Tampa Bay Rays Top 49 Prospects

Powerful and explosive, the exciting Caminero was among the DSL’s home run leaders in 2021 before coming over from Cleveland in a 40-man roster deadline trade for pitcher Tobias Myers that offseason. He mashed his way across five minor league levels in two years and reached the big leagues in 2023 just a couple months after his 20th birthday. In 2023, he slashed .324/.384/.591 over 36 games at High-A Bowling Green and 81 for Double-A Montgomery, striking out 19.6% of the time and drawing walks at a 8.2% clip on his way to 55 extra-base hits (31 bombs!) at just 19-years-old. He also got a taste of big league pitching, appearing in seven games for the Rays. This year, Caminero has been in Durham, where Baseball Savant has his expected statline pegged at .259/.332/.463. His strikeout rate (23% — Cami has tended to K in the 14-18% range as a pro) is slightly higher than we’re accustomed to seeing from him, though that’s to be expected given both some swing issues we’re about to get into and that he’s facing savvy Triple-A pitching as a 20-year-old.

Caminero already has plus-plus bat speed and raw power, and swings with bloodthirsty effort. He hits out of a crouched, open stance, and utilizes a leg kick and rhythmic hand hitch as his timing triggers. He loads his hands super deep and high, which often causes him to be late into the hitting zone against fastballs, but his bat speed is so ridiculous that he’s still able to torch deeper-travelling heaters to the opposite field with home run power (he hit a ball 117 mph this year). Caminero’s cacophonous cut leaves him vulnerable to good velocity up around his hands, which is where he does a lot of his swinging and missing. His breaking ball recognition and overall plate discipline are both pretty crude, but his feel for contact has carried enough water to keep him from having any significant strikeout issues so far.

Caminero began to transition from shortstop to third base in 2023, and candidly, he did not look good playing third in winter ball for Escogido during the offseason. We had him projected to right field off this look, but he looked better in 2024 before Caminero suffered a Grade 2 quad strain at the end of May (he hasn’t yet returned as of this update). Caminero is somewhat limited in his lateral range and quick-twitch traits, but his hands and arm strength should allow him to be an average defender at the hot corner. His throwing accuracy can be a bit shaky at times, especially when throwing on the run, and obviously we want to see how mobile he is coming off of this injury, but we’ve altered his position projection compared to the offseason Top 100 list here. How the Rays handle his ultimate position might be influenced by Isaac Paredes‘ continued level of production at third. It’s more likely Cami will get DH reps if the Rays deem him worthy of a big league roster spot. Regardless of his position, and though there might need to be some adjustments against inside fastballs, this guy has incredible offensive talent and is going to be a middle-of-the-order force.

Williams was a two-way high school player who was talented enough to be considered a prospect as both a shortstop and a pitcher. The Rays gave him a $2.3 million bonus to keep him from heading to Cal and have developed him solely at short. So far that looks to have been the correct assessment, as Williams has averaged 21 homers, 51 extra-base hits, and 24 stolen bases in each of his two full seasons of pro ball. He’s on a similar pace in 2024 except he’s stealing even more bases and with a better success rate. In 2023, he slashed .254/.351/.506 at High-A Bowling Green, with a smattering of games at Double- and Triple-A as well. Then Williams had a no good, very bad Fall League stint in which he struggled mightily to parse breaking balls. He seemed totally gassed and very frustrated, the type of Fall League look you just kind of throw out.

That’s not to say that Williams is a lock to hit. He’s struck out more than 30% of the time so far in pro ball and has severe breaking ball recognition issues that we optimistically wants to project on as he continues to develop solely as a position player. There’s a lot of looseness throughout Williams’ swing, and he has a steep, lofty path that makes him vulnerable to pitches in the upper quadrant. But he already has big all-fields power (his peak exit velos are a 55 or 60 on the big league scale and Williams is still a pretty skinny 21 year old) that he consistently carries over into game action. That and premium defensive ability are the two attributes that support Williams’ entire profile, and they become even more exciting when you consider his relative inexperience.

Williams is an unbelievable athlete and flashy shortstop defender. He makes a lot of plays that no other shortstops do, as if his beginner’s mind is conceiving of new ways to play the position. Few shortstop prospects match either his reads off the bat or the caliber of body control he displays, and Williams’ plus-plus throwing arm makes it so no play is off limits for him to complete. Scouts are mixed as to whether Williams is actually projectable. Some consider him a little too thin and frail looking to project on, but they are in the minority, and here we have WIlliams projected for impact power. Williams’ overall profile is that of a plus-power, plus-plus defender whose hit tool will be hindered by his lofty strikeout numbers, but the power/defense combo he brings to the table makes him one of the most exciting shortstop prospects in the sport.

The Evan Carter of the 2022 draft, Isaac’s selection was borderline derided when it was first made. He didn’t have a ton of showcase experience, and while clearly a skilled hitter in the scant showcase PAs he did put on tape, he was a heavy-bodied first base prospect who’d need to mash to profile. Several teams drafting through around pick 60 or so were on Isaac, so the Rays weren’t alone in liking him, and so far the pick looks great, as Isaac hit .285/.395/.521 with 19 homers in a first full season spent mostly at Low-A Charleston. Recently selected to the Futures Game, he’s currently on pace for a 20/20 season and has a 156 wRC+ at High-A Bowling Green as of this update.

Isaac has pretty dramatically remade his body and now looks more like Nate Lowe than coaching-era Sidney Lowe. He’s slimmed down without losing strength. On the contrary, he has added some and has a hard-hit rate around 60% this year. Isaac has rare fluidity in his hips and rotational explosion for a hitter his size, and while he is going to swing and miss at an elevated rate, he also has ridiculous power all over the strike zone. If you put Isaac’s balls in play on tape, he’s adjusting to all kinds of different pitches in different locations and using his immense strength to move the baseball all over the field.

Look under the statistical hood and things get more complicated. Isaac ran a sub-70% contact rate in 2023 and is right around that mark again in 2024; only one qualified big league first baseman (Bryce Harper) did that in 2023 and none are currently that low in 2024. A couple of other successful role players (Luke Raley, Ryan Noda) were also in that range, but it’s rare for a first baseman to run a contact rate this low and be successful. While Isaac’s athleticism makes what he’s doing in the batter’s box look smooth and graceful, he probably has more going on with his swing than a young man of his prodigious strength needs to. He doesn’t always track pitches well and he swings inside a lot of stuff on the outer third, especially changeups, which Isaac offers at early in part because his cut is so involved. The good news is we think Isaac will have such enormous power at maturity (he also has plus plate discipline) that he’ll offset his contact issues. We also think there’s a chance his hit tool progresses beyond its current state because we’re talking about a young hitter who hasn’t played against elite competition very much. We can’t overstate how much power there is here — it’s such enormous, flaw-covering juice that we’re in Matt Olson territory as far as overriding our concerns about how many K’s there are. If you’re in a dynasty league or collect prospect’s cards, you need to get this guy now. Isaac is still obscure enough that the photo service we use for header art doesn’t even have a picture of him in its database yet, but if he continues on this pace against Double-A pitching in the second half of the year, he is going to finish the season as a top five or 10 overall prospect.

