The Diamondbacks keep developing strong hitters, most of whom play or at least began their careers somewhere in the middle of the diamond, an area of depth they supplemented with their top three picks in the 2024 draft. Their pitching pipeline is lighter, as they don’t draft arms and some of their higher-profile ones just haven’t developed; all of the pitchers in their top 15 prospects were signed as international free agents or acquired in trade.
(Note: Tools are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale; ages as of July 1, 2025.)Height: 6-1 | Weight: 190 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
The 2024 season was a lost year for Lawlar, who tore a ligament in his right thumb in March, then hurt his left hamstring twice while on rehab assignments, limiting him to just 104 regular-season PA and keeping him out of the majors entirely after he debuted in 2023. He did go play for Licey in the Dominican Winter League and doubled his playing time for the calendar year, although he didn’t hit as well there, leaving him probably no further along than he was this time last year. He’s a really athletic shortstop who has shown he can make hard contact to hit for high averages, hitting more line drives to the gaps than balls into the seats, only getting to more power when he played in the hitters’ havens of Amarillo and Reno in 2023. His swing is pretty short to the ball, with good follow-through that’s on a lower plane for line drives, and his wrists are so strong that he’s going to at least get to a high doubles total and probably still hit 15-20 homers at his peak.He didn’t run much last year but has plus speed and good instincts on the bases, all of which could also help him if he ends up moving to center field in deference to a plus defender at shortstop. If left at the position, he could be a 50/55 defender, thanks to some strong work by Arizona’s player development crew. I did note some concerns about him lunging out of his swing in 2023, but that’s all on the back burner now as we wait to see the healthy version of him return this spring training. He’s got a strong floor as an everyday guy, at short or center or maybe even second, but if he can stay healthy and push that power to more like 20 homers or 60-plus extra-base hits, he’d be more of an All-Star.
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 178 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 20
Arizona took Crisantes in the seventh round in 2022 out of Nogales (Ariz.) High School, just a few minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, but the infielder didn’t debut until 2023 or play a game in the field until 2024 after he underwent two Tommy John surgeries — the second to repair the first — as a high schooler. Through 121 games in the minors, however, he’s hit .342/.427/.486 with a really mature approach and enough hard contact to project him to a 60 or better hit tool in the majors. It’s a really simple, clean swing with a little loft in its finish, producing a 27.4 percent line-drive rate in 2024, and he’s strong enough already for well-above-average contact quality for a teenager. (The MLB average line-drive rate in 2024 was 19.6 percent.) His defense is a work in progress between his recovering arm and several years off the field; he probably fits best at second base, as he’s athletic enough for the position and it doesn’t require a ton from his arm, while he lacks the range for short or the twitchiness for third. There’s always a lot of risk in prospects whose value is primarily tied up in their hit tool — not to be too obvious, but if they don’t hit for high averages, they have nothing to fall back on — which is why Crisantes isn’t even higher on this list. Everything about Crisantes, from the swing to the batted-ball data to the performance, says he’s going to hit a ton.
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 205 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Waldschmidt got first-round buzz for much of the spring of 2024 but ended up sliding to the No. 31 pick, possibly because teams had concerns about the ACL tear he suffered a year prior. Right now that looks like a boon for the Diamondbacks, who took him with their second selection of the draft. He had one of the best pure hit tools in the draft, rarely missing a fastball and generally not chasing much on any pitches. He hit .370/.500/.653 for Kentucky despite a wide setup and no stride, which limited how much he could generate power from his lower half and resulted in a swing that could get too steep as he tried to loft the ball. He does have room to add 20-25 pounds and has already made some small mechanical adjustments to try to loosen up his hips and keep his swing in that optimal range for power. In the instructional league, the DBacks tried him at third base, where he last played as a freshman at Charleston Southern before he transferred to Kentucky, but the results weren’t good and he should just go to an outfield corner and stay there. He has .300 average/25-homer upside if he can loosen up those hips.
Height: 5-9 | Weight: 182 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 19
Caldwell would have been a top-10 pick in the 2024 draft if he were 6-foot-1 rather than his actual height, which is definitely less than his listed 5-9 and might be as little as 5-6. No one doubts that he can play, though — it’s potentially three plus tools in his hit, run, and field grades, with an average-ish arm and below-average power. He’s got a compact swing and excellent plate discipline, approaching at-bats like a leadoff hitter whose job is to get on base any way he can. There’s definite bat speed here, enough to turn on good velocity, but there isn’t average power now and he doesn’t have the projection to get there. His best route to becoming a regular — or even an above-average one — is to be a high-OBP, high-contact hitter who steals bases and plays plus defense in center, even with six to eight homers a year. He’s not the next Corbin Carroll, another undersized outfielder whom the Dbacks selected and developed into a superstar, but he could move quickly through A-ball if his plate discipline is really as good as advertised.
