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Minors  | General  | 12/13/2024

PG Down on the Farm: NL West

David Rawnsley     
It’s the time of the year again (i.e. the off-season) for the annual PG Down on the Farm feature.  We identify a top prospect in each of the 30 Major League organizations with as much Perfect Game background as possible and delve into that PG history for some insight into his development as a prospect.  Some of them might be high profile, high draft pick, ex-PG All-American talents who fans have been long familiar with.  Others might be more obscure prospects who have significantly improved either in college or as professionals.  Note that players who have used up their rookie eligibility are not considered.

The idea isn’t to necessarily pick the best PG background prospect in each organization but the one who might be closest to the big leagues.  Sometimes that is the same player, other times not.



And there is plenty of variation among organizations in their quantity and quality of prospects, whether it be those with PG backgrounds or not. 

The profiles will be organized by League/Division and run on the following schedule:

American League East  (December 2)
American League Central  (December 4)
American League West  (December 6)
National League East  (December 9)
National League Central  (December 11)
National League West  (December  13)


National League West

Arizona Diamondbacks --  C Adrian Del Castillo

High School:  Gulliver Prep (Coral Gables, FL)
Travel Team:  Elite Squad
College:  Miami
Final PG Class Ranking:  136
Drafted: 2nd round, 2021, Arizona
Highest 2024 Level:  MLB
2025 Age:  25

Del Castillo has been a standout left-handed hitter since early in his high school career.  He hit .700-2-10 in five games at the 2017 WWBA 17U National Champions and stood out at the 2017 PG National Showcase, earning a PG grade of 10 based largely on his hitting potential as a catcher.  His report from the National read:

Strong prototypical catcher's build. 7.11 runner, has a very good arm behind the plate and makes accurate on-line throws, good athletic looseness to his defensive actions, 1.86 best pop time. Left-handed hitter, uses his hands very well in his swing, creates bat speed and has some barrel whip, quick hands, ball comes off the barrel hard and has some lift on his pitch. Interesting left-handed hitting catcher with some pop. Good student, verbal commitment to Miami.

Del Castillo had an exceptional senior season at Gulliver Prep, hitting .527-15-35 and earning a 36th round selection by the White Sox.  He finished 136th in the final PG 2018 class rankings. 

Del Castillo’ freshman year at Miami was a continuation of his high school/travel career as he hit .331-12-72 while playing mostly right field.  After the Covid year in 2020, had a disappointing season as Miami’s catcher as a junior, hitting only .275-3-37 but that didn’t affect him much in the draft, as Arizona took him in the second round with the 67th overall selection.  Del Castillo signed for an even $1M bonus.

2024 Summary
Del Castillo hit .312-26-75/1.002 OPS in 105 games in AAA and didn’t miss a beat in 25 big league games, hitting .313-4-19/.893 OPS.  However, he only threw out 2 of 29 base stealers at the MLB level and 21% in AAA.

2025 Perspective
25-year old Gabriel Moreno is clearly the DBacks catcher of the present and future, but Del Castillo also seems just as clearly to be a present big league hitter.  He has a grand total of 2 innings at other positions other than catcher as a professional, so he could factor into Arizona’s DH plans as well as the back up catcher’s role.

2023 Featured PG Player:  SS Jordan Lawlar
2024 Update:  Lawlar injured his thumb during spring training and underwent surgery, then twice hurt his hamstring after returning, leading to a lost season and only 23 minor league games (.318-2-20).  He will only be 22 years old in 2025.

2022 Featured PG Player:  OF Corbin Carroll
2021 Featured PG Player:  OF Alek Thomas
 
Los Angeles Dodgers  --  SS Alex Freeland

High School:  Mariner HS (Cape Coral, FL)
Travel Team: Team Elite
College:  Central Florida
Final PG Class Ranking:  52
Drafted 3rd round, 2022, Los Angeles Dodgers
Highest 2024 Level:  AAA
2025 Age:  23

If you went to any Perfect Game tournament in Fort Myers there was a very good chance that Bobby Freeland was running a quad or even directing the tournament.  And if you went to any significant PG showcase anywhere in the country during the same time, there was a even better chance that Bobby Freeland was throwing batting practice and hitting drills and coaching a team.

It easily follows that Freeland’s then teenage son, Alex, was probably playing in the tournaments and often in the showcases well.  Few players grew up spending more time at baseball fields or traveling to and from baseball fields as Alex Freeland did. 

