Roughly a month and a half into the Minor League Baseball season, it's time to identify a few players that have a good chance at shooting up prospect rankings even further in 2025.
AL East - George Lombard Jr., SS, New York Yankees
In large part due to a hot start at High-A Hudson Valley this year and the prospect pedigree that Lombard Jr. brings to the table, the young shortstop flew all the way up to the top spot inMLB Pipeline's recent update of the Yankees' top 30 prospects. On top of that, he also cracked the top 50 overall MLB prospects right now at No. 44 as the only Yankee in the top 100.
Lombard Jr. was the Yankees' first-round draft pick in 2023 (26th overall) out of Gulliver Prep School in Miami. He entered the system as a multi-faceted player, flashing plus defense and speed, but it has taken the bat some time to adjust to professional pitching. In a short stint between the Florida Complex League and Low-A Tampa in 2023, Lombard Jr put up solid numbers, posting an .821 OPS and a 139 wRC+ over 58 plate appearances.
However, his numbers came down to Earth in his first full season of pro ball in 2024. He played 81 games at Low-A where his offensive numbers were average at best, but his 30 steals and excellent defense at multiple infield positions helped earn him a promotion to High-A Hudson Valley. Unfortunately for Lombard Jr., the offensive numbers suffered, as he hit just .226/.321/.296 in 131 plate appearances.
Fast forward eight months, and not only did Lombard Jr. turn things around, but he also earned a promotion to Double-A Somerset at just the age of 19. In 24 games with Hudson Valley to start the season, he hit .329/.495/.488, which was good for a 184 wRC+, nearly 100 points higher than his 2024 mark at High-A. Although he's going through another learning curve at the moment in Double-A, the good news for Lombard Jr. is that he continues to put the ball in play at an above-average rate while drawing walks in nearly a quarter of his plate appearances and impacting the game both in the infield and on the base paths.
NL East - Jonah Tong, RHP, New York Mets
Jonah Tong has been one of the top pitchers in all of Minor League Baseball thus far in 2025, and for the most part has fallen under the radar. Entering 2024, Tong was nowhere to be found when it came to top pitching prospects in the Mets' system. However, Tong caught some steam in 2024 and has gotten even better here in 2025, earning himself a spot within the top 10 Mets prospects right now.
Tong was a seventh round selection in the 2022 draft out of the Georgia Premier Academy as a 19 year old. He didn't make his pro debut until mid-way through 2023 where he threw just 21 innings across ten games between the Florida Complex League and Low-A St. Lucie. It wasn't a pretty debut either as he yielded a 6.00 ERA while walking 22.0% of the batters he faced.
As he got more starts in 2024, he really started to catch his stride. He threw 18 and 2/3 scoreless innings at Low-A to open the season before getting the call to High-A Brooklyn. He made 19 starts there before earning a late-season call-up to Double-A Binghamton to close out his 2024 breakout campaign. Now in 2025, Tong is already looking ready for Triple-A.
In 34 innings across seven starts thus far, Tong owns a 2.12 ERA, 1.81 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, and a 43.4% strikeout rate. Along with the dominant numbers, Tong has also improved his walk rate immensely since 2023. That 22.0% walk rate in 2023 has been cut in half as he's walking hitters at an 11.8% rate here in 2025. Considering the trajectory he's on, Tong should only inch closer to being named the Mets top prospect at some point in the near future.
AL Central - Drew Beam, RHP, Kansas City Royals
Another right handed pitcher to add to the list of arms to keep tabs on moving forward is Drew Beam. Not even halfway into his first full season of professional baseball, Beam has established himself as one of the better pitching prospects in the Royals system.
Beam was drafted just a year ago in the third round as the 76th overall pick out of the University of Tennessee. The 22-year-old didn't enter the system as a dominant arm expected to move fast through the system, but he has found a way to make his tools work early.
In 39 and 1/3 innings across eight starts to open his pro career at High-A Quad Cities, Beam owns a 3.43 ERA and a 2.53 FIP. He's finding a lot of his success through limiting walks and keeping the ball on the ground, but is also punching out his fair share of hitters as well. He has a 25.5% strikeout rate at the moment, which is higher than any mark he reached in his three seasons at Tennessee. On top of that, his 5.6% walk rate is lower than any of his walk rates in college. He has always been a control freak dating back to his freshman year with the Volunteers, where he posted his career high walk rate which was only 7.0%.