Height: 5-10 | Weight: 208 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 25
No player on this list surprised me more by making the cut than del Castillo, who didn’t make my Arizona top 20 last year, when I said he “could surface as a capable backup, with some on-base skills and enough defense to catch once or twice a week.” Oops. He hadn’t hit much at all in a stint in Triple-A Reno, one of the minors’ best hitters’ parks, in 2023, but returned there in 2024 and hit .311/.392/.597 with a career-high 26 homers, hitting well on the road as well. He was originally drafted in 2021 as a below-average defensive catcher who could hit but didn’t show much power. He’s worked to improve his receiving and blocking to the point that he’s an average defender with a 45 arm who can really hit and probably has 20-homer power. He barreled up 10 percent of balls he hit while in Triple A, and his EV50 there was 101 mph, with a swing geared to produce hard line drives. He’s best suited to a hybrid role where he catches some of the time and plays first or DHs the rest of the time to get him into the lineup as much as possible. I don’t think he’s a star, but I do think he’s an everyday player right now.
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 180 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 21
Jones’ second full year in the minors went a lot better than his first. For one thing, he stayed healthy all year, playing 109 games after playing just 41 (including rehab games) the year before. For another, he started to produce for the first time in pro ball, hitting .275/.409/.405, tying for 12th in all of the minors with 85 walks — same as his draft classmate Termarr Johnson. It’s not all good news, as he still hit the ball on the ground way too often (57.2 percent of the time) for a guy with plus raw power, and his defense in center was more often grade 60 than 70 — or grade 80, like his father’s. He’s shown more in-game power the other way than to his pull side, and doesn’t really try to turn on stuff on the inner third yet. His ball/strike recognition turned out to be much more advanced than expected, and the fact that he came back as well as he did from a 2023 season that was ruined by multiple injuries and some visible uncertainty at the plate is a positive sign. He could still end up just an extra outfielder but I think it’s too soon to assume that, given the power and plus defense he showed as an amateur.
7. Jansel Luis, 2B/SS (Just missed)
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 170 | Bats: S | Throws: R | Age: 20
Luis got off to a miserable start but played better after April, and generally improved his swing decisions as the season went on, but it didn’t show up in the results. He’s very toolsy and played in Low A at 19, probably belonging in the late, lamented short-season level, and his lack of zone awareness really killed him in the first half of the season. He did improve tangibly in the second half, with just 30 Ks and 20 walks in 170 PA, but it didn’t translate into better overall production.He’s a shortstop now but much more likely to end up at second base, and then the question of whether his bat is good enough to make him a regular or better or just a utility player arises. He did lead the Cal League with 10 triples and finished second among all A-ball batters in extra-base hits with 46, if you’re looking for positives. I’m still a fan, and I’m hoping this year was a function of being young and physically immature for the level rather than a function of his hit tool.
8. Tommy Troy, SS/2B
Height: 5-9 | Weight: 197 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 23
Troy is not a shortstop, at all, so it’s a good thing he can hit enough to be a solid regular at second or maybe third. Arizona’s first-round pick in 2023 (No. 12 selection), Troy played through a broken bone in his foot that spring, then tried to play through a hamstring injury early in 2024. He got off to an awful start and missed two months recovering from it, with an up-and-down season that at least ended strongly in the Arizona Fall League. He makes hard contact, often very hard, but the way his swing works it’s not going to be much over-the-fence power. His value will be in hitting for high averages and maybe above-average OBPs. He could be an average defender at second or third, or maybe move to the outfield. His upside is a solid regular somewhere that isn’t shortstop.
9. Yilber Diaz, RHP
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 190 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 24
Diaz signed as an older international free agent in 2021, making incredible progress since he first came into the Diamondbacks’ system, to the point where he’s a viable starter prospect with the floor of a high-leverage relief role. His stuff keeps improving across the board, and the main question is whether the lack of life on his 95-97 mph four-seamer will push him to a bullpen role because hitters can connect with it. His slider is plus, with tight downward break, and his curveball is above average, although it’s really a weapon only against righties. He has no changeup, although he’s never shown a platoon split. If he commands the fastball well enough, he can start, with mid-rotation upside.
