Final 2025 update! Top 10 prospects and next to debut for all 30 MLB teams
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Kiley McDaniel
Now that the 2025 MLB trade deadline is behind us, it’s the perfect time for our final team-by-team MLB prospect rankings big board update of the season. The top 10 prospects for all 30 teams are updated below — with deadline additions included.
What has changed since our last in-season list update?
Here are the rankings for your favorite team, along with what to know for this month and who we expect to reach the majors next. Players in the big leagues are eligible for this update as MLB rookie eligibility rules apply here — 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster. All 30 of these lists have been updated regularly throughout the season.
Jump to team:
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
AL East
What changed this season: Coby Mayo graduated and the back half of the preseason top 10 had bad seasons. On the bright side, the O’s made the most of having the biggest draft pool by adding Irish, Aloy, de Brun, and Bodine. My pick-to-click Gibson delivered while George and Mejia also took huge steps forward.
Who could debut next: Beavers seems likely to get a look before the season ends.
What changed this season: A lot! The triumvirate of Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell all graduated. I got a lot of flack before the season for being the low guy on Campbell (“attention-seeking behavior” a few called it) despite being the high guy on him in the 2023 draft, but weirdly nobody came back to apologize. Arias and Tolle emerged while Garcia, Early, Gonzales, Clarke and Soto also took steps forward. Witherspoon was added in the draft and James Tibbs was added then subtracted via trade.
Who could debut next: Garcia is probably next since he’s on the 40-man roster, but Tolle, Early and David Sandlin could all get the call if a starting pitcher is needed first.
What changed this season: This system’s depth has been depleted by trades. Jones, Schlittler and Lagrange have all made real progress this year, but the list bottoms out quickly: Hampton and Lalane have thrown a combined 12 innings this season. Kilby was the Yankees’ top pick in the draft. Jasson Dominguez and Will Warren graduated from the preseason list.
Who could debut next: Jones needs to be added to the 40-man roster this winter, so he should get the call next among players on this list who haven’t debuted yet.
What changed this season: Chandler Simpson and Mason Montgomery graduated this year while Areinamo was the notable prospect added at the deadline, and Pierce and Summerhill headlined the draft haul. Gillen has emerged while most of the top prospects in the system plateaued a bit, and Brayden Taylor has had a rough year.
Who could debut next: Williams is quite obviously next up and he needs to be added to the 40-man this winter, so a September call-up seems likely.
What changed this season: The 2024 draft pitching class was fantastic, landing Yesavage, King and the third-best prospect traded at the deadline, another top 100 prospect in Khal Stephen (Now with Cleveland). The Jays also traded Kendry Rojas and Juaron Watts-Brown from their pitching depth at the deadline, but will add Tiedemann and Bloss next season when both are scheduled to come back from elbow surgery. This year’s draft was more position-player focused with Parker, Cook, Blaine Bullard and Tim Piasentin.
Who could debut next: Yesavage seems next from this group as he has sliced through the minors like a knife through hot butter.
AL Central
What changed this season: Montgomery and Schultz started the season as the top two prospects and ended at No. 1 and No. 3, but had rocky seasons. Montgomery is about to graduate, started really slow and fell down the list, but is now raking in the big leagues. Schultz is having trouble throwing strikes, as is Smith and if this continues next season, it’ll be time to worry. Bonemer has been really good, Wolkow is hitting more than I expected, and I liked the draft additions of Carlson and Fauske.
Who could debut next: Gonzalez is in Triple-A, so I’ll bet on him debuting before Smith and Schultz starting throwing more strikes and get promoted twice.
What changed this season: Largely the same group of about 15 names was shuffled a bit from the preseason list, with no major graduations — but the addition of Stephen at the deadline and Laviolette in the draft. Kayfus and Doughty have both been arrow-up this season.
Who could debut next: Messick seems overdue to get a big league look and will need to be added to the 40-man this winter anyway.
