It’s been a busy few weeks for discussing baseball prospects. While most of the attention is on the top 100 — where the Dodgers are well-represented, with between five and eight players on national lists — there is also depth to the system.
Shortstop Emil Morales was the Dodgers’ highest-profile signee in the 2024 international class, hit .342/.478/.691 with a 194 wRC+ and 14 home runs in 46 games in his professional debut, and was named MVP of the Dominican Summer League. He made one top-100 list so far, ranking 80th at ESPN.
At MLB Pipeline, Jim Callis, Sam Dykstra, and Jonathan Mayo profiled one prospect from each team that just missed their top 100, and tabbed Morales as the next-best Dodgers prospect. Says the trio: “He has a smooth right-handed swing and hits the ball exceptionally hard for an 18-year-old, and he should still provide more than enough offense if he moves off shortstop.”
On the Future Projection podcast at Baseball America, Ben Badler and Carlos Collazo talked about National League breakout prospects, and also were high on Morales.
“I like the swing, there’s a good eye for the strike zone. Big power for his age, and he’s 6’4 probably 195, close to 200 pounds,” Badler said. “The power potential is there for him to be a 25-30 home run guy.
“Defensively I don’t think he’s a shortstop long-term, but it’s a rock solid third base profile. He has the arm, he has the hands, and certainly the offensive projection that suits him well over there.”
Collazo mentioned Mike Sirota, the outfielder acquired from Cincinnati in the Gavin Lux trade, as a potential Dodgers breakout prospect this year. “I just like his overall skillset,” Collazo said.
Eduardo Quintero is a year ahead of Morales, signed out of Venezuela in 2023 and had his age-17 breakout year in the Dominican that year. In 2024, the centerfielder hit .330/.459/.449 with a 142 wRC+ in the Arizona Complex League before getting promoted to Low-A Rancho Cucamonga at age 18, hitting .196/.333/.283 and a 77 wRC+, with nearly as many walks (18) as strikeouts (22) in 27 games with the Quakes.
Kiley McDaniel followed up his top-100 list with a full ranking of his next 100 prospects earlier this week. Quintero was the top Dodger in that group, ranked the 106th-best prospect in baseball at ESPN. McDaniel lumped Quintero among six prospects from 101-200 as the most likely to make the jump into the top 50 prospects in 2026.
Justin Wrobleski, who made his major league debut and pitched 36⅓ innings for the Dodgers in 2024, was ranked the No. 149 prospect by McDaniel.
Baseball America on Wednesday picked sleeper prospects to watch in 2025 for each team. The Dodgers’ selection here was Brendan Tunink, the outfielder drafted out of high school in the eighth round last year. He signed for $412,500, the fourth-highest bonus signed by the Dodgers in that draft.
“The team coveted him thanks to his combination of athleticism, speed and remaining projection,” Josh Norris wrote. “As with any tooled-up high schooler from a cold-weather state, his development might take longer than a more veteran prospect, but the results should be worth the wait.”