Each team's top power hitting prospect for '25

The home run is the most efficient event in sports. It¡¯s the maximum outcome a single batter can achieve, and all it takes is one swing. One very powerful, well-timed, well-coordinated swing.

It¡¯s why power is such an important tool in prospect development and evaluation. You can put the ball in play a bunch, but if they¡¯re all singles, you¡¯re limiting your value (unless, like Chandler Simpson, you have other elite tools). Sluggers who can hit the ball hardest and elevate well on contact give their teams the best chances to score runs, and as we all know from Baseball 101, scoring runs wins games.

And who doesn¡¯t like to see a bunch of dingers too?

Here at MLB Pipeline, we¡¯ll look at the best tools in each farm system over the coming weeks as we prepare for the 2025 season, and because of the impact on the game and overall entertainment value, there was one tool we decided to start the series with -- power.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

Blue Jays: Orelvis Martinez, 2B/3B (No. 10 2B)
Martinez¡¯s 86 home runs from 2021 to 2023 were most in the Minor Leagues over that span, and he went deep 17 times in 74 games for Triple-A Buffalo a year ago in a campaign shortened by a banned-substance suspension. Those dinger totals don¡¯t come by accident, the right-handed slugger is capable of posting incredibly high exit velocities (like a 115.2 mph max in Triple-A) and his swing is geared to lift and pull. He should push for MLB playing time in the first half.

Orioles: Coby Mayo, 3B/1B (MLB No. 14)
Hat tip to Samuel Basallo and the kind of damage he can do at the plate, but Mayo¡¯s power r¨¦sum¨¦ speaks for itself. Tiny big league sample aside, Mayo¡¯s home run output has been impressive, with 73 dingers in his last three Minor League seasons. He carries a .541 slugging percentage and .922 OPS into the 2025 season, and he¡¯s ready to unleash his right-handed bat on big league pitching full time.

Rays: Xavier Isaac, 1B (MLB No. 51)
Isaac has collected 37 homers over his first two full Minor League seasons, and the time may very well come when he¡¯s posting a number that large over a single campaign. The 21-year-old has some of the best bat speed in a loaded Tampa Bay farm system, and his 115.8 mph homer in last year¡¯s Arizona Fall League would have been the hardest-hit dinger by a Rays Major Leaguer in 2024. Isaac needs to improve his overall contact rate at the higher levels to get to this pop, but it¡¯s hard to overlook this level of raw power at such an early stage of his career.

Red Sox: Roman Anthony, OF (MLB No. 2)
Anthony mashed a 450-foot homer at Coors Field during the 2021 High School All-American Game as a 17-year-old and since has developed into the best position prospect in baseball. A 2022 supplemental second-rounder from a Florida high school, he stands out most with his plus-plus raw power and makes advanced swing decisions that let him get to most of it. He topped the Double-A Eastern League in slugging (.489) and OPS (.856) as a 20-year-old, then batted .344/.463/.519 with 16 extra-base hits in 35 games following his promotion to Triple-A.

Yankees: Jasson Dom¨ªnguez, OF (MLB No. 21)
The most hyped international amateur prospect ever, Dom¨ªnguez signed for $5.1 million out of the Dominican Republic in 2019, first reached New York at age 20 four years later -- and took Justin Verlander deep in his big league debut. Rehab from Tommy John surgery and an oblique injury limited him to 76 games between the Minors and Majors last year, but he still homered 13 times, and his electric bat speed and prodigious strength were as evident as ever from both sides of the plate.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

Guardians: Chase DeLauter, OF (MLB No. 36)
DeLauter not only has the physical gifts (size, strength, bat speed) to hit for power, but he enhances his chances with his hitting ability and plate discipline. He first showed off his pop with wood bats by leading the Cape Cod League with nine homers in 2021, the year before he became the first first-round pick ever from James Madison. Repeated foot injuries have slowed him as a pro, but he has slashed .317/.387/.517 in two pro seasons and .313/.417/.522 in two trips to the Arizona Fall League.