What changed this season: McGonigle continued to progress, now in the mix for the top prospect in the sport. The top six names have all made steady progress this year amid a number of graduations: Jackson Jobe, Trey Sweeney, Jace Jung, Dillon Dingler, and Brant Hurter. Oliveto, Yost and Witherspoon were all added in the draft, and no one that was close to the top 10 was traded at the deadline.
Who could debut next: Lee is in Triple-A and needs to be added to the 40-man roster this winter, so he could get a September look.
What changed this season: Jac Caglianone and Noah Cameron graduated but otherwise this list is pretty similar to the preseason list, with a slight shuffle, the emergence of Chourio and some draftees added. Hammond, Gamble and Lombardi led that draft haul in July.
Who could debut next: Jensen is in Triple-A and needs to be added to the 40-man in the winter, so he has a shot to get a look in September.
What changed this season: Tait, Abel and Rojas were the headliners from a deadline teardown, and Keaschall is back from injury and probably will graduate in the next month. Prielipp continues to progress now that he’s fully healthy. Keep an eye on high-variance draftees Riley Quick and Quentin Young.
Who could debut next: Rodriguez is in Triple-A and on the 40-man roster so he’ll probably be next to come up, though Prielipp needs to be added to the 40-man this winter and could get a September look.
AL West
What changed this season: The A’s continue to move young players to the big league team, graduating Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson, Denzel Clarke, Max Muncy and J.T. Ginn this year, with Morales, Perkins and Colby Thomas (just missed) also in the majors but still with prospect status.
De Vries was the prize of the deadline while Arnold’s slide was one of the big surprises of the draft, and Jump’s, ahem, rise up prospect lists is one of the bigger adjustments from last year’s draft. Lastly, Morii is a very interesting prospect and somewhat unprecedented as a two-way player signed out of a Japanese high school for a seven figure bonus.
Who could debut next: Nett (needs to be added to the 40-man this winter) and Jump (dealing) are the best two candidates.
What changed this season: Cam Smith, Colton Gordon, Shay Whitcomb and Zach Dezenzo graduated this season. Matthews took a step forward this year while Powell, Alvarez and Janek have had nice pro debuts. Neyens, Mitchell, Frey, and 2B Nick Monistere (just missed the list) were the top prospects acquired in the draft. Chase Jaworsky and Esmil Valencia were traded at the deadline to acquire Jesus Sanchez.
Who could debut next: Nobody on the list will debut later this year, but Miguel Ullola, just off the list, has a shot to get a look in September.
What changed this season: The draft haul this year was unique, with the Angels going well under slot to land Bremner then spreading those savings to land prep arms — Johnny Slawinski, Robert Mitchell, C.J. Gray, Talon Haley and Luke Lacourse. Slawinski is the best of the group and ranks 11th on the team list. Lugo and Guzman are both arrow-up among position players, and Gregory-Alford and Johnson are both arrow-up among 2024 pitching draftees.
Who could debut next: Rada and Klassen both have a shot to be up in the first half next year, as does Shores if he’s pushed in a relief role.
What changed this season: Cole Young, Logan Evans and Ben Williamson all graduated this season while Tyler Locklear, Brandyn Garcia, Juan Burgos, Ashton Izzi, Jeter Martinez and Hunter Cranton were the top prospects Seattle traded at the deadline. The farm was replenished by landing Anderson, Stevenson and Nick Becker (just missed) in the draft and with arrow-up performances this spring by Sloan, Arroyo, and Montes.
Who could debut next: Ford is in Triple-A and needs to be added to the 40-man this winter, so he makes sense to be called up next.
What changed this season: Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter and Alejandro Osuna graduated from the preseason top 10; Rosario has sat out the season after elbow surgery and Santos hasn’t pitched much this year. Fien, Owens and Russell headlined the incoming group from the draft and Fitz-Gerald and Scarborough were sleepers from recent classes emerging this season.
