7 Former MLB Top Prospects Entering Make-or-Break 2025 Seasons
Not all MLB players find immediate success in the big leagues.
For every Paul Skenes or Jackson Merrill, there are dozens of guys who take their lumps when they first get a taste of the majors, and sometimes take years to deliver on their full potential.
Unfortunately, when a top prospect struggles early, fans are much quicker to label them a bust due to the lofty expectations that followed them throughout their time in the majors.
Ahead, we've taken a closer look at seven former top prospects who have yet to find any level of consistent success in the majors and could now be entering a make-or-break season as a result.
They were each ranked as Top 50 prospects on the Baseball America Top 100 prospect list at one point, and they have each posted negative WAR in the big leagues to this point with a combined -5.9 WAR from the group.
Will 2025 be the year things finally click for one or more of these former top prospects?
3B Brett Baty, New York Mets
1 of 7
Age: 25
Top 100 Peak: No. 33 in 2023
MLB Stats: 169 G, 70 OPS+, 30 XBH (15 HR), 55 RBI, -0.7 WAR
It was Brett Baty, not Mark Vientos, who was widely expected to be the third baseman of the future for the New York Mets during their time together in the minor leagues.
However, after Vientos put together a breakout 2024 season and Pete Alonso was re-signed, Baty is now without a clear path to playing time in the big leagues, and he will enter camp battling for a roster spot.
He hit a lackluster .229/.306/.327 in 171 plate appearances last year, but beneath the surface made some modest improvements to his strikeout rate (28.0 to 24.6 percent) and walk rate (7.5 to 9.4 percent).
He could end up being a buy-low change-of-scenery candidate who gets his next shot with another team, but it's still too soon to rule out him eventually developing into an everyday third baseman.
C/OF Henry Davis, Pittsburgh Pirates
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Age: 25
Top 100 Peak: No. 41 in 2022
MLB Stats: 99 G, 62 OPS+, 22 XBH (8 HR), 29 RBI, -2.0 WAR
The Pittsburgh Pirates were at least partially motivated by financial savings when they took Henry Davis with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft and then signed him to just the fifth-highest bonus.
They used the savings to sign Anthony Solometo (No. 37 overall) and Lonnie White (No. 64 overall) to above-slot deals, but in the process seem to have whiffed on that top selection.
Despite hitting .290/.409/.535 over 798 plate appearances in the minors, Davis has yet to carve out a regular role in the majors, while also bouncing between catching and playing in the outfield.
The emergence of Joey Bart after he was acquired from the San Francisco Giants and return of Endy Rodríguez after a lost 2024 season has pushed Davis down the depth chart to the point that he will need to impress this spring to avoid starting the year at Triple-A.
LHP DL Hall, Milwaukee Brewers
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Age: 26
Top 100 Peak: No. 47 in 2020
MLB Stats: 42 G, 8 GS, 4.74 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 86 K, 76.0 IP, -0.1 WAR
Armed with a mid-90s fastball, quality changeup and two distinct breaking pitches, DL Hall has always possessed the stuff to be an impact pitcher in the big leagues.
The question has been his health and his command, and both were an issue last season when he posted a 5.02 ERA and 1.61 WHIP while issuing 21 walks in 43 innings while missing time with knee and forearm injuries.
With Brandon Woodruff still working his way back to full strength and expected to start the year on the injured list, the door was open for Hall to compete for the No. 5 starter job this spring, but he is now dealing with a lat injury that will sideline him for multiple weeks.
The Brewers bet on his upside when he was acquired as one of the key pieces in last winter's blockbuster deal that sent Corbin Burnes to the Orioles, but at 26 years old he needs to break through soon or risk being overtaken by other options.
RHP Jack Leiter, Texas Rangers
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Age: 24
Top 100 Peak: No. 25 in 2022
MLB Stats: 9 G, 6 GS, 8.83 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 31 K, 35.2 IP, -1.6 WAR
Jack Leiter was the first pitcher taken at No. 2 overall in the 2021 draft after going 11-4 with a 2.13 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 179 strikeouts in 110 innings as a draft-eligible sophomore at Vanderbilt.
