Williams was a hit-over-power prospect whom I compared to early-career Dansby Swanson as a SoCal high schooler in the 2021 MLB draft class. Williams also sat in the mid-90s on the mound but wasn’t interested in pitching as a professional. After signing, he immediately put on muscle and started leaning into that newfound power offensively while not losing his defensive prowess or speed.

Given the Rays’ history, I would expect Williams to dial in his offensive approach in Triple-A for most or all of 2025 to set him up for a full big league debut in 2026 while Taylor Walls and/or Jose Caballero hold down the position until Williams is deemed ready.

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6. Dylan Crews, CF, Washington Nationals

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Hit: 45/50 Game Power: 45/55 Raw Power: 55/60 Speed: 60/60 Fielding: 45/50 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Starling Marte

Type: Plus power/speed combo in center field, but offensive outlook isn’t totally clear yet

MLB Prospect Rankings: Terms To Know

For the top tier of prospects, I present their tools as 45/60 meaning presently it’s a 45 and projects to a 60 at maturity. 50 is major league average (which is a really good present tool for a minor leaguer), 55 is above average, 45 is below average, 60 is called plus (one standard deviation above average), 70 is plus-plus (two standard deviations), and 80 (three) is the top of the 20-80 scale, where just a handful of players in the big leagues reside.

These tools also scale to commonly used numbers. For game power, 50 equates to 15-18 homers per year, 55 is 19-22, 60 is about 25, 65 is about 30, etc. while run grades equate to specific times on a stopwatch, a 50 hit tool is about a .260 batting average, average fastball velocity is 92-93 depending on your role and handedness, and so on.

Other tools like throwing for position players or off-speed pitches are more based on visual evaluations, but there are some objective figures to round observations up or down.

This 20-80 scale also applies to the FV (future value) used to sum up a player’s overall value. A 50 PV (present value) is a 2.0 to 2.5 WAR player. FV of a prospect who is big league ready maps to this pretty well: the top tier (65 FV this year) of prospects are projected to have multiple peak seasons of 4-to-5 WAR while the MVP winner is usually around 7-8 WAR.

The further down in the minors you go, it becomes a tiered system of ranking prospects based on their trade value relative to top-tier prospects.

To give further context, I’ve also included some categories along with tool grades. First, “type,” which categorizes a player for comparison among other players. I tend to round up on certain types (plus tools, plus makeup, middling stats) and round down on others (now velocity, teenaged right-handers).

The second is “reminds me of.” This isn’t a true comparison, because most players don’t have a one-for-one perfect analog. There’s also a lot of uncertainty with prospects, so it’s by default looking at the rosier potential outcomes compared to some current MLB players. Its intent is to explain a player’s ranking in a handful of simple words by saying they remind me of a current All-Star and have that as their high-risk upside, but you can also see why a lower-risk player might rank higher.

Crews was the best player in the 2020 prep class early in his high school career but had a tough final summer, then his senior spring was cut short by the pandemic so he had to decide between heading to LSU or taking late-first-to-compensation-round money to turn pro. He chose correctly, raking at LSU for three years, winning a national title, then going No. 2 in the 2023 draft behind teammate Paul Skenes.

As he has been under the microscope for years, scouts have been picking holes in Crews’ game, and it took until he reached the upper minor leagues for some of those issues to appear. Like some other players in the top 10, Crews will probably have to choose if he wants to lean into contact and on-base skills or power, as he probably won’t consistently be plus at both. I think he’ll choose power.

Crews has some trouble with fastballs at the top of the strike zone, which are the easiest pitches to hit in the air for damage and also incredibly common to see in general, so while his raw power is plus, his game power plays a bit below that right now. There could be a mechanical adjustment to pull and lift and backspin that pitch more often (at the expense of other pitches), whereas now there are a few too many ground balls and opposite field flyouts for the current version of Crews to reach his 25-30 homer potential in the big leagues. If he gets to his power upside, I’d expect his hit tool and on-base skills to fall to average or a bit below.

That said, he has a plus raw power/speed combo, plays a good center field and has a solid feel for contact and the strike zone. He could be an adjustment or two from being a perennial All-Star. Or he could come in around where my tool grades have him projected and be a good everyday player posting 2.5- to 3.5-win seasons most years.

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7. Jackson Jobe, RHP, Detroit Tigers

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

4-Seam Fastball: 55/60 Cutter: 60/65 Sweeper: 60/65 Changeup: 55/60 Command: 45/55

Reminds me of: 2019 Walker Buehler, but with a better changeup

Type: Medium-framed velo/spin merchant who can turn good hitters into a pretzel

Jobe (along with Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene) is one of two prep right-handers to be taken with a top-five pick in the past eight MLB drafts. While not the prototypical size of an ace, Jobe’s case for going that high was easy to see. He is a plus athlete who was also a pro prospect as a third baseman (and whose dad Brandt is a pro golfer), with a starter delivery, easy mid-90s velocity, feel for an above-average changeup and breaking pitches regularly over 3000 rpm. His early pro career was rocky, but he’s back on track to potentially be an ace in the coming years after making his MLB debut late last season followed by two playoff appearances.

Jobe’s four-seam fastball results (whiff rates, ball in play outcomes, etc.) play a bit below the plus-plus shape and velocity of the pitch, but his changeup outperforms its pure shape in a way that I think is related, due to the 13 mph velocity differential. After gearing up for the 95-98 mph heater at the top of the zone (he occasionally throws a two-seamer with more run), the 82-85 mph changeup acts as a late-count putaway option once hitters have geared up for the fastball. Jobe’s 88-91 mph cutter is probably his best long-term breaking ball given big league trends, but he has two varieties of a low-80s sweeper that are more likely to light up Pitching Ninja.

Jobe has an incredible combination of athleticism, arm speed, capacity for spin and ability to create lateral movement from a conventional high three-quarters arm slot. Using his average movement for each pitch, if he aimed the slower version of his sweeper (81 mph, 15.4 inches of lateral movement) and changeup (84 mph, -17.1 inches) at the same location, they’d end up 32.5 inches apart from each other. For reference, home plate is 17 inches wide.

There’s still a little work to be done in dialing in the finer points of getting big league hitters out and ramping up to 180-plus-inning workloads, but Jobe could be one of the better pitchers in baseball on a per-inning basis whenever that last step of development happens.

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8. Coby Mayo, 3B, Baltimore Orioles

Age: 23 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Hit: 40/50 Game Power: 55/60 Raw Power: 60/65 Speed: 45/40 Fielding: 40/45 Throwing: 65/65

Reminds me of: Somewhere on the Troy Glaus to Pete Alonso XL-framed infielder/power hitter spectrum

Type: 3B/1B tweener with 30-homer upside and solid feel to hit

GM Mike Elias found Mayo in the 2020 pandemic-affected draft — his second draft running the Orioles. At the time, Mayo was a 6-foot-5 south Florida prep third baseman with big power but hit tool concerns due to his long levers. The O’s believed Mayo was a swing tinkerer in high school and that obscured his underlying hit-ability, so they gave him early-second-round money ($1.75 million) in the fourth round after saving money on first-round pick Heston Kjerstad.

The Orioles were right and Mayo made his MLB debut at the end of 2024, setting him up to play first base or designated hitter during the 2025 season. He also has the ability to fill in at third base, but Mayo’s size is a factor in limiting his defensive upside there and he’s now seen as a likely long-term first baseman given both those limitations and the Orioles’ deep infield corps. He hasn’t played the outfield but has the raw ability to play passably out there.

Mayo has a good feel for pulling and lifting the ball along with above-average ability to pick out pitches to drive and average bat-to-ball ability. Unlike many of the potential power hitters on this list, Mayo (with his 22 Triple-A homers last season) has demonstrated the ability to get to all of his raw power in games against top pitching.

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9. Max Clark, CF, Detroit Tigers

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 30/55 Game Power: 30/50 Raw Power: 45/55 Speed: 70/70 Fielding: 45/55 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Shades of Corbin Carroll or Jarren Duran, if the power comes

Type: An explosion of personality, foot speed, bat speed and effort

Clark has been compared to Walker Jenkins for almost his entire prep career and that continues into the minor leagues. They were the top two players in the 2023 draft prep class for years in advance and were drafted that way, but the next three players coming up on this list are all gaining ground.

As the information above alludes to, Clark is a stout, 6-foot athlete with plus explosive qualities in his hands and feet, but he also grades out well in the soft skills of bat control, pitch selection, baserunning and defending. If Clark can keep leaning into his 20-25 homer upside, he could be a true star, along the lines of Carroll or Duran, but there are outcomes in which Clark hits 12-15 homers annually and still makes some All-Star teams. The give-and-take that comes with those offensive-approach choices is the main question with Clark. Like Jenkins, Clark’s wide base of skills and long track record give him as high of a floor as you’ll see from a player below Double-A.

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10. Kevin McGonigle, SS, Detroit Tigers

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 35/60 Game Power: 30/50 Raw Power: 50/55 Speed: 50/50 Fielding: 40/50 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Maybe an infield version of Steven Kwan?

Type: Left-handed hitting prodigy with average other tools

McGonigle was one of my top picks to click in the five drafts I’ve covered for ESPN, all of them coming from a specific type who the industry continues to underrate: standout hitters with shorter limbs and strong performances against good pitching, medium raw power, good-not-great speed and defensive ability, but strong overall instincts. This profile basically doesn’t get picked in the top half of the first round — Max Clark is the toolsier version of this type — but usually goes in the next 15-20 picks. McGonigle went 37th overall in the 2023 draft, but he got a bonus commensurate with the 28th overall pick that was created by the savings from the Tigers’ first pick that year: Clark.

McGonigle is a solid-average runner with enough arm to play shortstop and good feel for the position, but there’s a chance he still ends up at second base in the long term since many teams will have a better defensive shortstop option in the big leagues. He showed a feel for pulling and lifting the ball in 2024 with sneaky strong exit velos, but I wouldn’t expect to see his homer total jump until 2026 because he broke the hamate bone in his right hand at the end of last year and that often dampens power figures for a season.

That said, I think he has 20-homer upside, some of the best on-base skills in the minor leagues (he incredibly has almost twice as many walks as strikeouts in his pro career) with positive baserunning and defensive value. There are some teams that have him ranked ahead of Clark, which was unthinkable even to me on draft day. I’ll circle back to how I finished my predraft scouting report where I ranked McGonigle 21st, knowing I had him higher than everyone else due to a disagreement on his size/upside: “Don’t complicate this, MLB teams.”

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11. Bubba Chandler, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

Age: 22 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

4-Seam Fastball: 60/65 Slider: 55/60 Changeup: 55/60 Command: 45/50

Reminds me of: There are some Zack Wheeler vibes here

Type: A complete front-line starter with three plus pitches and solid command

Chandler was a Clemson quarterback, switch-hitting shortstop, and right-handed pitcher commit from the Atlanta area entering the 2021 draft. It became clear during the spring that only a couple of teams considered him seriously as a position player and he was a late-first-round talent on the mound, so football lost out once the Pirates offered $3 million at the top of the third round.

Chandler is quite similar to the next pitcher, Chase Dollander, as both are four-seam-fastball-dominant righties that both average 96 mph and possess bat-missing characteristics that belong at the top of the zone; both are in the handful of the best all-around fastballs in the minor leagues. Being drafted out of college and not playing football, Dollander is older and has more high-level reps while also pitching at a level lower than Chandler, so his whiff rates and other outcome-based metrics are a bit better than Chandler’s. When you stack them up, Chandler has gotten further in the minors quicker by age and also by overall reps and has a better present changeup. They’re close, but Chandler gets the edge here.

