Now that we have 30+ games in the books down in the Minor Leagues, we are starting to see a number of trends when it comes to the best prospects in MLB. Some of the names we expected to shine have met that expectation, others have fallen on their faces and some new names have emerged. To account for these trends, the fine folks at MLB Pipeline released an updated top 100 prospect rankings that saw a lot of prospect movement both up and down to start the 2025 season.
A lot of that movement was significant, but also fairly reasonable. Favorite of the Baseball Insiders show Leo De Vries went from No. 14 to No. 3, and rightly so, while others including Reds pitcher Chase Burns, Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski and Rays infielder Carson Williams saw notable moves up or down. However, a few prospects stood out for just how much their stock has changed in value since the start of the 2025 season.
Experts are loving what they are seeing from George Lombard Jr.
Yankees shortstop George Lombard Jr. is clearly a favorite among both scouts and experts this season. He came into camp this year with a good bit more muscle, but the added weight hasn't seemed to diminished his defensive ability and gives hope that he could be a plus shortstop with power and speed.
While Lombard Jr. has struggled since being promoted to Double-A, the enthusiasm over his potential has not seemed to wane much. Of all prospects in MLB Pipeline's rankings, none jumped higher, as Lombard Jr. went up 49 spots from No. 93 to No. 44.
Brandon Sproat's inability to get hitters to chase is delaying his Mets debut
The Mets were extremely excited to see what Brandon Sproat could do this season after an excellent 2024 campaign. In 24 appearances and 116.1 innings across three levels last year, Sproat posted a 3.40 ERA with peripherals that pointed to big things coming for him in 2025.
Unfortunately, Sproat's propensity to live in the strike zone and inability to get hitters to chase out of zone have caught up with him this season. After a mediocre start to the year and some regression in his breaking stuff, Sproat got downgraded in Pipeline's rankings — he slipped 28 spots to No. 68 the largest drop of anyone still in the top 100.
Brewers' Jesus Made is exceeding what were already lofty expectations for him
Expectations were exceedingly high for Jesus Made coming into this season. The jewel of the Brewers' farm system had a very loud rookie-ball debut, and everyone was eager to see what he could do over a full season. We have seen a lot of young players show out at the lowest levels before flaming out against more advanced competition.
Fortunately, Made has actually been better than could have reasonably been hoped for in 2025, with a .311/.418/.456 line in Low-A plus three homers and 13 stolen bases. While he is still far off from a big-league debut, he earned his 26-spot bump up to No. 23 in Pipeline's rankings.
Chase DeLauter's injury issues continue to rob the Guardians of a rare talent
It really is a shame that Chase DeLauter has had so much trouble to start his career, because he is a really good hitter when he is on the field. The 16th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft can really hit and hit for power, but a series of foot injuries derailed the start of his career and sports hernia surgery last offseason kept him out until early May.
Considering how much time he has missed and how chronic his injury issues have been, there is an argument for keeping him off the rankings altogether until he proves he can stay on the field. However, the offensive talent is too much to ignore and instead he got a downgrade to No. 52.
No one can ignore Dodgers' Zyhir Hope anymore
Lost in the middle of the Dodgers' willingness to throw their financial might around is that they are pretty good at developing big-league talent. One should probably be wary if L.A. is willing to trade a top prospect as they tend to cut loose guys they don't like, but Zyhir Hope's recent ascension proves that the Dodgers still know how to develop homegrown hitters.
After a tremendous full-season debut last year in which he posted a .903 OPS, Hope isn't missing a beat in High-A with a .286/.375/.516 line through his first 33 games this season (including an absolute tank of a home run last week). With a 21-spot bump up to No. 45, this may only be the beginning of Hope's rise up the prospect rankings.