Doing a season wrap on four full-season teams is a bit of a beast (there are almost 50 players noted herein), but I tried to notice most of the guys you either already think of as prospects or might be hearing more about soon. In reversed order this time, starting with the teams that got done earlier in the month.

Because there’s only a one-week sample at this level, a lot of this will seem repetitive. Aaron Parker and Eddie Micheletti cooled off in the last couple of weeks but finished with .899 and .880 OPS, respectively. Third baseman Sean Keys hit .370 since August 20, along with a .473 OPS. For the season, he has an .829 OPS. Nick Mitchell finished at .817, which is a nice showing for the 2024 draft class.

Arjun Nimmala kept raking right through the end of the year. His line since the retool and return is .265/.314/.564/.878 and, by the way, got some good press this week.  On the bad news side of the ledger, one-time top prospect Manuel Beltre is widely praised as a helluva guy and teammate, but after two full seasons with the D-Jays, he hasn’t improved any aspect of his offensive game except for more stolen bases. Another once highly ranked prospect, Tucker Toman, had a worse year than his lost 2023. Also, some Latin American outfielders who had been thought to have some potential for upside failed to show it. Yhoangel Aponte hit .189, Yenui Munoz hit .169, Daniel Perez hit .179, Jean Joseph hit .222, and Robert Robertis was released.

Notwithstanding the several starting pitchers that have been promoted and those who got seriously injured, the one stalwart here was the top prospect, Fernando Perez. They shut him down a month early to manage innings, and he seemed to flag a bit in the end. But he didn’t lose any prospect status. Latecomer Colby Holcombe, a 2024 9th-rounder, had a nice cup of coffee with a 1.80 ERA in 15 1/3 innings. Gil Batista, who came over in the Danny Jansen deal, had a similar-sized sample and a 2.70 ERA while striking out 16 and only walking two in 16 2/3 IP. Not as statistically dominant but still generating buzz were Daniel Guerra, who stepped up his game after an early August promotion, and Greg Stanifer, who was, on paper, pretty bad (he walked 50 in 59 2/3 innings), but I’ve read the team really likes his stuff if he can gain control of it.

Playoffs, as you know, produce a separate stat line, so I’ll have to direct your attention, a few times, to the TINY four-game sample when it seems to matter. At the end of July, Jace Bohrofen was having a rough year and seemed to be losing some of his prospect status but he roared through August, hitting .368 with a 1.055 OPS. By the end of the year, he’d doubled his homer total to a team-leading 14.

Big Payton Williams finished the regular season on a roll, running a .914 OPS since the beginning of August.  Oft-injured Adrian Pinto only got into 17 games for the VanC’s after rehabbing but he had a .926 OPS to show for it. He was also their hottest hitter in the playoff series, batting .375 with a 1.099 OPS over those four games. All three of these should open the year in Double-A next spring.

OF Victor Arias was one of the main offensive cogs for the D-Jays most of the season (an .840 OPS when he was promoted), but he only got into 11 games before hitting the IL. He did well enough but the sample is too small. A hat tip is also due to Je’Von Ward. The OF was released by the Brewers organization last August and the Jays signed him mid-June of this year. Given his track record, there was no reason to take note of it, but he put up a .836 OPS for the Canadians. Even for an org guy, respect output. The only other ranked hitter here was trade acquisition Cutter Coffey but he struggled hard after the deal (he hit .185) and will likely repeat the level to start next year. Yes, I mentioned most of these guys last time.

Nobody in the farm system did more to establish and elevate himself this season than Kendry Rojas. The 6’2″ Cuban lefty lost some time to injury earlier in the year but dominated in his 62 2/3 IP, striking out 69 while walking only 14. Reportedly he’ll get to add a few more innings in the AFL next month. Juran Watts-Brown was quiet good in Dunedin and earned a mid-season promotion after which he had a difficult adjustment to the new level. He recovered and had a good August and finished strong, throwing his best game of the year in the post-season, striking out 10 and walking just one in 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball. Two other starters, not mentioned on pre-season prospect lists, put themselves on the radar this season. Grant Rogers is a big-bodied (6’7″, 230) 23-year-old drafted in the 11th round of the 2023 draft who didn’t pitch in an official game until this season. He was good in Dunedin and got even better results in Vancouver, showing command as good as Rojas and a 6:1 K/BB ratio. He finished on a high note, tossing 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in the C’s only post-season win.

