Teams in the American League East have lost a ton of star power in recent years, as many of the game’s top young stars, like Roman Anthony, Junior Caminero, and Samuel Basallo, have joined the MLB ranks. But the talent pool remains rich, particularly on the positional side of things, as Top 50 prospects Franklin Arias, George Lombard Jr, and Theo Gillen push themselves into the upper echelon of prospects. While each team has its own strength, the cream of the crop is the Tampa Bay Rays, a team notorious for deep prospect pools and advanced player development.
A rare intra-division trade has reshaped the AL East prospect landscape for the second time in the calendar year; only this time, the Orioles are the beneficiaries. The Rays are also now the #1 farm system in baseball, while the Blue Jays spin off a former top prospect for a future ace. All that, plus more, in this month’s AL East report!
Less than a calendar year after spinning off four of their top 25 prospects to land Shane Baz, the Orioles have made a second franchise-altering trade. Former #1 overall pick and face of the franchise Adley Rutschman is headed to Boston, in exchange for three Top 10 organizational prospects: Anthony Eyanson, Kyson Witherspoon, and Enddy Azocar. The team also added Michael Forret from the Rays, along with Jhomnardo Reyes from Minnesota in separate deals. With these acquisitions, the O’s are once again flirting with a Top 10 system in all of baseball.
A torn meniscus ended the first pro season for 2025 first-rounder Ike Irish. The 22-year-old finishes with a .286/.388/.528 slash line, along with 16 homers, 20 doubles, and 20 steals in just 76 games at High-A. Irish showed a little bit of everything along the way, specifically improved power and above-average instincts on the bases, resulting in double-digit steals despite below-average speed. At the same time, his contact skills were a bit underwhelming and will need improvement as he climbs to the next level. Irish is a borderline Top 100 fantasy prospect.
Joseph Dzierwa has continued to impress and has actually been better since his promotion to Double-A at the end of May. Dzierwa just finished off a dazzling July, posting a 1.52 ERA with 20 strikeouts and just five walks across 23 2/3 innings. As a follow-up, he has yet to allow a run in 12 August innings, punching out 16 with just three walks in the month. His season-long line is an 8-2 record with a 2.01 ERA and a K-BB rate just north of 24%. It’s not outside the realm of possibilities that Dzierwa reaches Triple-A this season, pushing his ETA to the Majors up to early-to-mid 2027.
With a handful of Top 10 prospects departing the organization at the trade deadline, the weight of the organization rests primarily on the two biggest remaining names: shortstop Franklin Arias and outfielder Justin Gonzales. Gonzales, a hulking 6’5″, 220lb slugger, was promoted to Double-A Portland earlier this week, where he is likely to finish the season. It didn’t take him long to get acclimated to his new home, collecting two hits in his debut and homering in the second game, giving him 17 on the season to go along with 12 doubles and 11 steals. Given his size and the batted-ball data that he puts together, double-digit homers is the baseline for what we could see from him moving forward. The biggest adjustment he’ll need is lowering his groundball rate, but since he doesn’t turn 20 until December 31st, he has plenty of time to learn to lift the ball better.
The biggest breakout arm in the Red Sox system this season has been teenager Sadbiel Delzine, a talented 18-year-old who has made his way to Class A. Between the Complex and his new level, Delzine has posted a 2.80 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings. The big right-hander stands 6’5″ and around 200 lbs, showing a tall but lean frame and an arsenal that is missing plenty of bats. At the Complex level, he generated a 13.8% SwStr and 30.8% whiff rate, while also getting hitters to expand the zone at a 45.3% clip. As with most young arms, command has been inconsistent, and he’ll need to rein in his stuff as he climbs levels. Still, Delzine is now considered the top pitching prospect in their system and a guy they have high hopes for.
With the ongoing struggles of former top prospect Anthony Volpe, the Yankees have turned to their shortstop of the future, George Lombard Jr., who was promoted to the Majors on August 4th. Lombard is batting .286 with two homers and a steal through his first 13 MLB games. Most importantly, he has made just one error, bringing defensive stability the Yankees have missed the past few seasons. With Lombard now in the Majors, all eyes will turn to Dax Kilby, who will assume the #1 overall spot upon Lombard’s graduation later this season.
The Yankees had the top two hitters by wRC+ in this year’s Florida Complex League, Wilberson de Pena and Jose Castro. De Pena, a 19-year-old outfielder playing in his third pro season, hit .358 with 16 homers, 23 steals, and 67 RBI in 56 games, accounting for a 152 wRC+. Pena has since joined Class A Tampa, where he’s already hit three homers in 15 games, but has a 30% strikeout rate with a .190 batting average. Castro is also a third-year pro, having spent two seasons in the DSL prior. The 20-year-old posted a .328/.488/.552 slash line with seven homers, 31 steals, and an 18.1% walk rate. He also struck out 31 times in 125 at-bats (24.1%) with an overall contact rate below 64%. De Pena is firmly in my Top 400 overall prospects and should be a name you’re trying to add in leagues rostering at least 200 prospects.
After a very rough start to the season that saw him walk over 20% of the batters he’d faced, top prospect Brody Hopkins is now in the bullpen. The Rays pulled the plug, at least temporarily, on the 24-year-old as a starter at Triple-A Durham. His final start was a rough one, recording just three outs while allowing five earned runs and walking five hitters. Hopkins has made just one appearance out of the bullpen since the move, tossing a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. The talented right-hander has premium stuff with incredible upside, but his command has been so poor that he may be a high-leverage reliever for the duration of his career.
I’m starting to run out of superlatives for top prospect Theo Gillen, as he continues his assault on the Minor Leagues. Gillen has been tearing up Double-A since his promotion in June, batting .297 with nine homers, seven doubles, and 12 steals in just 39 games. He’s also got a 14.6% walk rate, which mirrors his season-long total. All told, Gillen has 21 bombs and 40 bags across two levels, good for a 160 wRC+. I recently moved him inside my Top 5 prospects overall, and he is a big riser in this month’s Dynasty rankings.
It’s been a hellacious few years for Ricky Tiedemann, but the Jays’ former top prospect has worked his way back to the mound and recently made his Major League debut. Tiedemann is working out of the Toronto bullpen and has thrown 1 2/3 innings thus far, allowing one run with two strikeouts. The results are meaningless when you consider that Tiedemann has missed parts of the last four seasons with biceps inflammation, Tommy John surgery, a neck injury, and a few other setbacks along the way. Tip of the cap to Ricky Tiedemann for persevering and getting to the Show!
One of the most underrated trades of the deadline saw the Blue Jays acquire LHP Dasan Hill from the Twins in exchange for closer Jeff Hoffman. Hill is an interesting prospect with incredible upside, but he has struggled mightily to locate his high-octane stuff and recapture some of the magic of his 2025 debut. In 51 innings this season at Class A, the 18-year-old has a 5.47 ERA with a 16.3% walk rate. At the same time, he’s getting whiffs at a 31.4% clip, and opposing hitters still have a sub-700 OPS against him. Hill immediately becomes a Top 5 prospect in this system, joining another talented teen Southpaw, Johnny King.
