Eli Whitney | January 28th, 2025

Let the debates begin. The time of year has come again when major outlets such as Baseball America and MLB Pipeline release their preseason top 100 prospects lists. As seems to be true in many different aspects of roster construction, the Dodgers are once more leading the way in the NL West. In MLB Pipelines’ latest addition to their top 100, the Dodgers found themselves with six players in the ranks, including the number one overall prospect in the form of recent international signing Roki Sasaki.

The rest of the NL West combined for only six players of their own, with Colorado and San Diego accounting for two each, while San Francisco and Arizona have only one apiece. Find our breakdown of how Rockies prospects fared in the Top 100 lists here.

At face value, this is a disheartening number for the organizations that reside within the NL West, but the prospects that did find themselves in the Top 100 are held in very high regard. Of the top 50 players in the rankings, nine of them come from the NL West. This is the second most of any division trailing just the AL Central with 13. While there is a noticeable lack of depth in the NL West’s prospect pool, it is also home to some of the biggest prospects in the sport. Let’s dive in. 

Arizona Diamondbacks 

The Diamondbacks lone member of MLB Pipelines top 100 comes in the form of 22-year-old shortstop Jordan Lawlar. The former 2021 first-round pick now finds himself as the #11 prospect in all of baseball, despite missing the majority of the 2024 season due to a hamstring injury. This marks the second consecutive year that Lawlar has found himself as the Diamondbacks number one overall prospect prior to the season.

Despite the fact that he’s played fewer than 150 games over the past two seasons, scouts and baseball fans alike are still enamored with Lawlar’s potential due in large part to his impressive combination of power, speed, and defensive ability. Lawlar is a manager’s dream on the basepaths, during his brief stint at the major league level in 2023, Lawler impressed with his legs. He was tracked at sprint speeds of up to 30 feet/second. For reference, the leader in this category at the MLB level in 2024 was Royals SS Bobby Witt Jr, who posted an average sprint speed of 30.5 feet/second. 

The most important thing for Lawlar at this point in his young career, is finding a way to remain healthy. Highly regarded as he is, Lawlars inability to stay on the field has hindered his progression and his 2025 outlook is somewhat murky. Many expected him to become an everyday player for Arizona as early as last year; now, Lawlar remains on the opening-day roster bubble for 2025.

The 6-foot-1 shortstop has long been regarded as one of the most well-rounded players in the minor leagues, and his upside remains tantalizing despite the injury setbacks. That said, he’ll need a standout spring in Scottsdale to prove to the Diamondbacks front office that he’s not only worthy of a spot on the Opening Day roster but also capable of challenging Geraldo Perdomo for the starting shortstop position.

Los Angeles Dodgers 

Fresh off of their second World Series in five years, the Dodgers are not just on top of the NL West at the moment but represent the mountain that the rest of MLB is trying to climb, and it seems like the summit just keeps getting higher.

Yes, the Dodgers have a seemingly never-ending supply of cash to divvy out. Yes, the lack of a salary cap in Major League Baseball will continue to allow them to bully smaller market teams. And yes, their ability to manipulate the luxury tax with deferred payments on contracts leads most MLB fans to resent them. Still, from an organizational and developmental standpoint, the Dodgers are as good as it gets. They consistently draft well and always seem to have prospects moving through their system quickly.

While there’s not a lot of homegrown talent on their field for them at any given time, their player development has allowed them to make trades for big-name players, dishing out highly ranked prospects in favor of a win-now mentality. Obviously, there are exceptions to this such as All-Star catcher Will Smith, but the point remains, the Dodgers prospect development is elite. This year’s top 100 rankings proved that point true once again. 

Unfortunately for the rest of the league, the defending champions landed the #1 prospect in the world, Roki Sasaki. Sasaki is the immediate favorite for Rookie of the Year in the National League, joining a rotation that already possesses the likes of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and a now-healthy Shohei Ohtani. For more on Sasaki check out last week’s Best of the West Podcast. For now, let’s focus on a talent that’s been tearing through the Dodgers system, Dalton Rushing. 

Simply put, Dalton Rushing can rake. MLB Pipeline has Rushing ranked as the #30 overall prospect, a slight step up from his preseason ranking of #39 prior to the start of last season. Based on just his performance last year, you could argue that his ranking is still too low.

Keith Law from The Athletic has Rushing at #16, following a massive campaign in 2024. Rushing began the year in Double-A, playing 77 games and posting a slash line of .270/.378/.512, along with 17 home runs. He finished the season in Triple-A with the Oklahoma City Comets and had no trouble adapting to the promotion. Rushing finished with a .907 OPS and 128 wRC+ over the course of 37 games. 