Who could debut next: Davalillo needs to be added to the 40-man this winter, so I could see him getting a call-up down the stretch.
NL East
What’s changed this season? Drake Baldwin and A.J. Smith-Shawver graduated while Caminiti rose and Fuentes had a breakout year despite mixed results in his big league debut. Southisene, McKenzie and Lodise were added in the draft and there wasn’t an impactful deadline deal, so there wasn’t as much movement as in other farm systems.
Who could debut next: With Fuentes, Alvarez and Waldrep already having debuted, there might not be another prospect debut until next season, but Ritchie seems next up having just matriculated to Triple-A.
What changed this season: White continued his ascent up the top 100 while Snelling’s stuff came back to life after being acquired at last year’s deadline and he’s now back in the top 100. Arquette and Cannarella were the top two picks from the draft while Defrank emerged as a power arm in the low minors and Marsee is going wild in his first taste of the big leagues.
Who could debut next: Mack, Acosta and Snelling are all in Triple-A, and I’d rank their debut dates in that order since Mack needs to be added to the 40-man this winter and Acosta is already on the 40-man.
What changed this season: Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuna graduated while Drew Gilbert and Jesus Baez were the top prospects traded at the deadline as the Mets gear up for a playoff run. The top of this system is tightly packed with the top five almost interchangeable at this point. Ewing, Benge, Reimer, Tong and McLean have all been arrow-up in a notable way this year.
Who could debut next: Six players on this list are in Triple-A, haven’t debuted yet, and don’t need to be added to the 40-man until after next season. I’ll rank them in this order: Tong, McLean, Williams, Clifford, Benge and Sproat.
What changed this season: The most notable riser in the system was Mick Abel, who was packaged with Eduardo Tait in a deadline trade to land Jhoan Duran. Painter has been solid in his return from two full regular seasons without an appearance. Wood was one of the best values in the first round of the draft, with the concerns being durability and reliever risk — but he could move quickly. Escobar has probably been the second-most notable breakout in the system behind Abel.
Who could debut next: Painter needs to be added to the 40-man roster in the winter, so he would make sense as a September call-up.
What changed this season: Dylan Crews and Brady House have graduated from the preseason top 10, and Cavalli could join them soon. Willits, Petry, Harmon and James headlined the 2025 draft group while Dickerson and King are the best prospects from the Nats’ 2024 draft. Sykora had his second surgery of the year (hip, now elbow) and figures to sit out all of next season but fits in the top half of the top 100 when healthy. Susana could be a star if he can throw more strikes.
Who could debut next: There’s not a good candidate on this list as Clemmey, Susana or King would seem to be next and I’m not sure any of them even debuts next season. Christian Franklin and Jake Bennett both just missed the list and both need to be added to the 40-man this winter.
NL Central
What changed this season: Matt Shaw and Cade Horton graduated while Caissie and Wiggins took a step forward. I liked the approach to the draft, landing Conrad, Hartshorn, Kane Kepley and Kaleb Wing (both just missed the list). Only secondary and tertiary players were traded at the deadline, to the chagrin of some fans.
Who could debut next: Caissie seems likely to get an extended look after being called up this week and possibly as a long-term replacement for Kyle Tucker.
What changed this season: The first three on this list are tightly packed, and Lowder’s injury-affected season has allowed Stewart and Duno to sneak up on him as Collier’s injury also kept him from moving up. Sammy Stafura and Adam Serwinowski were both traded at the deadline just after Hall and Watson were added in the draft. Lewis is flashing huge tools in his pro debut but still has a ways to go.
Who could debut next: Stewart is in Triple-A and might hit his way to the big leagues even though he isn’t on the 40-man and doesn’t need to be added this winter.
What changed this season: Jacob Misiorowski just graduated with one of the more notable big league debuts in recent memory — right up there with Paul Skenes. Made and Pena both had breakout DSL seasons last year and will finish this season in High-A as 18-year-olds who are headlining the system. Adams continues to grow his sleeper bona fides while Fischer and Payne were the top picks from the past two drafts.