Another 23-year-old, Carson Pierce, was an undrafted free agent signing last year. After starting in Dunedin, he put up a 2.72 ERA over 18 games (nine starts) and after a rough go in his first start at the higher level, it turned on the jets. He tossed 31 innings over 10 appearances, eight of those starts, with a 1.45 ERA with 13 walks and 35 K. All this was cut short in early August when he went on the IL, on his way to joining the long list of pitchers this summer to be scheduled for elbow surgery. Another guy you can put down as a bit of a dark horse is Ryan Watson. Signed as an undrafted free agent this spring, he’s 25, which is a bit old for the level, but in five games and 29 IP, he walked just three and struck out 28, accumulating a 3.72 ERA. It might not turn out to be anything, but he deserves notice. Reliever Alex Amalfi was signed as a free agent after the 2022 draft and over both of the last two seasons, he struck out more than 11/9, and, in 2024 he cut his BB/9 by almost half to 3.41, and he has a 3.28 ERA. By definition a dark horse, but also gets results. Last year’s 20th-round selection, Kai Peterson, has control issues (43 walks in 49.2 IP), but man, those strikeouts. 16.5/9 gets you noticed.

By the numbers, the most successful trade deadline acquisition beyond Will Wagner is RJ Schreck, an outfielder acquired from Seattle for Justin Turner. In 28 games for the Fisher Cats, he put up an .898 OPS. If you pro-rate his line to 140 games, it would work out to 40 doubles, 25 homers and oh-by-the-way 25 SB. It’s not a huge sample but you have to like it. First baseman Rainer Nunez had a rough April but adjusted to put up an .817 OPS over the balance of the season. He’s not the kind of prospect that ends up on lists, more the kind of player that’s important to the success of the team he’s on just the same. There was a measure of disappointment here also.

Cade Doughty, a 3B who was a high draft pick in 2022, was a bit soft compared to expectations in 2023, but he finished well and came into this season generally considered a Top 20 prospect, but injuries cost him most of the season and when he got to AA he was… really not good (.535 OPS). Dasan Brown was eventually promoted in early August after spending most of the season repeating High-A (where he had not been dominant but had significantly improved all aspects of his offensive game). His first hundred ABs at the new level were rough, but it’s probably not a fair sample, given the challenge of moving up to AA. Speaking of transitions, while 3B/RF Charles McAdoo had a fine season overall in his second as a pro, there were few bright spots in his work in New Hampshire. He was on track to maybe open in AAA next spring, but now he’ll have to prove it in spring training.

Adam Macko was the feature prospect among the pitchers who broke camp in AA, finding himself in most of the top 10 lists for the organization. He was humming right along through the first half of the season (a 3.76 ERA as of June 25), then he got rocked for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings, and less than a week later, he was on the IL. He began his rehab so late that he only got into one game back in AA (and he got another start in Buffalo). He hasn’t lost any status, though, and seems lined up to open 2025 in Buffalo and be a candidate for major league opportunities if events break the right way.

Rafael Sanchez was not on any top 30 lists in the pre-season and isn’t now, but after 82.2 solid innings in Vancouver and earned a promotion on the first of August. Since then, his results got even better as measured by ERA (2.28) but with noticeably worse rate stats. He’s a dark horse as a prospect and we’ll see how he stands a year from now. Another name you’ll hear more of is Ryan Jennings. They’ve been using him as a starter, as is their custom, even with guys they think will end up best suited for the majors as a reliever. He’s had very good results in that role (he had a 2.13 ERA for Vancouver before he was promoted on July 5) and got one appearance before hitting the IL. After he came back on August 11, they slid him into the bullpen, where he was all but untouchable over 9 appearances. There’s a lot of positive buzz about him in that role, including speculation that it’s not unrealistic he might pitch in the majors next year.

The bad news here is about Dahain Santos. In the spring, he was on both the Pipeline and Baseball America top 30 lists. Another example of a guy who’s been starting but many think has more upside in relief, is he lost almost all of the first half to injury and when he came back, they used him out of the ‘pen but he never found a rhythm at all and ended up with a 5.55 ERA.