The Texas Rangers sent him straight to Double-A for his pro debut, and he was hit hard, posting a 5.54 ERA and 1.55 WHIP in 92.2 innings. It was more of the same the following year, as he finished with a 5.19 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in 85 frames between Double-A and Triple-A.
He finally turned a corner last season with a 3.51 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 110-to-35 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 77 innings at Triple-A, but that success did not carry over to the majors. He struggled in three spot starts prior to the All-Star break and failed to gain much traction over the final month-plus on the active roster.
The first four spots in the Rangers rotation seem set with Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Tyler Mahle, but Leiter could push Cody Bradford and Kumar Rocker for the No. 5 spot with a strong spring.
SS Marco Luciano, San Francisco Giants
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Age: 23
Top 100 Peak: No. 12 in 2021
MLB Stats: 41 G, 69 OPS+, 9 XBH (0 HR), 3 RBI, -0.3 WAR
Signed for $2.6 million as one of the most hyped prospects in the 2018 international class, Marco Luciano spent five years on the Baseball America Top 100 prospect list, claiming a spot inside the Top 20 in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
He impressed early in the minors, but struggled making the jump to Double-A in his age-21 season in 2023, though that did not stop him from making his MLB debut later that year.
After going 9-for-39 in 14 games in his first taste of the big leagues, he entered spring training last year as the favorite to win the starting shortstop job, but instead he was beat out by non-roster invitees Nick Ahmed before Tyler Fitzgerald staked claim to the starting job during the second half of the season.
Now that Willy Adames has been signed to a seven-year, $182 million deal, Luciano's best path to playing time will be to push Fitzgerald at second base, but there is a good chance he will need to play his way back into the picture with a strong showing at Triple-A.
1B Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers
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Age: 25
Top 100 Peak: No. 5 in 2021 and 2022
MLB Stats: 361 G, 94 OPS+, 123 XBH (49 HR), 159 RBI, -0.3 WAR
Over 129 collegiate games at Arizona State, Spencer Torkelson hit .337/.463/.729 with 54 home runs, 130 RBI and more walks (110) than strikeouts (104), solidifying his status as the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft along the way.
In his first full pro season in 2021, he posted a .935 OPS and slugged 30 home runs in 121 games across three minor league levels, closing out the year at Triple-A.
He struggled to find his footing in his MLB debut in 2022, but things seemed to click the following year when he posted a 107 OPS+ with 34 doubles, 31 home runs and 94 RBI as the offensive star of a 78-84 team.
Unfortunately, he failed to build off that success last year, hitting just .219/.295/.374 over 381 plate appearances and spending part of the year back at Triple-A. Now with the addition of Gleyber Torres at second base, Colt Keith is expected to serve as Detroit's primary first baseman, leaving Torkelson without an everyday job to call his own.
OF Jordan Walker, St. Louis Cardinals
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Age: 22
Top 100 Peak: No. 4 in 2023
MLB Stats: 168 G, 101 OPS+, 53 XBH (21 HR), 71 RBI, -0.9 WAR
At 22 years old, Jordan Walker is the youngest player on this list, and he likely has the longest runway to figure things out in the coming years as a result.
However, the St. Louis Cardinals have seemingly mismanaged his development to this point, first shifting him to right field to learn a new position on the fly and then bouncing him between the majors and Triple-A and not affording him the opportunity to settle in at the MLB level.
The 6'6", 250-pound slugger spent just 51 games in the majors last year, hitting .201/.253/.366 for a 71 OPS+ with 10 doubles, five home runs and 20 RBI. Under the hood of those less-than-stellar numbers, he posted a 91.2 mph average exit velocity and 43.1 percent hard-hit rate that both would have ranked highly among qualified hitters.
The Cardinals' inability to find a taker for Nolan Arenado this offseason has failed to unclog a playing time logjam, with Nolan Gorman in a similar position to Walker in that both enter spring training with significant uncertainty regarding their role for the upcoming year.
