Blake Street Banter Team | August 28, 2025
We now approach the top 30 of the BSB Top 50 Prospects list, covering 40-31 today before reaching the top 30 on Saturday.
In this installment, a pair of 2025 draftees headline, including Ethan Hedges, while the organization’s focus on college pitching compiles much of the remaining depth in this range.
Catch up on the top 50:
#40: RHP Riley Kelly
The Rockies 2025 4th rounder, Kelly hails from UC Irvine where he ascended the program ladder his junior season to become one of the team’s most reliable arms, posting a 3.78 ERA before the Rockies selected him. Kelly never quite dominated at the college level but his stuff provides hope he can explode in the pros.
Kelly sits 92-93 with his fastball that gets quality life up in the zone and plays about 1 mph faster thanks to Kelly’s 6.7 feet of extension on the heater. Kelly’s curveball is a plus pitch getting huge drop and playing super steep because of Kelly’s high three-quarter slot. If Kelly can figure his changeup out–it’s already close to an average pitch–he has the stuff to be a backend MLB starter, though his command will need to take a step forward.
#39: RHP Connor Staine
Inconsistent is the best way to describe Connor Staine’s professional career thus far. Command issues that looked to be weeded out of Staines’ game have become more prevalent this season in Double-A. Despite these problems arising again, there is still much to like about Staine. He has a very deep mix highlighted by a fastball that touches 97 and a slider that will create whiffs. He pairs this arsenal with a quick, 3-phase windup with big reach and stretch to finish that allows for tunneling and control of all pitches.
The Rockies have played it safe with Staine, letting him get a full season at every stop, including this season in Double-A. Against Eastern League competition Staine is walking more batters and striking out significantly less. He’s getting fewer swings outside the zone, leading to difficult-to-win counts.
Despite the struggles in Double-A, there is still premier talent in there. Staine’s fastball will play anywhere, and a little improvement of the secondaries can mean massive gains. He’s not the first player to struggle with their first assignment in Double-A and he won’t be the last. Despite the struggles as a starter, Staine will likely still be starting games next season, but if he’s not, there is extreme bullpen intrigue here. At the end of the day, Connor Staine is a hypercompetitive athlete with immense talent. Not somebody you should bet against.
#38: LHP Konner Eaton
Eaton has been one of the bigger risers this year as he’s been sturdy from start to finish despite a tough assignment to High-A Spokane for his first pro starts. The Rockies’ faith has been rewarded as Eaton’s 3.56 ERA ranks 6th among Northwest League pitchers with 60 or more innings while his 125 strikeouts rank 2nd in the league. This success even got Eaton promoted to Double-A this past week. Eaton’s numbers at George Mason didn’t indicate success like this was likely, as Eaton had a 5.90 college ERA including a still below average 5.66 ERA in his draft-eligible season.
However, the Rockies targeted the explosive left-handed traits with Eaton and they’ve been rewarded thus far. Eaton’s fastball sits 92-94 but can touch 96 at its peak. It is Eaton’s slider that gives him a chance to rise up prospect boards; it sits 82-85 with heavy drop. It’s an easy above average breaking ball that gives Eaton a shot at an MLB bullpen and will keep him in a MiLB rotation until further notice.
#37: INF Andy Perez
Andy Perez created tension among the people who were involved in this ranking. Some didn’t see him as a top 50 organizational prospect, others saw him as a top 30 guy. Despite having many drawbacks, Andy Perez can Frankenstein himself into a big leaguer; steal enough bases, play good enough defense, and develop just enough power. It might not be the most flashy, but many players have made this their career.
For starters, Perez has a prototypical frame for a big league infielder. With more time in the weight room, he could fill out his frame and project for moderate power numbers, especially for a middle infielder. Pair his size with a solid arm, and all the tools are there for him to be defensively solid in the middle infield with the arm strength to stick at third.
He’s a plus runner on the basepaths, stealing more than 20 bags in each of the last three seasons. The offensive profile is a risky one. Perez doesn’t make life easy on himself with his overly aggressive approach. So far in his career, Perez has been one of the worst in all of MiLB baseball in drawing walks. This season, he’s walking at a putrid 4.2% rate. Add in the fact that there are some swing and miss concerns and presently just fringey power, and the red flags are all over Perez’s offensive profile. This is why gaining weight and realizing his power potential will be huge for his prospect status.
Despite the downsides, Perez is still young and has tons of growing as a person and player to do. It will be interesting to see if he takes the next step in the offseason before his inevitable promotion to Double-A Hartford.
#36: LHP Michael Prosecky
Another southpaw who doesn’t throw the hardest but uses deception and an odd delivery to get batters to miss. This type of pitcher can be found all over the Rockies system, as Daryl Scott and company believe they can get the best out of these guys. Despite not being a starter for most of his college career, Michael Prosecky is one of the most projectable starting pitching prospects.
2024 was a setback for Prosecky as an elbow injury sidelined him for more than half of the year. This didn’t just limit his innings, throwing less than 50, but it also forced him to start this season in High-A Spokane. 2025 has been much better, seeing him dominate the Northwest League and earn a promotion to Double-A Hartford.