10. Gino Groover, 3B
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 212 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 23
Groover’s first full pro season was interrupted in the second week, as he suffered a displaced fracture in his wrist as a result of a collision on the field, missing three months as he recovered. It’s to his credit that he hit as well as he did, going .272/.360/.457 in High A and then .340/.400/.600 in 13 games at Double-A Amarillo — one of the best hitters’ parks in the minors, mind you. He’s still a work in progress at third base but is so athletic that you have to give him every chance to stick there and see if he can get himself to average range. It’s a 45 arm, so he’s going to left field or first base if he can’t stay at the hot corner. I’m betting on the bat and expect a big year from him now that he’ll have a full year post-injury.
11. Yu-Min Lin, LHP
Height: 5-11 | Weight: 160 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 21
Lin’s 2024 was interrupted when a foul ball hit him in the face, fracturing his jaw and requiring surgery, although somehow he was back in less than two months. He still has a gigantic pitch mix, with a four-seamer, sinker, cutter, slider, curve, and a screwball-like changeup, nothing plus, and may benefit from just picking three pitches that work and using them more. He sits 90-92 and touches 94, with the changeup and curveball generating the most whiffs, throwing strikes from a funky delivery that he repeats very well. There may not be the out-pitch he’d need to be more than a fifth starter; simplifying the pitch mix, however, might help him refine any of his 79 weapons to make it one.
12. JD Dix, SS
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 180 | Bats: S | Throws: R | Age: 19
Dix was the No. 35 pick in the 2024 draft, Arizona’s third selection after Caldwell and Waldschmidt. The Wisconsin high school product is a switch-hitter with an excellent left-handed swing, showing good bat speed on both sides, and projects to get to average power as he fills out. He’s a shortstop on paper, but had labrum surgery in the fall of 2023 and as of last spring, his arm strength hadn’t fully returned, which raised the possibility of him moving to second base or maybe center field. If he stays at short, he could be an above-average regular who doesn’t do anything plus but does everything fairly well, from hitting for average to getting on base to power to defense.
13. Cristofer Torin, SS
Height: 5-10 | Weight: 155 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 20
Torin is a plus defender at shortstop with a plus arm, but his body is already getting thicker and he might end up having to move off the position, depriving him of the main way he adds value to his team. He hit .255/.381/.344 in Low A last year as a 19-year-old, with 81 walks against just 84 strikeouts. His bat is light, with his main skill at the plate his ball/strike recognition, and I’m not sure the high walk rates will be sustainable if he doesn’t hit the ball hard enough to keep pitchers from just attacking him in the zone. He’s a regular at shortstop if he can stay there; otherwise, he’s probably a light-hitting utility infielder.
14. Jorge Barrosa, OF
Height: 5-6 | Weight: 165 | Bats: S | Throws: L | Age: 24
Barrosa is a plus defender in center with outstanding plate discipline, but his second year in Triple-A Reno was halved by injuries and he didn’t hit as well as he had the year before. He’s small and has a correspondingly short swing, with walk rates consistently above 10 percent everywhere he’s played and high contact rates as well, but it’s 45 power at best and he doesn’t square the ball up enough to see double-digit homers in the majors. He’s definitely a fourth outfielder, probably a very good one because he hits just enough to make some of the OBP stand up.
15. Cristian Mena, RHP
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 170 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Acquired just before last season began in a trade that sent Dominic Fletcher to the White Sox, Mena sits 94-95 with a five-pitch mix, with a tight little slider that misses bats and a bigger curveball that he throws very hard, comparable to the velocity on the slider, with bigger break. He has a changeup but it’s not effective and lefties tattooed him in Triple A last year, with a Reno-boosted line of .303/.413/.581. He’s a big, strong kid and should be durable enough to be a 180-inning guy if he can find a way to get left-handed batters out enough to stay in a rotation.
16. Dylan Ray, RHP
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 230 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 24
Ray missed the first half of 2024 with a flexor strain, then had the pleasure of going to the pitcher’s hell of Amarillo when he returned, where he allowed 11 homers in 42 2/3 innings over 10 home starts. He has a short slider/cutter that doesn’t have high spin but does miss bats with its late break, along with a changeup and a higher-spin curveball, but the 89-93 mph fastball was down last year and it’s not a high-quality one — it doesn’t have much movement or life, so hitters get to it. Even if he gets the lost velocity back, he may be more of a depth starter or reliever because hitters get to the fastball, with 10 of the 16 total homers he allowed in Double A coming off the heater.
