Top fantasy baseball prospects: Jac Caglianone getting the call, Harry Ford heating up in Tacoma

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2 days ago

A reminder: This is ONLY players who have Rookie of the Year MLB eligibility, and ONLY a look at potential help for 2025.
That out of the way, here's a look at the top prospects who can help your fantasy roster this season.
1. Jac Caglianone, 1B/OF, Kansas City Royals
2025 stats: 50 G, 322/.389/.593, 9 HR, 2 SB, 24 BB, 46SO at Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha.
Last week, I talked about how I wouldn't be surprised if Caglianone was off this list because of promotion. Well, he made it to the list, but he won't be here next week. Multiple outlets report that the 2024 first-round pick will have his contract selected before Tuesday's game against the Cardinals. The left-handed hitter has massive power in his left-handed stroke, and while he is prone to strikeouts, the ball jumps off his bat; giving him a chance to be a contributor in the average category as well. There's some obvious risk with using a rookie in your lineup and particularly one who will swing and miss, but there's an enormous amount of upside in hie left-handed bat as well.
2. Roman Anthony, OF, Boston Red Sox
2025 stats: 53 G, .303/.430/.492, 8 HR, 3 SB, 45 BB, 4349 SO at Triple-A Worcester.
Anthony's dealing with his first struggles of 2025 over the last week, and one could easily wonder if perhaps he's getting a bit bored at the Triple-A level. Even his struggles haven't really been too dire, there's just a lot of one-hit efforts lately. It's very hard to panic based on a week of so-so handful of games, and you can see from the numbers above that he's been excellent for the overwhelming majority of 2025. Anthony deserves to be with the Red Sox, and he deserves a roster spot when that takes place, if not sooner.
3. Jordan Lawlar, 2B, Arizona Diamondbacks
2025 stats: 39 G, .338/.414/.569, 6 HR, 13 SB, 19 BB, 43 SO at Triple-A Reno; 8 G .000/.175/.000, 0 SB, 3 BB, 9 SO at Arizona.
Well, that didn't go great. Lawlar is back in the minors after essentially serving in a utility role with Arizona, and he wasn't able to pick up a hit in his week-plus with the club. These things happen. The top prospect went hitless in his first game back with Reno, but then went 3-for-4 with a run scored Sunday while drawing a walk and also driving in a pair. Even with how disappointing his run with Arizona was, there's doubt in my mind that he belongs on this list. There's five tools at his disposal, and he offers as much upside as any prospect in the minors -- at least at the higher levels. When the Diamondbacks give him another chance this summer, I'd still be willing to make the roster move.
4. Jacob Misiorowski, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
2025 stats: 12 G, 58.1 IP, 2.31 ERA, .177 BAA, 28 BB, 73 SO at Triple-A Nashville.
Speaking of bad weeks. Misiorowski made two appearances since our last update, and one outing was shaky, the other ugly. The better was four innings of two-run baseball -- one of those runs earned -- with eight strikeouts. The ugly was two innings where he allowed five runs and he issued six walks; an unfriendly reminder of Misiorowski's command issues that have caused concern over the last two seasons. The 23-year-old has been excellent for the overwhelming majority of 2025, and still offers significant fantasy upside in his right arm. He's just going to have to get back on track before he's going to join the Brew Crew's rotation.
5. Christian Moore, 2B, Los Angeles Angels
2025 stats: 46 G, .269/.374/.363, 2 HR, 8 SB, 29 BB, 56 SO at Double-A Rocket City and Triple-A Salt Lake.
It's a little surprising that a first-round pick from the previous year hasn't gotten called up yet based on their recent history, but Moore did receive a promotion to Triple-A, and it has gone well so far, albeit in a small sample. The eighth-overall pick has hit .362/.456/.468 since joining the Bees over a dozen games, and he's stolen three bases with three extra-base hits. Moore has plus power and speed in his bat, and while he will strike out, he's also a patient hitter who can draw free passes and put those wheels to work. The Angels have been playing well, but their middle infield still leaves a lot to be desired. I like his chance for fantasy success whenever he does get the call.
Around the minors:
Mariners catching prospect Harry Ford struggled to begin the 2025 season, and he hit just .200 with a .662 OPS in the month of April. To say things went better for Ford in the month of May is the understatement of understatements. He finished that month with an OPS of 1.120 with a slash of .411/.475/.644 buoyed by three homers and nine extra-base hits. A 2021 first-round pick, Ford has an outstanding approach at the plate and tremendous athleticism for a player who mostly plays behind the plate, and he's starting to tap into his above-average power in his right-handed bat. He's definitely not going to usurp Cal Raleigh as the starter, but it's possible the Mariners find a way to get Ford's bat in the lineup after recently calling up Cole Young from Tacoma, and he'd be worthy of fantasy consideration whenever that takes place.
It's been an impressive first professional season for Chase Burns, and he continued his strong run with a couple of quality outings last week. The second pick of last year's draft struck out 10 Sunday for Double-A Chattanooga, and he followed it up with six scoreless frames for the Lookouts on Saturday. His ERA on the season is now 1.93 over 46 2/3 innings, and that number dips to 1.54 when you look just as his numbers since being promoted from High-A. At this point, I would be more surprised if Burns didn't pitch for the Reds in 2025 than if he did. Even in the Reds' less-than-ideal park for pitchers, he'd obviously be worthy of roster consideration should that take place.
Caglianone has been one of the best hitters in the minors, but the hottest hitter at the Triple-A level as of late is Rockies infield prospect Ryan Ritter. Ritter has homered eight times over the last week, and three of those occurred in one game against Reno. The shortstop is now up to 16 homers on the season, and he's also forged an impressive .307 average and 1.059 OPS over 199 at-bats. Ritter was better known for his defense than his offense coming into the year, but clearly he's taken a step forward with the bat in 2025. At the very least, he's now a name to monitor; especially since he's on track to play his home games in Colorado.