Royals: Jac Caglianone, 1B (MLB No. 22)
If you¡¯ve been following Spring Training, you¡¯ve already seen what Caglianone can do. His 115.4 mph homer on Sunday would have been the third-hardest hit by a Royal in the Statcast era, and that came after he decided to ¡°dial [my swing] back.¡± At 6-foot-5, the former Florida star, who hit 68 homers over his final two seasons on campus, is built like a house. Now that he¡¯ll fully focus on hitting over pitching for 2025, he could somehow take off even more at the plate in his first full pro season.

Tigers: Thayron Liranzo, C/1B (MLB No. 82)
Detroit has some candidates for this spot, including Arizona Fall League Triple Crown winner Josue Brice?o and 2024 first-rounder Bryce Rainer. But we¡¯ll turn to Liranzo, a switch-hitting backstop who caught absolute fire with a .562 slugging percentage in 26 High-A games after his trade from the Dodgers. The 21-year-old carried that production into the AFL as well as he continued to turn grounders into stung line drives and fly balls. Liranzo has immense strength in his 6-foot-2 frame and should be a regular threat to hit 25+ homers, a rarity for his position.

Twins: Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF (MLB No. 37)
This one is really a toss-up between Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins, so we¡¯ll give the former the shoutout this year after Jenkins got the nod in 2024. The only thing that¡¯s held the outfielder back has been injuries, he¡¯s yet to top 100 games in a season. When he¡¯s on the field, his bat speed has helped him get to his raw power (.621 SLG in 37 Double-A games last year). He¡¯ll need to cut down the K¡¯s a bit, but that will happen if he can stay on the field.

White Sox: Braden Montgomery, OF (MLB No. 55)
The White Sox have multiple interesting sluggers, with the nod here going to Montgomery over shortstop Colson Montgomery (no relation) and outfielder George Wolkow. Braden launched 35 homers in two years at Stanford and 27 last spring at Texas A&M before the Red Sox drafted him 12th overall. A major part of the prospect package Boston gave up in the Garrett Crochet trade at the Winter Meetings in December, he¡¯s a switch-hitter with power that plays from foul pole to foul pole.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

Angels: Christian Moore, 2B (MLB No. 68)
You know how it works with the Angels: They get their Draft guys to the Majors quickly, so don¡¯t be surprised to see Moore¡¯s bat in the big league lineup this year, if not Opening Day. He¡¯s coming off of a record-setting junior year at Tennessee, where his 34 homers set a Volunteers single-season record. Then he went out and hit six homers and slugged .584 in 25 games during his pro debut. He has 30-home run potential in the big leagues, and he¡¯ll get to prove it soon.

Astros: Luis Baez, OF
Signed out of the Dominican Republic, Baez received the largest bonus ($1.3 million) in Houston¡¯s 2022 international class. He finished 2024 in Double-A at age 20 and his 21 homers last season ranked fourth among Minor Leaguers his age or younger. His bat speed, strength and exit velocities also stand out for his age, and he has no problem launching pitches in the air to his pull side.

A¡¯s: Nick Kurtz, 1B (MLB No. 38)
Even with some injury issues, Kurtz put up ridiculous power numbers at Wake Forest. He hit 61 homers over three years with the Demon Deacons, 22 with a .763 slugging percentage as a junior despite being slowed by a shoulder injury early on. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 Draft hit four long balls in 12 games during his pro debut before a hamstring injury ended his summer, but he returned to the Arizona Fall League and picked up seven extra-base hits (.608 SLG) in 13 games.

Mariners: Lazaro Montes, OF (MLB No. 42)
Since signing for $1.375 million at the start of the 2022 international signing period, Montes has posted a .526 SLG and a .940 OPS while getting to High-A as a teenager. There¡¯s some swing-and-miss but he draws a ton of walks and his K¡¯s were actually down a touch in 2024, when he hit 21 homers and drove in 105 runs. As long as he can keep making enough contact, he has about as much raw pop as anyone on this list.

