As the second month of the baseball season nears its end, the sample sizes for prospects continue to expand. The MLB Pipeline crew is taking the opportunity to dig a little deeper to highlight players who are balling out, but might still be flying under-the-radar.
On the latest MLB Pipeline Podcast, Jim Callis and Sam Dykstra, with host Jason Ratliff, continued to identify the most intriguing prospects across the Minors landscape by division. With the AL East, AL Central and AL West in the rearview, the gurus homed in on the NL East this week.
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Here are the five most intriguing prospects from the National League East:
Braves: RHP JR Ritchie (ATL No. 6)
The skinny: A supplemental first-round pick in 2022 (No. 35 overall), Ritchie was limited by injuries to 77 1/3 innings over his first three years as a pro. He's healthy and pitching very well this year, posting a 1.73 ERA across nine appearances and reaching Double-A.
Mayo's take: It’s crazy that he was drafted three years ago. The Braves have never shied away from drafting high school pitching, and in 2022 they went all in, and all three picks have gotten hurt with elbow issues. JR Ritchie had Tommy John in May of 2023, came back last year, actually pitched fairly decently and has gotten off to a very good start this year. He’s up in Double-A and is still only 21, so despite the elbow surgery he’s still kind of ahead of the curve a little bit.
Marlins: C Joe Mack (MIA No. 9)
The skinny: The Marlins made Mack the 31st overall pick in the 2021 Draft and then watched him post a .217/.324/.303 slash line in his first three pro seasons. He broke out in 2024 with 24 homers, mostly at Double-A, and is holding his own at Triple-A after an early-season promotion this year.
Callis' take: I’ve been really encouraged by the development of Joe Mack the last couple of years. He just didn’t hit his first three years. He has a decent eye at the plate and makes some good swing decisions. He just had a lot of trouble handling breaking balls. Last year, the Marlins came up with a new plan of attack, thinking Mack would be better off hunting fastballs early in counts and swinging at them so he wouldn’t get in counts where he might have two strikes and be looking at a breaking ball. That sounds a little oversimplified, but it worked. He ranked fifth in the Minors among catchers last year in homers. The one caveat was that he tore it up in High-A, and was good-not-great in Double-A. He went back to Double-A this year, got off to a great start and now he’s hitting well in Triple-A. Quietly, I think he’s become one of the better all-around catching prospects in baseball.
Mets: RHP Nolan McLean (NYM No. 6)
The skinny: McLean was an excellent two-way player in college but flamed out as a hitter at Double-A in June 2024, at which point the Mets decided he'd focus on pitching. He's been the best pitcher in their system this season, posting a 1.62 ERA across 44 1/3 innings, including his last three starts at Triple-A.
Mayo's take: Nolan McLean is really interesting to me because of the path that he’s taken to get to where he is. He was a two-way player up until 2024. Lot of strikeouts, a lot of power. I was almost positive that as a pitcher he was going to be a reliever. There is the outside possibility that he ends up there long-term. However, the strides he's made as an overall pitcher are extraordinary.
Nationals: SS Luke Dickerson (WSH No. 6)
The skinny: Dickerson signed the largest bonus given after the first round in the bonus pool era ($3.8M) as a second-round pick in 2024. He's performing well in his first pro season, producing a .862 OPS mostly at Single-A.
Callis' take: When he was a New Jersey high schooler last spring, he tied Mike Trout’s single-season home run record with 18. He’s just an interesting guy. It’s power over hit but there is some hitting ability there, too. He can run. It’s solid to plus speed. He’s got actions and a chance to stay at shortstop. If not, I think the power and the bat will profile elsewhere. He’s making his pro debut this year. He spent less than a week in the Florida Complex League before they decided he’s ready for Single-A. Obviously small sample sizes. But so far, so good for Luke Dickerson.
Phillies: 2B Aroon Escobar (PHI No. 13)
The skinny: The 20-year-old infielder had a breakout season in Rookie ball last year that's carried over to Single-A, where he's hitting .318 with a .953 OPS for Clearwater and is leading the Florida State League in home runs.
Mayo's take: A guy whose sort of been circled by their player development staff. He signed out of 2022 out of Venezuela and didn't do a whole heck of a lot earlier in his career. Came to the United States, really hit well with an advanced approach, but was limited. He had shin splints, so he didn't spend a lot of time in the field. But they found some things in the underlying data that pointed to the idea that what he was doing down there was somewhat sustainable. He doesn't swing and miss or chase a lot. They tweaked his mechanics at the plate and thought we might see the evidence of that this year, and so far, so good. He has a chance to be an offensive-minded second baseman with a ton of thump.
Bonus: RHP Travis Sykora (WSH No. 1/MLB No. 62)
The skinny: Sykora was one of the most dominant pitchers in the Minors during his 2024 pro debut, but had his 2025 debut delayed due to offseason hip surgery. He's been almost unhittable since returning in early May, allowing only one run across 15 innings, including an excellent debut at High-A Wilmington.
Callis' take: When we had him coming out of the Draft, he was a guy who threw hard but wasn’t necessarily as polished. The stuff has been as good as promised – the fastball, slider, and splitter can all be overpowering – and he’s throwing a lot more strikes. He has a 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which works pretty well. I think he’s even better than what people thought he might be.
Mayo's take: This is a guy who keeps a very, very detailed notebook (of his outings). He is much more than the pure thrower we thought he might be, with that great stuff. I wanted to see if the hip injury would impact him, and the answer clearly, so far, is no. It’s very encouraging to see what he’s done. Next time we tweak our Top 100 he should be in line for a big jump forward.