Mead missed nearly two months with a left wrist fracture in 2023, and his exit velos were down even as hs slugged .515 in limited action at Durham (only 61 games). It’s common for hitters returning from wrist injuries to experience a decline in power, and we didn’t slide Mead at all on the offseason Top 100 list. Mead also underwent a pretty significant swing change in 2023, one that incorporated more movement in his lower body, and it’s remarkable that he performed as well as he did amid both the injury and the changes. This was the second significant swing change for Mead in three seasons. He made his big league debut late last year and broke camp this spring on the big league roster, but the presence of Isaac Paredes at Mead’s primary position, the addition of José Caballero, Richie Palacios, and Amed Rosario, and finally the return of Taylor Walls from injury led the Rays to demote Mead in May, and he’s been in Durham since. He was up long enough to graduate, and he does so with some concern over whether his tendency to chase will hinder his offense.

Healthy Mead blends plus in-zone contact with above-average power. He’s much more athletic in the batter’s box than he is on defense, and the way his swing unwinds from the ground up is beautiful and violent. We also love how much his top hand is involved in driving the quality of his contact. Historically, Mead has raked despite having a hyper-aggressive approach at the plate. His swing decisions against fastballs are still pretty terrible (39% chase this year), but his breaking ball chase has been close to average. Even since he’s been back in Durham, he has been offering at stuff nowhere near the zone far too often. We want to be careful not to overreact to this. Mead is still only 23 and even though he’s been in pro ball for half a decade, we still think his secondary skills have late projection because of his Aussie origins and the relatively brief time he’s spent facing elite pitching. Corner defenders (especially middling ones like Mead) who have chase issues like this are risky no matter how well they’re performing in the minors, but Mead’s in-zone contact and power blend is still very potent; he’s too talented to slide down the Top 100 list in a panic.

The Rays deployed Mead at second base in their 2023 Wild Card round loss to the Rangers, but he looks better at third. He doesn’t seem comfortable throwing back across his body, which second basemen have to do regularly but third basemen do not. He can be slow to approach grounders in front of him and is generally a slow-twitch athlete, but he’s gotten much better at third base during the last two years and might continue to progress as he gets reps at Triple-A and big league speeds. An elbow sprain (which happened amid a throwing program to try to improve his arm strength) ended his 2022 and required a PRP injection, which is often a precursor to Tommy John for pitchers. That’s a useful medical detail to file away but isn’t something that’s threatening Mead’s profile. We still think Mead will be a good everyday third baseman over time, but obviously the Rays’ situation at the hot corner is very crowded and Mead is starting to run out of option years, so he’s also a prime candidate for a trade.

Taylor got off to a rough start during his draft spring but righted the ship and hit a career-best 23 homers, ending his tenure at TCU slashing .315/.442/.595. While on the surface it seems like Taylor’s early-season swoon was a blip, he did have some swing-and-miss issues exposed in 2023. He is extremely pull-oriented and his hips tend to bail toward first base, creating a hole on the outer third of the zone. Taylor’s swing is also geared for lift in the extreme, which creates a different hole at the top of the strike zone. But Taylor is so selective and so reliably hits the ball in the air when he does make contact that he’s gotten to big game power since turning pro. Taylor doesn’t have .500 SLG raw power; his measured exit velocities are south of the big league average. There are definitely core competencies in Taylor’s offense but not big tools.

Instead, his best skill is his defense. The Rays have tried to move Taylor up the defensive spectrum and are giving him a ton of reps at shortstop rather than his native third base. It just might work. His hands and actions are certainly of shortstop quality, and if it turns out Taylor doesn’t have quite enough arm (at times his stroke looks deliberately short and odd) or range to stay there, then he’s going to be a plus-plus third base defender. Does all of this add up to an everyday player despite the middling raw power and below-average hit tool? There’s some precedent for it. For instance, Paul DeJong and later-career Matt Carpenter presented a similar profile at times, while Ryan Schimpf’s career arc feels like the floor here, except with much better defense stabilizing Taylor’s profile. We’re not ready to stuff Taylor inside the Top 100 just yet because his profile is so bizarre. Because he’s likely a corner player, we’d like to see his hit tool stress-tested by upper-level arms to reinforce our confidence that this level of offensive performance is sustainable.

Kinney was drafted as a big-framed bat-to-ball prospect with reverse projection, a forecast he has made good on, as he’s slimmed down and become much more agile than when he was drafted. At the time of his selection it was thought that Kinney would play some combination of third and first base at maturity, but he’s been successfully moved up the defensive spectrum and is becoming a viable (if unspectacular) second base defender. His actions are still a little too slow for the big leagues, but Kinney makes plays around the bag with poise and comfort and has enough range for the position.

Because Kinney has slimmed, he and his broad-shouldered frame now have upward long-term power projection, which is exciting because Kinney is already posting a hard-hit rate around 45% at High-A Bowling Green. For a college-aged prospect to have an OPS over .800 in the mid-minors is very encouraging, and even though Kinney’s swing leaves him vulnerable to high-and-away fastballs, he otherwise has good plate coverage and feel for all-fields spray. He’s going to be a doubles machine, and it’s plausible that he’ll add enough strength to turn a bunch of those doubles into homers. He’s on pace to nearly double his, uh, doubles total from last year, in part because Kinney’s feel for lifting the ball has been improving throughout 2024. Tracking to be a 40-man addition after the 2025 season, Kinney has the upside of an everyday second baseman.

One of the top handful of 2023 international amateur prospects, Guerrero signed for $3.7 million and had his pro debut season cut short by a torn labrum. He was promoted to the Florida complex this year and he’s having a pretty strong summer despite elevated strikeout rates around 25%. Guerrero has a powerful, picturesque swing that produces all-fields pop. It’s a tad long, but Guerrero easily has the strength to hit for power the other way even when he’s late into the hitting zone. This is a very physical 18-year-old — if he showed up for your high school’s football tryouts he’d be sent to work out with the defensive ends. He’s playing center field right now but probably isn’t a long-term fit there, as he’s running in the 4.3s already and will probably keep filling out as he matures. The early-career strikeout rates here create enough risk to hold Guerrero in the FV tier typically associated with corner platoon bats (he’s also playing a fair bit of right field). That feels like the middle of his potential outcomes, a power-over-hit corner profile that plays against righties in a big way. That doesn’t mean Guerrero lacks everyday upside; it’s plausible last year’s missed reps are the root cause of his current strikeout issues and that he’ll remedy them with time.

