Ranking MLB's 10 Most Promising Young Cores
Though the Baltimore Orioles have been arguably the most disappointing team through the first quarter of the 2025 MLB campaign, the silver lining is that they still have one of the most promising young cores and shouldn't be down and out for long.
(Whether they'll ever actually invest in any of that young talent on long-term deals, however, remains to be seen.)
"Young core" is a vague term, both in terms of the age of the players and the quantity of players in the core, so let's get more specific:
Young—Age-25 season or younger, meaning the player will not turn 26 until after June 30, 2025.
Core—Exactly four players, in honor of the New York Yankees' legendary "Core Four" of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.
Rankings are based loosely on the combined 2024-25 Baseball Reference WAR of each team's core four, but injuries, potential and career production prior to last season also factored prominently into the mix.
For most teams in the top 10, there were more than four young players worthy of consideration. In those cases, additional players may be mentioned. However, each ranking is based solely on the four players listed at the top of that team's section.
Notably, we are not including prospects who have yet to make their MLB debuts, which drives quite a dagger into the heart of Boston's argument for a spot on the list. The Red Sox have a pair of young studs in Kristian Campbell and Ceddanne Rafaela, as well as two of the top prospects in all of baseball in Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer. Without including the latter duo, though, they narrowly miss the top 10.
Check back next year, though. The Washington Nationals were in the same spot last year with James Wood and Dylan Crews still in the minors, and now they have one of the best young cores out there.
All clear?
Then let's dive into MLB's top 10 young cores.
Honorable Mentions
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Kansas City Royals (Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Angel Zerpa, Noah Cameron)
First off is the toughest omission of the bunch. Witt is a bona fide star and Garcia is having quite the breakout year as Witt's second fiddle. But the only other players on the 40-man roster who qualify as options are a middle reliever who has been OK and a southpaw who is already 25 and has made just one appearance in the majors. One of the better dynamic duos to be considered, but not enough of a core four—which is pretty much the theme of these honorable mentions. That said, the Royals' core gets a whole lot more intriguing once they call up Jac Caglianone.
Seattle Mariners (Julio Rodríguez, Bryan Woo, Carlos Vargas, Ben Williamson)
Rodríguez is right up there with Witt as far as stardom goes. And among pitchers who have logged at least 150 innings since the beginning of last season, Woo's 2.82 ERA ranks top 10 in the majors. As with the Royals, though, a great duet is only worth so much in a battle of quartets.
Texas Rangers (Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker)
Langford has been awesome, and maybe things will go better for Carter (who made his season debut on Tuesday) after a rough 2024 campaign. If the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft (Leiter) and No. 3 pick in the 2022 draft (Rocker) could ever get and stay healthy, that'd be wonderful news for the Rangers. To this point, though, they've combined for 85 innings of MLB work with an ERA north of 7.00.
Chicago Cubs (Pete Crow-Armstrong, Porter Hodge, Ben Brown, Matt Shaw)
Yet another case of a core with one superstar and a bunch of "we'll see if it pans out." PCA is the star, while Hodge, Brown and Shaw have each amounted to precisely 0.0 bWAR thus far this season. High hopes for Shaw at the hot corner in the long run, but his initial 18-game foray into the majors didn't go as planned.
Los Angeles Angels (Zach Neto, Logan O'Hoppe, Nolan Schanuel, Ben Joyce)
Neto and O'Hoppe both hit 20+ home runs last season and have both gotten out to solid starts in 2025. For a guy who was in the majors six weeks after getting drafted, though, Schanuel hasn't lived up to the hype. And it'd be swell if Joyce and his electric fastball could stay healthy, but that just hasn't been the case.
Tampa Bay Rays (Junior Caminero, Chandler Simpson, Taj Bradley, Curtis Mead)
Tons of potential here, but you're simply not taking these four players over any of the quartets in the top 10 if you're trying to win right now. They're all in their age-24 or younger season, though, so don't be shocked if the Rays land in the top three if we run this back again next year.
New York Mets (Mark Vientos, Francisco Alvarez, Luisangel Acuña, Brett Baty)
Though he just signed a 15-year, $765M contract and is basically the definition of a core building block, Juan Soto is in his age-26 season and we aren't bending the rules for anyone based on age. The Mets would easily rank top five if we replaced Baty with Soto, but alas.
New York Yankees (Anthony Volpe, Jasson Domínguez, Austin Wells, Oswald Peraza)
Volpe is hitting better than the previous two years, and Domínguez is a regular in the lineup at long last. If Peraza at least had positive bWAR in what is now his fourth year in the majors, the Yankees would be much closer to top 10.
