Another look at three top-100 MLB prospects in the Dodgers system, two of whom could play their way into the majors in 2025.
Prospect news is fertile right now, and three of the top Dodgers minor leaguers have been discussed by analysts in the last few days.
Baseball America on Monday had a long discussion of Dodgers prospects, including a long discussion about catcher/outfielder Dalton Rushing, who was ranked by BA as the No. 30 prospect in baseball and has ranked between 16th and 30th at all five national prospect rankings released thus far.
“He’s basically big league ready at this point, but these are the Dodgers,” J.J. Cooper said. “Is there a path for Dalton Rushing to Los Angeles or is it much more like he is a wonderful trade chip where he can fit somewhere else?”
“His bat will play in left field. His bat will more than profile in a corner,” Josh Norris said. “He’s one of the best offensive prospects in the minor leagues.”
The Rushing discussion starts at the 3-minute mark of this video, but the whole thing is worth a watch:
Alex Freeland has been a consensus top-100 prospect this offseason as well, after the shortstop hit .260/.387/.442 with a 132 wRC+, 53 extra-base hits and 31 stolen bases across three levels, including spending the final two months of the season in Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Kiley McDaniel at ESPN made “bold” predictions among his top 200 prospects on Wednesday, and Freeland was the one Dodger mentioned. Freeland was one of five prospects mentioned who could perform better than league average in the majors in 2025.
“Freeland provides L.A. with insurance for Mookie Betts’ shortstop defense, Hyeseong Kim’s offensive impact and Max Muncy beginning to age, not to mention the health of all three players,” McDaniel wrote.
Another consensus top-100 prospect is outfielder Zyhir Hope, who was ranked as high as eighth overall by Baseball Prospectus.
Hope wasn’t quite as high at MLB Pipeline but was still ranked No. 75. The trio of Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis, and Sam Dykstra at MLB.com picked one prospect from each team who could be said team’s top prospect in 2027, two years from now.
On Hope they wrote, “The most dynamic player in the Arizona Fall League, he makes advanced swing decisions that produce elite exit velocity, has solid speed underway and is a fearless defender capable of playing center field.”