An over-slot sixth round pick, Gill Hill presented a special combination of on-mound athleticism and projection at a wiry 6-foot-2. His bounding delivery and low three-quarters arm slot give his fastball a shallow approach angle, his slider has nasty two-plane break, and even though his arm swing is a little long right now, Gill Hill can sell his changeup with his arm speed. He is in the midst of a pretty substantial velo spike, sitting 92-95 and peaking at 97 this year after he was more in the 90-92 range in 2023. GGH’s underlying strike rates suggest his excellent 2024 walk rate is likely to regress and isn’t a reflection of his current ability to command the ball, but considering how smooth and athletic he is, you can project him to substantially improve over time. This is a burgeoning pitching prospect with mid-rotation ceiling who is a pretty good bet to move onto the overall Top 100 list within the next twelve months.

Curet, who was added to the Rays’ 40-man roster during the 2023-24 offseason, continues to struggle with walks as a starter at Bowling Green. He was always pretty likely to spend all of 2024 in the minors because of his raw control, but it was imperative for the Rays to 40-man him because his stuff is so good that a team probably would have taken him in the Rule 5 Draft and put him in their big league bullpen.

The ‘pen is Curet’s likely destination anyway, because his stuff is simply too explosive for him to corral. He sits 95-98 and will touch 99 with huge rise-and-run life that often causes his fastball to sail up out of the zone. Curet’s slider is a vicious two-plane breaker with huge depth for a pitch that sits about 87. It’s possible Curet also has a cutter, because he throws pitches at cutter speeds (up to 91) with much different, shorter movement than his finish-in-the-dirt sliders, but it’s also possible this is just a manifestation of his release inconsistency. This guy has had some dominant starts and it makes sense for the Rays to continue to let Curet develop as a starter for another year (the 2025 season will be his second option year). He’d need to show both greatly improved command and a third, consistent pitch in order to profile as a starter by 2026, which feels like a big ask. That hasn’t really tempered our enthusiasm for Curet as a prospect because he might have elite fastball velocity in single-inning relief. We have a setup man grade on him and think the Rays would be more inclined to pull the relief ripcord sooner rather than later if they were more obvious postseason contenders.

After catching only 32 games throughout his four-year Vanderbilt career, Keegan has been developed as a backstop by the Rays. His defensive chops have developed rapidly now that it’s his main focus, and a guy who was once a project is now quickly approaching being an average defender behind the dish. Keegan is a quiet receiver with a strong wrist that enables him to quickly snatch pitches down and keep them in the zone. He does struggle to adjust when pitchers miss their intended location from where he’s set up, and his lateral blocking ability is fringy. In 2023, Keegan had exactly 100 attempted steals against him and he was able to nab those would-be thieves at a 30% clip. His arm strength has also taken a noticeable step forward and is now average.

Offensively, Keegan had a very productive 2023, slashing .287/.386/.467 with 90 strikeouts (20%) and 59 walks (13%) over his 448 plate appearances. He has above-average raw power but he has more of a gap-to-gap approach in games, so expect him to continue to produce more doubles than home runs as he’s done throughout his professional career. Keegan is looking like a real developmental success story who could sneak into an everyday role on lesser clubs and serve as a high-quality backup for a contender.

The Rays acquired Rock from Colorado in exchange for Greg Jones in March of this year. Rock is a long, rangy southpaw built like an NBA shooting guard who throws his mix from a low three-quarters slot. He throws both a two- and four-seam fastball; he utilizes the former down in the zone with its tailing action, while he’ll sneak the latter up above hitters’ barrels with the aid of the unique angle his release point creates. He sits 91-94 mph with both heaters and, with his frame as thin and long as it is, could easily add a tick more velocity as his body adds strength. The slider is a three-quarters breaking ball in the 83-86 mph range that has late tilt to it, but with varying degrees of depth. His 85-87 mph changeup is in the same velo neighborhood as his slider and has fade and sinking action at its best. Rock consistently sells it with fastball arm speed. Rock has shown improvement in his overall strike-throwing ability, but his precision projects to be a tick below-average. His arsenal is sufficient to carry a back-of-the-rotation role in the near future, and he has better long-term projection than most 23-year-olds because of his frame.

Seymour had a dominant 2021, then made just a few starts in 2022 before he was shut down with a flexor strain; he had Tommy John that June. He missed the bulk of 2023 recovering from surgery but returned in time to toss 42 frames and strike out just under 30% of the hitters he faced. He has been dominant so far in 2024, posting a 29% strikeout rate and career-best 5% walk rate at Double-A Montgomery.

Suddenly Seymour is not only back, but perhaps better than ever before, as he’s made 15 dominant starts and thrown more innings than he has since the 95.2 frames he tossed in 2019 between Virginia Tech and a stint on Cape Cod. Violent deception and a plus changeup drive Seymour’s ability to miss bats. He has an NC-17 delivery with a grotesque head whack, but it doesn’t seem to inhibit his ability to throw strikes. His fastball sits an underwhelming 88-92 mph, but it holds its plane very well and, combined with the deception in his delivery, is playing like a plus pitch. His changeup has 10 ticks of separation from his fastball and he sells it like a seasoned used car salesman by maintaining his delivery’s effort and arm speed. Seymour has two breaking balls, with his 80-84 mph slider the superior offering. It has two-plane shape and often shows considerable depth, and it’s a really tough pitch for left-handed hitters to do much with. His curveball is a big, slow (69-74 mph) vertical breaker that is more of a strike-stealer than a pitch he’ll regularly rely on. He’ll also mix in a short, mid-upper 80’s cutter that he uses as an additional weapon to stay off right-handers’ barrels.

Seymour is 25 years old now, so his dominance over Double-A hitters is to be expected, but given how fresh he is off TJ, the way he’s sustained it start after quality start is very encouraging. We’re still skeptical this kind of delivery can hold up under 120 innings or so, but Seymour is officially on his way to proving us wrong. We think he’ll likely serve as a really good multi-inning reliever (and occasional spot starter) where he can maximize his best offerings in short bursts.