10. Milwaukee Brewers
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The Core Four: Jackson Chourio (21), Brice Turang (25), Sal Frelick (25) and Caleb Durbin (25)
Only by the slimmest of margins does Milwaukee make the cut ahead of the Royals, Mariners and Angels, and only because the third most-promising member of the bunch has at least looked like a viable foundational piece at the MLB level.
The brightest star among the young Brewers is Chourio, who had 21 home runs and 22 stolen bases last season, finishing third for NL Rookie of the Year and even receiving a down-ballot vote for NL MVP. His flair for the dramatic was something else for a then 20-year-old kid, batting .330/.378/.560 in high leverage situations. His refusal to draw walks is becoming a narrative, but with 20 extra-base hits through 36 games, who needs walks?
Turang also had himself one heck of a 2024, stealing 50 bases and winning a Platinum Glove for his wizardry at second base. And thus far this season, he is doing a substantially better job of getting on base and providing offensive value beyond just the steals. Both he and Chourio could be All-Stars this season.
Frelick won a Gold Glove as a versatile outfielder in 2024, and he, too, is hitting better now than he did last year. If the 2021 first round pick can remain the roughly .300 hitter that he has been through the first six weeks of this season, we might be underselling Milwaukee at No. 10.
The fly in the ointment is that fourth spot in the quartet. Durbin should continue to get regular playing time at third base for the foreseeable future, but that's mostly due to the lack of other hot corner options since losing Willy Adames to the Giants. Could go with Abner Uribe (25) in that spot instead, but can a middle reliever with barely 60 career innings pitched be considered part of a team's core?
9. Cleveland Guardians
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The Core Four: Gabriel Arias (25), Kyle Manzardo (24), Bo Naylor (25), Gavin Williams (25)
In addition to these four players, the Guardians also have Ángel Martínez, Jhonkensy Noel, Brayan Rocchio and Joey Cantillo in the 25-and-under club, plus last year's No. 1 overall draft pick Travis Bazzana waiting in the wings.
As far as sheer volume of young talent is concerned, Cleveland is definitely near the top of the list. (Which is how you trade away both Josh Naylor and Andrés Giménez in a single offseason and continue to flirt with the best record in baseball anyway.)
The star power of Cleveland's best quartet of young players, however, is a far cry from what some of the teams in the top five are bringing to the table.
Arias is finally having a breakthrough year, though, after barely hitting .200 in 191 games played over the previous three years. Middle infield had the potential to be a disaster this year sans Giménez, but Arias out of nowhere has emerged as one of the most valuable assets on the roster.
Manzardo has also doubled down on what was a strong stint as a September call-up. After hitting five home runs in those 23 games last fall, he is leading the team in home runs (nine) and RBI (22), as well as walks (18), thriving in the 1B/DH role that Naylor had previously filled.
The wild card is Williams, who has flashes of ace potential, but only four quality starts in 24 appearances since the beginning of last season. If he can become a legitimate top-half-of-the-rotation starter alongside Tanner Bibee, that'd be massive for the long-term trajectory of this staff/club.
8. Athletics
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The Core Four: Lawrence Butler (24), Tyler Soderstrom (23), Jacob Wilson (23), Nick Kurtz (22)
The trio from this quartet that opened the season in the majors has been mostly excellent, as well as largely responsible for the A's being one of the big early surprises with a winning record.
Wilson is batting .354, which would be the best batting average in the majors were it not for Aaron Judge. Soderstrom has been in a home run drought for a few weeks, but he got to nine dingers faster than anyone else this season. And though Butler hasn't been as proficient as he was in the second half of last year, hard to argue with six home runs and six stolen bases to this point in the campaign.
And then there's Kurtz, who made his MLB debut on April 23 after being taken fourth overall in last summer's draft. He has yet to homer in the bigs, but he had 11 in 32 minor league games, posting a 1.120 OPS in the process.
The A's already have one of the most potent offenses in the American League, and they could make a run at leading the league in runs once Kurtz gets going.
The problem with this core four is that it's all hitting, but the A's did recently call up 25-year-old Gunnar Hoglund.
He has fared quite well through two career starts. He was a first round pick in 2021 and was the most promising prospect they got back for trading Matt Chapman to the Blue Jays the following spring. If he's finally ready to deliver on that potential, this team could remain a real contender in the wide open AL West.
7. Atlanta Braves
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The Core Four: Spencer Schwellenbach (25), Michael Harris II (24), Drake Baldwin (24), AJ Smith-Shawver (22)
Was Monday's gem against Cincinnati the beginning of Smith-Shawver becoming more than just the "break in case of emergency" option for Atlanta's rotation?
The 22-year-old has now made 12 appearances spread across six separate promotions to the majors over three seasons, putting together a 3.34 ERA in 56.2 innings pitched. However, he has never been able to carve out an even slightly permanent role.
