Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2025 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. SS Sebastian Walcott | 19 | AA | 2026
Here’s what I wrote for last year’s list:
“An extreme athlete at 6’4” 190 lbs with double-plus power and easy plus speed, Walcott has a path to becoming baseball’s top prospect by this time next year. He’s smooth enough on defense to project a future at shortstop and jumped Low-A to join the High-A team as it headed toward the playoffs. In 35 games on the complex, Walcott slashed .273/.325/.524 with seven home runs, nine steals and 51 strikeouts. Anyone pumping the brakes on him is especially concerned with this last piece because Walcott has some swing-and-miss in his game that could become an issue if the contact skills don’t make a leap as he ages up.”
I dropped that in here because it’s pretty close to what I’d write about Walcott this winter, particularly the number one prospect part, the best argument against which might be that he’s there already. In 121 games, the final five in Double-A, Walcott slashed .265/.344/.452 with 11 home runs, 27 stolen bases and a 25.6 percent strikeout rate. He was 4.1 years younger than the average at High-A and 6.2 years younger than the average in Double-A.
2. RHP Kumar Rocker | 25 | MLB | 2024
Rocker came roaring back from Tommy John surgery and rolled through the minor leagues, culminating in a three-game stretch with the Rangers in September. At 6’5” 245 lbs with athleticism and a four-pitch mix of plus pitches, Rocker can be as dominant as anyone when he’s in rhythm, especially when he’s commanding his 80-grade slider the way he was last season. He didn’t play at any level long enough to accumulate a meaningful sample size, but his statcast page gives him 90th percentile extension, which certainly checks out with the eyeball test and helps his 95.7 mile per hour fastball play all over the zone.
3. RHP Alejandro Rosario | 23 | A+ | 2025
At 6’1” 182 lbs, Rosario throws some of the easiest 100 mile-an-hour heat you can find. He mostly lives between 94 and 98, and the balance throughout his simple, from-the-stretch delivery allows all of his offerings to look the same, something that’s particularly devastating when paired with his 90 mph splitter. He can spot the slider well enough to bury or steal, and I’m not sure he’s going to find much resistance at Double-A after posting WHIPs of 0.87 and 0.99 at Low and High A ball.
4. 1B Abimelec Ortiz | 23 | AA | 2025
Ortiz bounced back from a slow start to finish with a 114 wRC+ and 18 home runs in 115 Double-A games. He struck out 21.8 percent of the time, an intriguing number given that it was 5.2 percent lower than his 2023 rate. Seems like a slightly new approach took a little while to take hold.
In his first 67 games, Ortiz slashed .183/.259/.306 with five home runs and a 22.4 percent strikeout rate.
Over his final 48 games, he slashed .321/.413/.592 with 13 home runs and a 21.1 percent K-rate.
At 5’10” 230 lbs from the left side, Ortiz is more athletic and loose than he might look at a glance, and I’ve long thought he’s underrated in dynasty circles partly because a lot of public lists put a heavy emphasis on defense.
5. RHP Emiliano Teodo | 24 | AA | 2025
Here’s what I wrote about Teodo in Prospect News: The Future Is Not A Game or Collier Daddy:
Rangers RHP Emiliano Teodo looked incredible right off the jump, cruising through two scoreless innings for the American League. He repeats his delivery so well you could freeze frame ten different pitches at any point in the delivery and they’d all look the same. His value seems to be all over the place in the dynasty realm partly because some have clocked his 6’1” 165 lb frame and ticketed him for the bullpen, and I think that outcome is pretty far down the probability chain at this point. He looks like a no-doubt starter to me. He’s got a 1.71 ERA and 89 strikeouts across 68.1 Double-A innings and shouldn’t be in Double-a much longer.
Texas pumped the brakes after that game; Teodo pitched just 18 innings over five outings the rest of the way, recording a 3.00 ERA and 21 strikeouts. The Rangers are pretty deep in the rotation this season, but a rotation of Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle and Cory Bradford is unlikely to compile 162 starts.
6. SS Yolfran Castillo | 18 | CPX | 2029
I think power can be learned more easily than contact, especially with a baseline like Castillo’s. He struck out just 15 times in 35 games across two levels in 2024, slashing .377/.481/.415 with zero home runs and ten stolen bases. He’s also 6’3” and 165 pounds. Turns 18 on February 8th. He’s not exactly under the radar considering he signed for $647,500, but he’s already a much better prospect now than he was then.
7. 2B Justin Foscue | 26 | MLB | 2024
A first-round pick in 2020, the 5’11” 205 lb Foscue progressed steadily through the minors producing solid lines at every level to earn a debut in 2024, and that’s when the music stopped. It was only 44 plate appearances across 15 games, but he slashed .048/.091/.071 with a 40.9 percent strikeout rate. Not a huge deal, right, I know, but the same boss who was there then is there now, and you never know about first impressions. Only get so many shots at them. And Foscue doesn’t provide a whole lot if he’s not hitting, so he can’t quite force his way onto the field via defense or versatility. For example, as a Ranger, he played 11 games at DH, two at second base and one at first.
8. OF Braylin Morel | 19 | CPX | 2028
Morel signed for $97,500 in 2023 and has added some strength to his 6’2” 180 lb frame since then. He mashed in the Dominican Summer League in 2023 and did the same stateside on the complex in 2024, slashing .307/.407/.575 with seven home runs and 12 stolen bases. He’s a right-handed hitter with a pretty pull-conscious approach, which is pretty much what all of baseball is trying to teach right now, so it’s not said as a bad thing like it might’ve been 20 years ago.
9. OF Paulino Santana | 18 | DSL | 2028
A right-handed hitter at 6’2” 180 lbs, Santana features plus speed in center field and excellent plate skills. A highly sought after prospect on the international market, Santana signed for about $1.3 million and slashed .292/.465/.364 during his 53-game debut in the DSL. Power should come with time. Santana drew 52 walks, stole 20 bases and struck out just 38 times. Should be just the tip of the iceberg.
10. OF 1B Dustin Harris | 25 | MLB | 2024
A left-handed hitter at 6’3” 195 lbs, Harris has been bouncing around the diamond in search of a position for the past couple seasons and enters 2025 more as a proximity play than as the talk of the town like he was in dynasty circles once upon a moment. He slugged just .391 in 131 Triple-A games but homered in one of his two MLB starts and has shown power in the past.
Thanks for reading!