Suarez pitched 39 very efficient innings in the 2022 DSL with Miami and then was traded to Tampa Bay in an offseason 40-man crunch deal for Xavier Edwards. His velocity has been steadily climbing since then; he sat 90-94 last year and has been in the 93-96 mph range so far in 2024. You need a magnifying glass to see Suarez’s walk rate, which has been in the 3-5% range his entire career; he’s never had a BB/9 IP above 1.82 or a WHIP over 1.22 at any minor league level. Suarez’s fastball punches above its weight thanks to its plus riding life and Suarez’s ability to command it to effective locations. It has 18 inches of IVB from a slightly lower than average release height. Off of that he deploys a lot of cutters and sliders. The cutter is usually in the 87-91 mph range, while the slider is a two-plane offering in the 78-84 mp range, and he can manipulate it into a curveball shape. His secondary stuff isn’t especially nasty, but Suarez tends to locate it it in the right spot. He perhaps isn’t the athlete that Joe Ryan is, but he otherwise shares a number of similarities with him. Let’s see Suarez maintain this new level of velocity across a full season’s worth of innings before declaring it so, but he has fastball-heavy no. 4 starter upside.

A transfer from UAB to Georgia Tech, Simpson was one of the more fascinating 2022 draft prospects because he had elite speed and bat-to-ball performance in college, but bottom-of-the-scale power and second base defense.

Simpson has posted incredible numbers since entering pro ball despite hitting for no power. He has a career .393 OBP and was promoted to Double-A about a month and a half prior to list publication. Simpson’s lone career homer is an inside-the-parker. He has a slash-and-dash approach, poking grounders and liners down the third base line and hauling ass to first in under four seconds. The combination of his speed and awkward contact spray give infielders no margin for error, which is going to help Simpson reach more in the lower minors than he will against big league defenders. His swing is comically simple and compact, and he lacks lower body athleticism; Simpson just stays upright and slaps at the ball. He is very twitchy and able to reach his elite top speed quickly. This isn’t a Steven Kwan situation even though Simpson’s swinging strike rates are also right around 2% — Simpson’s hitting hands don’t look anywhere near as deft as Kwan’s — but he is going to make a lot of contact and put a rare level of pressure on defenders with his speed.

It’s amazing that Simpson has performed like he has on offense while also changing positions. He was a bad college infielder but has mainly been manning center field for the Rays while mixing in appearances in left. His routes aren’t always efficient, but his top-shelf speed helps to cover that up and he has enough range to handle center field at a solid-average level right now. If his feel progresses with continued reps, the ceiling on his defense is pretty big. Simpson is also an elite base stealer. He stole 94 bags combined between Tampa’s A-ball affiliates in 2023 with an 86% success rate, which was a huge leap from his 60% college success rate. He’s stealing just shy of a base per game in 2024. We don’t think the quality of big league defense will allow Simpson’s offense to play like it has so far and he won’t be an ideal everyday center fielder. But what he will do is provide a turbocharged version of the bench outfield role, with elite pinch-running and situational hitting impact.

The former 22nd round pick out of Giles County High School in Tennessee struck out 26.3% of the batters he faced in 2023 pitching for Bowling Green, but also walked 45 (12.3%) over his 84.1 innings. He’s gotten the walks under control in 2024 and has a 3.42 ERA at Montgomery. Peoples has a quick arm and a compact arm circle, which gives additional hop to a 93-95 mph fastball that will peak at 98 mph. It has enough life to bully hitters up in the zone, but it doesn’t play as well lower in the zone. Peoples works with two breaking balls: a 79-82 mph sharp downer curveball that tunnels well out of his hand with his heater, and a short, tilting slider (83-85 mph) that has less authority to its bite. He struggles with landing any of his secondary pitches in the zone consistently, but especially his 83-87 mph splitter, which has late dive and will flash fade as well. Peoples is still being developed as a starter, but his command and reliance on chase looks better suited for a multi-inning relief role where he can let it eat in shorter bursts that maximize his fastball’s velocity and life.

Barrios was acquired from the Brewers the day before list publication in exchange for Aaron Civale; he was hitting .325/.367/.429 at High-A Wisconsin prior to the trade.

Barrios is a twitchy little shortstop who plays a fun and effective style of defense. His first step is incredible, and he has plus range, acrobatic actions, and a surprisingly strong arm for a little guy. He’s a very skinny young fellow who is out-slugging his raw power by a huge margin right now because his feel for contact is so good; his .264/.322/.336 career line at the time of the trade is much more in line with his actual talent. There are times when it looks like Barrios is a child swinging a tree branch, but he still finds a way to put the bat on the baseball. He had a 9% K% and 7% swinging strike rate prior to the deal. Can we project on Barrio’s strength? He’s only 20 and his measurables for a player that age are average, but he’s so thin and frail looking right now that he might be in the “Carlos Tocci Zone,” the sort of athlete who struggles to add mass at all. If this turns out to be true, then Barrios’ batting average will probably play beneath his feel for the bat due to a lack of contact quality. He has the floor of a bench infielder because of his defense, with upside (though not probability) above that if you think he can become meaningfully stronger.

Santana signed for $2 million, nearly $700,000 below slot at pick 31. The pre-draft report here at the site was bearish on Santana’s hit tool relative to industry consensus due to his inability to cover the up-and-away quadrant of the strike zone. Santana is very small but makes up for some of what he lacks in physicality with plus athleticism. It’s what helps him swing pretty hard from both sides of the plate, especially the left side, despite his size. His swing is long to enter the hitting zone but his short levers help keep him from getting beat entirely, and this allows him to spray fastballs to the opposite field. He’s surprisingly dangerous against pitches on the inner third, where Santana’s bat path is geared for power. Barring unforeseen change, he’s probably going to be a below-average contact hitter, but there is going to be a surprising amount of power playability here because of Santana’s athletic verve and the scoop in his swing. He’s also a rangy and acrobatic defender whose arm strength is a comfortable fit at shortstop. That’s going to give Santana’s hit tool some margin for error. We’d really like to project that Santana will add muscle and strength that will help him hit for more power and give his hit tool even more room to breathe, but he’s just so small and slight of build. We would be pleasantly surprised if he were able to become as physical as Tommy Edman, for instance. That’s what keeps keeps Santana from the upside-indicating 40+ FV tier.

Morgan was the Eric Hosmer of college baseball for his three years at LSU, playing slick first base (and sometimes corner outfield) defense while bringing a competitive edge and moxy to Baton Rouge. He didn’t produce anything close to the typical in-game power output of a big league first baseman, in part because his bat path caused him to drive the ball into the ground fairly often, à la Hosmer.