17. Caden Grice, LHP
Height: 6-6 | Weight: 250 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 23
Grice was off to a solid start in his first full pro season and first year as a full-time pitcher when his elbow blew out, requiring Tommy John surgery that will keep him out at least until this fall. He made 12 appearances and struck out 68 (31.1 percent) in 50 1/3 innings with 29 walks (13.3 percent), getting lefties and righties out equally well. His stuff was ridiculous in the early going, with a two-plane hammer of a curveball, big action on his changeup (almost too much), and a solid-average slider that’s a swing-and-miss pitch when he throws it down and away to lefties. His fastball sat in the low 90s and didn’t have great movement, so it was the pitch hitters got to the most, although he was his own biggest enemy because he had 45 control at best. He’s got very little experience as a full-time starter, though, with just his draft spring and then this past year, so I think there’s probably some more upside here than in the typical college starter prospect.
18. Adriel Radney, OF
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 180 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 18
Radney signed last January for a $1.85 million bonus and then hit .225/.331/.288 in the Dominican Summer League, with a low strikeout rate (19.2 percent) but surprisingly little in-game power, even though that’s supposed to be his best tool. Part of the problem was that he hit the ball on the ground 54 percent of the time, and it’s very difficult to hit a ground-ball home run. He’s a little like Cubs prospect Kevin Alcántara was around the same age, all projection with a good swing but lacking the hand strength or coordination to really drive the barrel through the zone. Radney looks like he could put on 30-40 pounds of muscle over the next few years and might end up on a similar trajectory as the Jaguar, just in an outfield corner rather than center.
19. Landon Sims, RHP
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 227 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 24
Sims had a very high-carry four-seamer in college, where he worked mostly as a reliever before transitioning to the rotation his draft year and almost immediately blowing out his elbow. His velocity has returned but not that high carry, so now he’s more four-seamer/cutter, working exclusively in relief last year in his first full season back. He was good in Low A and better in High A, improving his command as the season went along, although lefties had a .389 OBP against him because neither the cutter nor the slider he can use has much horizontal movement. He does throw strikes and gets righties out well enough to have a middle reliever floor already, and more could come in his second full season back.
20. Daniel Eagen, RHP
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 205 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Eagen was the Diamondbacks’ third-round pick in 2024, becoming the highest-drafted player in the history of Presbyterian College. His velocity jumped up for his draft year to 92-95, and he has a plus curveball and an average or slightly above-average slurve. His changeup is his worst pitch and he’ll have to improve it to remain a starter. He does have the delivery for it and a history of throwing strikes.
Others of note
Alberto Barriga is a plus defensive catcher and earns raves for outstanding makeup, but he is so small, listed at 5-9, 155 and maybe shorter, that it’s hard to see him holding up as more than a true backup behind the plate. … Right-hander
Yordin Chalas has big velocity and a plus slider, striking out 32 percent of batters he faced at both levels of A-ball last year, pitching mostly in one-inning stints. … Right-hander
John West, their 12th-round pick last year out of Boston College, was a senior sign but one who’s been up to 97 and sits 93-94 with good life along with an average slider. He’s also 6-8 and hitters don’t seem to pick the ball up well. He was a starter at BC but projects as a reliever. … Second-round pick
Ivan Luciano is a Puerto Rican catcher with a good build for the position and a short swing that should generate high contact rates. He only turned 18 in November.
2025 impact
Lawlar is probably ready for a big-league job if there’s one available, although right now he’s behind a better defensive shortstop in Geraldo Perdomo and both third and second base are occupied. Del Castillo should make the club as the backup to Gabriel Moreno and maybe a platoon partner for Randal Grichuk at DH.
The fallen
Lefty Blake Walston is still rookie-eligible, reaching the majors last year with a complete arsenal of pitches but nothing better than a 50. He might be a sixth or seventh starter type but his velocity has been stuck in neutral for three or four years now. He was pushing the top 100 at one point after the Diamondbacks took him with the No. 26 pick in 2019, and just hasn’t progressed as projected.
Sleeper
I probably telegraphed it in the comment, but I think this is Groover’s breakout year, as he’ll be completely healthy heading into the season and at least flashed his offensive upside while he played in 2024.
Additional top prospect coverage
