This year’s MLB trade deadline featured a late, record-breaking flurry of activity, sending prospects to new teams in the final days and hours before 6 p.m. ET arrived on Tuesday.
By now you probably have formed an opinion of the MLB veterans headed to new teams, but it’s much more difficult to figure out what to make of the minor leaguers who have moved.
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s our ranking of every notable prospect who was dealt during July sorted by tiers using my Future Value grades so you can see where they slot in an MLB top 100 list or your team’s farm system ranking.
50 FV tier
(roughly 50th through 120th overall)
1. Aidan Smith, CF, Tampa Bay Rays (traded by Mariners)
2. Jake Bloss, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays (traded by Astros)
3. George Klassen, RHP, Los Angeles Angels (traded by Phillies)
4. Agustin Ramirez, C, Miami Marlins (traded by Yankees)
5. Dylan Lesko, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays (traded by Padres)
I don’t have any of these guys in my current working top 100 list (Lesko was on the preseason edition but has regressed this season), but, as you can surmise from the section heading, they’re all very close and could find their way into the next edition as I continue to research for the Top 100 update that’s coming soon.
Smith shows above-average to plus pitch selection, in-game power, speed and arm strength with a center/right field fit depending on how he develops defensively. His bat-to-ball ability is just OK, but he looks like a starter with some upside: yet another arrow-up prep position player drafted by the Mariners. Ramirez is a good enough defender to catch in the big leagues, but will always be an offense-first type and a power-over-contact hitter. He might hit 25 homers and be a starting catcher if things click, but there’s some Mike Napoli/Mitch Garver type outcomes in which he hits enough to play first base and DH.
Bloss is a wild story, a 22-year-old grad student at Georgetown who was seriously looking into finance jobs but then had a breakout spring, ended up going in the third round last summer and now a year later is on the verge of being a top-100 prospect who has already made his big league debut. Now he can add headlining a deadline day trade to his list of accomplishments in the past year.
Klassen is another 2023 draft riser, going from a sixth-round pick with 20-grade command to improving his offspeed stuff and throwing more strikes immediately in pro ball; we’ll see if the command continues to play at the upper levels. Lesko is a personal favorite with some of the best raw stuff you’ll see from a projected starter, including an 80-grade changeup, but his command has been extremely spotty after returning from Tommy John surgery as a high school senior. The Rays have teased out more command from power arms before (Tyler Glasnow, Shane McClanahan, etc.), so that seems to be the plan once again.