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12. Colt Emerson, SS, Seattle Mariners

Age: 19 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 30/60 Game Power: 25/45 Raw Power: 45/50 Speed: 50/50 Fielding: 40/45 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Andres Gimenez with more walks and less glove

Type: Advanced lefty hitter with medium tools who fits somewhere in the infield

Emerson was the early breakout star from the loaded 2023 draft prep position-player class in the summer after he was chosen 22nd overall out of an Ohio high school. His 2024 season was a slight step back, as he broke a bone in his foot, then left the Arizona Fall League early due to a hamstring issue at the end of a season when his power numbers regressed a bit, admittedly back to predraft expectations.

The easy sales pitch here is that Emerson is a plus hitter with plus pitch selection from the left side who possesses 15-20 homer upside, an infield fit and solid speed. On the negative side, some evaluators think he’s a stone-cold second baseman who lacks physical projection with hitting being his lone above-average tool. There are obvious similarities with McGonigle, with McGonigle showing a little more feel for in-game power and for playing shortstop, but both players are at a stage of development when a good bit can still change. Emerson’s 2025 season should help make it clearer which one of these two camps is more correct.

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13. Aidan Miller, SS, Philadelphia Phillies

Age: 20 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Hit: 25/50 Game Power: 30/55 Raw Power: 55/65 Speed: 50/45 Fielding: 40/45 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Josh Donaldson or Eugenio Suarez

Type: A solid defensive third baseman and hitter who could hit 25 or 30 homers annually if things click

Miller was one of the first names to emerge in the 2023 prep position-player class, standing out as early as his freshman year and garnering Josh Donaldson comps at a Tampa-area high school when scouts were there to see his older brother Jackson, a prep teammate whom the Reds gave over $1 million in the 2020 draft. The main concerns at draft time were that Aidan looked like a third baseman rather than a shortstop throughout high school, was 19 on draft day (a historically negative indicator), and had missed much of his draft spring due to a hand injury. For those reasons, the Phillies got him with the 27th pick after he was projected to go in the top half of the round entering the spring.

In Miller’s first full minor league season, he looked good defensively at shortstop, was running a tick better than high school, and hit better than even his most bullish supporters would’ve guessed on draft day while getting a late-season promotion to Double-A. He’s now on the third-base/shortstop spectrum and I’m leaning toward third base due to his range. There still could be another tweak needed in his offensive approach to trade some contact for more consistent loft on hard-hit balls to get that 11-home run figure from his first full season to creep up as he moves up in the minors, but the raw power is there.

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14. Chase Dollander, RHP, Colorado Rockies

Age: 23 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

4-Seam Fastball: 60/65 Slider: 55/60 Curveball: 50/55 Changeup: 50/60 Command: 45/50

Reminds me of: Dylan Cease

Type: Potential front-line starter with a top-of-the-zone fastball and two good breaking balls

Dollander was a low-level follow for scouts in Georgia in the 2020 draft, then he took a huge step forward the next season as a freshman at Georgia Southern before transferring to Tennessee. Dollander put up huge numbers the next two seasons in Knoxville, winning 17 starts and striking out 228 batters en route to going No. 9 in the 2023 draft.

Dollander’s 2023 was a slight step back for scouts as they focused on some small mechanical issues that affected his command, fastball shape and the consistency of his breaking stuff. It seemed correctable, and it was. He now has one of the best fastballs in the minor leagues, his breaking stuff has regained its crispness and his command has also improved. Dollander should spend much of 2025 in the upper minors, but could be ready to show his front-line potential in the big leagues as soon as the end of the season.

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15. Leodalis De Vries, SS, San Diego Padres

Age: 18 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Hit: 25/50 Game Power: 30/55 Raw Power: 45/60 Speed: 45/45 Fielding: 40/50 Throwing: 60/60

Reminds me of: A switch-hitting version of Willy Adames?

Type: Tooled-up young shortstop with real power; you can imagine almost anything

Every few international signing classes, there is someone anointed as the clearly best player in the class when they’re 13 or 14 years old. They hold that title until they sign at 16, and it appears to be true as they get their feet wet in pro ball. That’s who De Vries was and is, and the Padres pride themselves as an organization at finding players like this and acting before other teams do. It extends to their U.S. scouting, as well, with players like Jackson Merrill and James Wood who were either unknown until late in the process or were out of favor as prospects, but every scout agreed had great tools as 18-year-olds.

De Vries turned 18 while playing in the Arizona Fall League after playing 75 games in Low-A. San Diego is aggressive in challenging players they think have star potential and can handle the aggressive approach. Even as he’s been thrown in the deep end of the pool, De Vries has shown excellent feel for pulling and lifting the ball in games, hitting 11 homers when his domestic age cohorts had just wrapped up their junior years of high school. If he continues to lean into that skill, I could see him hitting 25-30 homers at maturity and being a .240 or .250 hitter with a solid walk rate. Defensively, he could bulk up enough that many teams would move him off of shortstop. It’s obviously early, so he could also choose to lean into contact and prioritize sticking at shortstop above all else. Either way, De Vries looks like an incredibly precocious potential star.

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16. Dalton Rushing, C, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 23 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 40/45 Game Power: 50/55 Raw Power: 55/55 Speed: 45/45 Fielding: 40/50 Throwing: 55/55

Reminds me of: Carlos Santana with less contact, but a viable defender at catcher

Type: Squatty lefty hitter with power and patience who has come around as a receiver

Rushing was the No. 40 pick a year after Henry Davis went first overall and six years after Will Smith was the No. 32 pick — all of them catchers drafted out of the University of Louisville. Now, Rushing is knocking on the door of the big leagues where he’ll be competing with Smith for some reps behind the plate with the Dodgers. He’s a later-blooming defensive catcher in part because he didn’t get regular reps behind the plate at Louisville thanks to Davis’ presence.

Rushing consistently posts plus walk rates and gets to his above-average power in games with great feel for pull and lift. Due to this approach and the step up in quality of big league pitching, his solid bat-to-ball skills should play down to below-average batting averages — but with above-average on-base percentages. Because the Dodgers also have Austin Barnes behind Smith, Rushing will likely have to elbow his way into the lineup at designated hitter, first base, and corner-outfield spots. Rushing’s pop times to second base play around average though his blocking, while fine, could use some work. Barnes is 35 years old and in the final year of his contract, so Rushing becoming a backup catcher who also finds his way regularly into the lineup elsewhere seems like how 2026 will begin, but Rushing may force that issue in 2025.

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17. Samuel Basallo, C, Baltimore Orioles

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 30/40 Game Power: 40/65 Raw Power: 60/70 Speed: 35/35 Fielding: 35/45 Throwing: 65/65

Reminds me of: Basically, Jac Caglianone if he was also a catcher

Type: 30+ homer potential, but has risk factors tied to chase rate and defensive development

Basallo signed for a $1.3 million bonus in the 2021 international signing class but landed with the Orioles late in the process for a seven-figure talent. He was tied to the Yankees earlier, and according to industry chatter, the deal dissolved due to the loss of international bonus space tied to New York signing Gerrit Cole as a free agent.

As an amateur, Basallo was seen as a possible catcher with a big arm behind the plate and big power potential from the left side. That’s basically still the scouting report, but what’s somewhat shocking is that Basallo hit his way to Triple-A as a teenager, even with a troubling chase rate. Hitters with big raw power and a tendency to chase pitches out of the zone (not to mention young catchers) tend to move through the minor leagues slowly, but Basallo is the exception to the rule.

In 2025, we’ll see if his bat is deemed ready for the big leagues and he plays less behind the plate, or if the Orioles prioritize Basallo making progress to reach his defensive potential by keeping him in the upper minors for the entire season. Basallo still has a wide range of potential outcomes for a player who has reached Triple-A, as both his offensive and defensive profiles could boom or bust.

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18. Noah Schultz, LHP, Chicago White Sox

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Sinker: 55/60 Cutter: 50/60 Sweeper: 55/60 Curveball: 45/55 Changeup: 55/60 Command: 40/50

Reminds me of: There’s some real Chris Sale vibes if it all clicks

Type: 6-foot-9 lefty with a low arm slot that creates tons of life on every pitch

Schultz was a well-known prep prospect with clear first-round ability, but he made it to the White Sox at the 26th pick of the 2022 MLB draft due to an unclear asking price, missing the beginning of the spring with an illness and command trouble when he did get on the mound. The command issues make some sense, given his long arms at 6-foot-9 create problems repeating his delivery and his low arm slot helps create so much movement on his pitches that they’ll often run out of the strike zone.

Schultz threw just 27 innings through the 2023 pro season, but last season he threw 88.1 innings, mostly in Double-A as a 20-year-old. It’ll take at least two more healthy seasons to work him up to a full big league starter innings load, and there’s some work to do fine-tuning locations and sequences in the upper minors. At this rate, late in 2025 or early in 2026, Schultz will force his way into the White Sox rotation, even if there will be a pitch or innings count, and show his frontline ability.

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19. Sebastian Walcott, SS, Texas Rangers

Age: 18 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Hit: 25/40 Game Power: 30/65 Raw Power: 65/80 Speed: 55/50 Fielding: 35/45 Throwing: 60/60

Reminds me of: There’s some Fernando Tatis Jr. as a prospect vibes, but I wouldn’t expect that outcome

Type: 6-foot-4 infielder with 40 home run upside, but unclear position and contact ability

Walcott signed for $3.2 million almost two years ago out of the Bahamas. The Rangers have moved him aggressively through the minors, and he has performed well, especially when adjusted for his age. But it makes me wonder if he’d be putting up otherworldly numbers if he was a level or two behind playing with most of the other prospects his age.

I think both Walcott and Basallo, two spots above and also moved quickly through the minors, will end up as 240 hitters with average walk rates and 30+ homers annually. Walcott is a more impressive athlete because of his speed, but I believe he will eventually move to third base — despite currently playing shortstop — due to his projected size and strong hands. Basallo, on the other hand, is likely to be either a catcher or a first baseman. The key difference is that Basallo has already proven he can hit at a higher level in the minors.

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20. Josue De Paula, LF, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 19 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Hit: 30/55 Game Power: 30/60 Raw Power: 60/70 Speed: 40/40 Fielding: 40/45 Throwing: 45/45

Reminds me of: Yordan Alvarez

Type: Precocious lefty whose value is completely with the bat, but he could still be an All-Star

DePaula signed for $400,000 in the 2022 international signing class, but showed he was clearly better than his bonus later that summer in his pro debut in the DSL. He has continued to post after that loud debut, splitting his 2024 season between Low-A and High-A, and my “reminds me of” isn’t made up; a rival team compared him to Yordan Alvarez. If you scoff because De Paula only hit 10 homers last year, go check Alvarez’s minor league track record.

The downside of that comp is De Paula doesn’t offer much in terms of speed, defense, or arm. The upside is that he isn’t just raw power projection; he’s also an above average hitter with plus pitch selection and current plus in-game power, though he hasn’t fully leaned into pulling and lifting the ball as much as he probably will in a few years.

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21. Andrew Painter, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

4-Seam Fastball: 55/65 Cutter: 50/55 Slider: 55/65 Curveball: 50/55 Changeup: 40/50 Command: 45/55

Reminds me of: Justin Verlander is a common comp, given the big stuff, frame, and high arm slot

Type: 6-foot-7 potential frontline starter that’s coming back from surgery

Painter was identified early in his prep career as a potential first-round pick and he delivered on that upside, going No. 13 overall in 2021 out of a south Florida high school. In the pre-draft spring, Painter’s stuff showed plus flashes — getting into the upper-90s with a sharper slider — after being more average-to-above the previous summer. This growth is notable, because his stuff took another step forward the next spring, regularly hitting 100 mph and overpowering hitters. As a result, he got to Double-A while becoming one of the best prospects in baseball, and he was ruled off limits in any trade. He opened the 2023 spring training with buzz that he would break camp with the big league team as a teenager.

