The one remaining publication that I follow with their unpublished top 100 prospects is Fangraphs. But there are five that have, and the Dodgers are more than well represented.
Roki Sasaki doesn’t fit the traditional profile for a prospect, however he is eligible to be included on three of the five publications, because he signed in the international signing period as an amateur international free agent rather than as a major league free agent, and meets MLB rookie eligibility standards (fewer than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster). Keith Law (The Athletic) and Baseball Prospectus do not follow this standard. Whether or not Sasaki is considered a prospect for a top 100 list is ultimately irrelevant, as it will have no impact as to whether Sasaki (or any other prospect) succeeds at the MLB level.
The Dodgers had 4 consensus top 100: Dalton Rushing, Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, and Alex Freeland. Jackson Ferris was named on 4 lists, with only Keith Law (Athletic) failing to list him. River Ryan was named on two lists: Athletic and Kiley McDaniel (ESPN). For good measure, McDaniel also named Emil Morales to the list. Perhaps a bit aggressive, but he is certainly on the radar now, if he wasn’t already.
I will be updating this chart once Fangraphs publishes their list.
If you add up all of the top 100 prospects cumulatively by team, the Dodgers and Seattle had a total of 30 cumulative names for an average of 6 per list. CWS and Detroit had a total of 29 names, while Tampa Bay had 27. I know that is not very scientific, but I am going with it anyways.
On the other side of the spectrum, the San Francisco Giants have to be one of the bottom teams has they had a cumulative total of 5. They had one player named to the top 100 for all five publications, 1B Byrce Eldridge. The Padres had the same two prospects named to each of the publications: C Ethan Salas and SS Leodalis De Vries.
Keith Law certainly saw something in the Arizona D-backs prospects that the other publications did not.
Below is the site where all of the prospect lists can be found. Some may be behind a paywall (probably Athletic). I apologize if some of you cannot access the publications list. If you have any questions, I will try to answer.
https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/top100/
https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2025-top-100-prospects/
https://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/95912/2025-prospects-the-top-101/
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6078454/2025/01/27/top-100-mlb-prospects-2025-keith-law/
MLB had Sasaki at # 1 also. Five Dodgers can be placed on the 60-day once spring training starts. Graterol, Stone, Ryan, Hurt and Sheehan. More than any other team. Guardians have four.
MLB Pipeline is MLB.
I finally figured that out
Kersh will also be placed on 60 day once he signs and there will be room for Kiké to sign, which won’t be good news for Outman and Pages. Jeff, what prospect do you think has the most upside in our organization? Any all stars coming up?
To delve into the Dodgers prospects, I tend to go with their strengths in development, and that is pitching. I am a big Jackson Ferris fan. With other teams he could start in AAA to begin the season, but that is not how the LAD development team works. He just turned 21, and he will start in AA where he had success at the end of next year, but could get a move to AAA before mid-season if he is not blocked. I do not expect him to be blocked as the Dodgers are also known to come up with pitcher injuries. I do not expect the 11 starters ahead of him all to stay healthy. For me, Jackson Ferris has the most upside as a Dodger, but not before 2026.
I am also greatly intrigued by River Ryan. However he will be 27 when he returns to pitch in 2026. Do they keep him as a starter which could take a full season at AAA to stretch his innings? Or do they turn him into a nasty late inning reliever? The second option is one many pundits are predicting. Sorry Bluto, I cannot name them right now or site the source. It just comes with my reading regimen.
For a position player, if Alex Freeland can hit at all at AAA, he could have a major impact for 2026. A lot is going to depend on how Max Muncy plays this year. Does he play well enough to get his club option exercised? A lot is going to depend on whether Mookie is successful as a SS. A lot is going to depend on whether Hyeseong Kim can hit MLB pitching consistently enough to play a full season at the MLB level.
I like the floor of Zyhir Hope. He has a chance of being a regular MLB OF. Maybe even a periodic All Star. Zyhir may not have the overall hit tool that De Paula has, but Hope is a more complete player. One tool I am looking forward to evaluating this year is Hope’s arm. MLB gives him a 65 arm grade, while Baseball America gives him a 40 arm grade. Somebody is waaaaaayyyyyy off. He was throwing low-mid 90’s as a HS pitcher, so I am leaning to MLB having the more accurate grade.