Morgan has not only changed his swing pretty dramatically but has also begun using a bat with a counterweighted knob. He has a leg kick now and his hands are loading lower, and this has led to an uptick in his in-game power without sacrificing much of Morgan’s above-average bat-to-ball ability. As you’d expect with a hitter who was battle-tested by the SEC, Morgan clubbed his way from Low- to High-A pretty quickly and he’s continued performing at Bowling Green. He has an oppo-driven approach, staying inside the baseball across most of the zone and really only pulling the ball when it’s on the inner third. Morgan remains rather chase-prone and his in-game power uptick is more about his swing path and playability than prototypical raw juice. Still, the swing change has made a real difference and Morgan now looks to play a modest but consistent 1B/LF role at the big league level.

Simon has already been traded twice: once from the Cubs to the Diamondbacks as the PTBNL in exchange for Andrew Chafin, and then from Arizona to Tampa Bay for Jordan Luplow. He started the 2023 season in Montgomery and despite an underwhelming offensive line (.240/.323/.391), the Rays promoted him to Durham and he ended up posting an .807 OPS the rest of the year. He has a 113 wRC+ at Durham so far this year.

Simon has a compact swing from both sides of the plate and takes a healthy hack for a guy his size before toning it down with two strikes. His in-game juice will surface more often in the form of doubles and triples than home runs, but he’ll ambush the occasional pullable pitch. Ronny has also stolen 40 bags since 2023, with a 71% success rate combined between this season and last. He gets regular time at second, third, and in left field, providing average to slightly above-average defense at each spot. He has an average arm (which is why we don’t love him at shortstop), but he needs his feet under him in order to get that strength on his throws, so some of the deeper plays at the hot corner are difficult for him to complete. Between his switch-hitting and his defensive versatility, he’s the type of player the Rays tend to squeeze every ounce of value out of by putting them in the most favorable matchups possible. He’s shaping up to be a bench utility type.

Workman went to Soddy Daisy High School in Tennessee and pitched for the Savannah Bananas during the summer of 2020 after his junior year was squashed by COVID. Drafted as a fourth-year junior out of Division-II Lee University in 2021, Workman was shot out of a cannon in 2022 and quickly promoted to Bowling Green; for most of the last two seasons, he’s been at Double-A.

Standing 6-foot-4, Workman has a long but narrow frame with little to project on body-wise, especially at 25 years old. Despite a short stride that limits his extension, his 92-95 mph fastball has a hint of life to it and plays well up in the zone. The best sliders Workman throws have sharp two-plane shape, but he has a tendency to get on the side of it, which causes it to morph into a looser, slurvy offering. His 82-85 mph changeup tends to be heavier on fade than depth, but both elements are present. His upper-80s cutter is very short and often lacks quickness with it’s limited break. Workman has proven he has feel for filling up the zone, but it’s definitely a control-over-command profile. He looks like a back-end starter who could also be utilized in a low-leverage bulk relief role.

Wild has had a three-tick velocity spike since college and is now sitting 92 with plus-plus vertical life. He commands his slider much better than his heater, which is fine considering fastballs that ride like Wild’s have a lot of in-zone margin for error and miss bats even when they’re mislocated. This has helped Wild keep his walk rate down in a first full pro season that has so far seen him dominate Low-A and quickly get promoted to High-A. If Wild’s changeup can develop (it flashes bat-missing sink every once in a while, but sails on him way more), then he’ll be able to pitch in the back of a rotation despite having 40-grade velo.

Dowd shifted into the bullpen while he was at Stanford, but the Rays have revisited a starting role for him, and in Dowd’s first pro season, it’s going okay. He’s been stretched out to six innings for many of his starts since May, had his best and longest start of the year just before list publication, and is about to blow through his single-season career high for innings pitched.

Dowd is sitting 89-92 as a starter and his two most-used secondary pitches — a mid-80s changeup and slider — are both below-average pitches that he has commanded well enough to sport an ERA just over 3.00 at Charleston as of list publication. What’s encouraging about that is that Dowd’s best pitch is his curveball. It appears he is forcing himself to pitch off of his two worse secondary offerings in an effort to develop them rather than lean on his knee-buckling curveball, which was maybe the best breaking ball in the entire 2023 draft. His changeup has been used especially frequently. Dowd isn’t great at creating movement on either his changeup or slider, but he is pretty good at locating them. As good as his curveball is, its effectiveness is more about spin efficiency and plane than raw spin, and so its excellence won’t necessarily translate into a good slider (his slider has about 2,300 rpm on average). Dowd’s vertical arm slot has long helped his fastball play at the belt, and that pairs nicely with the curveball. If indeed he can find a third pitch, he’ll profile as a backend starter; if not, then he will hopefully throw a little harder in the bullpen and utilize his curveball a lot more.

In his 472 plate appearances for Bowling Green in 2023, Vasquez slashed .233/.310/.393 with 109 strikeouts (23.1%) and 46 walks (9.7%) while continuing to show solid bat speed. His long, cut-across bat path and aggressive approach have slowly been creeping up on his offensive output, however, and have really hindered Vasquez’s offensive production at Double-A in 2024. He’s currently carrying an OPS just below .600 and striking out more than 30% of the time. Vasquez’s offensive output and peripherals have been slowly declining year-over-year and have now fallen off the table. His bat path is in the hitting zone for a limited amount of time and his increased chase against more advanced arms gives him a very narrow pathway to production.

While he’s continued to get run at second base and shortstop, he now sees the bulk of his time at the hot corner, where his defense has seen noticeable improvement. His plus arm strength allows him to complete any play on the dirt, his hands work well enough to handle sharp grounders to both sides of his body, and his body control allows him to handle slow-rollers in front of him. As we noted last year, Vasquez is a good enough athlete that he might really benefit from gaining outfield experience in an effort to add as much versatility to his game as possible, particularly with his offensive development starting to lag behind. Willy is still young for a Double-A player and we’re mindful not to let prospect fatigue slip in too much here, but the hole in his swing feels like it’s going to be a long-term issue. Vasquez now projects as a versatile utilityman with an extreme power-over-hit offensive skill set.

One of the most projectable college pitching prospects in the 2022 draft, Johnson came over from Miami as part of a 40-man deadline deal for Xavier Edwards. He sits about 93 mph and his size negatively impacts his fastball’s playability because its angle puts it on plane with hitters’ bat paths. His slider and changeup are both capable of getting whiffs, which is impressive considering Johnson spent just one collegiate season as a starter. What can be done about the fastball utility? Well, Johnson is athletic enough that his stride could be elongated to get him lower to the ground at release and create a shallower angle, and his frame indicates he might still get stronger and throw harder, which certainly wouldn’t hurt. Speaking of hurt, Johnson had surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow in April and still hasn’t pitched in 2024. He’s a key player to monitor for repertoire and mechanical changes when he returns. He has no. 4 starter upside but depth starter probability.