Then the momentum stopped. Painter went on the shelf with arm soreness he tried to rehab, with the potential to get back on the mound in the second half of 2023. That didn’t work, and in July, he had Tommy John surgery, ending his 2023 and 2024 seasons. Painter returned to the mound in the Arizona Fall league a few months ago and his velocity was back, with flashes of the old stuff, but he obviously wasn’t at the same level just yet. There’s a shot Painter looks like he did in 2023 this spring, but expectations should just be that he looks solid and will spend the 2025 season in the upper minors refining his craft with a 2026 big league rotation shot a distinct possibility. If he shoves in his first few spring outings, I’m sure the hype train will start rolling again.

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22. Ethan Salas, C, San Diego Padres

Age: 18 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Hit: 30/55 Game Power: 30/55 Raw Power: 50/60 Speed: 45/45 Fielding: 45/55 Throwing: 60/60

Reminds me of: I can’t think of anyone specifically, but the statline may look like Will Smith’s

Type: Young lefty-hitting catcher with above-average tools and excellent feel for catching

I mentioned above with fellow Padres prospect Leodalis De Vries (No. 15) that occasionally there is a clear and obvious top player in an international signing class years in advance who backs up the evaluation immediately in pro ball. Salas wasn’t quite as clear from the start as De Vries — there was some support for Felnin Celesten, ranked later on this list, at various points of the process — but by signing day, Salas was the consensus best player in his class.

Almost all of Salas’ family (father, uncle, grandfather, older brother, younger brother) played or are playing professionally. Salas runs well for a catcher and is incredibly advanced for his age as a receiver and game caller, so all of the soft abilities you could ask for in a young catcher are present. On top of that, he’s an above-average hitter with plus power projection and solid feel for getting to his power in games against older pitchers.

His 2024 season line at High-A doesn’t reflect those skills, but he hit better than league average the final month of the season, and that carried over into a solid Arizona Fall League showing. Some scouts and Padres personnel saw mechanical and approach issues that Salas had in the first half corrected in the second, as the surface numbers suggest. Given the very low bar for catcher-hitting in the big leagues (the league-average hitting line is .234/.299/.380 with 13 homers per 450 plate appearances) Salas has a shot to be one of the top five to seven at the position in just a couple of years.

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55 FV Tier

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23. Matt Shaw, 3B, Chicago Cubs

Age: 23 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Plus bat speed and foot speed in a 5-foot-9 NFL fullback-type build

Shaw was the No. 13 overall pick in the loaded 2023 draft with the sales pitch being his overall athleticism, even though it was somewhat deceptive due to his thick 5-foot-9 build. He is a plus runner with plus power and solid feel in all phases. After the Cubs’ confusing Isaac Paredes acquisition was corrected with him going to Houston in the Kyle Tucker trade, Shaw now looks like a potential Opening Day third baseman in Chicago. He really hammers fastballs, especially in the strike zone (the most common pitch in the big leagues) in part due to a flatter swing plane that matches the plane of the pitch, with the feel to drive those heaters to the opposite field. This means he doesn’t have the conventional pull and lift to his swing that you may prefer on paper for a hitter with his 25-homer upside, but there are many ways to succeed at the plate. I’d like to see Shaw pull back on the sliders off the plate, as big league pitchers will steadily test him in that area once they see him blister a few belt-high heaters.

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24. Jasson Dominguez, CF, New York Yankees

Age: 21 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Tightly wound outfielder with plus power/speed combo

The absurd buzz for Dominguez has simmered to a reasonable level now that he’s ready for his first extended playing time with the Yankees. I think he’ll post roughly league-average batting averages and on-base percentages with above-average-to-plus power while providing some baserunning and defensive value. That’s probably not a superstar, but instead a very valuable young player who could hit 25 homers while playing an average center field.

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25. Travis Bazzana, 2B, Cleveland Guardians

Age: 22 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Standout power, patience, speed, and polish from a second baseman

Bazzana wasn’t a heralded recruit when he went to Oregon State out of Australia, but he hit the ground running in Corvallis, with a career line of a 1.157 OPS, 45 homers and 66 stolen bases for the Beavers en route to going No. 1 overall in the 2024 draft. He leaned into a powerful yet patient approach at the plate, especially in his draft year, and he projects to hit .265 with plus on-base percentages and 20-25 homers at his big league peak. Bazzana is a plus runner and fine defensive second baseman for now, but there’s a chance he could lose some on both counts later in his career and move to center or left field. Bazzana is an incredibly hard worker and analytical thinker, so I’d bet he has a plan to stave that off for a while.

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26. Kristian Campbell, 2B, Boston Red Sox

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: A confounding collection of big tools, an unusual swing, and a checkered track record until 2024

Campbell was the No. 132 overall pick in the 2023 draft. From Georgia Tech, he was well-known to southeastern scouts as he was a high-level follow as a prep underclassman. He lost momentum leading into the 2023 draft, with some teams not considering him as a top-10-rounds prospect by the middle of the college season. Due to his excellent contact rates, plus speed at 6-foot-3, defensive versatility and surprisingly good exit velocity, analytics departments across the league argued with scouts and swing gurus who saw little in-game power (four home runs in 217 plate appearances in his draft year) and a swing that was borderline unusable at the big league level.

Campbell answered those questions quickly after being drafted, setting the minors on fire in 2024 with a .997 OPS, 20 homers, and 24 stolen bases across High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He’s probably a second-base or center-field fit long-term but isn’t a fantastic defender anywhere and has fringy arm strength.

The real issue now is that his swing doesn’t fit into how many teams believe swings need to work at the big league level. Using Javier Baez‘s well-known bat tip toward the pitcher as a point of comparison, Campbell keeps the bat almost perfectly vertical at foot plant but doesn’t tilt it much toward the pitcher. This creates a slightly longer path for the barrel into the hitting zone and, more importantly, a tough mechanical balance of entering the hitting zone steeply but flattening out by contact, hopefully with some loft, especially when pulling the ball. That’s a really tough balance and unique series of movements. If this issue proves to be unfixable and affects him as many scouts and swing experts expect, Campbell could underperform relative to his raw tools — such as his above-average to plus bat control, pitch selection, and raw power — due to inconsistent contact quality. While he already has a very flat launch angle (so this concern isn’t unfounded), it wouldn’t completely undermine his offensive profile.

This outcome could still be correct, which just means that Campbell would become a roughly league-average threat in the batter’s box (.255 with a solid walk rate and 15-18 homers) along with some real value on the bases and on defense. That’s still a really nice player to have at the league minimum for three seasons. Of course, there are some evaluators who are looking past his hitting mechanics, focusing on his results, and imagining a future star. Some rival teams think Campbell is among the top few prospects in the game, while a larger group of teams aren’t sure he belongs in the top 50 of this list, as they are skeptical of outliers when it comes to hitting mechanics. Since hitters have to adjust to all kinds of pitches and pitchers, there’s a narrow sense of what swings can work in the big leagues, but we can all think of some exceptions; teams don’t like to bet on them. Either way, the 132nd pick of the 2023 draft is now ranked right behind the top pick in the 2024 draft on this list, a credit to the scouting and development of the Red Sox.

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27. Emmanuel Rodriguez, CF, Minnesota Twins

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Power-and-patience center fielder with durability issues

Rodriguez has similarities to Jasson Dominguez (No. 24) as a compactly built center fielder with big tools. Rodriguez has slightly more raw power, but both have shown similar in-game power output. Rodriguez is a much better defensive center fielder, but Dominguez is a faster runner. Rodriguez’s batting eye ranks among the entire minor leagues, but he has well-below-average bat control, projecting for something like a .235 hitter who may lead the league in walk rate, while Dominguez is closer to average on both counts. Rodriguez is below Dominguez here, primarily because of a long history of soft tissue injuries that have limited him to just 193 games over the past three seasons.

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28. Jordan Lawlar, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Shortstop with four of the five tools grading plus, but has fringy contact tools and has been injured a lot

Lawlar emerged early as one of the top high school position players in the 2021 draft class and held serve, going No. 6 overall, just behind Marcelo Mayer (No. 4 on this list).

As the type above mentions, it was easy to see why with his four plus tools and a pretty good hit tool judging from his bat speed and pre-draft performance.

But it has been a tougher road as a pro. He needed shoulder surgery soon after signing, and then he was beset by issues to his ribs, chest, thumb, and hamstring. The D-backs have also had enough infield options in the majors that a clear spot in the lineup hasn’t opened for him. Lawler needs to establish his health and rhythm at the plate, with the potential to start turning into a power-over-hit, toolsy shortstop by the second half, possibly in the big leagues.

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29. Jac Caglianone, 1B, Kansas City Royals

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: MLB’s next Homer King, if he can clean up his approach a bit

I did a deep dive on Caglianone before the draft, here are the big-picture things to know: He has plus bat-to-ball ability, well-below-average pitch selection and 40 homer type raw power. He will likely be forced to improve his pitch selection when facing better pitchers (he ranked in college and didn’t need to adjust) and he will also have more time to focus on hitting now that he is putting pitching on hold (he was a second-round prospect as a pitcher). This season will tell us a lot about how to interpret Cags’ trajectory for the next few years. If he doesn’t improve his pitch selection, pitchers in the upper minors, and eventually the majors, won’t give him much to drive and his in-game power won’t match his potential.

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30. JJ Wetherholt, SS, St. Louis Cardinals

Age: 22 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Above average at almost everything on a baseball field, but not in a flashy way

Wetherholt wasn’t well known to scouts his sophomore year at West Virginia when he became a high-first-round prospect. His draft year the following spring was limited by a hamstring injury, but he still went No. 7 overall in last summer’s draft and his upside remains the same. He is a plus hitter with plus pitch selection, 20-25 homer upside, above-average speed and a passable glove at shortstop who likely settles at second or third base. Sometimes this skill set can turn into a star like Jose Ramirez, but usually it becomes a solid every-day player who may make an All-Star team or two.

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31. Jacob Wilson, SS, Athletics

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Shortstop with incredible bat-to-ball skills, but little else

Wilson was the first pick after the slam dunk top-five talents in the 2023 draft (Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, Max Clark, Wyatt Langford, and Walker Jenkins) and Oakland rushed him to the big leagues in less than a year. He is a good defensive shortstop like his father and 12-year MLB infielder, Jack, and Jacob mixes in plus-plus bat control. His power and pitch selection are well below average, though. If those two qualities don’t improve, he’ll profile as a solid but lower-end regular with a limited ceiling.

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32. Chase DeLauter, RF, Cleveland Guardians

Age: 23 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: A well-rounded potential impact outfielder, if he can stay healthy

DeLauter popped for scouts with his performance in the Cape Cod League the summer before he was draft-eligible at James Madison. That was valuable because he was bad (and his swing was worse) in a key early series at Florida State, then he missed much of the spring with a broken foot after playing a mid-major schedule. Cleveland took him No. 16 overall in the 2022 draft and he has continued to beat expectations on the field despite a unique swing — but that’s only when he has been on the field. Various foot and hamstring injuries have limited him to just 96 regular-season pro games.

DeLauter should open 2025 in Triple-A and has plus bat-to-ball and pitch selection abilities along with 20-25 homer power and above average corner outfield defense. There’s real upside here if he stays healthy and continues proving the doubters wrong at the plate.

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33. Colson Montgomery, SS, Chicago White Sox

Age: 22 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: A power-over-hit infielder who didn’t have the 2024 many expected

Montgomery was a polarizing prospect in the 2021 draft class — analytical models didn’t like that he was 19 years old on draft day (a negative historical marker for prep position players), but some clubs loved his multisport background, strong exit velos, and impressive in-game performance on the showcase circuit. Chicago took him No. 22 overall and quickly looked prescient as he became one of the better prospects in baseball, but his 2024 season raised some concerns.