It is hard for me to elevate a player like Emil Morales after only one season in the DSL, even though he did dominate. I felt the same way with Joendry Vargas and Eduardo Quintero the previous year. But they both played well in their US debut.
A player who could crack the top 100 by mid year is SS Kellon Lindsey. Finally, I am really anxious to see what OF Mike Sirota will be able to do this year. He could be a fast mover if he starts out well.
For what it’s worth I would lean towards the 65 rating on Hopes’ arm. I saw him throw out a runner at Rancho at second from deep on the left field line. It was a laser beam.
That makes sense to me. He is a corner OF in the making.
If they sign Kike it will be as soon as the first player is put on the 60-day.
It may be a bit later. He did not sign last year until February 26. AF/BG probably has an offer out to him, and Kiké needs to decide whether to accept the LAD offer or take a perhaps more lucrative offer elsewhere. That is why BG indicated that Kiké needs to decide what is best for his family.
These lists are always fun. But as we recently saw with Diego Cartaya, those “can’t-miss” prospects with all-star comps sometimes miss. (But I do hope Cartaya hits again, for the Twins.) And it’s remarkable how often players that don’t crack the Top 100 lists wind up having good ML careers while the hottest prospects falter.
To me, the most exciting developments on the Dodgers prospect front are the rapid rises of OF Zyhir Hope and young Emil Morales, who plays now at SS but may fit 3B better. Both are about 2-3 years away, but perhaps we’ll have a prodigy emerge and force themselves into the lineup. (How old was Adrian Beltre when he started for the Dodgers? I think there was some mild controversy about that.)
In a couple years, perhaps Hope is playing alongside Teo in the OF. Maybe Morales becomes Max’s challenger and eventual successor.
In perusing those links I found some interesting reads on the Doncic trade. Dallas is pissed. My reaction to that fact? Good.
As for our prospects, we read every year who the top prospects are and – where are they? Not with the team, that’s for sure. So my question about Los Angeles Dodgers prospects is who will be the next moved in trade? Josue DePaula for Bichette? Dalton Rushing for Robert Jr? I have no clue. I used to think I did, but now I know I don’t. I just know other than Sasaki, a player I don’t consider a prospect, barring unforeseen injury, I don’t see any making the team this year.
I realize you were just tossing out names with your trade mentions, but there is no way that AF trades a very young Top 100 prospect like DePaula for one year of Bichette, who is coming off his worst year.
Agree that no “prospect” will make the 26 man out of ST other than Sasaki. I also agree that Sasaki is not a “prospect“. Ichiro was not a prospect, Shohei was not a prospect, Yamamoto, Imanaga, Senga, Yoshida…were not prospects. Except for Yamamoto, all were top 6 ROY players with Ichiro and Shohei winning ROY. NPB may not be MLB, but it is still good professional baseball.
It is possible that prospects will be called up during the year. Most will be pitchers. Knack and Miller are not prospects. Wrobleski, Casparius, Frasso, Henriquez, and Dreyer are all still prospects. Rushing and Freeland could also get a call sometime during the year.
Jeff, first time poster. I know each year you have a sleeper prospect that you intend to follow for the upcoming year. I’m interested in knowing who is your under the radar prospect this year. I have two: Joseph Deng, the 6’7″ international signee, who at 17 years old, 180/185 lbs is already hitting 95 mph, and Eric Swan, who someone referred to as a generational arm.
Thank you for posting. I do have a sleeper each year. Last year it was Jared Karros. I hope he continues to develop. I think he eventually reaches MLB.
Joseph Deng is a very interesting prospect. He will be fun to watch develop. I think the Dodgers will be careful with him and give him time to fill out. 6’6″ 185. He has a lot of physical maturity to come. Will he go to DSL or come to the US and pitch in the ACL? I would like to see him in the ACL where their development guys can monitor him.
I have not picked my sleeper this year. LHP Wyatt Crowell is in the mix.
I too am picking a prospect!
but mine will have the burden of following in the footsteps of Oswaldo Osorio
and Alexander Albertus!
it is, of course, the LAD prospect with the coolest, but not necessarily alliterative m, name!
Chris Campos
Ooooh.