Proseckys arsenal is still a work in progress, but it’s headlined by a 12-6 curveball that has harsh verticality that pairs perfectly with the deceptive fastball. He rounds out his repertoire with a changeup and a super raw slider that is still improving. The slider will be critical for Prosecky. He won’t be able to power MLB competition, and the only way I see him succeeding with finesse is getting a second breaking ball to at least league average.
#35: SS Ashly Andujar
Andujar was the Rockies priciest international signing in 2024. It’s clear Andujar is a fluid baseball player–everything looks easy for him. After hitting .291 in the DSL last year, the Rockies decided to bring the 18-year-old stateside after just one season. He has continued to impress with his hit tool, finishing the ACL season with a .319 average and .370 OBP, even raising his contact% by over 10% in that one year transition.
Contact is what Andujar’s entire offensive game revolves around currently. With only seven extra-base hits to his name in 53 games in 2025, Andujar’s power isn’t present. He has hit the ball over 100 MPH only a handful of times. However, he knows his limits, and slaps the ball to the opposite field 43% of the time and hits groundballs 64% of the time, looking to use his bat control to find holes.
It’s not always pretty, but this slap hitting approach will work in the lower levels of MiLB. Andujar has plus speed, but isn’t aggressive on the bases. His defense at short is good enough to keep him there for years to come with an eventual transition to 2B possible. Andujar is still raw, but the idea is with more strength added he can be an everyday infielder that can hit .280 with 10 home runs across a full season.
#34: C Braxton Fulford
Braxton Fulford likely won’t remain on prospect rankings for much longer. The 26-year-old catcher is currently on the Rockies’ active roster and appears to have settled into a role as Hunter Goodman‘s backup for the remainder of the season. He’s also seen occasional opportunities as a designated hitter.
A former sixth-round pick, Fulford advanced quickly through the Rockies’ system, largely thanks to the power in his bat and trustworthy defense behind the plate. While he’s struggled at the Major League level so far (posting a 54 wRC+), he’s shown that Triple-A pitching no longer poses much of a challenge, and some of his struggles can be attributed to irregular playing time.
Fulford now finds himself in an interesting spot within the organization. With Goodman clearly emerging as the Rockies’ catcher of the future, the question becomes whether Fulford can do enough to secure the backup role beyond just a short-term solution.
#33: LHP Everett Catlett
Catlett had a tumultuous career at Georgetown, logging just 122 innings across 4 years, missing the entire 2022 season. The lanky left-hander struggled to find success when healthy until a solid 2024 season saw the Virginia native post a 3.36 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 77.2 innings. This was enough for the Rockies to tab him as their 12th round pick and just about everything has gone right since then.
In 113.1 innings–by far a new career high–Catlett has dropped a 3.02 ERA with 117 strikeouts. Catlett’s fastball routinely sits 91-93 but he can touch 95 with some run. Catlett also mixes in a low-80s slider with quality drop and has been developing a mid-80s changeup that can touch 89. The former Hoya has a tough path to an MLB rotation with limited power and only one polished secondary but with his solid command and big left-handed frame, there is upside to tap into.
#32: 3B Ethan Hedges
One of the newest additions to our prospect list, the 21-year-old Hedges joined the Rockies just a few months ago after being selected in the third round of the MLB Draft. Hedges is an intriguing prospect, largely because he wasn’t high on draft radars prior to his junior season at USC.
In his first two collegiate seasons, Hedges failed to post eye-catching numbers, recording a WRC+ below 100 in both years. But everything changed in 2025, thanks to what appeared to be a refined approach at the plate. Over 60 games, Hedges posted a 1.081 OPS and a 147 WRC+. And those numbers might only scratch the surface.
Perhaps most surprising were his 14 home runs and .273 ISO—a sudden surge of power that had been absent during his earlier college seasons. Hedges also demonstrated solid plate discipline, walking 15% of the time while keeping his strikeout rate below 20%.
He remains a bit of a wildcard due to the relatively small sample size of high-end production, but if he can maintain this approach, remain a contact first hitter, and begin tapping into even more power, Hedges could turn into an intriguing infield option.
#31: OF Alessander De La Cruz
Out of any prospect in BSB’s top 50, De La Cruz has the biggest gap between his floor and ceiling. The right-handed hitting outfielder can hit the ball harder than a lot of big-leaguers (consistently hitting balls over 110 MPH), and he is just 19 years old. He generates this power by using his entire body to form a lightning quick swing–watching him barrel a baseball is one of the more satisfying baseball events to witness.
While De La Cruz’ power projection is through the roof, his strikeouts are a major problem. The Rockies made it clear that he couldn’t be as aggressive as he was in the DSL, so in 2025 he took more pitches–which led him to getting behind more in counts and in effect a 34% strikeout rate. If his swing and miss doesn’t improve, he likely won’t make it back to this list, but with the right adjustments De La Cruz can be an electric factory of a pro hitter.
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