Montgomery is 6-foot-3, 225 pounds but is playing only shortstop, where he’s limited laterally by his below-average speed, with third base seeming to be where he’ll ultimately land. He has fringe-to-average bat-to-ball and on-base skills with good feel for getting to his above-average-to-plus raw power in games, helping him project as a regular but probably not as a star.

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34. Jett Williams, 2B, New York Mets

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: A 5-foot-6 spark plug with 20-homer upside and plus-plus speed

Williams was somewhat anonymous to national scouts during his showcase summer in high school, then he became a mid-first-round pick after he packed on more strength and emerged in the spring while playing solid competition in the Dallas area.

Despite being 5-foot-6, Williams has excellent feel to get to his solid-average raw power in games while also making an above-average amount of contact and picking pitches to drive. He’s been playing all over the field in pro ball and probably fits long term at second base or center field because of his plus-plus speed, fringy arm strength and good-not-great hands on the infield.

Williams didn’t play much in 2024 (only 33 regular-season games and 22 in the Arizona Fall League) because of wrist and ankle injuries, so 2025 will be important to see him stay healthy, settle at a position and make his big league debut as a likely fan favorite.

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35. Kumar Rocker, RHP, Texas Rangers

Age: 25 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: A possible front-line starter, but there’s a long blurb here for a reason

Rocker’s path since his early high school career has been full of ups and downs. He was one of the first arms to emerge from the 2018 prep class, ultimately passing on mid-first-round money to go to Vanderbilt. Rocker was a legit star immediately in Nashville and seemed the likely 2021 No. 1 overall pick after his freshman year. His stuff regressed a bit and he went No. 10 overall to the Mets in the 2021 draft, but they didn’t like what their physical revealed about his arm and opted to not sign him. Rocker didn’t return to Vanderbilt in 2022, instead undergoing shoulder surgery and pitching briefly in an independent league before going No. 3 overall to the Rangers for an underslot deal.

He didn’t look anywhere close to his old self in 2022, either in the leadup to the draft or when he took the mound in the Arizona Fall League. Then had more bad luck: Tommy John surgery on his elbow after 28 pro innings in 2023. After he came back from that injury, he suddenly looked like a version of his old self last season — with everything he threw plus or better and he was executing those pitches pretty well.

It could appear looking back that Rocker simply needed to stop pitching long enough to surgically clear up everything the Mets saw in 2021 and get back to what he was as a freshman at Vanderbilt. But there aren’t many examples of pitchers losing some measure of stuff, health and overall effectiveness and regaining it, especially this dramatically.

Between those past shoulder and elbow surgeries, no outings longer than five innings last season and fewer 50 innings thrown total in his pro career, there is still reason to be hesitant about the idea of Rocker immediately becoming a front-line starter. I’d guess he will be capped at around 100 innings in 2025. On the other hand, he has two plus-plus pitches (fastball, slider) and two more plus pitches (cutter, changeup) along with above-average control, so he’s likely to put up wacky numbers in shorter stints as he builds up his workload again.

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36. Chase Burns, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Fireballing fastball/slider potential front-line starter with flair to match

Burns was a seven-figure quality prep prospect in Tennessee, hitting 100 mph on a couple of short outings in showcases, but with enough questions about his command and consistency that he joined the Volunteers in Knoxville. After a strong freshman year and a move to the bullpen in his sophomore year to both work around command issues and impact games in high-leverage situations, Burns transferred to Wake Forest for his draft year in 2024.

He made progress in getting deeper into games, expanding his arsenal and getting more swing-and-miss, leading to the Reds taking him second overall last summer. Burns’ fastball still tickles triple digits, and his slider is a plus-plus pitch. His curveball and changeup both flash above-average potential, and his control/command seem good enough for him to reach his front-line ceiling.

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37. Alex Freeland, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 23 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Middling utility prospect who had enormous breakthrough and now looks like an every-day player

Freeland was a midtier prep prospect who got some pro attention before ending up at UCF and eventually going in the third round of the 2022 draft. Entering the draft, he was an infielder, but not a very good shortstop. He had some power and patience, but nothing was plus and he projected more as a utility guy than an impact player. That was the expectation entering 2024 before he went off, hitting 18 homers, stealing 31 bases, and drawing 91 walks while rising from High-A to Triple-A.

Freeland looks looser and more athletic with more separation at the plate than he did before his huge leap. He has improved at every swing-based metric I can find and as a runner, showing fringe-to-average speed. He also got better in the field and now looks like a decent big league shortstop.

He had a number of surgeries as a child to correct a clubfoot, so working around some remaining foot/ankle limitations to become a later-blooming athlete could make some sense in trying to understand how this breakout season occurred. Freeland still probably fits best at second base long-term and has 20-homer upside, but he may post plus on-base percentages as a switch-hitter.

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38. Kyle Teel, C, Chicago White Sox

Age: 23 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Steady, but not flashy every-day catcher who posts 2-3 WAR seasons.

Teel steadily improved from a notable prep prospect to a stalwart in the University of Virginia lineup while also growing from a possible long-term catcher to an above-average defender behind the plate. He has 20-plus homer upside, but he has taken a more balanced offensive approach and projects as a .260 hitter who hits 15-18 homers. He was the headliner in Chicago’s Garrett Crochet return from Boston and should make his big league debut in 2025.

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39. Rhett Lowder, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Sinker/slider-type starting pitcher who could turn into Aaron Nola if it clicks

Lowder broke through as a sophomore at Wake Forest with his velocity gains leading to a firmer slider that works well with his existing standout changeup and command. He had a sterling draft year, eventually being selected by the Red with No. 7 pick in the 2023 draft. He made his pro debut in 2024, going from High-A to the big leagues and performing OK but not great in his cup of coffee.

Lowder’s sinker and slider are both average-to-above pitches more due to location than velocity or explosive life. His changeup is a plus weapon that has always been his go-to pitch, particularly when ahead in the count. He’ll likely never post huge strikeout rates, but he won’t walk many batters. He could reach over 180 innings if can put up average strikeout rates, which starts to look like Aaron Nola.

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40. Charlie Condon, 3B, Colorado Rockies

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Potential Kris Bryant-type upside, but a poor pro debut has his momentum going the wrong way

Following in the footsteps of Florida’s Wyatt Langford, who was drafted at No. 4 in the 2023 draft, Condon was lightly recruited out of high school and wasn’t a pro prospect until his sophomore year at Georgia. He put up huge numbers largely in a corner position, which for Condon came split between first base, third base and the outfield. By his draft year, Condon improved at third and was giving Kris Bryant vibes as a third base/outfielder tweener with a lean frame and 30-homer upside along with good-enough on-base skills. He was narrowly my top-ranked prospect in the 2024 draft — a virtual toss-up with Travis Bazzana, just ahead of JJ Wetherholt, Jac Caglianone, Chase Burns and Hagen Smith.

As you could guess from this ranking, Condon had a very poor pro debut, which raised all the questions I raised at draft time. A slow start in pro ball was somewhat predictable as he has had trouble keeping weight on through an entire season, which would affect his power and stamina late in the summer, and he was also battling a hand injury — but his performance was worse than expected even considering those factors. Condon’s bat control played a tick or two lower than expected, as did his in-game power indicators. It was a relatively small sample (25 games), it was High-A (Wetherholt only played in Low-A), and some other top 2024 picks haven’t even had debuts yet, so it’s unfair to really spike Condon’s prospect status. That said, flags have been raised and we’ll need to watch his start to 2025 closely.

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41. Hagen Smith, LHP, Chicago White Sox

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Lower-slot lefty slinger who could be a mid-rotation-type soon, with shades of Garrett Crochet.

Smith was a notable, low-seven-figure prospect out of a Texas high school in the 2021 draft class, but his asking price wasn’t met because he missed his junior year due to Tommy John surgery. He was sitting around 90 mph at that time and his short-arm action was divisive even though he threw seven no-hitters in his draft year.

Once he got to Arkansas, Smith was effective at garnering whiffs over his first two years, but there were some questions about his finer command and if he could be a dependable starter. He answered those emphatically in his draft year, striking out 161 batters in 84 innings in the loaded SEC en route to going fifth overall last summer.

Smith still has more control than command and relies heavily on his mid-90s running fastball and deadly slider (both are plus pitches) with a lesser-used curveball and changeup that both need refinement. There’s deception in his unique shorter-arm action and lower-arm slot, which help explains why his fastball/slider combo performs incredibly well in the strike zone relative to their more pedestrian ball-tracking movement/velo profiles. Smith needs to refine his control to have those two pitches in the zone more often and develop a third weapon, but he has the look of a No. 2/No. 3 starter who could move quickly through the minors.

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42. Blake Mitchell, C, Kansas City Royals

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Lefty hitter with standout power/patience at the plate and glove/arm behind it that provides All-Star upside

Mitchell was the No. 8 pick in the 2023 draft out of a Texas high school but was seen as comparable to prep players going in the middle-to-late stages of the round. After a strong 2024 full-season debut, Mitchell stands basically where the Royals took him among a group of prep players from that draft who have been excellent so far.

Mitchell’s defense, plus-plus arm and overall tool set have always stood out with scouts who are somewhat split on his overall offensive upside. As a 19-year-old in Low-A last year, Mitchell answered those questions, posting a 17% walk rate, with 18 homers and 26 stolen bases. There’s some swing-and-miss inherent to his late-count, power-focused approach and that’s the main risk factor. But there could be a new starting catcher with big power headed to Kauffman Stadium right as another one’s storied career is winding down.

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43. Luke Keaschall, 2B, Minnesota Twins

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: On-base machine with medium power/speed combo and positional versatility

Keaschall transferred from the University of San Francisco to Arizona State for his draft year. He was taken in the second round in 2023 because of his strong contact profile and sneaky gap power with some speed and defensive value — but also a lack of star potential.

His contact, on-base and in-game power skills have all played a bit better than expected and he got to Double-A in his first full pro season before it was ended by Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow. He should be ready for the 2025 season, and Keaschall’s speed makes him playable at second base and center field, though he isn’t great at either defensively.

He’s an every-day player of some sort, but he doesn’t have a true plus tool or a clear best positional home, so he’ll likely end up playing wherever his team has a need.

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44. Drake Baldwin, C, Atlanta Braves

Age: 23 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Offensive-oriented potential every-day catcher who is ready for his MLB debut

Baldwin was a 2022 third-round pick out of Missouri State as an offensively oriented catcher who may have to move to a corner spot if he didn’t keep progressing behind the plate. He has improved to be solid there, but will probably never be a defensive standout. He also hit more than expected in pro ball, becoming a backup option to play corner outfield down the stretch in 2024 before the Braves acquired Jorge Soler via trade.

Baldwin mashed at Double-A and Triple-A last season, posting a .370 OBP and 16 homers. He hasn’t played anywhere other than catcher or designated hitter, so that seems to be where the Braves want him to fit in the big leagues, with an above-average OBP and 15-20 homers being realistic at some point in the next couple of seasons.

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45. Jonny Farmelo, CF, Seattle Mariners

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Above-average offensive tools and plus-plus speed that drove a breakthrough before suffering a torn ACL

Farmelo’s stock steadily rose from summer showcase season to 2023 draft day. His innate feel to hit (despite some unique elements to his swing) combined with speed for center field and enough power to play a corner is the kind of upside teams are looking for late in the first round.

He joined the assembly line of prep position players who have given the Mariners immediate strong returns. His improved swing mechanics fueled a loud big league spring training showing then a strong 46 games in Low-A until a torn ACL ended his season prematurely. Before the injury, he showed above-average bat-to-ball, pitch selection, raw power and in-game power skills. The expectation is that his speed and center-field defense will hold when he returns during the 2025 season.

I’m jumping on the bandwagon quickly before the surface numbers become so obvious that he’s on every top 100.

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46. Jesus Made, SS, Milwaukee Brewers

Age: 17 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Prototypical medium-framed international signee who surprised many by having one of the best pro debut seasons in a long time.

