2025 Minor League/Prospects Discussion Thread

[bluerap23]

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There were also 76 picks before those two...

[bartron_44]

Nimala looks pretty good, and gets pretty high praise from his peers that have worked with him. Over his last 57 games he slashed .267/.340/.575 with 14 dubs , 6 triples and 14 bombs…with 39 RBIs. He had a slow start, but after settling in that is a great power season from an 18 year old SS. If he starts swiping more bases he could turn into a legit 5 tool player.

By the time he is ready they can either trade Bo or move one to 2B.

Then in the OF to go along with Dasan Brown they have Clase for him to compete with.and Alan Roden now has RJ Schreck, and Barger will have Martinez pushing for 3B reps in ST. I haven’t even mentioned the battle for 2B..lol

Im not an atkins fan, but he does have them set up to be able to offer both Vladdy and Bo big time money to stick around long term and improve the bullpen this off season.

[dagger]

Adam Macko has been promoted to Buffalo where he will be tonight's starter against a powerful Scranton Wilkes Barre lineup. SWB is the Yankees' AAA farm team.

[bluerap23]

Adam Macko has been promoted to Buffalo where he will be tonight's starter against a powerful Scranton Wilkes Barre lineup. SWB is the Yankees' AAA farm team.

That didn’t go great

[dagger]

Adam Macko has been promoted to Buffalo where he will be tonight's starter against a powerful Scranton Wilkes Barre lineup. SWB is the Yankees' AAA farm team.

That didn’t go great

He'll be fine, that was like his third ramp-up start after two months on the shelf. How good he can be for his age won't be clearer until spring training.

[dagger]

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[dagger]

Tye Jays need at least one or two homegrown additions to the bullpen next season, they can't do it all by free agency. So keep an eye on Ryan Jennings and TJ Brock who have yet to give up a run in the Arizona Fall League.

https://www.mlb.com/arizona-fall-league/stats/pitching?playerPool=ALL&sortState=asc

[dagger]

Tye Jays need at least one or two homegrown additions to the bullpen next season, they can't do it all by free agency. So keep an eye on Ryan Jennings and TJ Brock who have yet to give up a run in the Arizona Fall League.

https://www.mlb.com/arizona-fall-league/stats/pitching?playerPool=ALL&sortState=asc

Both Brock and Jennings continue to put up scoreless innings and will likely finish their AFL stint with ERAs of 0.00

[bluerap23]

Tye Jays need at least one or two homegrown additions to the bullpen next season, they can't do it all by free agency. So keep an eye on Ryan Jennings and TJ Brock who have yet to give up a run in the Arizona Fall League.

https://www.mlb.com/arizona-fall-league/stats/pitching?playerPool=ALL&sortState=asc

Both Brock and Jennings continue to put up scoreless innings and will likely finish their AFL stint with ERAs of 0.00

Fun exercise. Do a side-by-side comparison of homegrown pitching development in the Jays and Rays orgs during the Shatkins era.

[dagger]

Jennings with his second save last night, 10 scoreless innings in AFL play, Brock 7 scoreless innings.

T.J.Brock
SCO 0 0 0.00 7 0 0 0 1 1 7.0 2 0 0 0 0 3 11 0.71 .087

RyanJennings
SCO 1 0 0.00 9 0 0 0 2 2 10.0 5 0 0 0 1 4 14 0.90 .152

[polo007]

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[dagger]

MLB pipeline on Angel Bastardo.

Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Curveball: 50 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 45 | Overall: 40

The biggest bargain in Boston's 2018-19 international class, Bastardo signed for $35,000 out of Venezuela. He didn't reach full-season ball until 2022 but has been one of the better Red Sox pitching performers in the lower Minors the past two years. He had one of the best outings in their system last year, striking out 14 in a seven-inning shutout in High-A in late July, but tired down the stretch. He made 10 starts for Double-A Portland in 2024 before needing Tommy John surgery. When the Red Sox left Bastardo off the 40-man in the offseason, the Blue Jays selected him in the Rule 5 Draft as an upside pick.

Bastardo's best offering is a mid-80s changeup with fade and sink that helped him limit left-handers to a .190 average last season. He sets it up with a 93-95 mph fastball that reaches 97, though it doesn't feature good shape and gets pounded when he doesn't locate it well. He sports a pair of average breaking balls, with his low-80s curveball perhaps slightly better than his tight mid-80s slider.

If Bastardo can develop more consistency with his arsenal and his ability to command it, he could be a back-of-the-rotation starter. He’ll spend much of his Rule 5 year rehabbing, allowing Toronto to keep closer eyes on him without the Major League pressure out of the gate. But he’ll still have to prove his stuff has returned post-TJ to give himself a true MLB shot in his new organization.

