The Pitcher Edition of the Stash List highlights the 10 best pitching prospects likely to make an impact during the 2025 season.
Prospects are often thought of as only holding value in dynasty formats. However, knowing which prospects hold value for the current season can help set you apart in redraft leagues. Several have a 2025 ETA, and getting ahead of the curve on rostering these prospects is a key part of roster management. Last year, we saw more pitching prospects make their debut than ever before, and there is no reason we should expect to see anything change in 2025. Keep reading to find out the top ten pitchers you should stash in your redraft leagues.
Ground Rules
- The Stash List is for your redraft leagues and does not consider impact beyond 2025.
- Only current minor league players who are expected to make an impact this season are included.
- Upside, proximity, health, and opportunity are all weighed for each player.
- The focus is on 12-team leagues with standard categories.
- Rankings and roster percentages will be updated weekly.
- Stats will be updated weekly for all players through Thursday’s games.
The Stash List
Graduates/Call-Ups
The following prospects are poised to join their squads straight out of spring training: Richard Fitts BOS, Joey Cantillo CLE, Shane Smith CWS, Sean Burke CWS, AJ Smith-Shawver ATL, Jackson Jobe DET, Roki Sasaki LAD, Will Warren NYY, Landen Roupp SFG, Kumar Rocker TEX, and Jack Leiter, TEX.
Top 10 Pitching Prospects to Stash
1. Bubba Chandler, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
2024 MiLB Stat line: 119.2 IP | 3.08 ERA | 30.9 K% | 8.6 BB%
Bubba Chandler is Pittsburgh’s number one prospect coming into the 2025 season. The right-handed 22-year-old will begin 2025 in Triple-A Indianapolis after tossing over 4 innings in the spring. He will be mostly remembered for 4 strikeouts in 2.0 innings in the Pirates’ Spring Breakout game. He touched 100 mph and averaged 98 mph on the 4-seam fastball while mixing in a 92 mph change and 86 mph slider. With a solid build and sustainable arm action, 2025 is wide open for Chandler to make a long-lasting impact on the big league squad after being built up to 119.2 innings in 2024.
Chandler will be one of the most sought-after stashes based on the pitch mix, his foundation of innings, and overall polish. The main hurdles will be getting a 40-man roster spot and surpassing Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows, and big leaguers Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney on the depth chart. With Pittsburgh possessing Skenes and other younger star hurlers, the perception is that their window for winning is now, so all chips should be in. Furthermore, Chandler could be a solid stash as an early-season call-up with the arm injury to Jared Jones.
2. Quinn Mathews, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals
2024 MiLB stat line: 143.1 IP | 2.76 ERA | 35.4 K% | 8.6 BB%
Quinn Mathews had a solid spring debut for the Cardinals and looks to continue marching towards becoming a durable strike-throwing starter for the Cardinals. In addition to his spring debut against the Blue Jays, he also had 3 scoreless innings and 3 Ks in his Spring Breakout game. The 6’5″ lefty is not on the 40-man roster as of yet but has surely done more than Tink Hence to earn the first big league call-up this season.
Mathews finished his spring strong with six strikeouts on 13 whiffs against the Astros. He was up to 96 mph on the four-seamer, with up to 22 inches of induced vertical break on the pitch. Mathews doesn’t have much left to prove in the Minor Leagues, so once the Cardinals begin selling off their pieces, you should stash him ASAP.
3. Brandon Sproat, RHP, New York Mets
2024 MiLB Stat line: 116.1 IP | 3.40 ERA | 28.3 K% | 9.1 BB%
The New York Mets are already dipping into the alternative pitchers, which means prospects like Brandon Sproat are inching closer to their Major League debut. He only worked four innings during spring training but impressed with a 99 mph fastball and four-pitch mix.
He is another pitcher who has built up a solid foundation of 116 innings, which is enough that he could easily handle a full season in the Major Leagues. In 2024, he had the ideal combo of a 28% strikeout rate and a 9% walk rate. Yet, his seven games in Triple-A were a disaster. He will have to overcome that late-season implosion (7.53 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 16 K%, 8.5 BB%) and sustain the stuff over the long haul to get the call.
4. Jake Bloss, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
2024 MiLB Stat line: 93.1 IP | 3.18 ERA | 23.3 K% | 9.5 BB%
Jake Bloss will start in Triple-A Buffalo to serve as immediate depth in the event Max Scherzer or another pitcher goes down. In 2024, he rose through four levels of ball, ending with a three-game stint for the Astros. His Triple-A and Major League numbers were not impressive, but he has demonstrated an average ability to miss bats and limit walks.
Stashing Bloss would be a proximity play, yet he did display higher velocity in the spring. We would want to see him duplicate his successful Spring Breakout outing, where he pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. He mixed a changeup, curveball, and slider with a 95 mph four-seamer that touched 97 mph.
5. Noah Schultz, LHP, Chicago White Sox
2024 MiLB Stat line: 88.1 IP | 2.24 ERA | 32.1 K% | 6.7 BB%
I have been preaching patience with the development of Noah Schultz, but compared to the rest of the Chicago prospects, he is a ten-year vet. It was my view that he would spend the year in Triple-A, pitching 5-6 innings at a time. This would allow him to further solidify his arsenal and develop the stamina to break through in 2026.