Who could debut next: Quero is on the 40-man and in Triple-A, so he should get a look when there’s a need at catcher.
What changed this season: Griffin went from the highest-variance prospect in the 2024 draft to in the running for the top prospect in the sport in 12 months. Griffin, Hernandez and Sanford (along with Levi Sterling, who just missed) were the top picks from the past two drafts while Stafura and Flores were the headliners of their deadline haul. Mike Burrows and Braxton Ashcraft both were on the preseason list and graduated this year.
Who could debut next: I’ve been waiting for Chandler’s call-up for months, but he hasn’t been pitching well his last half-dozen starts or so, so that keeps getting delayed. Chandler, Barco and Flores all need to be added to the 40-man this winter, so it would make sense for them to get looks in September.
What changed this season: The pitching at the top of the system hasn’t had the best year: Hjerpe sat out the season after elbow surgery and Roby also had surgery last month while Hence and Mathews both had slow starts to the season. Doyle was the top pick in the draft and helps to beef up that group. Rodriguez was a revelation this year while Baez and Jordan were the top prospects acquired at the deadline.
Who could debut next: Wetherholt’s protection timeline doesn’t necessitate calling him up anytime soon, but he’s really good and he’s in Triple-A so you could justify it. Same goes for Doyle if he’s used in shorter stints.
NL West
What changed this season: Crisantes’ season was cut short because of a shoulder injury while the top three 2024 draftees Caldwell, Waldschmidt and Dix took big steps forward. There was a fresh infusion of talent with Cunningham and Forbes headlining the 2025 draft group while Locklear and Drake headline the deadline return.
Who could debut next: Drake was just acquired in the Merrill Kelly trade and needs to be added to the 40-man this winter, so he could get a look in September.
What changed this season: Chase Dollander and Adael Amador both graduated to less than excellent big league performances. Holliday was a big win for the organization in the draft and I liked the additions of Middleton and Belyeu with their next picks. Riggio and LHP Griffin Herring (just missed) were nice additions at the deadline. Karros took a nice step forward and got a call-up recently while the other names stagnated a bit.
Who could debut next: Carson Palmquist is in Triple-A and on the 40-man roster but just missed the list. Riggio has a shot to be a call-up early next season.
What changed this season: Roki Sasaki, Dalton Rushing and Justin Wrobleski graduated while Sirota is the player who took a huge step forward after being acquired in January from the Reds. James Tibbs was acquired at the deadline for Dustin May, and the top draftees from both this year and last year just missed the list: Charles Davalan, Zach Root, Kellon Lindsey and Chase Harlan.
Who could debut next: I don’t think anyone new from this list will debut this season, but De Paula, Hope, Sirota and Ferris all have a shot to come up next year.
What changed this season: If you thought the Yankees hollowed out their system with a number of trades, you ain’t seen nothing. Leodalis De Vries, Braden Nett, Boston Bateman and Cobb Hightower were the headliners dealt at this deadline while Quintana was the notable incoming prospect. Schoolcraft and Harvey were the top players added in this year’s draft with Ryan Wideman and Michael Salina next up but just missing the list.
Who could debut next: Mendez seems to be next up and he needs to be added to the 40-man this winter, so the Padres might want to get his feet wet in low-leverage situations.
What changed this season: Gonzalez and Level have emerged as the next standout talents produced by the international scouting group while Gilbert and Tidwell were the top prospects acquired at the deadline, and Kilen was the Giants’ top pick in the draft. Other than that, this system has mostly been a shuffling of the top names from the preseason list with Gutierrez the main player emerging to join this group.
Who could debut next: Eldridge is next up, but it seems as if the time might not be until next season.
The winner of the National League Championship Series could determine if Major League Baseball is played in 2027.