Just this weekend, Alan Roden was named the Bisons’ Player of the Year. And while it’s true that a lot of his potential competition is in Toronto, and Orelvis was away for half the season, it is nevertheless well-earned. As I’ve noted before, once he was promoted to AAA, it took him a minute to adjust. Through 22 games, his BA at the new level was .176 with a .563 OPS. But once he got sorted, he reached a level he’d never been to before. On the rest of the season, through 196 PA, he slashed .374/.454/.608/1.062 in 49 games. You have to think he comes to spring training with as much of a chance at earning the LF job as anyone in the system. Assuming they don’t sign an expensive veteran “Big Bat” for that job. Will fans warm to the possibility that they already have the big bats they need?

Speaking of Orelvis Martinez, we shouldn’t forget his accomplishments despite the suspension. Coming off that time away, he exhibited no rust, slashing .310/.370/.524 and on the season .267/.346/.523 with tons of power. Consider, in 73 games played, a bit under half a major league season, he hit 18 doubles and 17 homers. What would we all be talking about now if we had a guy on the cusp who’d hit 35 homers this year? I’ll ask again — what if we already have the “big bats”?

Now, I must talk about Josh Kasavich. Full disclosure: I’ve been the low one on this guy since he was drafted. Sure, he had a fantastic glove and seemed to be a good bat-to-ball guy, but singles-hitting glove men are not typically top-20 prospects. I sit corrected. Through the first week of office his work in AA was… fine. But not at odds with my real. As one might expect, he was hitting more doubles, but a .697 OPS says “just a guy” to me, as far as offence goes. I was puzzled when he was promoted. In AAA, he hit .325/.382/.433/.815 and…I have no explanation for this. But it deserves respect. It’s not bad for a team with four key hitters who have long graduated to the majors. Another legit prospect on this team (until last week) is CF Jonatan Clase. You could be misled by looking at his work in Buffalo, where he slacked off after transitioning over from the hitter-friendly PCL. But the whole trajectory of his career says that he’s legit, so he probably will get a mulligan for now.

I can start here by saying something similar about Jake Bloss. The numbers after the trade won’t impress you, but he was and is a credible prospect. Arguably, in their desperation, the Astros simply pushed him too hard, too fast. He’d had only one AAA start before the trade, and while he was dominant as he passed through AA, even that sample was less than 45 IP. Nothing will be handed to him next spring, though. He needs to establish he has his feet under him. While we’re here, it is fitting to take notice of Bisons’ Pitcher of the Year, Andrew Bash. I’ve never seen him on a prospect list, and you likely won’t. He’s 28 and has been improving his results and drawing more attention to himself over four years in the system. He still seemingly profiles as an org guy, but the Blue Jays have certainly reached for worse pitchers in a tight spot. The bullpen has several “names to know” but no standout stat likes.

Hagen Danner will be out of options next spring. It’s weird to me that they didn’t want to give him some Major League run rather than shuffling out retreads like Yerry Rodriguez or Jose Cuas. He spent two months mid-season on the IL, which does nothing to dispel the injury-prone label, but when he’s pitched, he has done the job, allowing one run or less in 31 of 33 appearances for Buffalo (and each of those was just two runs) and finished with a 3.15 ERA on the season. I have been banging the drum for Brandon Eisert and I will continue. Since his one inning in Toronto, he’s run an ERA of 2.04 and as I have repeatedly noted, if you leave off his first outing in March, you can shave more than a full run off of his ERA down to 2.72 with 65 strikeouts in 53 innings.

Once highly-regarded, Hayden Juenger quietly had a nice rebound from a harsh 2023. From May 1 through September 14, he had a 3.27 ERA (he got knocked around a bit in his penultimate outing), and they seemed to have abandoned the idea of stretching him out beyond 2 innings. Finally, I’m going to shout out my guy Eric Pardinho. After an impressive shut-out run at AA to earn a promotion, he was all over the place in terms of results for a while in Buffalo: bad, good, bad twice, good two or three times, and bad again. But since mid-August, with over ten appearances, he’s thrown 12 shutout innings while walking one and striking out 15. Unless they sign him to a new contract or add him to the 40, he’s lined up to be a minor league free agent this winter. I’d hate to see him turn into a big leaguer elsewhere.

You surely have read about this in other places, so this is likely redundant, but five highly regarded SP prospects, and a sleeper, had elbow surgery this season, and some of them will miss the entire 2025 season: Ricky Tiedemann, Brandon Barriera, Landon Moroudis, Nolan Perry and Chad Dallas, along with Carson Pierce. Now, I’ll have to figure out something else to write about.