Rushing has some of the best raw power of any prospect in baseball, paired with impressive plate discipline. Across Double and Triple-A in 2024, his chase rate was only 21%. His patience at the plate allows him to consistently put the barrel on the ball, leading to a 40.6% hard-hit rate in 2024. While he may never win a Gold Glove behind the dish, his defense is steadily improving, and he is at least serviceable. Rushing also possesses versatility in the field, starting nearly half of his games last year in left field. ​​

Despite his strong performance in 2024, Rushing’s path to the big leagues in 2025 has its obstacles. To start, the Dodgers already seem to have found their franchise catcher in Will Smith, who signed a 10-year, $140 million extension last March. Los Angeles also exercised veteran backup Austin Barnes‘ $3.5 million club option for 2025. Considering that Barnes is one of the longest-tenured players on the roster, and a far superior defender to Rushing at this stage of his career, it seems fairly unlikely that his role as the Dodgers reserve catcher is in any jeopardy this season.

Rushing’s ability to play the outfield may help his case as the season goes on, but as things currently stand, the Dodgers have no shortage of talent or depth there either. Rushing may not be on the Dodgers 40-man roster at this point, but he did receive a non-roster invite to Spring Training and will have the opportunity to continue showcasing his abilities in Scottsdale.

Other Dodgers prospects in the Top 100 include OF  Josue Da Paula (no. 40), LHP Jackson Ferris (no. 71), Alex Freeland(no. 73) and Zyhir Hope (no. 75). 

Hope is a name to follow as he has gotten considerable hype for his physical tools and .903 OPS in Single-A as a 19-year-old. While there’s plenty of risk, Hope could easily be the Dodgers top prospect this time next year.

San Diego Padres 

The Padres–similar to the Rockies–have two prospects on this year’s MLB Pipeline Top 100 list, and both are just 18 years old. It’s unlikely that either of these two players will make their MLB debut anytime in the immediate future, but both are highly touted talents with the ability to become household names if all stays true to course.

Both catcher Ethan Salas (no. 33) and shortstop Leodalis De Vries (no. 18) joined the Padres organization as amateur international signings over the past two years. Each was ranked as the number one international prospect in their respective class at the time of signing, and both have shown that they have the capability to live up to the expectations that come with said ranking. 

Leodalis De Vries was quickly integrated into the top 100 prospect rankings prior to the 2024 season, before even taking an at-bat for the Padres organization. He has since seen his ranking rise ten spots after his first season of professional baseball at the Single-A level. De Vries struggled to find his footing early on in the year, failing to produce an OPS over .660 in each of his first three months of the season.

July was a different story. As is true with many young prospects, as his confidence and comfort with professional pitching increased, De Vries showed why he was such a sought after commodity. In the month of July, De Vries produced a slash line of .318/.442/.694, hit eight home runs, and perhaps most impressively produced a BB/KK ratio of 1.

The switch-hitting teenager continued to swing that bat well into the month of August before suffering a shoulder injury, effectively ending his 2024 campaign. De Vries continued to make waves in his return from injury, becoming the youngest player since Bryce Harper to hit a home run in the Arizona Fall League. 

As he enters his second year of professional baseball, De Vries will be looking to improve his effectiveness against breaking pitches that gave him some trouble last year, while continuing to refine his approach against pitching from each side of the mound. Conversely, he possesses plus speed on the basepaths, and is already a respectable defender who will only improve in the field with more reps. With a good season in 2025, De Vries may very well be one of the top prospects in baseball come this time next year. 

To learn more about the Padres second-ranked prospect, Ethan Salas, check out our article from last week here. 

San Francisco Giants 

Since his minor league debut in 2023, Bryce Eldridge has been one of, if not the fastest-rising prospects in MLB. With one of the best power bats in all of minor league baseball, Eldridge has raked everywhere he has been tested, going from the complex league to Triple-A, in just 140 games. Over that span, Eldridge has gone from a prospect outside of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 when he was drafted, to the number 24 prospect in all of baseball in the most recent rankings.

Eldridge possesses a smooth swing that translates to easy power and he undoubtedly has the potential to be a perennial 30-home-run type of player once he breaks ground in the major leagues. For a full report on Eldridge check out our article from last week. 

Though Eldridge may be the only player within the Giants organization who was ranked in this year’s top 100, he is not the only prospect with the potential to make waves this upcoming season. Ranked #88 in last year’s preseason Top 100 though just missing the most recent list, James Tibbs III is a name that’s generating a lot of excitement within the Giants organization as they look forward to what he can contribute. The 22-year-old outfielder was the #13 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Florida State, which many felt was a steal due to the performance he put on in his last year of collegiate baseball.

In 66 games during his junior season in Tallahassee, Tibbs produced a 1.264 OPS, with 28 home runs and RBIs. Tibbs only struck out in 11.5% of his plate appearances, while drawing the free pass at an 18% rate. He played a key role in leading the Seminoles to a College Baseball World Series appearance before their season was ended by the eventual national champions, the Tennessee Volunteers.

As a 22-year-old prospect who only played sparingly in the minors last season, the Giants will be hoping to see a quick return on their investment over the next couple of years with a return to the MLB Top 100 in view. If all goes to plan, don’t be surprised to see Tibbs joining the Giants big league club as early as the 2026 MLB season.

While the rest of the NL West isn’t brimming with prospects, the Rockies find themselves gridlocked with their division foes in terms of top prospect recognition. For a team that has struggled to win games at the big league level, getting quality prospect performances in 2025 will be a priority.

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies were covered last week. Check the article below.