This might sound far-fetched. It is not. What looks like a best-of-seven baseball series, which starts Monday as the Milwaukee Brewers host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1, will play out as a proxy of the coming labor war between MLB and the MLB Players Association.
Owners across the game want a salary cap — and if the Dodgers, with their record $500 million-plus payroll, win back-to-back World Series, it would only embolden the league’s push to regulate salaries. The Brewers, consistently a bottom-third payroll team, emerging triumphant would serve as the latest evidence that winners can germinate even in the game’s smallest markets and that the failures of other low-revenue teams have less to do with spending than execution.
The truth, of course, exists somewhere in between. But in between is not where the two parties stake out their negotiating positions in what many expect to be a brutal fight to determine the future of the game’s economics. And that is why whoever comes out victorious likely will be used as a cudgel when formal negotiations begin next spring for a collective bargaining agreement that expires Dec. 1, 2026.
If it’s the Dodgers, MLB owners — who already were vocal publicly and even more so privately about Los Angeles spending as much as the bottom six teams in payroll combined this year — will likely cry foul even louder. Already, MLB is expected to lock out players upon the agreement’s expiration. Back-to-back championships by the Dodgers could embolden MLB and add to a chorus of fans who see a cap as a panacea for the plague of big-money teams monopolizing championships over the past decade.
Such a scenario would not scare the union off its half-century-old anti-cap stance. The MLBPA has no intention of negotiating if a cap remains on the table, and considering MLB was on the cusp of losing games in 2022 because of a negotiation that didn’t include a cap, players already have spoken among themselves about how to weather missing time in 2027. Certainly, the Brewers winning wouldn’t ensure avoiding that, but if in any argument about the necessity of a cap, the union can counter that the juggernaut Dodgers lost to a team of self-proclaimed Average Joes with a payroll a quarter of the size, it reinforces the point that team-building acumen can exist regardless of financial might.
The Brewers have joined the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians as vanguards of low-revenue success in this decade. Over the past eight years, Milwaukee has won five NL Central titles and made the playoffs seven times. At 97-65 this year, the Brewers owned the best record in baseball. And they did so with a unique blend of players.
Of the 26 players on Milwaukee’s NLCS roster, 15 came via trade, according to ESPN Research, including a majority of its best players (slugger Christian Yelich, catcher William Contreras, ace Freddy Peralta and Trevor Megill, the closer for most of the season). The Brewers drafted four (Brice Turang, Jacob Misiorowski, Sal Frelick and Aaron Ashby, all major contributors), signed three as minor league free agents, brought in two via international amateur free agency (their best player, Jackson Chourio, and closer Abner Uribe) and snagged one in the minor league portion of the offseason Rule 5 draft.
That leaves one major league free agent. One. And it was left-hander Jose Quintana, who signed a one-year, $4 million deal in March.
Think about that: The MLBPA, which has fought for free agency since its inception, would be heralding a team that does not spend on free agents. Strange bedfellows, yes, but it strengthens the union’s position: If the current system is beyond repair because of money, how did a team that doesn’t spend win a championship?
The Dodgers, on the other hand, are not nearly as free-agent-heavy as might be assumed. They’ve acquired the most players via trade, too, though it’s only nine, and several of them — from Mookie Betts to Tyler Glasnow to Tommy Edman to Alex Vesia — play a significant role on the team. Los Angeles signed five major league free agents (including Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Blake Snell), plus two professional international free agents (Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Hyeseong Kim), two amateur international free agents (Roki Sasaki and Andy Pages) and two minor league free agents (Max Muncy and Justin Dean). They drafted five of their players — one more than the Brewers, whose development system is regarded as one of baseball’s best — and rounded out their roster with Jack Dreyer, an undrafted free agent.
Dreyer highlights what the Dodgers and Brewers do exceptionally well: extract talent from players through systems that value a combination of scouting, analytics and superior coaching. It doesn’t matter whether you spend half a billion dollars or the $115 million or so currently on the Brewers’ books. If you can become an organization that gets the best out of players, winning will follow.