As he advances through the system, the expectation is that he will have to throw outside of the zone more to avoid getting hit hard, but he's showing an ability to earn whiffs as well. The combination of strikeout ability, as well as the ability to limit walks at an elite rate, sets a pretty high floor for the Royals to work with and is a big reason why he has climbed up the Royals prospect list as early as May.
NL Central - Tyson Hardin, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Sticking with right-handed pitchers, we have Tyson Hardin, a player that actually hasn't cracked any top prospect lists yet, but will if he sustains the level of success he has found here in 2025.
Hardin is another 2024 draft pick out of the college ranks, and was selected in the 12th round by the Brewers out of Mississippi State. Hardin was a much fringier pitcher entering pro ball than Tong and Beam, but is proving quickly that he can join them as top organizational prospects pretty soon. The Brewers have a long track record of success when it comes to pitching development, and Hardin is looking like he may be their next success story.
Hardin got a quick cup of coffee at Low-A Carolina last year following the draft and has opened his first full season in High-A Wisconsin. In 38 and 2/3 innings across eight starts thus far, Hardin has a 1.16 ERA, 1.88 FIP, 0.85 WHIP, and a minuscule 2.8% walk rate. His FIP is the lowest among any qualified pitcher at the High-A level this year while his ERA, WHIP, and walk rate all fall within the top five.
Unlike Beam, Hardin's ability to limit walks is actually a new thing, which leads me to believe the Brewers did find something in Hardin which will only improve his development even further. His walk rate in his final year at Mississippi was 13.9% ,while his strikeout rate was only 21.8%. That strikeout rate in High-A is now as high as 27.8%, so similar to Beam, Hardin has improved in both striking out and walking hitters, but at an even more drastic rate. Either this is a hot streak for Hardin that will soon simmer, or he has actually tapped into something that will only continue to boost his stock as a pitching prospect.
AL West - Gage Jump, LHP, Athletics
The 2024 draft class has proven to be a solid one, especially for the pitchers, because Gage Jump is the third pitcher from last year's class that has been a legitimate riser. In his first season of professional baseball, he has already been promoted to Double-A Midland while also ranking as high as 13 on MLB Pipeline's recent update of the top 30 prospects in the Athletics farm system.
Jump is a left handed pitcher that comes from the college ranks. He was selected in the second competitive balance round last year as the 73rd overall pick to the Athletics. Jump finished a solid college career at LSU before joining the A's at High-A Lansing this year.
He didn't stick around for very long in High-A as he was promoted to Double-A after just five starts. In his 31 innings in Lansing, Jump posted a 2.32 ERA, 1.82 FIP, 0.84 WHIP, and a 37.2 strikeout rate to just a 4.1 walk rate. In two starts since joining Midland, Jump has thrown 12 innings and has yet to allow a run while striking out 30.4% of the batters he has faced.
Jump has undoubtedly looked like one of the best pitchers in the Athletics system to this point. His 1.87 FIP on the season leads all qualified Athletics minor league pitchers while his 1.67 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 30.5 K-BB%, and .191 batting average against all rank within the top three. He has found his success through a complete arsenal that flashes above-average to plus grades on his fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. This is a pitcher I would expect to see earning a top five prospect nod in the Athletics system, and potentially a spot on the top 100 MLB prospect rankings by the end of 2025.
NL West - Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, Arizona Diamonbacks
To wrap up my top prospect risers so far this year, we'll move back over to the position player side where Ryan Waldschmidt is performing at a high level in his first season of professional baseball.
Waldschmidt is yet another standout from last year's draft class that is proving the 2024 class is not as weak as it was made out to be. He was selected at the back of the first round last year as the 31st overall pick to the Diamondbacks out of the University of Kentucky.
In his professional debut last year following the draft, Waldschmidt got off to a strong start at Low-A Visalia. He posted a 142 wRC+ and drew 15 walks to just nine strikeouts in 66 plate appearances. He got some playing time at Diamonbacks spring training this year before opening his first full pro season at High-A Hillsboro where he has been even better than he was in 2024. He has already hit five home runs in 175 plate appearances while posting a slash line of .283/.463/.472. The plate discipline and contact skills have carried over to the next level as well as he's still walking more than he is striking out.
Aside from the bat, Waldschmidt impacts the game in more ways than one which puts less pressure on his bat to perform in order for him to get promoted further. He's a 20+ stolen base threat considering his athleticism and ability to get on base at a high rate, and he's also an above-average defender in left field. The tools Waldschmidt brings to the table makes him one of the better well-rounded players in Minor League Baseball and is a big reason why he is already ranked the third-best prospects in the Diamondbacks farm system.