Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2025 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. SS Carson Williams | 21 | AAA | 2025
Featuring double-plus defense and easy power from the right side, Williams should be the everyday six for Tampa sooner than later. He posted nearly identical lines through 115 games each of the last two seasons, slashing .257/.356/.497 in 2023 and .256/.352/.469 in 2024. His 142 wRC+ with 20 home runs and 33 steals in Double-A put him on a path to the majors impeded mostly by the organization’s machinations. Sure, he strikes out a bit much and could benefit from a short stretch in Triple-A to get heated up, but he might be able to change the playbook with a spicy spring.
2. 1B Xavier Isaac | 21 | AA | 2026
A big lefty bat at 6’3” 240 lbs, Isaac is more athletic in the box than most guys his size. In 102 games across two levels in 2024, he slashed .264/.370/.480 with 18 home runs and 15 stolen bases but also struck out 145 times. Eep. Lil scary, sure, but let’s try to remember he’s young. I always resist the murmur that a lefty can’t hit lefties when he hasn’t even seen that many throughout his baseball life. There just aren’t many great lefties on the way up, so I’m not surprised that Isaac hasn’t smashed good left handed pitchers in his young professional career.
3. OF Chandler Simpson | 24 | AA | 2025
Simpson hit .355 and stole 104 bases in 110 games across two levels in 2024. Take a moment to let those numbers register and stretch across 150 or so. A left-handed hitter at 5’11” 170 lbs, Chandler doesn’t generate power with his pesky, slap-n-dash approach, but he’s such a pest that his unique offensive contributions and solid defense in center field all but ensure that Simpson will get playing time like his namesakes Bart, Homer, Marge, Maggie and Lisa.
4. 3B Brayden Taylor | 22 | AA | 2026
The 19th overall in the 2023 draft, Taylor is a solid defender at the hot corner and a polished hitter with patience and speed on offense. He’s got a little Zobrist in him to the eye and in the sum-of-his parts player type. He struggled in 30 Double-A games but still hit 20 homers and stole 36 bases in 114 total games across two levels.
5. 1B Tre’ Morgan | 22 | AA | 2026
A third-round pick out of LSA in 2023, Morgan was selected on the strength of double-plus defense at first base. In Tampa’s system, he has developed into a weapon on offense as well, slashing .324/.408/.483 with ten home runs and 20 stolen bases in 100 games across two levels. He even walked more than he struck out in 53 Double-A games and hit .371 in the process. At 6’0” 215 lbs from the left side, he still doesn’t have a prototypical first-baseman profile until he can add some power, but Tampa seems like a team well-positioned to maximize Morgan’s strengths.
6. OF Brailer Guerrero | 18 | CPX | 2029
You don’t need 20/20 vision to see that Guerrero could be special. At 6’1” 215 lbs from the left side, he’s a dynamic athlete with speed, power and a signing bonus of $3.7 million. His season was just 28 games on the complex due to right shoulder issues, but he slashed .330/.452/.466 with two home runs and 13 stolen bases over that burst.
7. OF Theo Gillen | 19 | A | 2029
The 18th overall pick in this year’s draft, Gillen played shortstop in high school but was announced as a center fielder, which makes me think that’s a fairly hopeful place to put him. What the organization knows Gillen can do is hit and hit for power as perhaps the best high school bat in the class on the strength of a quick left-handed swing and a plate approach beyond his years, something he’s had to develop as opponents have tried to pitch around him.
8. RHP Yoniel Curet | 22 | AA | 2025
A well-balanced athlete at 6’2” 190 lbs, Curet brings upper nineties heat and a devastating curveball along with developing command and a nascent changeup. In 119 innings across two levels, he recorded a 2.95 ERA and 1.20 WHIP with 159 strikeouts. Those totals include just 25.2 innings at Double-A, but he was really in rhythm there, posting a 1.04 WHIP and 1.75 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 11 walks. If that’s the pitcher who shows up for spring training, he could push for a key role by summertime.
9. RHP Jackson Baumeister | 22 | A+ | 2026
The 63rd overall pick in the 2023 draft, Baumeister came over from Baltimore in the Zach Eflin deal along with OF Matthew Etzel and 3B Mac Horvath. He’d been good with Baltimore, but he was incredible during his 29 innings with the High-A Rays, posting a preposterous 0.54 WHIP and 37.1 percent strikeout-minus-walk rate. Some of that was down to a fresh cutter he was really commanding, but all of his stuff has been ticking up for a while now, so this might be the start of something big.
10. RHP Gary Gill Hill | 20 | A | 2027
Listed at 6’2” 160 lbs, Gill Hill might be a bit bigger than that, but not by much, so there’s a little frame-based upside to dream on here for the time being, and his current outcomes are good enough: a 3.15 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 108.2 innings in a league where the average player was 2.6 years older than him. He’s already got control of five pitches: fastball, slider, curveball, changeup, cutter, and all of them look like they’ll continue to work even as he climbs the ladder.
Thanks for reading!