Perhaps if they weren’t so terminally parked at opposite ends of the continuum, the league and union could agree that staking an argument around one playoff series is foolhardy. Both sides should understand that, in the grand scheme, a seven-game series says very little, particularly when it comes to the complicated economic system of 30 billion-dollar corporations competing in the same space.
But this battle is as much about narrative as it is reality, and if MLB is going to push for a salary cap, it needs as much evidence as possible, and the Dodgers becoming the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back World Series would provide another nugget on top of the reams the league already cites. The last team to do that was the New York Yankees — and the competitive-balance tax, the proto-cap that currently penalizes high-spending teams, came into existence specifically to check what other owners believed the Yankees’ runaway spending.
The Dodgers are the new Yankees, more moneyed and willing to spend than anyone. They’ve won the NL West 12 of the past 13 years and captured championships in 2020 and 2024. And despite their seeming inevitability, baseball is not suffering in most areas important to the league. Television ratings are up. Attendance has increased. The implementation of the pitch clock before the 2024 season modernized the game and is now almost universally beloved. The addition of an automated ball-strike challenge system next year will only add to the game’s appeal.
This NLCS is baseball at its best. A well-oiled machine of superstars, peaking at the right time, looking to become baseball’s first back-to-back champions since 2000, against a team that plays a delightful brand of baseball, is wildly likable and always seems to succeed, too. The Brewers haven’t won a championship yet — not just in this recent run of excellence but in their 57-year history — and derailing the Dodgers en route to doing so would make the tale of triumph that much greater.
And, yes, despite the higher win total, the Brewers enter this series as the underdog, and it’s a fair designation. Even if they swept the Dodgers in the six games they played in July. Even if their bullpen is filled with fireballing nastiness. Even if they have whacked as many home runs this postseason as Los Angeles, despite the Dodgers hitting 78 more during the regular season.
There will be a lot of great baseball played in Milwaukee and Los Angeles over the next week-plus, fans’ cups running over with the sorts of matchups that make October the most special month of the year. Ohtani, Betts and Freeman trying to catch up to Misiorowski’s fastball and read his slider. Chourio, Contreras and Turang trying to solve Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani. The Brewers’ terrifying bullpen, with five relievers throwing 97 mph-plus, against the team that hit high-octane fastballs better than anyone this year. The Dodgers trying to figure out if they can rely on any reliever other than Sasaki, and the Brewers, who were the fifth-toughest team to strike out this season, trying to get to Los Angeles’ bullpen with a barrage of balls in play.
While the baseball itself will be indisputable, this NLCS is bigger than the game. Its tentacles will reach into the future, with an unwitting but undeniable place in something far more consequential. It’s just one series, yes. But it’s so much more.
TORONTO — The Blue Jays‘ George Springer homered on the first pitch from Seattle‘s Bryce Miller in the American League Championship Series opener Sunday, moving past the New York Yankees‘ Derek Jeter into sole possession of fifth place on the career list with his 21st postseason home run.
Springer’s 385-foot drive to right field on a fastball at the outside corner put Toronto ahead with the first postseason leadoff home run in Blue Jays history. Springer has 63 leadoff homers in the regular season, second to Rickey Henderson’s record 81.
Manny Ramirez hit a record 29 postseason homers and is trailed by Jose Altuve (27), Kyle Schwarber (23) and Bernie Williams (22).
However, also in the first inning, Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes fouled a ball off his right knee, falling in pain. He stayed in the game and drew a 12-pitch walk, then flied out leading off the third and was replaced by Myles Straw for the start of the fourth.
The team said he bruised his knee and was being further evaluated.
Lukes went 4-for-12 with five RBIs in Toronto’s division series win over the Yankees, including a key two-run single in the Game 4 clincher. He also made a diving catch in Toronto’s Game 1 win.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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