Rangers: Sebastian Walcott, SS/3B (MLB No. 17)
Walcott¡¯s power is a major reason why some scouts were saying he¡¯d become the best player ever from the Bahamas even before he signed for $3.2 million in 2023. He has exceptional bat speed and produces elite exit velocities for his age, and he led the South Atlantic League with 50 extra-base hits and 192 total bases last year as the High-A circuit¡¯s youngest regular (18 years old).

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NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

Braves: Drake Baldwin, C (MLB No. 63)
Using a leg kick to time up pitchers, the left-handed hitter gets to his power without sacrificing any of his hit tool. He mashed 19 homers in his final year at Missouri State and has launched 16 long balls in each of his two full seasons of pro ball, all while keeping his Minor League career strikeout rate under 20 percent. There¡¯s a good chance we¡¯ll see more extra-base juice from him in 2025 and beyond as he knocks loudly on the big league door.

Marlins: Deyvison de los Santos, 1B/3B
Traded by the Diamondbacks for A.J. Puk last July, de los Santos led the Minors with 40 homers and 307 total bases last year. He can crush balls as hard as just about anyone in the Minors, producing exit velocities as high as 116 mph last summer thanks to his bat speed, strength and ultra-aggressive mindset. There are some questions as to how well his pop will play in the Majors because of an undisciplined approach that resulted in a 46 percent chase rate between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024 -- matching the worst percentage in the big leagues (Ceddanne Rafaela).

Mets: Ronny Mauricio, 2B/SS/OF
A torn ACL suffered in winter ball robbed Mauricio of his entire 2024 season. But don¡¯t forget this is a switch-hitter who rocked a 117.3 mph double in his first MLB at-bat, giving him the highest exit velocity by a Met in 2023. Standing 6-foot-3, Mauricio hit 20+ homers in each of his last three healthy Minor League seasons, and assuming he can get back to that pop without any additional issues from the knee, he should factor into New York¡¯s slugging depth again this year.

Nationals: Dylan Crews, OF (MLB No. 4)
Sure, the 2023 No. 2 overall pick managed only 16 homers between the Minors and Majors in his first full season, but Crews was also pushed so aggressively by the Nats that he never truly took off at any spot before being moved onto the next. The plus power potential is still very much in there, as his 44.7 percent hard-hit rate in the bigs proved, and the more comfortable he gets against MLB pitching, the more he¡¯ll send balls screaming over the fence. There¡¯s still the upside of 25+ homers here, and with Crews¡¯ speed and defense mixed in, that¡¯s a potential multitime All-Star in the capital.

Phillies: Aidan Miller, SS (MLB No. 27)
We¡¯ve known about Miller's power potential since he won MLB¡¯s All-American Game Home Run Derby the summer before his senior year of high school. It started to show up in his full-season debut in 2024, when he hit his way from Single-A Clearwater to Double-A Reading, homering 11 times and banging out 28 doubles. He¡¯s turning into a better all-around hitter than some anticipated, making mechanical adjustments and better swing decisions, giving even more confidence he¡¯s just scratching the surface in terms of tapping into his raw pop.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL

Brewers: Eric Bitonti, 3B/1B
Milwaukee took the 6-foot-4 left-handed slugger in the third round in 2023, knowing he¡¯d be a long-term project, and he still is in some ways with contact issues. But the power is undeniable. Forty-two of his 83 hits in 2024 went for extra bases, including 16 homers. It¡¯s downright electric bat speed from the left side, and tightening the swing even a little could make Bitonti a 30+-homer threat in time. And get this -- he¡¯ll still only be 19 for the entire 2025 season.

Cardinals: Rainiel Rodriguez, C
Power isn¡¯t a huge strength of the current Cardinals farm system, but a big bopper is coming stateside. Rodriguez, who signed for $300,000 a year ago, ranked fourth in the Dominican Summer League with 10 homers last season, and his 1.145 OPS was the highest by a DSL catcher since at least 2006. He recorded exit velocities as high as 112 mph in early spring workouts, and his lift-and-pull approach enables him to use that raw pop in games. He¡¯s still only 18, so this might just be the tip of the iceberg regardless of whether he sticks at catcher or not.

