MLB Prospect Stock Watch: Biggest Risers & Fallers In 2025

RISER: Konnor Griffin, SS, Pirates 

Griffin won High School Player of the Year honors at Jackson Prep in Mississippi in 2024. He was the star shortstop and ace pitcher for the seven-times-consecutive state champions.

Scouts loved Griffin’s power potential, his speed and his explosiveness. Still, they questioned how much he would hit in pro ball. 

That skepticism enabled the Pirates to swoop in and draft Griffin with the ninth overall pick.

That looks like money well spent after Griffin hit .338/.396/.536 with nine home runs and 26 stolen bases in 50 games for Low-A Bradenton en route to a June 10 promotion to High-A Greensboro.

He was the first 2024 high school draft pick to advance past Low-A.

The 19-year-old kept raking in the South Atlantic League and entered August with one of the highest batting averages and OPS totals in the minor leagues. His totals for hits, runs, stolen bases and total bases all ranked top 10 in the minors.

So what changed? Scouts point to Griffin toning down the arm bar in his swing to get the most out of his bat speed and barrel accuracy. 

Griffin still has to change minds about his ability to stick at shortstop. Many scouts viewed him as a future center fielder when he was in high school.

The Pirates aren’t ready to give up Griffin’s shortstop future, but even as a center fielder he has five-tool superstar upside.

— Matt Eddy

RISER: George Lombard Jr., SS, Yankees

The Yankees’ first-rounder from 2023 was interesting in 2024, a year split between both Class A levels. He was excellent at Low-A Tampa before scuffling a bit at High-A Hudson Valley to close the year. 

In spring training this year, Lombard looked rejuvenated. Scouts raved about his combination of tools, skills, polish and leadership traits, making him an easy choice as the system’s top prospect and one of the prospect standouts of the Grapefruit League. 

Lombard carried that momentum into the season by obliterating the competition in a return to Hudson Valley. He finished his tenure with the Renegades with a .329/.495/.488 line before the Yankees promoted him to Double-A Somerset for his first test at the upper levels. 

The 20-year-old Lombard has run into some resistance against more seasoned pitchers, which is not unexpected in an era when the gaps between the levels are more stark than ever before. 

Even with Lombard’s struggles, evaluators are mostly steadfast that he should reign as the system’s top talent. 

— Josh Norris

RISER: Luis Peña, 2B, Brewers

Peña has come from farther back than any prospect to rank among the top 20 overall prospects in the game.

His name did not appear on the preseason Top 100 Prospects, but his status changed quickly this spring when he got off to a fast start as an 18-year-old middle infielder in the pitcher-friendly Carolina League. 

More than anything, an uptick in power helped change perceptions about Peña. He batted .307/.374/.470 with six home runs and 40 stolen bases in 71 games for Low-A Carolina. 

He led the Carolina League in batting average, slugging and an .844 OPS at the time the Brewers promoted him High-A Wisconsin in early August.

While Peña lacks the pure range of a traditional shortstop, his arm and actions fit at second base or perhaps third. But the bat is his selling point.

Peña projects to be an offensive-minded infielder with a nice blend of hitting ability, power and aggressive baserunning. He takes strong, confident hacks and has surprising power straightaway.

Peña has come a long way since signing, but he’s not done climbing yet.

— Matt Eddy

RISER: Lazaro Montes, OF, Mariners 

One could argue that Montes set the tone for his breakout season back in spring training, when he crushed a towering home run off the batter’s eye in dead center field at the Peoria Sports Complex. It was a no-doubt shot that hinted at what was to come. 

Since then, the 20-year-old has continued to obliterate baseballs at every level, consistently producing loud, damaging contact that has turned heads across the Mariners’ system. 

The Cuban slugger picked up at High-A Everett where he left off last season, launching 18 home runs before earning a promotion to Double-A Arkansas on June 24—where the blasts kept coming. 

Montes comes with the expected swing-and-miss risk—especially in the zone—that often accompanies 70-grade power, but when he connects, the results are loud and often lethal. While Montes is limited athletically and lacks speed, the Mariners have continued to run him out in right field, keeping his big bat in the lineup and his development on track.

— Jesús Cano

RISER: Nolan McLean, RHP, Mets 

Two years ago, Nolan McLean was best known as an outfielder and reliever for Oklahoma State. Today, the 24-year-old righthander is one of the most prominent starter prospects in the game. 

The Mets drafted McLean as a two-way player in the third round in 2023. He didn’t fully commit to the mound until the second half of 2024.

This season in his first full year as a pitcher, McLean led all minor league pitchers with 38 strikeouts in July for Triple-A Syracuse. His ability to navigate the hazards of the International League, with its livelier ball, ABS challenge system and mature hitters, was notable.

Even more notable is how McLean has adapted his pitch mix. His high-spin sweeper has a rare combination of velocity and movement, averaging 86 mph with 15 inches of sweep.

