Five under the radar MLB prospects that will make a lot of noise in 2025

2. David Davalillo, Texas Rangers

Our second underrated prospect is another international product, this time out of Venezuela. David Davalillo signed internationally with the New York Mets in 2021 for just one season, and was picked up by the Texas Rangers the following year. Davalillo got his professional start at the age of 19 in the Dominican Summer League, and has quietly been one of the better pitchers in the Rangers system.

Davalillo, now 22 years old, has delivered 132 innings up through High-A Hub City since 2023. Among all qualified Rangers minor league pitchers in that time frame, Davalillo ranks first overall in ERA (2.11), second in FIP (2.93), third in WHIP (1.09), sixth in BB% (6.7), and 12th in K-BB% (19.4).

While his 2023 campaign was solid, it was really his performance in 2024 that started to bring Davalillo some atttention. Over 110.1 innings and 21 starts between Low-A Hickory and High-A Hub City, Davalillo posted a 1.88 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, and an 18.2 K-BB%. His ERA once again led all Rangers minor league pitchers while his FIP and WHIP ranked within the top ten.

Across the rest of the minors, Davalillo's numbers tracked well with some of the top pitching prospects in the game. His ERA last season led all minor league pitchers with at least 100 innings, and he was one of just three pitchers with at least 20 starts and a sub-2.00 ERA.

Davalillo really finds his success through great command of his four pitch mix (fastball, splitter, curveball, slider) and his ability to induce a lot of ground balls. At each of his stops in the minors, Davalillo has produced both below-average walk rates and above-average ground ball rates along with a career 25.6 K%. With these tools on the mound, Davalillo can be one of the top risers on prospect lists in 2025.