Five Prospects Who Are Most Blocked on Their Teams’ Depth Charts

Spring training offers a huge opportunity for top prospects who have worked their way up their organization to the doorstep of the majors. With a big performance in the spring, the dream of a permanent big league roster spot could become a reality.

But even if a prospect has good career minor league numbers on their side and they kill it during their spring audition, there’s always one caveat. The roster math still has to work in their favor.

Teams have just 26 active roster spots with which to work, and every one of them is valuable. Many of them will already be spoken for either due to talent, positional need, or even contract status. So even if you’re a highly regarded young player, getting a roster spot out of camp is no guarantee.

There are plenty of players who will fall right into this category: talented young players who seem predestined to contribute in the majors but might have to wait to force their way onto the active roster.

These five players, in particular, are among the most blocked on their teams’ depth charts:

OF Heston Kjerstad – Baltimore Orioles

After turning some lean years into a surplus of talented prospects, the Orioles are now smack-dab in the middle of a youth movement. One of the many members of that movement is Heston Kjerstad, the second overall pick in the 2020 draft.

Kjerstad debuted in 2023 and has since played in 52 games in two seasons. His numbers have been alright, with a .248 average and a 113 wRC+ in that short period of time, though that production has also come with a 29.3% strikeout rate and just an 8.2% walk rate.

One big reason that Kjerstad has been limited in playing time is that Baltimore already had three very talented starting outfielders in Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander, and fellow youngster Colton Cowser. With Santander becoming a free agent and now in Toronto, though, one wondered if the door could open up for Kjerstad to see more time on the field.

Instead, the Orioles signed free agent outfielder Tyler O’Neill this offseason. They also added another outfielder to the bench in veteran Ramon Laureano, which will further cut into Kjerstad’s possible playing time.

The time might eventually come when Kjerstad joins the starting ranks, but it doesn’t seem like that time is now.

RHP Will Warren – New York Yankees

A few hours up I-95, the Yankees have a prospect of their own who is trying to fight his way up the depth chart: pitcher Will Warren. The 25-year-old is a top-five prospect for New York and got his first taste of the big leagues just last season.

Selected in the eighth round out of Southeastern Louisiana back in the 2021 draft, Warren made his way up to the Triple-A level in just his second year in the system and has a 4.31 ERA and 1.311 WHIP in 367.2 career minor league innings. He had a bit of a rough introduction to the majors last year (26 earned runs in 22.2 innings), though he also struck out 26.4% of batters.

It’ll be hard for Warren to get a chance to improve upon those numbers any time soon. With the Yankees’ offseason acquisition of Max Fried, the emergence of Clarke Schmidt in the rotation over the last two years, and the same for reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil last year, this rotation is already packed.

Even with the news that Gil is set to miss at least the next three months, that just allows veteran Marcus Stroman a more sure path back into the rotation. Until another starter goes down injured, Warren will have to continue to practice his craft in the minors.

RHP Hurston Waldrep – Atlanta Braves

Speaking of prospects who shot their way up their teams’ farm systems, many players from the loaded 2023 draft class did exactly that. That included Braves pitcher Hurston Waldrep, the 24th overall pick from that year’s draft.

The University of Florida product amazingly pitched in eight games across all four levels of Atlanta’s system the same year he was drafted and pitched well. He continued that strong pitching in 2024 and has a career 3.01 ERA and 1.410 WHIP in 27 minor league starts.

Waldrep got a quick, two-game cup of coffee with the Braves in 2024, where he gave up 13 earned runs over seven combined innings. Like Warren with the Yankees, it may be a while before he gets the chance to show he can cut it in Atlanta.

Led by 2024 NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale, the Braves have a talented rotation that also features Reynaldo López, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Grant Holmes. Ian Anderson likely has the inside track on the fifth starter job to begin the year, while Spencer Strider will return from the IL at some point in the first half.

Additionally, fellow pitching prospect AJ Smith-Shawver hasn’t looked bad in his own limited MLB experience (3.64 ERA in 29.2 innings) and would likely get first crack at a start if needed. Maybe that’s for the best, as it wouldn’t hurt for Waldrep to get a little more seasoning.

RHP Rhett Lowder – Cincinnati Reds

As you can see, it’s common for young pitchers who rose quickly through their teams’ systems to struggle when they experience the majors for the first time. That was actually not the case for Rhett Lowder, the seventh overall pick by the Reds in 2023.

Unlike other members of his draft class, Lowder didn’t get his first taste of professional baseball until the start of the 2024 minor league season. By the end of the year, he was pitching for Cincinnati, where he would give up just four runs across six starts, compiling a clean 1.17 ERA over 30.2 combined innings.

Perhaps the plan was to transition Lowder to a more permanent spot in the starting rotation. That plan got complicated after a couple of offseason moves, starting with Nick Martinez being the only player in baseball to accept their qualifying offer, returning him to the team for 2025 instead of sending him to free agency.

Lowder then became fully blocked from the 2025 rotation when the team traded for Brady Singer from the Royals. The 22-year-old is sure to be a part of the Reds’ rotation of the future – that future just might not start until 2026.

INF Alex Freeland – Los Angeles Dodgers

Few minor leaguers leapt further up top prospect lists last year than Dodgers infielder Alex Freeland. The 2022 third-rounder out of Central Florida broke out in 2024, ending the season at Triple-A in a season that saw him hit .260 with a .829 OPS across three levels.

Freeland’s numbers in 39 games at Triple-A Oklahoma City were the lightest of his three stops at a .243 average and .731 OPS, but that’s not overly surprising for a 22-year-old. With a little more experience there, one might think he would soon be ready for an MLB debut.

Except where would he play? The Dodgers are quite set with the trio of Hyeseong Kim, Mookie Betts, and Max Muncy at second, short, and third, all positions that Freeland can play. If the Dodgers pick up Muncy’s club option for 2026, those spots could be locked up for the next two years.

Los Angeles also still has Miguel Rojas on the infield from last year and reunited with super utility man Enrique Hernández in the offseason. It’s good that Freeland probably needs a little more time in the minors because that’s likely where he was going to end up for a while anyway.