Lopez, who had been starting in the minors but made his big league debut this year as a reliever, is a low-slot sinker/slider reliever with a classic lefty specialist look. His command of a big upper-70s slider, which is generating a chase rate above 40% so far in 2024, is the key to his success. He can get the occasional rise/run swing-and-miss with his low-90s fastball, or pull the string on a rare changeup against righties, but Lopez’s slider is his best weapon. He’ll likely be back and forth from Triple-A as a reliable, lefty-dousing middle reliever or short-outing spot starter for the next season or two and then establish himself as a versatile on-roster option thereafter. Lopez came to the Rays in the 2019 Joe McCarthy trade with San Francisco.

Jimenez still has an ultra-thin frame that could handle significant strength/weight, but at 23 years old, minimal body transformation should be expected in the coming years. Last year was Jimenez’s first pro season where he worked out of the bullpen more than he did as a starter (36 games, 2 starts) and it appears the Rays have fully committed to transitioning him to a relief role, as he’s worked solely out of the ‘pen in 2024. Despite working in shorter bursts, his fastball continues to sit between 92-94 mph and touch 95-96 on occasion. It’s a heater that doesn’t have any outlier traits as it pertains to life or movement. His 80-85 mph slider is a two-plane breaker that will occasionally shorten up but consistently maintains late movement. Jimenez’s changeup (82-85 mph) is effective because of how well he maintains his arm speed. It’s a pitch that appears hard for hitters to identify out of his hand and the 8-10 mph velocity gap from his fastball is also significant. In fact, Jimenez’s arm speed makes us want to project further on his changeup quality down the line. We like Jimenez as a reverse-splits lefty reliever.

Montgomery had a breakout 2022 (his first full pro season), when he was sixth in the minors in strikeouts and reached Double-A. He was especially dominant against High-A hitters (15.2 K/9 with Bowling Green, 8.8 K/9 with Montgomery), who struggled to parse Montgomery’s oddly paced, deceptive delivery. In 2023, Montgomery made 29 starts, the last handful at Triple-A, amassing a total of 124.1 innings. Over those frames, he struck out 26.8% of opposing batters while walking 11.2% and finished the year with a 3.98 ERA. He is struggling somewhat at Triple-A in 2024 and has an ERA over 6.00 as of list publication.

Montgomery throws from a high slot. His four-seam fastball sits in the 91-95 mph range and touches 97 mph on occasion. His high front side and ability to hide the ball during his arm path allows his fastball to sneak up on hitters, especially in the upper parts of the zone. His slider (which Monty added in pro ball in lieu of his college curve) is a 82-86 mph two-plane breaker with late break and average tightness, while his 84-86 mph changeup has shown minimal depth but not significant enough action to believe it has a ceiling higher than being an average offering. Montgomery projects to have fringe-average command overall (but plus command of his slider) and has a back-end starter ceiling if the changeup is able to consistently play to average; otherwise, he’ll be better suited for middle relief. This is a pretty substantial dip from the no. 4/5 projection of last year’s list, but it seems like mechanical deception was allowing him to dominate the lower levels, while upper-level hitters haven’t had as tough a time parsing things.

Misner was a talented if maddening college prospect whose combination of plus raw power and speed was sometimes masked by a foot injury. He was well regarded despite industry consensus that he’d need a swing overhaul in pro ball and seemed likely to be a slow-burning developmental project, especially for a college hitter. But the possibility that he’d turn into a left-handed-hitting George Springer was very enticing, and the Marlins selected him 35th overall in the 2019 draft. Misner made some mechanical tweaks, was traded to the Rays for Joey Wendle, and reached Triple-A while maintaining his power-over-hit reputation.

Misner can put balls out to all-fields with the flick of his wrists, and the changes he’s made to his swing since college (a bigger leg kick, hands loading further away from his body and out over the plate) have helped the power play in games. He’s consistently struck out at a 30% clip and his strikeout woes continued in 2023 during a season spent in Triple-A Durham, where he punched out in 35.8% of his trips to the plate, walked at a 17.5% clip and slashed .226/.363/.458 with 21 homers and 21 steals (77.8% success rate). He’s having a similar season there again in 2024. Misner’s outward, rhythmic hand load creates built-in length to his swing, which has significant loft and is geared for elevating pitches down in the zone. It leaves him vulnerable against offerings that crowd him and as well as anything up in the zone.

Misner is above-average defender in both corner outfield spots, while his range in center is average at best. While he’s capable of handling center field, he’s best suited to filling that role temporarily and isn’t someone you want playing there for long stretches. His strikeouts are going to prevent Misner from playing any kind of regular role, but he’s a threat to leave the yard and is a versatile outfield defender. We consider him a toolsy above-replacement bench outfielder.

Reifert transferred from an Iowa JUCO to Central Missouri, became a $20,000 undrafted free agent of the Brewers after the draft in 2020, and then was flipped for big league role player Mike Brosseau the following November. He was limited to just 7.2 innings in 2023 due to injury but has been back in action with Double-A Montgomery this season. Reifert’s slider is incredible, a low-80s knee-buckler that he throws more than his fastball; it often freezes hitters even when Reifert hangs it. Reifert sits 94-96 mph with his fastball, which has running action out of his three-quarter arm slot. It tends to find the meat of the zone (or miss the zone entirely) much more than the up/arm-side location where it would play best. Reifert will probably always be too shaky control wise to regularly warrant high-leverage assignments, but he’s looking like a solid middle-relief type with his fastball/slider combo.

Hernandez brought his strikeout rate below 30% (28%) at Double-A Montgomery in 2023 while also continuing to draw a steady number of walks (15.9% walk rate). He was trending in an even better direction there to start 2024 (26.4% K%, 12.3% BB%, 163 wRC+) and was promoted to Durham, where crafty pitchers have been toying with him during his first couple of weeks in Triple-A. Heriberto continues to employ a pull-oriented approach at the plate. His short, T-Rex levers allow him to handle pitches in on his hands, but they also limit his ability to do much with anything on the outer third of the dish. He has a lofty path and top hand dominant swing while showing average bat speed as it passes through the zone. He’s a limited defender in the outfield corners but isn’t a liability out there; he’s capable of completing the routine plays with little else beyond that. Hernandez’s hit tool will likely always be hindered by high strikeout totals, but he’ll provide enough offensive juice and on-base ability to hold down a part-time role where he’s utilized in favorable matchups, which is something the Rays tend to do well.