Made was the revelatory name in my August top 100 update, going from low-profile international signing (receiving a bonus of just $1 million) to one of the biggest Dominican Summer League breakout prospects in recent memory.

His data is incredible, with his contact rates (in or out of zone) and his pitch selection (in any count) all grading as at least plus, while he was posting basically major league average power metrics (some just above, some just below) like max exit velo and 90th percentile exit velos. His pull/lift numbers were also very strong, suggesting he knows how to turn that raw power into game power. I have some basic catch-all metrics in my spreadsheet of TrackMan data that grades each key hitting ability and is then adjusted for age. Of the nearly 3,500 hitters in the sheet, Made was first and by a good margin.

Made is an infielder, but possibly not a shortstop long-term (it’s early for confidence about that, in general) and he’s an above-average runner to boot. He isn’t very physically projectable, so there may not be a ton of additional projection of his power like you expect with teenaged prospects, but he has good tools, excellent performance and an exceptional amount of refinement at the plate.

If you take the bearish stance, you’d argue that Made’s good-not-great tools won’t improve that much and we need to see him perform like this against High-A or Double-A pitchers to know these excellent metrics aren’t misleading us due to the low level of competition in the DSL. Most players who make a top 100 list after signing as international free agents (like Leodalis De Vries above) skip the DSL so they’re almost never facing players of their age cohort in the minor leagues.

On the bullish end of things, this is what a medium-tooled potential superstar like Mookie Betts or Jose Ramirez, should look like at this point — so hop on board while you can. Some rival teams think Made could become a superstar and some think he belongs on the back end of this list, if not off of it.

The Brewers are on a bit of a scouting and development heater right now and it appears they found another excellent prospect who could become an excellent big leaguer, but it’s still very early.

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47. Brady House, 3B, Washington Nationals

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Tooled-up prospect adapting to being promoted quickly and could still be an All-Star-level talent.

House was one of the first players to pop nationally in the 2021 draft class, showing plus-plus power potential, plus-plus arm strength, average speed and hands to play in the infield early in his high school career. He held serve, going No. 11 in the 2021 draft with the main concern at the time being his strong tendency to swing within a few pitches of most at-bats. He has dialed in his pitch selection as he has been thrown into the deep end, being forced to improve by being among the youngest players at each level he’s played at, ending last season in Triple-A right after he turned 21. House hits a lot of line drives, in part because he doesn’t pull or lift the ball much, so he isn’t getting to all of his raw power. He projects to have fringe-average on-base percentages and average-to-above in-game power, though House adds more value by being an above-average defender at third base and offering some value as a baserunner. That projection isn’t quite as lofty as predraft expectations given his raw tools, but he’s tracking like a solid every-day player.

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48. Cooper Pratt, SS, Milwaukee Brewers

Age: 20 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: An every-day shortstop with an above-average hit tool

Pratt had some interest in the late-first-to-second-round range coming out of the summer showcase season and into the spring before the 2023 draft, but then tailed off a bit as scouts were split on his rumored first-round asking price, offensive upside and ultimate position. The Brewers scooped him up in the sixth round for a bonus commensurate with the back of the second round; rival teams perceived this to be a great deal at the time that they wished they knew Pratt would’ve accepted.

His tool grades are mostly average, but as a teenage shortstop who performed well enough to be promoted to High-A in his full-season debut, Pratt is now tracking comfortably like an every-day player.

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50 FV Tier

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49. Jeferson Quero, C, Milwaukee Brewers

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Standout defender coming back from shoulder surgery with All-Star potential

Quero tore the labrum in his right shoulder during the season opener for Triple-A Nashville. He had surgery and ended up missing the entire season, though he’s on track to be ready for the 2025 season.

He is an above-average defender with a plus arm, and both of those grades could be underselling his ability. Offensively, he needs to cut down on chasing pitches out of the zone, but there’s enough bat control and raw power for roughly league-average offensive output — .255 average and 15-18 homers — which combined with his glove would make him one the best catchers in the sport.

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50. Moises Ballesteros, C, Chicago Cubs

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: 5-foot-8 catcher who is OK defensively, but is an offensive savant with 25-homer upside

Ballesteros doesn’t have a typical big league frame at 5-foot-8, which also serves to limit his defensive ceiling as a catcher, even though he’s improved over the past two seasons. He’s good enough to at least be a part-time catching option with acceptable arm utility who also sees time at first base and designated hitter to get his bat in the lineup. Related to his frame not being very projectable, Ballesteros may be a relatively finished product despite being 21 years old.

He is the age of many 2025 draft prospects and while that cohort was playing in the Cape Cod League, Ballesteros was hitting above league average in Triple-A at the end of last season. That precocious performance and being even a part-time defensive option behind the plate is driving his value. You can expect roughly average on-base percentages and hope his pitch selection stays good enough to get to almost all of his above-average raw power. If a couple of things give a bit, he may end up being a platoon or low-end regular first baseman, but I’ll bet on his advanced performances at the plate leading to a little more growth.

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51. Bryce Eldridge, 1B, San Francisco Giants

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: 6-foot-7 first baseman who could hit 40 homers one day

Eldridge was a standout hitter and pitcher as a prep underclassman, posting big exit velos against older competition and getting into the mid-90s on the mound. Despite being a 6-foot-7 power hitter, his contact rates on the showcase circuit were among the best in the 2023 prep class, so scouts evaluated him as more of a hitter than a pitcher. At the same time, an ankle injury hurt his velocity in his draft spring, though he looked like a second-rounder on the mound anyway. Eldridge ended up going No. 16 overall as a hitter-only selection to the Giants.

Last year, he posted a .372 on-base percentage along with 23 homers in his first full season, mostly at High-A before getting a taste of Double-A and Triple-A while still a teenager. Eldridge has been promoted aggressively enough that his contact skills now play a bit below average. Call him a .245 or .250 big league hitter, with a solid-average walk rate and anywhere from 25 to 40 homers at his peak.

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52. Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Should land somewhere on the Nick Johnson to Anthony Rizzo spectrum

Kurtz was on the same high school team as Cooper Kinney (No. 34 pick in 2021) and Henry Godbout (potential early-round pick in 2025 playing at Virginia), and few evaluators thought Kurtz was the best prospect on his own team, which he clearly is now.

High school first basemen are already unlikely to get a big enough bonus to forego a scholarship to a major conference school and there was concern that Kurtz couldn’t get to his plus raw power in games given the long limbs from his 6-foot-5 frame. Kurtz dominated for three years at Wake Forest (164 games, 1.235 OPS, 61 homers, 189 walks) and was the No. 4 pick last summer. He had shoulder issues in college that made some teams pause, but he’s a power-and-patience type with an above average glove, and he could be an All-Star.

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53. Jarlin Susana, RHP, Washington Nationals

Age: 20 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: 6-foot-6 fireballer from the Soto trade with plus to plus-plus stuff, and the control is coming around

Susana signed with the Padres for $1.7 million in the 2022 international class — after his stuff spiked during the previous class with San Diego having the best bonus offer, but he had to wait for pools to reset.

The Padres immediately brought him stateside and he was hitting 100 mph while flashing nasty breaking stuff. After just eight pro appearances, all in the complex league, he was inserted as the final player in the first Juan Soto trade.

In 2023, Susana walked nearly six batters per nine innings, and in 2024, that figure was down to four. His sinker sits 97-100 and hits 101 mph, while his cutter is a real standout. The average major league slider averages 85.5 mph, while Susana’s cutter averages 89 mph and has above-average life compared to a major league slider, too. Susana should pitch in Double-A next season and will turn 21 in March; he would be the first pick in the 2025 MLB draft if he were doing this in college rather than in pro ball.

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54. Edgar Quero, C, Chicago White Sox

Age: 21 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: An offensively advanced, switch-hitting every-day catcher

Quero was the headliner in a trade from the Angels to the White Sox at the 2023 trade deadline for rental pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez. Opinions about his defensive ability behind the plate vary, and I have him as totally fine, around average, but some teams want an above-average defender there and would use Quero at other positions to get his bat in the lineup. That might also describe what the White Sox will do if Quero and Kyle Teel are in the big leagues at the same time next year. Quero should post roughly league-average on-base percentages and 15-20 homers in his peak seasons.

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55. Thomas White, LHP, Miami Marlins

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Long-heralded lefty who is finding his control to complement his stuff, which has been plus for years

White was the first pitcher in the 2023 draft class to pop; I went to see him during the summer in 2021 after he was already the top player in the class and was blown away. By 2023, he flashed three plus pitches, his changeup the least developed of the three. But his command would come and go to an extreme degree, so he lasted until the 35th overall pick, getting a mid-first-round bonus ($4.1 million).

White’s first taste of full season minor leagues yielded too many walks, but he dialed it in more in 2024 and is now on the path of a premium projection potential front-line left-handed starter (say that three times fast). Sometimes this turns into Cole Hamels, other times into guys you’ve never heard of.

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56. Alejandro Rosario, RHP, Texas Rangers

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Late bloomer who always had stuff now looks like a potential starter

Rosario was an intriguing follow in high school, getting into the mid-90s while mixing in a nasty low-spin splitter, but he ended up going to Miami because of concerns about his command and his breaking ball. In college, he mostly started, but he posted a 6.47 ERA, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio was just over 2-to-1. The Rangers landed him in the fifth round of the 2023 draft — a surprisingly rich zone of the draft of late, where teams take pitchers with a couple good qualities, hoping they can dial in the other few.

Rosario’s strikeout-to-walk ratio is now at 10-to-1 through 88⅓ innings as his control and breaking ball issues have been largely solved, while his sinker, slider and splitter all now project as plus pitches. Rosario should be challenged in the upper minors this season to see if his command can hold up against more age-appropriate competition, but he now looks like at least an impact late-inning reliever if it can’t.

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57. Cole Young, 2B, Seattle Mariners

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Hit-over-power infielder who likely settles at second base and hits about 15 homers annually

Young was a high-floor prospect in the 2021 draft as a sure-handed shortstop with an advanced lefty bat, but modest other tools. He’s an OK defensive shortstop who likely ends up at second base — and has already started playing there — so that’s where I have him projected. Young’s bat-to-ball ability and pitch selection have both played a notch higher than I expected, so he should post plus on-base percentages — something like 15 homers annually with solid defensive and baserunning value.

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58. Quinn Mathews, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals

Age: 24 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Later-blooming lefty who had a velo spike in pro ball, but still has starter qualities

Mathews was used heavily at Stanford — he pitched there four seasons, racking up 224 innings in his last two years, including some eye-popping pitch counts — and was a fourth-round pick in 2023 due to concerns tied to his usage, being 22 years old and his fastball averaging 90-93 mph.

In 2024, Mathews answered all of those concerns, getting to Triple-A and posting a better than 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, helped in large part by his 93-96 mph fastball that he sustained over 143⅓ innings. His changeup is still plus, like it was at Stanford, and now with the added arm speed, his slider is now above average. He now looks like a potential mid-rotation starter, if he can keep this up and continue to dial in his command in the upper minors.

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59. Harry Ford, C, Seattle Mariners

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Power-and-patience catcher who continues to come along

Ford was the No. 12 pick in the 2021 draft because he had a plus power potential/speed/arm combo with a shot to stay behind the plate long term (a rare combination), but some trouble sticking with the same swing. He has continued to progress behind the plate and is still a standout athlete, though his offensive upside is more driven by walks/on-base percentage than outstanding in-game power or contact rates right now (they’re good, not great). As long as he stays behind the plate, that shouldn’t matter much. But if he moves to a corner, his power manifesting in 20 homers annually (the raw power is still there) will become more important. For what it’s worth, his government name is Harrison Michael Ford.