Beltre played 77 games as a 19-year-old in 98 and hit .215. In 99, he played 152 games and hit .275 with 15 homers. It is also interesting to note that Beltre struck out over 100 times just twice as a Dodger. He then struck out over 100 times his first three years in Seattle and never struck out over 100 times again the rest of his career. He hit double figure homers for 19 of his 21 years in the majors. The only 2 seasons he did not record more than 10 was his first year, and then in 2009, his last year in Seattle when he played just 111 games. He never came close to hitting 40 homers like he did for LA in 2004, although he hit 30 plus four times as a Ranger.
Danny Coulombe, who used to be a Dodger, 2014-15, was signed by the Twins. He pitched in 33 games for the Orioles last season as a reliever. He was 1-0 with a 2.12 ERA in 29.2 innings.
Former Dodger LHRP, Victor González, has signed a MiLB contract with LAA. I wish him nothing but good luck. It is hard for me to think of VGon and not remember his 2020 playoffs. In Game 6 of 2020 WS, he struck out 3 of the 4 batters he faced before turning it over to Graterol and Urías to close it out.
Jeff – good you’re good.
Where’s Eric Swan on these lists? I heard and read really good things about him?
#hope you’re good
Yes Watford I am good. I am up to 25 minutes on the bike 3 times a week with weight training added in after the bike. I was just released from physical therapy.
Eriq Swan is one of those pitchers that has the “stuff” but has not developed into a pitcher yet. He has one plus plus pitch (fastball) and two plus pitches (slider and sweeper). He is on the cusp of a lot of publications top 100 lists, but he is going to need to pitch well this year. Like many LAD prospects, he lacks control. He is tentatively scheduled to start at A+ (Great Lakes), and if he continues to get enough swing and miss, he should hit AA this year. 23 in AA is a good measurement. After only 28.2 IP in 2024, he ended his season in the AFL and pitched better than some of his metrics might indicate. But I latch onto 14 K in 8.2 IP, and only 1 BB. But he did give up 2 HR, so he catches too much of the plate, and most of those guys in the AFL can hit fastballs.
He is an LAD #8 prospect per Baseball Prospectus, and #15 with Baseball America. MLB will be coming out with their updated top 30 lists soon, and we will know where they rank him.
At #8, this is what Baseball Prospectus has to say about Swan and his potential Top 100 status:
2025 World Championship Chances
(in %, from PECOTA):
21.6 LAD
9.4 NYY
8.5 ATL
7.5 CHC
7.2 TEX
7.0 BAL
5.8 HOU
5.6 NYM
4.7 SEA
4.3 PHI
3.2 ARI MIN
2.3 TOR
1.8 TB
1.5 KC
1.4 CLE
1.2 DET
0.7 MIL SD
0.5 SF
0.4 BOS LAA STL
0.3 PIT
0.2 WSH
0.1 CIN ATH
0.0 CWS COL MIA
Cute that Seattle is on the list.
I think the Phillies and D’Backs have a better chance than that.
Phillies for sure. IMO they are better than both Atlanta and NYM.
Brasier being traded to the Cubs. Per MLBTR. Trade is for PLTBN. Red Sox and Cardinals discussing Arenado trade.
Who was the greatest PLTBN of all time?… Wait… Shouldn’t that be PTBNL?
Whatever.
Crash Davis doesn’t count.
I’m guessing that Bichette would already be a Dodger if AF & Associates were that impressed with the guy.
The SS depth chart, I suspect, now reads Mookie, Rojas, Edman, Kim, Taylor, Freeland.
The defense is malleable, however. If Mookie gets injured, perhaps Edman would shift to SS and Outman or ?? would play center. If Freeland impresses in OKC, perhaps he’d be summoned.
PTBNL is correct. Blame old age and shaky hands.
In the 3 years before last year Bichette averaged 4.8 WAR. He was injured last season. Is he now back to full strength? I don’t know, I do know at 27 he is an All Star shortstop in his prime.
The Dodgers are currently without a starting Major League shortstop. Rojoas is a terrific backup. Kim can no doubt play that position but he hasn’t yet. Edman can play there, and so can Betts, but neither are starting Major League shortstops. If it’s going to be Betts, I hope it works out. What I see is every one of those guys getting time there. Even Taylor might get time there. None of them are as proven at the position as Bichette is.
If thing go south, and Toronto is out of the race, I could see LA making a run at Bichette at the deadline.