He has a strong and deep pitch mix, but he still needs to harness the control to throw more strikes, as evidenced by his final spring start against the Rockies. Schultz was effectively wild, giving up 5 walks yet having a higher than 30% called strike and whiff rate on four of his pitches. He will need to iron out these kinks in Double-A, where he will start with other promising hurlers, Grant Taylor and Hagen Smith. Although injuries have wrecked Chicago’s early plans for the rotation, Schultz will need to overachieve to get an April or May debut in 2025.
6. Noah Cameron, LHP, Kansas City Royals
2024 MiLB Stat line: 128.2 IP | 3.08 ERA | 27.8 K% | 6.7 BB%
Noah Cameron has been gradually building up innings over the years to reach the precipice of his Major League debut. His strikeout rates have come down from their gaudy heights in High-A, but he has maintained solid command as he ascended to Triple-A.
This spring, he built a good case for being an early call-up after serving up only one home run and one walk over 10 innings in 4 games. His velocity was up to 96 mph in his final spring start against the Brewers. One noticeable stat was his 28% called strikes and whiffs over 46 pitches. The Royals should have extreme confidence in bringing Cameron on board to eat innings with solid ratios if their pitching staff hits any bumps early in 2025.
7. Andrew Painter, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
2024 MiLB Stat line: 15.2 IP | 2.30 ERA | 30.5 K% | 6.7 BB%
After his 2023 Tommy John surgery, Andrew Painter had not produced any meaningful stats or data outside of his 15.2 innings of work in the Arizona Fall League. Despite the long layoff, he finished as the AFL Pitcher of the Year with a 2.30 ERA, .189 batting average against, 0.89 WHIP, and an 18:4 K: BB ratio. His four-pitch arsenal fared well against AFL hitters, where he had a 40% chase rate average on all of his pitches, with the curveball and slider generating a whiff almost half the time. His recovery is progressing well enough that he touched 100 mph on the fastball and sat 97 mph.
The main concern for fantasy managers is that he will not be called up until much later in the season, as forecasted by a December interview with Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski, who put a “July-ish” ETA on the board for Painter. Until then, get your stash button ready as you observe his performance in Double-A Reading.
8. Chase Dollander, RHP, Colorado Rockies
2024 MiLB Stat line: 118.0 IP | 2.59 ERA | 33.9 K% | 9.4 BB%
Chase Dollander was serving up high heat in spring training with enough success that he almost got added to the starting rotation. The Rockies do not need a 5th starter until the end of week two, so it’s possible they may wait for the call-up until then. In his standout spring performance, he struck out seven Giants batters and gave up only two hits, one being a weak comebacker out in front of home plate. He was missing the zone with the fastball at times, but the spray chart indicates that his strategy is to tempt batters to chase outside or high on his 97 mph four-seamer.
Given the pedigree and solid 2024 showing, Dollander is someone to grab to see what he can do in the Colorado air. In 2024, he had a 40% fly ball rate and a 6.6% home run rate, which speaks to the inability of hitters to line him up. He had a 16.6% swinging strike rate over 118 innings at Double-A, so he is ready to handle a full year of big league innings.
9. Cam Schlittler, RHP, New York Yankees
2024 MiLB Stat line: 120.2 IP | 3.36 ERA | 29.8 K% | 10.6 BB%
Cam Schlittler is a pop-up prospect who came onto my radar when researching pitchers with strikeout upside but high walk rates. His high arm angle plays up the break on his slider and mid-90s four-seam fastball. He can get as much as 19 inches of induced vertical break on the fastball and 16 inches of horizontal break on the slider. He has a solid curveball that generates lots of whiffs. Overall, his success is still determined by command and locating enough pitches in and near the zone to generate swings.
Schlittler’s development is one to follow as he is virtually the number six starter in New York after a rash of injuries. He performed admirably over 16.1 innings in Spring Training with a scoreless 4-inning start of two strikeouts and one walk against Philadelphia last Saturday. Overall, the line looks mediocre at 4.41 ERA and 1.53 WHIP, but he has flashed strikeout upside and has proximity to the Major Leagues to boot.
10. Jonah Tong, RHP, New York Mets
2024 MiLB Stat line: 113.0 IP | 3.03 ERA | 34.2 K% | 10.0 BB%
One bonus pitcher who impressed in the spring is Jonah Tong, a Mets right-hander with an aggressive follow-through to pick up that dollar on the ground a la Tim Lincecum. Despite the over-the-top delivery, he generates an induced vertical break up to 21 inches on an albeit straight fastball that touches 98 mph. While we are excited by the Major League-ready fastball, we will want to see him continue to progress with his average curveball and changeup. He built up to 113.0 IP in 2024, so he is also in line for growth with his stamina in Double-A Binghamton.
On The Bubble
Here are the next several pitchers that were in consideration for inclusion on this week’s list: Hurston Waldrep ATL, Chase Burns CIN, Rhett Lowder CIN, Hagen Smith CWS, Robby Snelling MIA, Logan Henderson MIL, Andrew Morris MIN, Mike Burrows PIT, Thomas Harrington PIT, Michael McGreevy STL, and Emiliano Teodo TEX.