[JaysRule15]

Man, I remember during the years when I used to see so many exciting prospects being mentioned in this thread and following their progress. Seems like such a drop in high potential guys. Really hoping we can start hitting on some of these picks and IFA signings.

[dagger]

Man, I remember during the years when I used to see so many exciting prospects being mentioned in this thread and following their progress. Seems like such a drop in high potential guys. Really hoping we can start hitting on some of these picks and IFA signings.

The Jays lack elite prospects, and almost any good pitching prospect- either starter or reliever - lost weeks or months last season due to injuries. I feel prospect raters like kids who fit classic profiles and are either high draft picks or international bonus babies. They like position players of a certain physical stature with good power, little fellows or contact hitters less so.

If he starts out well in 2025, probably in Vancouver, Arjun Nimmala will hit the top 100 lists because he ticks all of their boxes. As a treadmill team, the Jays also trade away a lot of prospects to plug holes in the lineup. But I keep hearing very good things about Alan Roden in particular, and a BA prospect rater who covers the Jays really raved about his upside, might even become a borderline AllStar level player.

[bartron_44]

I don’t see anything special about Roden…
If you are a corner outfielder, you gotta hit bombs for me to get excited.

The guys I want to see come ST are Orelvis Martinez and hopefully RJ Schreck.

The guy I really want to see in the OF come ST though is Teo


It they had that kind of money to offer Soto, go get Burnes, go get Bregmen or Arenado, give Teo the extra year like you did for Springer a few years ago … or steal Santander away from Baltimore and actually make the team significantly better than last year.

Yankees and Red Sox are loading up again. They need to make several big splashes before opening day … if they want any chance of keeping Vladdy, or competing next year.

[dagger]

I don’t see anything special about Roden…
If you are a corner outfielder, you gotta hit bombs for me to get excited.

This is outdated thinking. You can develop power at any position. The Athletic has a great piece today about the changing profile of first basemen, which used to be the prototypical power position but today, such less so. The essence of the article is that you can find your power at any position now, and traditional power positions are just as likely to be filled by versatile two-way players or platoons.

For example, the Mets may lose Pete Alonzo at 1B, but know Francisco Lindor at SS is a lock for 30 HRs.

The Orioles have a pretty good 1B in Ryan Mountcastle, but he's not a big power guy - 13 homers and 63 RBIs, but playing behind guys like Santander, Rutschman (C), Henderson (SS), Cowser (LF) etc, he's fine for their roster, budget, etc.

The Jays have had power from Bo and Springer, but both had down years. In the past, they have had power at 3B with Donaldson and to a lesser degree, Chapman. Their problem isn't where the power is located, it's the lack of it overall.

That said, no batting order of any team, even the best teams, is comprised entirely of power hitters. You need some good contact hitters to start rallies, turn over the lineup to the leadoff guy with men on base, or drive in runs themselves.

I don't know if Alan Roden is destined to be a major league regular on the Jays or another team, but if his offence translates to the major league level, he can be Springer's replacement at the top of the order - Roden has been used extensively as the leadoff hitter in the minors. Having a guy get on base in front of your power hitters makes those guys better than having them hit with the bases empty.

Roden profiles as a rich man's version of Spencer Horwitz. He's a left handed batter who, unlike Horwitz, hits both left handers and right handers well, so he isn't platooned. He has elite plate discipline, a 14% strikeout rate, and the team has adjusted his stance to capture more power HR and XBH power. He'll never be that power hitter we need but he could be very useful either setting the table for the middle or the order or driving in runs from somewhere in the 6-9 slots.

For power, we need to look wherever we can find it, and start developing more of it internally.

[dagger]

MLB Pipeline has listed a breakout candidate in 2025 for each organization.For the Jays, they selected Sean Keys.

https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/each-mlb-team-s-prospect-that-will-break-out-in-2025?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

[polo007]

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[polo007]

2025 Top 100 Prospects - Baseball America

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100. Ricky Tiedemann

Toronto Blue Jays

LHP

Ht: 6'4" | Wt: 220 | B-T: L-L

Age: null

BA Grade/Risk: 60/Extreme.

The Skinny: After ascending to the one of the top pitching prospects in the game in 2022, Tiedemann has struggled with health over the last two seasons. He underwent Tommy John surgery in July and is expected to miss most if not all of the 2025 season.

Scouting Grades Fastball: 60 | Slider: 65. | Changeup: 55 | Control: 50.

[JTT]

Should be added to Polo’s excellent post that Tiedemann was the only Jay in the top 100 and the last one at that. However they had another three in the fifteen honourable mentions (Nimmala, Yesavage and Orelvis).