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60. George Lombard Jr., SS, New York Yankees

Age: 19 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Solid-average tools, great instincts and 20-25 homer upside

Lombard’s father, George Sr., played in the big leagues for parts of six seasons and is now the Tigers’ bench coach, and his little brother Jacob is a likely 2026 first-rounder. As you might guess, Lombard has advanced feel for the game, outperforming his solid raw tools at shortstop with feel for the position, in addition to above-average pitch selection at the plate. He also stole 39 bases last year despite roughly average speed. Lombard has some real tools, as well, with raw power that’s already posting major league average exit velos as a teenager.

His 2024 season line (league-average hitting across both A-ball levels) doesn’t necessarily represent his full ability, as some swing/approach adjustments correcting a slow start in terms of contact seemed to show results the last month of the season.

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61. Caden Dana, RHP, Los Angeles Angels

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Fastball/slider-reliant potential midrotation starter

Dana signed for $1.5 million out of a New Jersey high school as an 11th-round pick in the 2022 draft. The 6-foot-4 righty regularly got into the mid-90s with a sharp breaking ball and flashed starter traits at draft time, but everything he does has blossomed in his two full seasons of pro baseball to the point that he reached the big leagues last summer at age 20.

He now works at 93-95 mph with tailing life, throwing a lot of strikes with his heater. His best breaking ball is a plus slider; his curveball and changeup are both around average. Dana’s next thing to figure out is making one of those secondary pitches his go-to off-speed pitch against left-handed batters.

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62. Brandon Sproat, RHP, New York Mets

Age: 24 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Power sinker/slider starter who has continued to improve from a collegiate short reliever

Sproat didn’t sign with the Rangers as a late-rising seventh round pick who was regularly into the mid-90s out of a Florida panhandle high school in 2019, then regularly hit 100 mph as a reliever for two years at the University of Florida. Things changed when he switched to starting in his junior year and flashed first-round potential, ultimately passing on signing with the Mets as a third-rounder in 2022. The Mets didn’t give up and Sproat continued to improve, coming to terms as second-rounder in the 2023 draft.

Sproat’s improvement continued in 2024 as he went from High-A to Triple-A, showing similarly good stuff that he showed as a starter in college: sitting in the mid-90s with sink/run, complemented by a slider, curveball and changeup that are all above average at times. He still needs one more tick of command development but now looks to be on the verge of becoming a third or fourth starter.

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63. Brayden Taylor, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays

Age: 22 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Polished defender and hitter who has a good shot to be a solid everyday player

Taylor stood out almost immediately when he got to TCU in 2021, putting up loud numbers (.315 average, 103 extra base hits, 158 walks) and eventually going No. 19 overall in the 2023 draft.

He has an incredible ability to lift and pull the ball to get to his potential average raw power, giving him 20 homer upside, but there is a concern that he’s so reliant on that one way to create value that there may not be a good backup option if it doesn’t work at the big league level. This concern still dogs former Rays 3B Isaac Paredes, but he also hit 70 home runs in three years once the Rays let him play everyday, so maybe they know what they’re doing.

Taylor is likely a .240ish hitter with a strong walk rate but adds to his value with a strong glove at third base (he can fill in at either middle infield spot, if needed), and he also stole 29 bases last season despite average speed.

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64. Kevin Alcantara, CF, Chicago Cubs

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Long-limbed center fielder who is tooled up and ready to develop in the big leagues

Alcantara was the headliner of the Cubs’ return for Anthony Rizzo in the 2021 trade deadline with the Yankees. He is a 6-foot-6 center fielder whose height becomes a factor in every part of his game. He is a plus runner and defender due in part to his long strides that provide make-up speed into the gaps. His long arms help create plus raw power but also make him a below-average hitter for contact. Those elements are pretty set, but his pitch selection and ability to pull/lift the ball to optimize his quality of contact for his power are the two unknown variables.

He had a cup of coffee with the Cubs in 2024 but is blocked by Pete Crow-Armstrong, so depending what happens with the upcoming free agency of Kyle Tucker, Alcantara’s best shot at regular major league playing time could come in 2026.

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65. Tink Hence, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Well-rounded potential midrotation starter

Hence was a classic projection pitcher with clean arm action when St. Louis took him No. 63 overall in the 2020 draft. He has come along slowly since, building up his innings and diversifying his pitch mix. Hence is now on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster and should open 2025 in Triple-A.

His pitch velocity and movement combinations are just OK on paper, mostly around MLB average for each pitch, but his outcomes are excellent. That’s typical for changeups (and Hence’s is plus), which rely on a couple different kinds of deception more than aggregate movement, but I think there’s something interesting going on here with Hence’s six-pitch mix, deception, locations and sequencing. He’s tracking like a midrotation starter.

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66. Starlyn Caba, SS, Miami Marlins

Age: 19 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: An intriguing blend of outstanding contact, speed and defense but very little power

Caba was traded from the Phillies to the Marlins in this offseason’s Jesus Luzardo deal. He is a study in extremes: He has among the best bat control, pitch selection and defensive ability of anyone in the minor leagues, along with plus speed. As you might guess, Caba isn’t that big at 5-foot-9 and has very little power (posting the second-lowest exit velocity on this list).

The bull case is that there’s really only one weakness to his game, and he just turned 19 years old, so it’ll improve. The bear case is this weakness could torpedo Caba’s whole profile and make him a utility guy when he reaches the big leagues in a few years. I tend to be bullish on players who have one notable weakness; we saw last season that players such as Jose Iglesias, Luis Arraez or Steven Kwan can become good big leaguers.

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67. Ronny Mauricio, SS, New York Mets

Age: 23 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Dynamic raw tools, decent playability of them, coming back from a torn ACL

Mauricio missed the 2024 season because of a torn ACL after he’d already played 26 big league games in 2023. He should return early in the 2025 season with little difference in his scouting report, but there was still a good bit unknown about Mauricio before his knee injury.

He was one of the top prospects in his signing class and moved through the minors quickly because of his big tools, but Mauricio’s feel for using those tools in games could be better. He has plus bat control and plus-plus power projection, but he undermines those with a well-above-average chase rate and a flat launch angle, so his homer totals might not match his raw power in the big leagues. Mauricio is a solid defensive shortstop and has a plus arm, so he can play anywhere on the field and could be used in a utility role to find at-bats.

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68. Jacob Misiorowski, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Plus-plus stuff and below-average control — just has to find a role

Misiorowski went from intriguing prep then junior college projection arm to “have you heard about that guy sitting 100 mph?” to “yeah, but he doesn’t know where it’s going” to “he’s a useful big leaguer, but I don’t know in what role yet.” I’ve had all of those conversations about him over the past few years.

Misiorowski’s 6-foot-7 frame helps create his arm speed but doesn’t help him repeat his delivery enough to turn over a lineup at this moment. Given the success of Tyler Glasnow, you don’t want to rule out anything for this type of pitcher, especially given the Brewers’ success at turning lower-tier prospects into frontline starters or top relievers. Misiorowski should arrive in the big leagues during the second half of 2025, if not sooner.

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69. Arjun Nimmala, SS, Toronto Blue Jays

Age: 19 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: A chance to be a shortstop who hits 30 homers, but it’s still early

One of the most intriguing prospects in the 2022 draft because of his unique background, Nimmala’s blazing-hot second half earned him a spot on this list.

He found his power in games, thanks in large part to his collection of excellent in-game power indicators (barrel rate, air pull percentage, launch angle, contact position, etc.) that should allow him to maximize his power as he develops. That will come with some swing and miss, maybe a .240 batting average and fringe-average on-base percentage, but he’ll play the infield and this collection of tools and soft skills as an 18-year-old (he turned 19 after the season ended) puts Nimmala alongside the top prep prospects in the past few drafts, particularly if he can post numbers for all of 2025 like he did in the second half of 2024.

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70. Zyhir Hope, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: One of the biggest breakouts of 2024 with 30-homer potential and plus speed

Hope was a notable prep prospect in the 2023 draft but was seen as a power/speed combo without much refinement, which is why the Cubs were able to sign him for $400,000 in the 11th round. The Cubs dealt him and Jackson Ferris, ranked No. 93, for Michael Busch last winter, and Hope proceeded to have a breakout season, with a .905 OPS at the Low-A level as a teenager followed by a solid showing in the Arizona Fall League.

Hope is a compactly built 5-foot-10 with plus speed (though he likely settles in a corner outfield spot) and plus-plus raw power projection. The surprising thing since the draft is Hope’s ability to drive the ball in the air to all fields, particularly pitches on the inner half. There is some risk that his contact rates will dive against more advanced pitching, but the in-game power appears to be very real.

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71. Xavier Isaac, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Big, lefty-hitting first baseman with 40-homer potential but also contact issues

Isaac was a surprise first-round pick in 2022, going No. 29 after missing the entire summer showcase circuit because of an injury, so teams had even more varied opinions than they normally do about prep prospects. There were a handful of teams that had Isaac lined up in the dozen picks behind where Tampa Bay took him.

He has been productive since signing, posting a nearly .900 OPS and hitting 37 homers in two pro seasons while being young for each level he has played. The concerns are that he offers almost no baserunning or defensive value, and his contact rates were much lower in 2024 than 2023, suggesting he’s a .230ish or even .220 hitter at the big league level. Isaac’s offensive adjustments will likely be visible in even his surface stats this upcoming season at Double-A, and that will tell us a lot about what kind of big leaguer he will be.

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72. Termarr Johnson, 2B, Pittsburgh Pirates

Age: 20 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: A top-five pick who is starting to figure it out, might still hit 20-25 homers

Johnson was the No. 4 pick in the 2022 draft, selected out of an Atlanta-area high school after a long track record of success in top prep events. He had a mixed start to his pro career, hitting a combined .240 over his first two full pro seasons with an extreme late-count, power-and-patience approach at times.

In Johnson’s past 40 or so games in High-A last season, his numbers turned around as he seemed to solve some health questions while making swing adjustments. A strong 2025 season at Double-A will go a long way toward showing whether he can reach his pre-draft projections.

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73. Cam Smith, 3B, Houston Astros

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: 30-plus homer potential in a third base/right field tweener profile

Smith was a fall 2021 pop-up prospect as a Florida high schooler with big tools who hadn’t seen much velocity before. His bonus price outpaced the second- to third-round grades teams had on him, so he went to Florida State where he had a lot of contact problems as a freshman. Then in his sophomore year, he implemented a much shorter, simpler swing that changed everything. He would still show plus or more raw power in BP, with strong exit velocity, pitch selection and contact rate in games. He’s OK at third base but runs and throws well enough that he could be a solid right fielder if third doesn’t work out.

Before the draft, a lot of scouts who are very sharp about swings were telling me that Smith’s swing was too forced and stiff, with no rhythm. Essentially, it was designed to hit college arms but not those in the upper minors or big leagues, so the team that drafts him might have to move it back to closer to what he did as a freshman, which wasn’t that successful.

Counter to all of that pre-draft conversation, Smith went ballistic after signing as the 14th pick, with a 1.004 OPS in 32 pro games, then was included in the Kyle Tucker deal this winter. Clearly, the swing is working better in pro ball than I expected it to, but spending a whole season facing pitchers in the upper minors this season will be a real test for how well he can make adjustments when the time comes.

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74. Jaison Chourio, CF, Cleveland Guardians

Age: 19 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Yep, Jackson’s little brother can really hit and is a center/left field tweener

Chourio signed for $1.5 million out of Venezuela in the 2022 international signing period. He performed well, with excellent feel for the strike zone, in his first two seasons in the foreign and domestic complex leagues, then popped into top-100 consideration when he played at Low-A in 2024 before he broke his wrist toward the end of the season.

He is an average runner who stole 44 bases last year and plays mostly center field, but we’ll see if he improves enough to stay there. At the plate, Chourio is borderline plus at both pitch selection and bat-to-ball ability with 20ish-homer upside. That kind of production really plays in center but is more of a low-end regular in a corner spot.

