With more than six weeks of the Minor League season in the books, the sample sizes are swelling, and trends are beginning to emerge. It's time to start taking stock, which is what MLB Pipeline's recent market-corrected Top 100 Prospects list shakeup is all about.
With that in mind, the MLB Pipeline Podcast is digging even deeper. For each of the next five weeks, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo will do a division-by-division look with an eye toward identifying each division's most intriguing, somewhat under-the-radar prospects.
Next up is the American League Central. Here are five intriguing prospects from the division that might be the most prospect-laden in baseball:
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White Sox: OF Braden Montgomery (CWS No. 4/MLB No. 38)
The skinny: One of the prizes of the Garret Crochet trade, Montgomery was a top talent from the 2024 Draft and has been as advertised this season in his pro debut, hitting .339/.420/.583 with six homers and seven steals in 31 games between Single-A and High-A.
Callis' take: Look, we knew Braden Montgomery was good. He was a guy who was in contention to maybe go number four overall in last year's Draft to the A's before he had a bad slide in the super regionals at A&M and he broke his right ankle. He wound up dropping all the way to the Red Sox at 12, and wasn't able to play last summer while he was recovering from the ankle. He gets traded in the Garrett Crochet deal to the White Sox at the Winter Meetings. How's the ankle going to affect him? … And he has looked tremendous.
Twins: LHP Connor Prielipp (MIN No. 5)
The skinny: A former second-round pick, Prielipp was limited to 30 professional innings before this season due to injuries. The left-hander is posting huge strikeout numbers at High-A, with a 32-7 K-BB ratio over his first seven starts.
Mayo's take: He is extremely fascinating and had been very hard to see. … There was a lot of buzz about Prielipp in spring. He looked so good in back fields and they were getting very excited about him. I had moved him up to number five on the Twins' Top 30. But he's thrown a grand total of 75 1/3 innings since 2020 [including college]. He just hadn’t pitched a lot. But the stuff has been very, very good. Fastball averaging 95, he's been up to 99, misses bats with it. His slider and his changeup, which they want him to throw more, have been also very effective. He can get a little slider happy, because that slider might be a 70 slider when it's at its best. So he’s just been very intriguing.
Guardians: 1B/OF C.J. Kayfus (CLE No. 5)
The skinny: A third-round pick in 2023, Kayfus put himself on the map with an excellent all-around year in his pro debut. The 23-year-old has reached Triple-A this year and is hitting .327/.425/.551 in 29 games across two levels.
Callis' take: The Guardians have a tendency both on international signings and the Draft, time and time again, taking hit over power guys, hit over power guys, hit over power guys. So I will admit, when they took C.J. Kayfus in 2023 in the third round out of Miami, I kind of shrugged my shoulders a little bit. OK, it's a first baseman, doesn't hit for a lot of power, bat-to-ball skills. I'm not sure how great that really profiles. … [He] has exceptional bat-to-ball skills and they told [him], 'You’re not going to strike out. So early in the count, look to do some damage. Don't be afraid to turn, get off your A swing. If you fall behind the count, we're not worried about you striking out. See what you do, see how it plays.' And for C.J. Kayfus, that approach has worked wonderfully. I think we're looking at a guy who could be 20 homers, 35 doubles, hit for a high average.
Royals: LHP Frank Mozzicato (KC No. 12)
The skinny: The seventh overall pick from the 2021 Draft, Mozzicato is back at High-A for the third time this year but may be figuring it all out. The southpaw pitched to a 1.15 ERA with nearly a strikeout per inning over his first six starts.
Mayo's take: He was somewhat of a surprise number seven overall pick back in the 2021 Draft, and he's had a modicum of success and then things kind of backed up. Last year, he actually threw pretty well at High-A, but the stuff backed up. The velocity was down, his strikeout rate went down, the walk rate went up. I think the biggest surprise has actually been the struggling to throw strikes. I was in Royals camp this year, and I was a little intrigued. The Royals were pretty bullish. He looked really good in the spring. And so far, it's looked good. The biggest thing is that the velocity is back up. He’s 91 to 94 with the fastball, and its got really good inverted vertical break to it. The curveball has always been his best pitch, and he’s got a solid changeup.
Tigers: Josue Briceño (DET No. 4/MLB No. 81)
The skinny: The reigning Arizona Fall League MVP, Briceño broke out last fall with a record-breaking showing on the annual elite prospect circuit. He's an offensive-minded backstop with big power in the game's top-rated farm system.
Callis' take: He wasn’t on my radar last year when the Fall League started … He won the [AFL] Triple Crown, the first time that’s ever been done down there. … He's still young; how's it going to look in 2025? And he’s looked great. He's hitting around .250 in the Midwest League, but I think the Midwest League is the hardest place to hit in the Minors, especially at the beginning of the season when it's cold. And the weather up here has sucked. I live up here in the upper Midwest. The weather has been terrible. He's still got six homers in 28 games. The power is playing. He's controlling the strike zone. He's still just 20 years old in High-A. The bat looks real.
Bonus: SS/2B Kyle DeBarge (MIN No. 12)
The skinny: The 33rd overall pick in the 2024 Draft, DeBarge leads Twins prospects in stolen bases and is second in total bases this season. He's posting an .889 OPS at High-A.
Mayo's take: I think DeBarge has a chance to be a kind of interesting, offensive-minded second baseman, kind of undersized sparkplug with a little more pop than you would think given the size. He hit 21 homers at Louisiana Lafayette last year. So far he’s looked like the advanced college performer that they thought they were getting.
Bonus: LHP Christian Oppor (CWS No. 18)
The skinny: A 20-year-old lefty with big stuff, Oppor has a 2.42 ERA and 34-7 K-BB ratio in his first five starts at Single-A.
Callis' take: The White Sox were going to take him in the 11th round of the 2022 Draft and give him an over-slot bonus. He was their Day Three target. They're ready to take him, and the Athletics drafted him ahead of the White Sox and tried to sign him for slot, which was $150,000, which Oppor had no interest in and he wound up going to junior college. He wanted to be eligible for the Draft the next year. The White Sox took him in the fifth round in 2023, and he was pretty inconsistent. …The high-end velocity is topping out 98. He's doing a better job of maintaining the velocity deeper into games and commanding it, locating it where he wants. His slider has so much sweep to it that he has trouble landing it in the zone, it moves so much. But when he does throw it for strikes, nobody can touch it. Like, he could throw it in the zone and it does not get hit. So he's got to work on the consistency of that, but it's promising.