3 Lesser Known Prospects Making Names For Themselves

Every year, Just Baseball publishes one of the most comprehensive and thorough top-100 prospect lists you’ll find on the world wide web. Aram Leighton puts hours upon hours into his deep dives and analyses and what comes of it when it’s published (and updated multiple times throughout the calendar year) is a must-read for baseball fans everywhere.

Fitting 100 prospects into a list is a tall task, because there are always going to be players that get left off. Most times, it’s simply because there isn’t enough room for every notable prospect to get included in the final list.

To the surprise of nobody, most of the names to make our top-100 are showing exactly how they earned their spots in the final cut. Roman Anthony (No. 1), Dalton Rushing (No. 8), and Jac Caglianone (No. 10) are all players who cracked the top ten and have already made their big league debuts.

Still, there are a handful of names out there that are standing out amongst the competition in their bids to make future updates of this behemoth of a prospect-ranking. Let’s take a look at three players in particular that are becoming harder to ignore down on the farm.

The Pirates Have a Budding Slugger On Their Hands

Entering the season, Esmerlyn Valdez of the Pittsburgh Pirates looked an awful lot like many players we’ve seen before. Last year, he hit 22 home runs in Single-A while striking out just over 30% of the time. To be clear, it’s just fine to be a slugger that strikes out a lot. Despite the fact that he showed a ton of swing-and-miss in his game, he still posted a wRC+ of 130 in 107 games.

This year, Valdez is off to a scorching-hot start. In 72 High-A games, the 21-year-old hit 20 home runs with 57 RBI and 46 runs scored. He’s also brought his strikeout rate down 6%. This resulted in his first promotion to Double-A, where he has yet to officially debut.

Valdez didn’t make MLB Pipeline’s Pirates top-30 this year either, but that’s not going to be the case for very long. He’s hitting .303 with a whopping 171 wRC+ in the minors this season and has become one of the best run producers in all of Minor League Baseball.

In fact, his 20 home runs are tied for second-most in all of the minor leagues. He’s also tied for 10th in RBI, and his wRC+ is 21st. However, no hitter with 300 or more plate appearances this year tops him in that department.

Looking strictly at his production in the South Atlantic League that he just graduated from, Valdez leads the way in hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, AVG, and SLG.

A first baseman and corner outfielder by trade, Valdez was just recently named to the All-Star Futures Game alongside teammate Konnor Griffin. The former is annihilating opposing pitchers this season, while the latter is going to be a future annual All-Star in the big leagues. Pirates fans should be salivating over this promising young duo.

MLB’s Next Speed Demon Prepping to Fly Through Cleveland’s System

Chandler Simpson, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and a few others are keeping the stolen base in fashion, but it’s still just not as prevalent as it once was.

Simpson stole over 100 bases last year (first player in over 12 years to do so), which is not something you see every day, regardless of what level it is. Yet, the Cleveland Guardians have a young outfielder who seems primed to take Simpson’s feat and stomp all over it.

Tommy Hawke, Cleveland’s sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft, is 63 games into his season. So far, he’s averaged one steal per game, as he leads the minors with 63 in 68 tries.

Throughout his collegiate career, Hawke didn’t hit for power (topping out at seven home runs) or steal many bases, but he’s been running wild this season.

Hawke, 23 next week, is another name here that’s not featured on many (any) top-prospect lists. In fact, he didn’t get a mention in anything from Baseball America, Pipeline, or FanGraphs. That doesn’t mean he’s not good or doesn’t deserve the love, but he hadn’t done anything noteworthy until this year.

He’s been tearing up the basepaths, but Hawke’s sporting a .309/.453/.382 line with an .834 OPS and 152 wRC+ to go along with the steals. Better yet, he’s doing this without hitting a home run. His OBP would be second in the big leagues right now behind Aaron Judge, and he’s got 36 more steals than Oneil Cruz, who leads MLB.

Hawke still sitting in Single-A while nearing 23 isn’t ideal, but his speed is game-changing enough that he’s able to stay relevant. He’s walking more than he’s striking out and keeping pitchers on their toes every time he reaches base. We’re not dealing an otherworldly prospect here, but he’s a name to monitor.

The Yankees’ Next Big Starting Pitcher Is Making Waves

Cam Schlittler is becoming less and less underrated as the days go by, but he didn’t crack our top-100, so he gets a mention.

Originally brought into the New York Yankees’ system as a seventh-round pick in the 2022 draft, Schlittler took a while to find his footing in the minor leagues, but he’s elevated his game to a whole new level this season.

A 6-foot-6 right-hander, Schlittler has made 13 starts (and one relief appearance) this year and has hit his stride when it comes to run prevention. Across 74.1 innings of work, he’s sporting a 2.18 ERA while striking out 97 and walking just 25.

Schlittler’s always been a high-strikeout arm, but he’s walking 3.4 batters per nine innings after being up to 4.1 last season. The current walk rate isn’t anything to write home about, but his year-over-year improvement is something to take note of.

After starting the year in Double-A Somerset, Schlittler has since moved up to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and he’s gotten even better. With a 1.69 ERA and 13.9 K/9 across four starts and 21.1 innings, he’s inching closer and closer to the big leagues. The Yankees are without Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Ryan Yarbrough, but they’re still atop the AL East and have received standout performances from Carlos Rodon, Max Fried, and Clarke Schmidt.

Valdez and Hawke are still years away from their first taste of the big leagues, but Schlittler could reach The Show as soon as this season. He’s earned some love from Pipeline and will be a highly-ranked name in our upcoming Yankees prospect rankings, but his exclusion from the big list helped him earn a spot here. You’ll be seeing him real soon.