Prospect News: Floras For Flores or Crawford Fishing

Phillies OF Justin Crawford (21, AAA) has three home runs and three stolen bases over his last five games. His season-long line is .333/.409/.454 with seven home runs and 43 stolen bases in 54 attempts. Still seems underrated to me in a general kind of way across the lists, and Philadelphia’s front office is complicit in that. Nick Castellanos is under contract for $20 million in 2026, but he comes off the books after that and has been mostly awful this season, posting a negative WAR (-0.7) and .294 on base percentage in 128 games. The team’s best roster for 2026 would probably have a cheap Crawford in left field and Castellanos on someone else’s payroll. Heck that might be true for this year. I realize things are pretty good on the big league side in Philadelphia, but leaving Crawford out of his post-season push feels like a mistake to me. 

Pirates C Rafael Flores (24, AAA) has played well with Triple-A Indianapolis since he came over from the Yankees in the David Bednar trade, slashing .291/.383/.468 with three home runs in 21 games. He might not open the 2026 season with Pittsburgh, but he’ll almost certainly get a look at some point. A right-handed hitter at 6’4” 232 lbs, he’s got the power to pop some bombs even in a difficult home park. Deep-league waiver watch at best, but every at bat matters in some leagues. 

Over his last ten games, Royals C Carter Jensen (22, AAA) is slashing .405/.522/.892 with five home runs and a stolen base. When Kansas City traded away C Freddy Fermin, I thought they were clearing a spot for Jensen. Instead, they brought in Luke Maile, who has been playing every day for the past week or so. I find this confusing. KC is still in the hunt, Salvador Perez is best with some rest, and Jensen is liquifying minor league pitching. He’s got 13 home runs in just 40 Triple-A games, slugging .628 with a .394 OBP. Maybe they think his defense would be a liability. Tough to think of any other reason to leave him in Omaha. 

The Cleveland Guardians asked OF Ralphy Velazquez (20, AA) to remove the tools of ignorance and head for greener pastures this season, and wow has that been a good decision. He posted a 119 wRC+ in 94 High-A games and has turned it up a notch through 14 games at Double-A, where he’s slashing .364/.462/.691 with ten walks, nine strikeouts and four home runs. His hit tool and power grades feel pretty light to me now that he’s free to let the bat eat and focus on that aspect of his game. 

Mets 3B Jacob Reimer (21, AA) has been good all year. In 111 games across two levels, he has 17 home runs, 15 stolen bases and a .385 on base percentage. For the last couple weeks, he’s been on another planet, slashing .500/.559/.962 with five home runs and three stolen bases over 14 games. The hit tool is an easy plus, maybe double-plus, and the power is coming along in a hurry. Should be something close to a consensus Top 50 prospect heading into next season. 

White Sox SS Caleb Bonemer (19, A+) was highly paid a second-round pick (43rd overall) in the 2024 draft, and the early returns on that $3 million bonus have been excellent for Chicago. He graduated from Low-A the other day after slashing .281/.400/.458 with ten home runs and 27 stolen bases. In two High-A games, Bonemer has scored four runs. He and OF Braden Montgomery give the fan base an intriguing one-two punch atop the position-player prospect ranks after Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero graduate. Maybe this build will actually come together at some point. 

After just 23 games in Low-A, Dodgers SS Emil Morales (18, A) looks ready for the next level, slashing .333/.409/.573 with five home runs, four stolen bases and solid plate skills. He’s going to be a consensus Top 100 prospect heading into next year. Maybe top 50. Surprise surprise, the Dodgers system is going to be all over those lists. 

Thanks for reading!