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Picture the scene. You¡¯re at a holiday party, and naturally, baseball¡¯s Hot Stove comes up in conversation. Let¡¯s say the Garrett Crochet blockbuster is being discussed when your friend/coworker/Uncle Tony says, ¡°Oh yeah, who¡¯d the White Sox get for him anyways?¡±

You don¡¯t want to have names only. You want more than that. That¡¯s why you come to MLB Pipeline, where we update an organization¡¯s Top 30 Prospects rankings after an impactful trade. You want numbers. You want tools. You want information that goes beyond the basics.

Let us help you.

It¡¯s been a busy trade season across the baseball landscape during and after last week¡¯s Winter Meetings, and to keep you up-to-date and ready for that baseball party talk, here¡¯s one interesting factoid about each ranked prospect dealt recently (and three bonus ones on other prospects). Keep these handy as you spread prospect cheer by analyzing scouting reports loudly for all to hear.

Acquired by the White Sox in the Garrett Crochet deal:

Kyle Teel, C (No. 2, MLB No. 25): Playing in his first full season in the Red Sox system, the 14th overall pick in the 2023 Draft was one of only eight catchers aged 22 or younger to meet the qualifying at-bat standard at Double-A/Triple-A in 2024. He ranked second in that group with a 134 wRC+, having slashed .288/.386/.433 in 505 plate appearances for Portland and Worcester. The only member of the group with higher wRC+ was Edgar Quero (139), his new teammate in the Chicago organization.

Braden Montgomery, OF (No. 5, MLB No. 54): The 2024 12th overall pick has yet to debut in the Minors after suffering a broken right ankle with Texas A&M, but keep an eye on his switch-hitting. He talked to MLB Network¡¯s Hot Stove last week about starting to hit from both sides when he was 10, but while he¡¯s a natural righty, he¡¯s proven better at generating power from the left side recently. In at-bats tracked by Synergy Sports, the outfielder posted an .819 slugging percentage as a lefty hitter in 2024 compared to .485 as a righty.

Chase Meidroth, INF (No. 13): Listed 5-foot-10, Meidroth does a tremendous job of controlling the strike zone, a skill that helped him get included in this blockbuster and has him knocking on the Majors¡¯ door. His .437 on-base percentage for Worcester last year was the highest among Triple-A qualifiers and the best by a player aged 22 or younger at the Minors¡¯ top level since at least 2006.

Wikelman Gonzalez, RHP (No. 14): The 22-year-old right-hander took a step back with Portland last season, but he was one of the Minors¡¯ best statistical pitchers in 2023 when he led full-season qualifiers with a 35.2 percent strikeout rate over 111 1/3 innings at High-A and Double-A.

Acquired by the Astros in the Kyle Tucker deal:

Cam Smith, 3B (No. 1, MLB No. 73): You might remember the Florida State star homering in six straight games between from Aug. 20-25, setting a new record for Cubs Single-A affiliate Myrtle Beach. In case you didn¡¯t circle back, you should also know Smith finished as the 2024 Draft class leader in Minor League hits (36), homers (seven) and total bases (70) during his run to Double-A Tennessee. (Additional fact: he was also a 14th overall pick, meaning the two most recent players in that slot were dealt days apart.)

Acquired by the Brewers in the Devin Williams deal:

Caleb Durbin, INF (No. 15): The Brewers ranked second in the Majors with 217 collective steals last season. So this felt like a match made in heaven they acquired Durbin from the Yankees weeks after the infielder set an Arizona Fall League record with 29 thefts in 30 attempts. Added context: no other Fall Leaguer had more than 12 steals in 2024. The previous record holder was set by Rickey Holifield in 1994 when the Fall League played a 50-game schedule, compared to the current 30-game set.

Acquired by the Yankees in the Carlos Narvaez deal:

Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, RHP (No. 12): The 2021 fourth-rounder built a steady stream of strong yearly results in Boston's system before being traded elsewhere in the AL East. He didn¡¯t post an ERA above 3.00 in any of his three Minor League seasons, and his 2.60 career ERA was second-lowest among Red Sox Minor Leaguers (min. 100 IP) since 2022. The only pitcher with a lower mark in that span: former Top 100 prospect Brayan Bello (2.41).

Acquired by the Marlins in the Jake Burger deal:

Echedry Vargas, SS/2B (No. 16): Calling Vargas an aggressive hitter might be an understatement. The 19-year-old middle infielder averaged 3.4 pitches per plate appearance for Rangers affiliate Down East in 2024, the fifth-lowest mark at the Single-A level. He still managed a .276 average and 14 homers in 97 games but walked only 5.0 percent of the time.

Max Acosta, SS/2B (No. 17): The scouting reports say that Acosta has lost a tick or two of speed as he¡¯s gained muscle since signing with the Rangers in July 2019, but he remains an effective basestealer. His 96 steals between 2022 and 2024 were second-most in the Rangers' system in that span, trailing only Cameron Cauley¡¯s 101. That total would also rank in the same spot among Marlins Minor Leaguers (Nasim Nu?ez, 122).

Brayan Mendoza, LHP (No. 29): Twelve pitchers aged 20 or younger met the qualifying standard at the Single-A/High-A levels in 2024. Mendoza, who turns 21 on Jan. 19, had the lowest ERA of the group at 2.32 over 101 innings between Single-A Down East and High-A Hickory. That beat out marks by some notable arms like Gary Gill Hill (3.15), Santiago Suarez (4.11) and Jarlin Susana (4.34).

Acquired by the Guardians in the Spencer Horwitz trade:

Michael Kennedy, LHP (No. 16): The Pirates¡¯ 2022 fourth-rounder finally eclipsed 80 innings in a season for the first time this summer and showed strong results, thanks to a promising slider. The low-80s pitch resulted in a called strike or whiff 45.3 percent of the time it was thrown in the Florida State League, per Baseball Savant data -- the second-highest CSW rate among pitchers who threw at least 300 sliders in 2024. (Ryan Helsley had the highest mark in the Majors at 44.9.)

Josh Hartle, LHP (No. 18): Hartle saw his stuff regress in 2024, leading to his selection in the third round in July, but before last spring, he had shown results that had him in first-round conversations. In 2023 at Wake Forest, he placed fifth in Division I with 140 strikeouts, trailing only Paul Skenes (209), Quinn Mathews (158), Hurston Waldrep (156) and Rhett Lowder (143) -- each of whom is in or has been in MLB Pipeline¡¯s Top 100 overall prospect ranking.

Notable non-ranked prospects

The Rays picked up first baseman Will Simpson and right-hander Jacob Watters from the Athletics in the Jeffrey Springs swap after both were Midwest League standouts. Simpson led the MWL with a .480 slugging percentage and 47 extra-base hits while Watters topped the High-A loop with a 55.3 percent groundball rate. Nick Mitchell, who moved from the Blue Jays to the Guardians as part of a deal for Andr¨¦s Gim¨¦nez, ran a 91.7 percent contact rate on swings against pitches inside the zone in the spring at Indiana, leading to his selection in the fourth round in July.