Ledbetter transferred to Mississippi State for his draft year after two stellar underclass seasons at Samford and hit .320/.452/.574 against the SEC in 2023. He was assigned to High-A when 2024 camp broke, and has been playing all three outfield spots and performing above the league average despite elevated strikeouts. Ledbetter’s uphill swing was vulnerable to up-and-away fastballs in college and that issue has followed him to pro ball. He makes in-flight adjustments to breaking balls and offspeed stuff and is capable of making hard contact to all fields, but upper-level pitchers are going to hammer him with velocity at the belt. This led to platoon projection when Ledbetter was in college, with some potential upside baked into his pre-draft evaluation if he could develop in center field. Though he’s played there more than he has other positions, Ledbetter is an average runner and doesn’t look especially comfortable playing defense. We feel less optimistic about his shot to play center than we did a year ago and have dialed down Ledbetter’s grade. He’s a corner platoon prospect with hit tool risk.

Nichols was a good college starter at Arizona and has been deployed as a starter so far in pro ball, but his fastball’s “round down” elements (like the pitch’s plane and its mild amount of sink) don’t really allow it to miss bats and his command detracts from its effectiveness as well. Nichols is talented, however. He throws hard (94-97 for the last three seasons), and has a nasty two-plane slider that appears to be more sweeper-y in 2024 and a changeup that could grow to above-average because of his delivery’s arm speed. It’s the look of a multi-inning reliever who can bully hitters with (hopefully) even more velo to overcome other flaws.

The gigantic Vernon had a velocity spike late in his college career, going from averaging 92 mph to averaging 94-95 and touching 98 over his final few outings with North Carolina Central. He struck out 13.5/9 IP during a pre-draft stretch on the Cape but struggled with walks. Vernon’s transition from swingman to single-inning relief role is complete; he made just six starts in 2023 over his 29 appearances and every one of his outings this year for Montgomery has been a one- or two- inning burst out of the ‘pen. His fastball is sitting 93-96 mph and touching 97 from a high slot, and it averages 19.8 inches of IVB. His upper-80s cutter has hard, late action with slightly more depth and whiff-generating traits than the typical cutter. He’ll also mix in a 83-87 mph slider that has average tightness and two-plane break. Vernon’s changeup doesn’t maintain consistent shape — he’ll throw some with late diving action, while others feature more typical fade and sinking action. He sells all of them well with his arm speed and the effort in his delivery, and it’s the pitch in his mix that relies the most on chase. Vernon’s four-pitch arsenal gives him multi-inning potential, but his volatile control limits his overall ceiling and the likelihood of him consistently handling high-leverage spots.

Brachi signed for $800,000 in January and was ranked higher on our international amateur board than a player getting that kind of bonus typically would be. He’s a gritty scout favorite with limited tools but advanced baseball acumen and feel to hit. Brachi is compactly built and performed from a contact standpoint as an amateur, which is in Tampa’s wheelhouse in that market. He’s currently in the DSL and off to a start that’s commensurate with his amateur report, with very few strikeouts but not a lot of power. This is a skill set we tend to favor, and it’s a good offensive foundation for a middle infield prospect with modest ceiling.

Pineda signed for $1.75 million in January. He has good looking bat speed but has a slighter build than a typical top-of-the-class amateur prospect. He’s a smaller-framed player who runs and throws well, a virtual lock to stay in center field as he matures. Scouts also like how hard he plays. There’s less overt ceiling here than is typical in the international market, which is why Pineda’s mean outcome was viewed more as a reserve outfielder when he signed. He’s hitting for power but striking out a lot in his DSL debut.

Urbina has been pretty inconsistent this year — not just his pitch execution, but his stuff as well. He sat 92-94 and touched 96 during a start Eric saw in June, but he was 94-97 and touched 98 in his last outing before list publication. Urbina has an ideal pitcher’s frame at a high-waisted, broad-shouldered 6-foot-3, and he’ll flash a plus upper-70s curveball. His delivery is very tough on righty batters, who don’t see his curveball out of hand at all. Given his mechanical inconsistency, it’s tough to project enough third pitch and command growth to forecast Urbina as a starter, but the components of a good reliever are mostly present here already. He’s still a really good teenage pitching prospect whose stuff seems to be improving throughout the year.

Delgado’s incredible arm gives him a carrying tool that will help him be an impact defender at a premium position. His hitting hands aren’t especially twitchy, but the rest of his game is. He explodes out of his crouch on throws to the bases, he’s an advanced receiver, and his ball blocking has improved significantly during the last year. He’s strong enough to run into the occasional extra-base hit, though it’s likely Delgado will end up with as a bottom-of-the-scale offensive producer because of his hit tool. His defensive ability is so good that he’ll still find a way to be a backup.

Signed as an undrafted free agent by Miami after the 2020 draft and later traded for David Hess, Sterner has a plus slider and an upshot fastball that lives entirely off its angle and deception. Sterner might have the shortest arm circle in baseball, with what was described as a “shot putter motion” on last year’s Rays list, and it definitely adds an element of deception to his operation. His four-seamer sits between 92-94 mph and the aforementioned arm action allows it to sneak up on hitters up in the zone. Sterner is throwing both a slider and cutter, the former a 79-82 mph two-plane bender, while the latter is a short upper-80s offering with quick, subtle action. Sterner was briefly called up to the big leagues earlier this season and will likely fill an up/down reliever role in the coming years.

Askew was drafted by the Mets and traded to the Rays for Brooks Raley 레일리 during the 2022-23 offseason. He is a long, rangy southpaw who comes at hitters from a funky sidearm slot and hides the ball from hitters well. His fastball sits in the 92-94 mph range and benefits more from the angle of his slot and the amount of deception in his delivery than the pitch’s movement. His slider is a wide, sweepy breaker with slight tilt; predictably, it’s especially tough on left-handed hitters. Askew’s best changeups will feature both fade and depth, but he struggles to maintain consistent action and many of them show limited movement. Askew walked 11% of the batters he faced in 2023 and that mark has ballooned north of 15% this year working out of Montgomery’s bullpen. His sub-par strike throwing needs to improve if he’s going to be a mainstay in a big league bullpen. Right now, we have an up/down evaluation on him, but it’s not hard to see Askew becoming a consistently rostered lefty specialist.