Allowing just one hit across eight scoreless innings against the Reds could be what keeps him in the mix even after Spencer Strider returns, hopefully later this month. And if Smith-Shawver is here to stay and to make an impact, then we're surely underselling Atlanta at No. 7, as both Schwellenbach and Harris are already foundational pieces while Baldwin has made a promising first impression this spring.
Sure would be swell for the 2025 Braves if the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year could get back to performing like that foundational piece, though.
With Ronald Acuña Jr. still out until probably the end of the month and Jurickson Profar suspended until the beginning of July, it's "Harris or Bust" in the outfield these days. Unfortunately, it has been mostly bust, posting a .594 OPS for the sub-.500 disappointment.
Maybe it'll be a repeat of 2023, though, when Harris had a .490 OPS through 38 games played before nearly doubling that to a .912 mark the rest of the way. (Harris played in his 38th game of this season on Friday.)
6. St. Louis Cardinals
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The Core Four: Masyn Winn (23), Victor Scott II (24), Iván Herrera (25), Matthew Liberatore (25)
Not only does St. Louis have four quality young players here, but it has them at the ideal foundational locations: short, center, catcher and pitcher.
Though, we shall see what sort of staying power the center fielder and starting pitcher have.
Winn has already established himself as one of the most valuable shortstops in the game, posting a 4.9 bWAR that ranked top 20 among all position players last season. Though he's still five years away from free agency, St. Louis probably already regrets not giving Winn one of those Colt Keith or Jackson Chourio types of eight-year deals before even appearing in an MLB game.
And while Herrera just returned from a month on the IL, he hit .301 last season and homered in four of his first 24 plate appearances this season. His budding potential behind the plate was the catalyst for shifting Willson Contreras to first base, and maybe Herrera will be the mainstay that Yadier Molina was for nearly two decades.
Conversely, both Scott and Liberatore entered this season with a negative career WAR before getting out to stellar starts, the former batting almost .300 with 11 stolen bases, the latter with an ERA just north of 3.00 through 41 IP.
If they're the real deal—and if 23-year-old right fielder Jordan Walker can start to figure things out before the end of the season—the Cardinals' rebuilding situation becomes much less onerous.
5. Detroit Tigers
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The Core Four: Riley Greene (24), Spencer Torkelson (25), Reese Olson (25), Trey Sweeney (25)
There were six players in their age-23 or younger season who were named All-Stars last season: Paul Skenes, Gunnar Henderson, Elly De La Cruz, Jackson Merrill, CJ Abrams and Riley Greene. Injuries have plagued the first three seasons of his career, missing well over 100 games, but he has been incredibly valuable when healthy, already hitting eight home runs this season.
That's not enough for most among Tigers, though, as Torkelson's big bounce back year has already resulted in 10 homers—as many as he had in the entire 2024 season. In the offseason, it looked like the No. 1 pick in 2020 was going to be out of a job, but he has been a staple in the heart of the order since Opening Day.
Meanwhile, Olson is well on his way to a third consecutive season with at least 100 innings pitched and a sub-4.00 ERA, going at least five scoreless innings in three of his last four starts. Hard to steal any of the spotlight from Tarik Skubal, but Olson has been a massive piece of the AL Central-leading puzzle.
And after finishing April with a .198 batting average, Sweeney has been red hot in May to the tune of a 1.374 OPS. Could be the beginning of a long run at shortstop for the former first round pick who went from the Yankees to the Dodgers to the Tigers before finally breaking into the majors last August.
Shout out, as well, to Colt Keith heating up over the past two weeks, as well as Jackson Jobe, who has struggled a bit after entering the year as one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. That duo also figures to feature prominently for years to come in Detroit.
4. Washington Nationals
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The Core Four: James Wood (22), CJ Abrams (24), Dylan Crews (23), Mitchell Parker (25)
MacKenzie Gore is now 26 and no longer qualifies for this list, but it's clear at this point that the Nationals won that massive Juan Soto trade from three summers ago, yes? In that blockbuster, they got Gore, Wood, Abrams and two other prospects (Jarlin Susana and Robert Hassell III) who both might be in D.C. by the end of this season.
Wood alone has practically made it a worthwhile trade, already with 10 home runs this season and already the face of this franchise barely 10 months after making his MLB debut last summer. Throwing him a four-seamer is practically a death wish.
Abrams is also out to another fine start, evidently unfazed by that September demotion for his all-nighter at the casino. He has 42 home runs and 86 stolen bases since the beginning of 2023, and is getting on base better than ever thus far this season.