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75. Christian Moore, 2B, Los Angeles Angels

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Power-over-hit everyday second baseman

Moore was a solid prospect in the 2021 draft out of high school but really blossomed at Tennessee, particularly in his final two seasons when he belted 51 home runs. The Angels took him at No. 8 last summer, and he immediately got to Double-A, putting up big numbers with rumors of a big league call-up interrupted by a knee injury.

Moore hunts for pitches to do damage with, so he gets to much of his plus raw power in games, but he might end up running below-average contact rates and on-base percentages.

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76. Chase Petty, RHP, Cincinnati Reds

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Prep fireballer now turning into a sinker/sweeper starting pitcher

Petty was a relative surprise as the No. 26 pick in the 2021 draft, coming from a New Jersey high school with some fame because he’d hit 100 mph for much of the preceding year. There’s a long and not very successful list of triple-digit high school arms — being velocity-dependent and adding stress on an arm at that important developmental stage generally aren’t good future indicators.

Petty pivoted well in pro ball, sitting 93-96 mph with his sinker, developing his nascent changeup and leaning his slider toward a sweeper shape. All three pitches are now flashing above-average potential, his control and command are also getting close to big league rotation quality. He should open 2025 in Triple-A and is on track to join the rotation in 2026.

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77. Felnin Celesten, SS, Seattle Mariners

Age: 19 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Hyped international signing who has played only 32 pro games, but the tools are real

Most scouts thought Celesten was the second- or third-best player in the 2023 international signing class, behind Ethan Salas. A hamstring injury delayed his pro debut to 2024 then a hamate injury ended his 2024 domestic season. There are some similarities to Leodalis De Vries, ranked No. 15, as top international signees who are developing strength quickly and may eventually move off of shortstop, but their innate hitting ability stands out wherever they move.

Celesten hasn’t proved that much in regular-season games, but he’s on this list because he’s tracking like a middle infielder who will hit 20-plus homers in the big leagues and also do other stuff well. He can fill in those blanks more definitively after a strong 2025 season at Low-A.

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78. Travis Sykora, RHP, Washington Nationals

Age: 20 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: 6-foot-6 power righty with a middle-of-the-rotation look after one pro season

Sykora popped early in his prep career, hitting the mid-90s as a sophomore and holding his high-octane stuff to his senior year, landing a $2.6 million bonus from the Nats in the 2023 draft. I was bearish at draft time as I thought his velo had maxed out and he lacked the kind of starter traits needed to justify that kind of bonus. So far, I’ve been wrong.

He made 20 starts in Low-A last year and, while his velo/shapes on paper are just OK, he looks like a midrotation starter to the eye with outcomes also along those lines. Analysts will be interested to see if his whiff rates hold up in the upper minors or if there’s simply something they’re missing right now. I’ve decided to get on board before we find out.

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79. Bryce Rainer, SS, Detroit Tigers

Age: 19 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: 6-foot-3 potential star shortstop but there are some hit-tool questions

Rainer was a well-known high schooler years before he was draft-eligible, getting into the mid-90s with a sharp breaking ball early in his prep career, but standing out the most as a lefty-hitting shortstop with plus raw power. He was considered a late-first-rounder or second-rounder after the summer showcase season due to his contact rate questions, but looked so impressive last spring, including against high-end competition, that some scouts thought he was a notably better hitter than in the summer.

He has the raw power for 25-30 homers and the tools to stick at shortstop, giving some Corey Seager vibes. Summer performance is the single best indicator for professional performance, so Rainer’s pro debut is eagerly awaited.

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80. Emil Morales, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 18 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: 6-foot-3 teenaged shortstop with 25-plus homer potential but contact and position questions

Morales signed for $1.9 million in last year’s international signing class with scouting buzz that he may have been worth at least double that bonus by the time he signed. Like many top international signees, Morales is a longer-levered hitter with big raw power and a physical projection, but those qualities also make contact and sticking at shortstop long-term a challenge, balancing strength and quickness. He had a fantastic pro debut, hitting 14 homers and posting a 1.168 OPS in 46 games with almost as many walks as strikeouts in the Dominican Summer League, but his whiff rate at the lowest level of the minors is a yellow flag for most evaluators. In 2025 or 2026, when Morales gets an extended look at Low-A, we’ll see if he makes the necessary adjustments to stay on this list; there’s a really high variance to where he lands on next year’s list.

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81. Konnor Griffin, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates

Age: 18 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Potential star who is plus at almost everything, but some scouts worry about his swing

I wrote at length about Griffin’s unique two-way upside going into the draft.

He was taken with the No. 9 pick last summer as a positional player who gave me Fernando Tatis Jr. vibes, but he was also a potential top-50 pick as a pitcher with Jack Flaherty vibes.

The risk is that Griffin’s swing, despite his ample tools, isn’t conducive to a high-contact rate in pro ball. So his 30-homer upside, plus-plus speed and shortstop/outfield defensive projection would have to carry the value or he would maybe even turn to the mound. He hasn’t played a pro game yet and from the performance data we do have, like the summer showcase circuit, he had a solid contact rate. There’s a belief in the industry that Griffin may be a slower climber through the minors as he makes offensive adjustments, but the potential for a superstar is there.

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82. Enrique Bradfield Jr., CF, Baltimore Orioles

Age: 23 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: 80-grade runner and baserunner with a plus glove in center and plus on-base skills

Bradfield was famous to scouts as a freshman in high school at a Florida high school power as the spark plug in a lineup that included senior Mark Vientos and junior Triston Casas. After four years of springs and summers against high-level competition, Bradfield’s bonus price wasn’t met and he went to Vanderbilt. Bradfield continued to develop, posting a .426 on-base percentage and 130 stolen bases over three seasons, while also getting stronger to address the main criticism of his skill set.

The Orioles took him at No. 17 in the 2023 draft and he has continued to be an on-base and stolen base machine, with 35-to-40-grade raw power which should be enough to punish mistakes; call it 5-10 homers annually. Bradfield should spend 2025 in Double-A and Triple-A with a 2026 debut likely, but he’d also be a weapon down the stretch for a playoff contender this season.

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83. Alfredo Duno, C, Cincinnati Reds

Age: 19 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: 40-homer upside, a good eye and a plus-plus arm behind the plate, but …

Duno signed for $3.1 million out of Venezuela in the 2023 international signing period. He hit well later that year in the Dominican Summer League, then jumped to Low-A for 2024, but he played only 32 games before a broken rib ended his season.

His frame and tool set are huge: a potential catcher with a plus-plus arm, 80-grade power projection, feel for getting to it in games and a good batting eye. The issues are his bat-to-ball ability and the finer points of catching. His contact rate will probably never be high given his overall offensive approach and he’s still a real prospect even if he moves to first base. Catchers and power hitters are among the players who are slowest to develop, giving Duno huge boom-or-bust potential.

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84. Drew Gilbert, CF, New York Mets

Age: 24 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Prototypical hit-over-power center fielder with plus speed

Gilbert was a standout at Tennessee who I thought was a steal due to his polish and high floor when the Astros took him with the No. 28 pick in the 2022 draft. His showing in 2023, mostly at Double-A, backed that up, leading to becoming a key part of the Justin Verlander trade with the Mets.

Gilbert’s 2024 was slowed by a hamstring injury and his offensive indicators (contact rate, chase rate, exit velos) all regressed a bit. I’m largely expecting him to come into 2025 healthy and back to his 2023 self (plus runner, above-average hitter, 15-ish homers), with an MLB debut in the second half, but I’ll watch the early returns carefully.

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85. Nacho Alvarez Jr., SS, Atlanta Braves

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Late bloomer has standout bat and glove, but a limited upside

Alvarez was a nearly anonymous fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft out of a southern California junior college. Almost exactly two years later, he made his big league debut after posting a .400 on-base percentage across 258 minor league games while being young for each level.

He is on the shortstop/third-base spectrum as someone who has played mostly shortstop in the minors but fits better at third base in the big leagues, with the ability to fill in at either middle infield position.

Alvarez’s on-base track record should continue while his raw power, bat speed and in-game feel for power are all below average, but not worryingly so. He profiles as a high-probability solid big leaguer, with the downside that he could be more of a high-contact utility/platoon type. But there’s room for more growth as Alvarez is still the same age as most 2024 or 2025 collegiate draft picks.

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86. Owen Caissie, RF, Chicago Cubs

Age: 22 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Prototypical power-over-hit corner outfielder whose raw power backed up in 2024

Caissie is the top player the Cubs received from the Padres in the Yu Darvish trade before the 2021 season. At that point, he was a recent second-round pick out of a Canadian high school who hadn’t played a pro game yet and wasn’t a consensus value at that point in the draft. He developed well since, with exit velocity near the top of the entire minor leagues as a teenager as a late-count, power-and-patience prototypical corner outfield prospect.

Those regressed heavily in 2024 when he spent the whole season in Triple-A, so now the questions are whether that power is coming back and whether he will be an above-average starter who hits .245 with 25-30 homers or more of a platoon type you don’t want facing left-handed pitching.

He’s on the 40-man now alongside Kevin Alcantara, ranked No. 64, with both prospects waiting for an outfield opening as Kyle Tucker’s contract ends after this year and Ian Happ‘s and Seiya Suzuki‘s end after 2026.

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87. Aidan Smith, CF, Tampa Bay Rays

Age: 20 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Young outfielder with plus speed, arm and in-game power ability, but position and contact questions.

In the 2023 draft, Smith was a toolsy prep outfielder with some questions about his hit tool, so he lasted until the fourth round, where he got a late-second-round bonus of $1.2 million from the Mariners.

His high-end exit velocity, aptitude for getting to his raw power in games and 15% walk rate surprised many evaluators in 2024, leading to being the headliner of the Randy Arozarena trade at the deadline. Smith is a plus runner with a plus arm who is on the center/right field spectrum with a little time to influence the Rays’ decision. His raw power and pull/lift percentages are both above major league average already, though it’s looking like he’ll hit .240 or so.

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88. George Klassen, RHP, Los Angeles Angels

Age: 22 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Collegiate fireballer who magically conjured control in the pros and now is a real prospect

Klassen was regularly in the upper 90s and even triple digits at Minnesota but also often didn’t know where the ball was going, compiling 49 strikeouts to 47 walks in 2023. You can see why he went in the sixth round, but there has been a trend of teams finding undervalued collegiate arms in that juncture of the draft — pitchers with one or two standout abilities that the demands of college baseball (strikeouts, ground balls, not allowing walks and, above all, consistency) don’t always allow to develop in the slower-burn type of prospect.

With some simple refinements and cues, the Phillies got Klassen throwing strikes immediately, and in 2024 he reached Double-A with a cumulative 135 strikeouts to 46 walks on the season, across two organizations as he headlined the Carlos Estevez deal.

Yes, Klassen allowed fewer walks and racked up almost three times the strikeouts in almost double the innings at a much higher level of competition just a year later. He still isn’t fine with his execution, but he is now looking like either a multi-inning reliever or a mid-rotation starter depending on how his command continues. His fastball and all three breaking balls look plus, with his 89-93 mph gyro cutter leading the way.

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89. Ricky Tiedemann, LHP, Toronto Blue Jays

Age: 22 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Lower slot lefty with three plus pitches that should return after the 2025 season

Tiedemann took a step forward from high school to junior college, leading to his selection as the 91st pick in the 2021 draft, then he took a giant step forward in his first full year in the minor leagues.

In 2022, he reached Double-A as a teenager with a mid-90s fastball and plus stuff along with starter traits. He was one of the best pitching prospects in baseball before his 2023 and 2024 were derailed by arm soreness and diminished control, punctuated by a Tommy John surgery in July that will also cost him the whole 2025 season.