McLean added a mid-90s two-seam fastball last season and now it’s a go-to pitch against righthanded batters. He also began developing a high-70s curveball while fine-tuning a high-80s cutter. Now, both have become essential to his attack plan versus opposite-hand batters.

— Matt Eddy

RISER: Eduardo Quintero, OF, Dodgers 

The top of the Dodgers’ prospects list is populated by a fantastic phalanx of outfielders, all of whom were at High-A as of early August. 

The list includes Futures Game MVP Josue De Paula, trade acquisitions Zyhir Hope (Cubs) and Mike Sirota (Reds). Speedster Kendall George and Quintero joined that talented quartet in late July and immediately fit right in. 

The 19-year-old has a similarly high upside as his teammates with the Loons, especially now that offseason swing changes helped him unlock more power to go with his ample contact. 

De Paula, Sirota, Hope and Quintero each get votes from scouts as the best of the quartet, and Quintero’s believers give him the nod based on what appears to be a blossoming five-tool package. 

The 19-year-old Quintero has the best chance of the group to stick as a center fielder, and his offensive gifts could lead to a player who hits second in a lineup and finds different ways to impact every game. 

With Low-A Rancho Cucamonga, Quintero batted .306/.426/.533 with 14 home runs and 35 stolen bases in 81 games prior to his promotion.

— Josh Norris

RISER: Josue Briceño, C/1B, Tigers

There are plenty of questions about where Briceño will play in the big leagues, but the way he hits, it may not matter.

The 20-year-old may eventually shelve his catcher’s mitt and focus on first base, where he has played half his games this season. 

Briceño’s production at the plate for High-A West Michigan speaks to his hitting prowess. He batted .296/.422/.602 with 15 home runs in 55 games.

The lefthanded slugger was one of the best power hitters in the Midwest League before he joined Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle in earning promotions to Double-A Erie in July.

Briceño’s best attribute is his ability to get to his power while making plenty of contact. The lefthanded batter walks almost as much as he strikes out because he rarely expands the zone and stays disciplined by swinging at hittable pitches.

Briceño has a strong arm and he’s not out of shape. He’s just so big at a listed 6-foot-4, 200 pounds—and that likely undersells his weight—that most scouts believe he’ll eventually outgrow catcher. 

— J.J. Cooper

FALLER: Carson Williams, SS, Rays

Rays shortstop prospect Carson Williams is a mainstay on minor league Best Tools lists. This year he is the best defensive shortstop with the best infield arm in the International League, as he was in the Southern League last year. 

Williams won best infield arm honors in the South Atlantic League in 2023.

His internal clock, sure hands and strong arm mark him as one of the higher probability MLB shortstops among prospects in the minor leagues. 

That’s what makes Williams’ offensive slide this season at Triple-A Durham so disappointing—and vexing. 

Through 97 games this season, Williams batted .214/.314/.431 with 18 home runs and 19 stolen bases. His strikeout rate bordered on 35% and was one of the worst among qualified IL batters.

Each season, Williams is good for 20 or more homers and 20 or more steals, but his pure hit tool questions have not abated. He has a hole on the outer part of the plate and struggles to make hard contact against pitchers who can locate away from him.

— Matt Eddy

FALLER: Hagen Smith, LHP, White Sox  

Smith won Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year honors at Arkansas in 2024, when he struck out 161 batters in 84 innings. The White Sox drafted him fifth overall.

That’s what makes watching Smith take a step back this season at Double-A Birmingham so difficult. 

After Smith was sidelined with elbow soreness at the end of May, the White Sox sent him to their Arizona complex to work on biomechanical adjustments. Even before the injury, the hard-throwing lefty was struggling with command.

Smith features an electric three-pitch mix, headlined by a fastball and slider that both grade out as 70s on the scouting scale, along with a developing changeup he was beginning to incorporate more frequently. 

Smith has missed bats with both his fastball and slider, but he hasn’t generated much chase out of the zone—suggesting hitters are seeing the ball early and laying off anything that’s not a strike. 

To unlock his full potential, Smith will need to sharpen his command and sequencing, using his changeup more effectively to disrupt timing.

— Jesús Cano

FALLER: Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF, Twins 

In 2023, Rodriguez played in 99 games for High-A Cedar Rapids. 

Some seven seasons after he initially signed with the Twins out of the Dominican Republic, that remains his career high in games played. 

Rodriguez has had knee injuries, hand injuries, hip injuries and this year an oblique injury that has led to six different trips to the injured list in his career.

The lost development time has left a mark. 

Rodriguez continues to blend patience and power at the plate, all while holding down center field. 

But as of Aug. 1 this year, the 22-year-old lefthanded batter had accumulated fewer than 1,250 career plate appearances as a professional, and he’s already used two minor league options in 2024 and 2025. 

Rodriguez will assuredly get a fourth option year because of all his injuries, but he needs a stretch of consistent playing time to prove that he is MLB ready.

That opportunity could come later this season after the Twins tore down their major league roster at the trade deadline.

— J.J. Cooper