Crews is a work in progress, batting .200 67 games into his MLB career, but the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft remains one of the betting favorites for NL Rookie of the Year. The nine-game stretch last month in which he went 13-for-34 with four home runs and two stolen bases is proof he could get there.
Parker is the X-Factor. He was never a top prospect, only making it to the big leagues last April because they needed someone to step in when Josiah Gray was lost for the year after just two starts. But he delivered, logging 12 quality starts while becoming a fixture in the rotation, and opening this season with five more quality starts in a row. He could be a No. 3/4 starter for a long time.
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
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The Core Four: Corbin Carroll (24), Geraldo Perdomo (25), Gabriel Moreno (25), Justin Martínez (23)
Can't imagine we need to justify Corbin Carroll's spot here. The 2023 NL Rookie of the Year is making quite the early case to become 2025 NL MVP, leading the league in both hits and total bases, the latter courtesy of 11 home runs and four triples.
And Perdomo has actually been more valuable than Carroll thus far. He doesn't have anywhere near as many extra base hits, but five home runs, nine stolen bases, a .400 on-base percentage and excellent defense make him quite the jack-of-all-trades.
Moreno had gotten out to a sluggish start to the year, but the grand slam he hit on Thursday off Yoshinobu Yamamoto may have been just the jolt he needed.
Could've gone in a few different directions for the fourth and final spot. While Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer don't count for Boston, Arizona's top prospect Jordan Lawlar is an option, having made his brief MLB debut two seasons ago. He has absolutely raked in 62 career games at Triple-A Reno and should be back in the bigs soon. Center fielder Alek Thomas is also still young enough to be considered, and is out to a better start at the plate than usual.
Give us Martínez, though, who was lethal out of the bullpen last year. He's currently on the IL with a shoulder issue, but he might finally be the solution to Arizona's seemingly permanent closer problem.
2. Baltimore Orioles
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The Core Four: Gunnar Henderson (24), Grayson Rodriguez (25), Colton Cowser (25), Jackson Holliday (21)
Baltimore's stable of young horses is nowhere near as deep as it was a year or two ago. Aside from this quartet, the only players on the O's 40-man roster young enough to qualify are Cade Povich and Coby Mayo, while Samuel Basallo is their only particularly tantalizing prospect yet to make his debut. Combine that with the team's horrendous 13-23 start to the year and it feels like their window is slamming shut.
This is quite the quartet of long-term promise, though, with hope that they can still turn things around this year if all four get healthy/right.
Last year, Henderson finished fourth in the AL MVP vote while Cowser placed second for AL ROY. The duo combined for 298 hits, 61 home runs and 30 stolen bases, anchoring their push for 91 wins. Rodriguez also looked the part of a budding ace with 13 wins and a 10.0 K/9 in his 20 starts.
Unfortunately, Rodriguez has yet to make his 2025 debut, Cowser lasted four games before suffering a thumb fracture and Henderson hasn't much looked like his old self since opening the year on the IL with an intercostal strain. If that trio were contributing like it did last year, it'd be a much different story in Birdland.
Conversely, Holliday never quite got into the groove in 2024 that Baltimore was hoping the preseason ROY favorite would find, but he has turned a corner this year, becoming one of their better hitters. And there's really no question that the general consensus is he's just getting warmed up.
1. Cincinnati Reds
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The Core Four: Elly De La Cruz (23), Hunter Greene (25), Matt McLain (25), Noelvi Marté (23)
If you count players among MLB.com's top 100 prospects who aren't yet on the 40-man roster, Cincinnati has a staggering 17 players eligible for consideration here. That includes Rhett Lowder, who had a 1.17 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched last fall in his initial stint in the majors, presently working his way back from elbow discomfort.
Hard to put that 23-year-old on the list over any of the chosen four, though.
De La Cruz and Greene are simply non-negotiable choices, the former finishing eighth in the 2024 NL MVP vote while the latter was eighth in the NL Cy Young vote.
Greene has been even better than last year, though did suffer a groin strain in his most recent start. If he doesn't miss much time, his 2.36 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 12.0 K/9 will get him back in the Cy Young mix again. De La Cruz is putting up numbers similar to last year, albeit with fewer extra-base hits. Nine of his 10 triples last season came from June 14 onward, though, so maybe he'll heat up on that front later.
Neither McLain nor Marté felt like core players last season, the former missing the entire year with a shoulder injury while the latter had a disastrous campaign which included an 80-game PEDs suspension.
McLain is still trying to find his .290 batting stroke from two years ago, but he's slowly getting there. And prior to the oblique strain suffered last week, Marté's OPS was more than 300 points higher than last year, blossoming into the staple at third base the Reds were hoping for when they traded Luis Castillo for him (and others) three summers ago.
