Sasaki joins Corey Seager (2016) as the only Dodgers to be ranked the No. 1 prospect in baseball since 1990. Four others in the organization are ranked in the top 51.
Six Dodgers were ranked among the top 100 prospects in baseball entering the 2025 season by Baseball America. The list, which was unveiled on Wednesday morning, is headlined by pitcher Roki Sasaki, who announced his signing with Los Angeles on Friday.
Sasaki is ranked the No. 1 prospect in baseball, according to Baseball America. He’s just the second Dodger since 1990 to claim the top spot at BA, along with Corey Seager in 2016.
In several cases, many prospect rankers won’t consider MLB rookies who pitched professionally elsewhere. Yoshinobu Yamamoto last year at age 25, for instance, was not ranked as a prospect. But the 23-year-old Sasaki, who pitched four years in Japan and was considered by Major League Baseball as an international amateur, is a different case.
“So when Sasaki arrives, like Ohtani before him, he will be technically a minor leaguer, even if he’s not going to spend a day in the minor leagues,” wrote J.J. Cooper at Baseball America.
Dalton Rushing, who was ranked by BA as the top Dodgers prospect back in November, is ranked No. 30 on the top 100 list, up from 50th one year ago. He hit .271/.384/.512 with 26 home runs and a 142 wRC+ between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City, and played left field in Oklahoma City in addition to catching.
Alex Freeland started last season in High-A Great Lakes, and got promoted twice, playing his last 39 games of the year in Triple-A. Across all three levels, the 2022 third-round draft pick hit .260/.387/.442 with 18 home runs, 32 doubles, 31 stolen bases, and a 132 wRC+.
He is ranked 46th by Baseball America, who noted, “No Dodgers prospect made a bigger stride than Freeland in 2024. The switch-hitting shortstop rose three levels to Triple-A and plays with a confidence that endears him to scouts. Oh, and he’s an above-average hitter with solid power and a strong arm.”
Josue De Paula and Zyhir Hope, who were each ranked in the top nine MLB prospects at Baseball Prospectus last week, checked in at 47th and 51st on the Baseball America top 100. De Paula last year in January was listed among the 15 prospects who just missed the Baseball America top 100, but by midseason moved into the top 50.
Left-hander Jackson Ferris, who along with Hope was acquired from the Cubs in the January 2024 Michael Busch trade, is ranked by BA as the No. 82 prospect, after posting a 3.20 ERA in 27 starts between Great Lakes and Tulsa and led all Dodgers minor leaguers with 145 strikeouts.
Ferris, who just turned 21 last Wednesday, won the Branch Rickey Award last season as the Dodgers’ minor league pitcher of the year. Rushing was the Rickey Award winner as the itter of the year.
“The lefthander had a breakthrough season in his first year in the Dodgers system, reaching Double-A and throwing 126.2 innings,” Baseball America noted in its scouting report. “Ferris mixes a four-pitch mix led by a plus slider and a fastball that sits 93-95 mph.
Rushing, Hope, De Paula, Ferris, and Freeland were also ranked in the top 101 prospects at Baseball Prospectus last week. The MLB Pipeline top-100 list will be unveiled on Friday.