Shenton had a nearly fully healthy 2023 season (a rarity for him) during which he hit .304/.423/.584 with 29 homers, albeit as a 25-year-old who split the season between Double- and Triple-A. Analytically inclined baseball folks have tended to like Shenton a lot more than those with a more holistic approach to scouting. He has struggled so far in 2024 as he’s been back and forth from Durham and Tampa Bay a couple of times. He is still playing some third base, though here at FanGraphs we’ve had Shenton pegged as a first base-only defender for a little while. He has meaningful all-fields power, though not so much juice that readers should expect he’ll slug 45 doubles and 29 homers like he did in 2023. Shenton’s hit tool (68% contact rate, 77% in-zone in 2023) is below the first base threshold; there really isn’t an everyday peer who connects as infrequently. Jared Walsh is an example of a guy like this who had a meaningful peak of sorts, but for most of his years of control, we have Shenton forecast as a bench weapon rather than a low-end regular.

Martin was up to 98 at Oklahoma State, where he was a draft-eligible sophomore reliever in 2022. He rocketed up draft boards late in the spring when he punched out 16 hitters in a 6.2-inning relief appearance during a Regional elimination game, working 93-96 for most of that outing. Like a lot of the college draft picks in this org, the Rays have tried to upcycle Martin into a starter. He coasted through Low-A last year (110 innings, 3.52 ERA) and was even better during the first half of 2024 at High-A before a recent promotion to Montgomery. Martin hasn’t sustained his peak 2022 velo and has been more 90-94 with his fastball in 2024, but plus vertical break and above-average extension help enable a fastball-heavy approach despite that middling velo. Aside from his curveball, which has movement that pairs with his heater, Martin doesn’t have a secondary pitch that’s performing at an average or better level. His durability and fastball playability make him a likely spot starter, but we’d like to see better secondary stuff teased out of Martin before considering him a lock to eventually make the Rays’ rotation.

Harrison was a local high schooler committed to Florida State who signed for just shy of $850,000. He didn’t pitch after the 2023 draft and was somewhat conservatively assigned to the Complex League to start 2024. Harrison has overwhelmed hitters with mid-90s velocity and a plus-flashing slider. He’s a bigger, more physically mature righty with an innings-eating 6-foot-4 frame, and we might not see much more velocity than he’s currently working with even as he matures. Instead we’ll be looking for slider consistency and a better changeup. Harrison’s talent foundation is on par with what we’d expect for a high schooler who signed for as much as he did. He’s a nice developmental prospect who probably has a modest ceiling if you buy the notion that he lacks traditional frame-based projection.

Acquired from the Cubs for Miles Mastrobuoni, Zarraga is a powerful little reliever with upper-90s arm strength. He has a low-to-the-ground, full-body delivery and a three-quarters arm slot. He’ll bump 98 and doesn’t sit too far below that. His slider isn’t very nasty and needs to be located more precisely in order to play. Zarraga should be an up/down bullpen arm based on his arm strength but needs more dev to stick on a roster.

We’ve been waiting for years for Alberto to exit the womb of the complex and it finally happened the week prior to list publication. The skyscraping righty continues to sit 94-98 with tantalizing mechanical fluidity. His fastball has tended to be somewhat hittable and it looks like he’s been given a cutter to use as his primary pitch, which is also in that impact velo band. He also has a mid-80s slurve. This is a low-and-slow barbecue dev prospect with freakish size and arm strength. He’s never thrown strikes, but it’s tough to dismiss someone who’s built and moves like this.

Cook transferred from an NAIA school in Georgia to Colby. He was having a strong first half as a starter at High-A Bowling Green before he was put on the IL a couple of weeks prior to list publication. Realistically, Cook is a reliever. He has a catcherly build and high-effort delivery with below-average control. His fastball has plus vertical break and he is going to live off that pitch most of all. Neither his slider nor his changeup is particularly impressive, but Cook can at least readily land his slider for a strike. Assuming all this velocity comes back when he’s healthy (and hopefully takes a leap in the bullpen), Cook should be a one-pitch up/down reliever.

The former 2019 second round pick is a medium-build backstop who has improved his once rough defense to average. Driscoll posted a .745 OPS between Double- and Triple-A in 2023 and has an above-average line at Durham so far in 2024. He consistently takes comfortable left-handed swings. His bat path has loft to it, but he has below-average bat speed. It’s not an overly exciting profile, but the industry inventory at catcher is so low that Driscoll will likely be called upon as a team’s third catcher.

A slightly undersized righty currently pitching out of the complex-level bullpen, Rodriguez has a super short am action akin to new-ish orgmate Garrett Acton. He doesn’t command it, but his fastball has the potential to wreak havoc in on the hands of righty hitters. His breaking ball only bends in around 80 mph, which is an enormous velo difference compared to his fastball, one that upper level hitters are going to be able to parse. He can spin it, though, and there’s enough raw material here to project Rodriguez will have a good, harder slider at some point. He’s a fair middle relief prospect who only needs to polish his breaking ball in order to climb.

After turning heads in 2022 when he posted a .290/.372/.487 line in a season split between the Rays’ A-ball affiliates, Auer has struggled mightily trying to solve Double-A pitching. In 2023, he posted a .640 OPS while striking out in 36% of his 511 plate appearances. Assigned back to Montgomery to begin this season, Auer’s striking out “less” (26.7%), but his performance continues to go backwards, and he currently has a .579 OPS in 161 plate appearances. Even though the reasons for optimism with the bat have all but disappeared, Auer continues to project as a plus defender at all three outfield positions. His speed and quality reads off the bat allow him to cover significant ground in both gaps, and he consistently goes after balls with controlled aggression. Auer has top-shelf athleticism and even though it’s very difficult to see the bat providing relevant production at the major league level, he’ll have up/down value as a defender, with the ceiling of a Lane Adams type if he’s able to find a way to tap into his raw power more frequently in games.

One of just a few international prospects who signed during the last few months of the elongated tail end to the 2019-20 signing period, Martinez was an older signee who then spent his first two pro seasons in the DSL. He made plenty of contact in both seasons, but his power output took a leap in year two. He came to the states in 2023 and broke camp with a full-season affiliate for the first time in 2024 with an assignment to Low-A Charleston. He’s still quite thin and projectable, although at 22, we would have liked to have seen Martinez add meaningful strength by now. He’s also a smooth rotational athlete with feel for the barrel from the left side of the dish and he’s gotten better on defense in the last year. Martinez has an average arm and a quick exchange, and his receiving and ball-blocking are closer to being viable, though again his size and lack of strength can sometimes be an issue. Martinez is still making above-average rates of contact, and viable catchers with an above-average offensive tool tend to make it. Martinez shares a lot of traits with former Ray Brett Sullivan as a late-blooming depth catcher.