Tiedemann’s career high for innings is 78⅔ (set back in 2022), so he’ll still be on an innings count when he gets back on a mound in 2026 and won’t see a heavy big league workload until 2027. I’m hoping that in 2026, his stuff, command and health will go back to what they were in 2022.

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90. Moises Chace, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Age: 21 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Has arguably the best fastball in the minor leagues, but an unclear role

Chace was a solid prospect with the Orioles until 2024 when he turned the corner into becoming a top-100 prospect, then was dealt with Seth Johnson to the Phillies for Gregory Soto at the deadline.

His fastball has every characteristic you could ask for: He sits 93-96 mph as a starter with above-average lift to the pitch and a well-lower-than-average release point thanks to his big extension that creates a very flat plane to the plate and is ideal for whiffs. Chace gets those in bunches: He has a 43% miss rate on the pitch, almost double the big league and minor league averages.

His strike-throwing of the pitch is already at the major league average for fastballs, so there’s a thought that Chace could be a short reliever in the big leagues right now. His sweeper and changeup both flash above-average potential, and he was just added to the 40-man roster this winter, so I’d expect him to spend this whole season in the upper minors learning to be a starter, with the option to relieve in the big league pen at the end of the year. There’s a solid floor here because he’s likely a decent big league reliever right now, but there’s also the ceiling of a mid-rotation starter if he can learn to turn over a big league lineup.

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91. Chandler Simpson, CF, Tampa Bay Rays

Age: 24 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: The fastest runner in organized baseball and a throwback fever dream of a player

I mentioned above with Enrique Bradfield Jr., Nacho Alvarez Jr. and Starlyn Caba that they had little enough raw power to at least question whether that could potentially undermine their entire offensive profile. But if that were to happen to a single player on this list, statistically speaking, it would have to be Simpson. He is the fastest of the group and has the best bat control, but he also has the least raw power, and by a good bit if you adjust for age. It doesn’t really matter if he lifts or pulls the ball because he is doing something else. Something more noble.

Scouts joke that Simpson is a 90-grade runner because his run times don’t even fit on the 20-80 scale. He stole 104 bases last season across High-A and Double-A. If you think about double-clutching a ground ball, he’s already on base. If your pitcher forgets to look over once, your catcher has no chance to fix that mistake. Chandler Simpson is the stuff of nightmares but also dreams.

He’s a good, not great defender in center field because he played infield in college and his pitch selection is also good but not great. But, again, if Simpson isn’t really trying to drive the ball (he tallied 16 extra-base hits in 110 games last year, and his lone homer was of the inside-the-park variety) and has incredible bat-to-ball ability, then pitch selection isn’t that important. He just needs the ball to roll far enough that it takes any defender a couple strides to get to it. I’m sure some exit velocities are too slow to be detected by Statcast, and Simpson will lead the league in those. Juan Pierre is fighting back the tears he feels forming in his eyes.

Back to my original question: Could Simpson’s lack of power undermine his tools and torpedo his career? Of course not, because his game doesn’t rely on power at all. He’s zigging while the league is zagging. He lives in a post-power world. Chandler Simpson doesn’t need power; he has his own generator. Your grandfather is going to call you in September and tell you baseball is being played right for once, even after they ruined the game, and it’s all because of that rookie down in Tampa.

Simpson is the most unique player on this list, and he’ll be in the big leagues this season because he’ll be a game-changer down the stretch off the bench — at least! — and I’ll just be frank: He’s going to be fun as hell to watch.

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92. Braden Montgomery, RF, Chicago White Sox

Age: 21 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: 30-homer upside in a classic right field profile, but with some contact questions

Montgomery was a tough sign in the 2021 draft out of a Mississippi high school because of his commitment to Stanford as a two-way player. He was a solid player for the Cardinal for two seasons, then transferred to Texas A&M for his draft year and had a breakout season, eventually going No. 12 to the Red Sox last summer.

Montgomery shortened his swing, improving his contact and pitch selection by buying himself more time to decide when to swing. His raw power potential is still plus-plus (as is his arm in right field), but there is a worry that his chase rate on soft stuff below the zone could limit how much of that pop he gets to in games. I’d also guess that he eventually drops hitting right-handed as his swing from that side is well behind his lefty swing.

Montgomery hasn’t made his pro debut yet because he broke his ankle in the College World Series just before the draft. He joined Kyle Teel (No. 38) going to the White Sox as the headliners earlier this winter in the Garrett Crochet trade.

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93. Jackson Ferris, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 21 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Long famous lefty has rounded out his game, on track to be a third/fourth starter

Ferris pitched at IMG Academy for two seasons and was a staple on the showcase circuit, so he was heavily scouted by the time he signed with the Cubs for just over $3 million as the No. 47 pick in 2022. At that point, the 6-foot-4 lefty had average-to-above raw stuff and starter command, but nothing truly plus, and his changeup lagged behind.

He was traded with Zyhir Hope, No. 70, for Michael Busch before last season and finished 2024 strong reaching Double-A with 145 strikeouts over 126⅔ innings. Now his fastball plays a bit above average and his changeup flashes solid average, so how his command plays at the upper levels will dictate whether he’s a No. 3 or No. 4 starter.

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94. River Ryan, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Age: 26 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: Extremely late bloomer needed elbow surgery right after he got to the big leagues

Ryan signed for $100,000 with the Padres as an 11th-round pick out of UNC Pembroke. He turned 23 years old a month later and was traded to the Dodgers before he pitched in a pro game. He had thrown only 152 pro innings entering 2024 and made his big league debut in July, but he had elbow surgery by the end of August.

He has five plus pitches, and you can project starter command as he’s an athletic, late-blooming pitcher who was mostly a position player in college. It’s a bummer that he won’t be able to get on a mound again until 2026 because he was just starting to put all the pieces together, but the Dodgers have enough dynamic arms to tide them over for a year.

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95. Jacob Melton, CF, Houston Astros

Age: 24 | Bats: Left | Throws: Left

Type: Plus raw power, above average speed and strong bat-to-ball add up to a starting outfielder

Melton was the No. 64 pick in the 2022 draft as a toolsy center fielder from Oregon State with some questions about his swing. His swing is still a bit awkward, but it works for him and the tools are still there, giving him the upside of an above-average regular. He’s a 55-grade runner and fringy defensive center fielder who could play there for some teams or be above average in left field. Melton has plus raw power from the left side but a flat swing plane and an all-fields approach, so his homer totals in the big leagues likely won’t match the 25-homer upside his raw power implies as currently constituted.

That said, his bat-to-ball ability is above average, his pitch selection is fine, and he has already played 47 games in Triple-A, so he has both offensive and defensive tools that could be actualized with minor adjustments in the big leagues for a team whose current starting outfield is Chas McCormick, Taylor Trammell, Jake Meyers and Mauricio Dubon. Melton doesn’t have to be added to the 40-man roster until after the 2025 season, but I think he’ll be at least a strong fourth outfielder for the big league team at some point during the upcoming year.

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96. Agustin Ramirez, C, Miami Marlins

Age: 23 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: A potential 2025 big league starter with huge raw power

Ramirez got stuck in a catching logjam that Austin Wells won, and the rest of the competitors got traded. Ramirez was the headliner in the Jazz Chisholm trade, although Jared Serna isn’t that far behind in prospect pedigree.

He is a fine but not great defender, and the same goes for his arm behind the plate. The selling point is his offense as he has 25-home run power and pretty good feel for getting to it in games, evidenced by his 22 homers in the upper minors last season. There’s some chase to his game, and his approach is to hit the ball hard, so I’d expect him to rotate between catcher and first base with a lower batting average, but with offense that the rebuilding Marlins will want to get into the lineup in 2025.

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97. Cade Horton, RHP, Chicago Cubs

Age: 23 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: High-octane stuff backed up in 2024, but there was frontline potential before that

Horton was No. 30 on last year’s list, but his fastball velocity backed up 1.5 mph last season, so his fastball/slider combo (which both were projected as plus pitches in 2023) were playing average to a bit above in 2024. His season ended with a shoulder injury, but he’s already throwing again, so hopes are that he will return in 2025 looking something like his 2023 self. His cutter and changeup showed some progress in 2024 as viable options to keep lefties honest.

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98. Orelvis Martinez, 2B, Toronto Blue Jays

Age: 23 | Bats: Right | Throws: Right

Type: He has plus raw power, knows how to get to it in games and is ready for the big leagues.

Martinez signed for $3.5 million out of the Dominican Republic as one of the top players in the 2018 international signing class. His scouting report has been similar since then, and he has raked at every level of the minors despite being young at each level. Overall, he has hit 110 homers and posted an .834 OPS in his minor league career.

Martinez is an easy hitter to imagine: He likes the ball inside, he has huge bat speed and plus raw power and is trying to pull and lift the ball, with his weakness being sliders down and away that look like inside fastballs out of the pitcher’s hand. He doesn’t mind facing velocity because he has the horsepower in his hands to match, so his big league numbers might be able match his Triple-A numbers. His chase and contact rates are a bit below average, but that’s to be expected with his approach.

The two main concerns are his 2024 suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s performance-enhancing drug policy and his defensive value. Martinez played 11 games in Triple-A after his suspension ended and looked basically the same, so I’m not concerned about that going forward. Defensively, he is an adventure at times at third base, with a varying, stiff delivery to first base. He has a bit more potential at second base, where the time and opportunity for adventures is greatly reduced. He’s a 40-grade runner with limited defensive range who is new to the position, but he’s serviceable and should improve.

For 2025, Martinez should be a solid platoon partner and rotation player at second base, designated hitter and maybe some of the corner positions while he waits for a regular spot in the lineup. His potential is something like Tony Batista, minus the wacky setup at the plate; Martinez will be streaky and sometimes maddening, but there’s 25-30 homer upside and he’s playable in the other facets.

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99. Braxton Ashcraft, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

Age: 25 | Bats: Left | Throws: Right

Type: Slower-developing starter is knocking on the door with knockout breaking stuff and good feel.

Ashcraft was a classic projection prep righty when he was selected No. 51 overall in the 2018 draft from a Texas high school. He didn’t play in full-season ball until 2021 because of the pandemic, then missed the whole 2022 season because of Tommy John surgery. He pitched in the upper minors for the past two seasons and now seems ready to make his big league debut (he burned his first option last season), throwing a little over 100 innings this season, then possibly 130 to 150 in 2026. He could be effective throwing two to three innings at a time for part of this season to manage his innings total.

He’s a lanky 6-foot-5 righty who sits 93-97 mph with a fastball that plays around average, but his slider and curveball are both plus, with the 81-84 mph curve seemingly dropping out of the sky. He throws tons of strikes and is very effective when he gets ahead. He might be able to do a version of what Chris Archer did briefly in Pittsburgh, throwing fastballs efficiently enough early in the count to set up his breaking stuff to finish off hitters and do that well enough to become a mid-rotation starter.

Ashcraft is on the 40-man and will likely open the season in Triple-A, needing to get ahead of two of Bailey Falter, Johan Oviedo or Mike Burrows for a big league rotation spot before Bubba Chandler or Thomas Harrington get added to the 40-man to make their MLB debuts.

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100. Charlee Soto, RHP, Minnesota Twins

Age: 19 | Bats: Switch | Throws: Right

Type: Mid-90s sinker headlines a mid-rotation, Luis Castillo-esque package

Soto was the No. 34 pick in the 2023 draft from a central Florida high school. The concerns about him at draft time were that his slider was inconsistent and his fastball shape wasn’t a fit for the top of the zone. In his pro debut last season, his sinker sat 94-97 mph with heavy life, his cutter and slider both looked like they’ll be major-league-average pitches, and his changeup continued to look like a plus pitch. There’s still some expected gains to be made in command and pitch usage as he climbs the ladder, but the pieces are here for a Luis Castillo-type starter if it clicks.

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