Cubs: Owen Caissie, OF (MLB No. 54)
Caissie generates huge raw power with the bat speed and loft in his lefty stroke as well as the strength and leverage in his 6-foot-3 frame. Acquired from the Padres in the Yu Darvish trade in December 2020, he has homered 52 times in three full pro seasons despite annually being one of the youngest players in his league. He went deep 19 times at Triple-A last year as the International League¡¯s second-youngest batting qualifier (age 21).

Pirates: Konnor Griffin, SS/OF (MLB No. 43)
Griffin may have had the best all-around raw tool set of anyone in the 2024 Draft class, a big reason why the Pirates took him No. 9 overall. There was a little concern with the length of his swing, and thus his hit tool, but the plus bat speed combined with strength and leverage could lead to at least plus power in games at the next level. He¡¯s yet to make his professional debut, but with his power and speed he has 30/30 potential in the big leagues.

Reds: Arnaldo Lantigua, OF
He¡¯s yet to officially don a Reds uniform, but to say the organization is excited to have his offensive potential would be an understatement. They got Lantigua from the Dodgers in exchange for international bonus pool money that was used to sign Roki Sasaki. Lantigua spent two summers in the Dominican Summer League, but things really started to click last year, when he finished with a .301/.430/.575 line and 11 homers, tied for second in the DSL. With high-end exit velocity and the feel for the zone he displayed last summer, he could very easily have plus pop in the future.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

D-backs: Adrian Del Castillo, C
Naturally, D-backs prospects will put up some monster numbers in hitter-friendly Amarillo and Reno as they reach the upper Minors, but Del Castillo¡¯s 26 homers and .603 SLG at Triple-A last season were no mere mirages. The left-handed slugger posted a 47.3 percent hard-hit rate at the Minors¡¯ top level, and his barrel rate was above average in his 25-game sample in the Majors. Del Castillo¡¯s defense remains questionable, but a bat like this can cover up some of the other holes with DHing serving as a fallback option.

Dodgers: Josue De Paula, OF (MLB No. 40)
De Paula spends his offseasons working out with Elly De La Cruz and Juan Soto, and few players can match his combination of swing decisions and exit velocities. He may be on the verge of a power breakout after batting .268/.404/.405 with 10 homers between two Class A stops at age 19 last year. A second cousin of former NBA guards Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair, he was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving to the Dominican Republic and signing for $397,500 in 2022.

Giants: Bryce Eldridge, 1B (MLB No. 24)
With his lightning-fast left-handed swing and plenty of strength and leverage in his 6-foot-7 frame, Eldridge earns top-of-the-scale grades for his raw power from many evaluators. The 16th overall pick in the 2023 Draft out of a Virginia high school, he moved from Single-A to Triple-A at age 19 in his first full pro season while topping all Minor League teenagers in homers (23) and slugging (.516).

Padres: Kale Fountain, 3B
Fountain set the Nebraska state prep record with 31 homers during his time at Norris High School, and while he only went in the fifth round to the Padres, he signed for second-round money at $1.7 million. The 6-foot-5 right-handed slugger has tremendous strength in that large frame, and there¡¯s ample bat speed and loft in his swing. Tommy John surgery last fall will slow the start to his career a little but isn¡¯t likely to impact his potential as a middle-of-the-lineup bopper.

Rockies: Charlie Condon, OF/3B (MLB No. 29)
We¡¯re giving Condon a mulligan because he tried to play through a hand injury during his pro debut. Instead, let¡¯s focus on the absolutely ridiculous year he had at Georgia in 2024 that led to him winning the Golden Spikes Award. He led Division I hitters in batting average (.433), OPS (1.565) and what¡¯s most important for this category, his 37 homers. He uses an upright stance and simple swing to get to his raw power to all fields. We're assuming that when he's healthy, he¡¯ll rediscover the approach that made him such a good overall hitter and he¡¯ll get back to tapping into that raw pop consistently during his first full season of pro ball.