Freeland was rarely the best pure athlete on a baseball field in his high school days; he never ran under 7.00 in the sixty or threw 90+ mph during infield drills.  But he usually was one of, if not the best, player on the field, a sure-handed shortstop who hit the ball hard from both sides and was always on base.

Freeland’s report from the 2019 National Showcase summed up his talents and skills pretty well:

Alex Freeland is a 2020 SS/RHP/3B with a 6-2 180 lb. frame from Cape Coral, FL who attends Mariner. Projectable athletic build with plenty of room to get stronger. Switch-hitter, bit more bat speed and a smoother stroke from the left side but functionally the same base abilities, advanced hitter who sees the ball and who can make swing adjustments from pitch to pitch, seems to square up the ball virtually every at-bat with hard line drive contact, can turn on the ball with power when he gets his pitch. Has always hit and there is no reason to believe he won't always hit. 7.04 runner, smooth arm action and release, plays tall in the middle of the field and charges the ball well, projects to third base especially as he fills out and gets stronger. Sum is more than the parts type of baseball player. Excellent student, verbal commitment to Central Florida. Named to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic.

That tool/skill set usually doesn’t get drafted out of high school and especially in the five-round 2020 pandemic draft, so Freeland ended up at UCF knowing that he would be sophomore eligible by age for the 2022 draft.  He had two very similar seasons at UCF, hitting .288-7-37/40 BB’s as a freshman and .282-11-38/30 BB’s in 42 games as a sophomore, despite being limited by a broken hamate bone as a sophomore.

The Dodgers saw the big picture with Freeland and picked him in the third round in 2022 and signed him to a $580,200 bonus.

2024 Summary
Freeland cruised through three minor league levels, spending the last 39 games at AAA and hitting a combined .260-18-74 with 91 walks and 31 steals to go along with solid defense at shortstop.

2025 Perspective
Freeland likely needs more minor league seasoning but is currently the only Dodger infielder above rookie ball in organization’s top 20 prospects, so he’s clearly at the front of the line for any open infield slots.  And even with Mookie Betts potentially moving back to the infield, infield remains a fluid and uncertain part of the Dodgers overall roster.

2023 Featured PG Player:  RHP Kyle Hurt
2024 Update:  Hurt made it through 21 innings between AAA and MLB early in the season before succumbing to shoulder and elbow issues.  He later underwent TJ surgery late in the summer.

2022 Featured PG Player:  RHP Nick Nastrini
2021 Featured PG Player:  RHP Bobby Miller

Colorado Rockies  --  RHP Chase Dollander

High School: Greenbrier HS (Evans, GA)
Travel Team: Georgia Bombers
College:  Tennessee, Georgia Southern
Final PG Class Ranking: 500
Drafted: 1st round (9th overall), 2023, Colorado
Highest 2024 Level:  AA
2025 Age: 23

Dollander grew up in Evans, Georgia, a northern suburb of Augusta about two hours from the bright lights of Atlanta.  He threw at six PG tournaments in his sophomore through senior seasons, steadily improving his velocity while always pitching effectively and sometimes dominantly. Dollander threw well for Complete Game Baseball at both the 2018 WWBA 17U and WWBA 16U National Championships but had his best event at the 2018 WWBA Labor Day Classic, striking out 16 hitters in 6 innings while touching 90 mph for the first time at a PG event.

Dollander also threw well at the 2019 WWBA World Championships for the Georgia Bombers, allowing only one hit in three innings while working in the 88-91 mph range with a four-pitch arsenal.  Still, Dollander had a 500 rating in the PG class rankings and a scholarship to Georgia Southern seemed entirely appropriate for his established talent level.

As a freshman at Georgia Southern in 2021, Dollander threw well, going 4-3, 4.04 while striking out 64 hitters in 49 innings and saw a bump in his stuff across the board.  That attracted the attention of Tennessee, where Dollander really blossomed as a sophomore, going 10-0, 2.39 while striking out 108 hitters versus only 13 walks in 78 innings and being named the SEC Pitcher of the Year.  He was now sitting 95-96 mph on his fastball to go with a mid to upper-80’s slider that was his swing and miss pitch.

Dollander entered the 2023 season as perhaps the top pitching prospect in college baseball but struggled with his slider all year, eventually going a disappointing 7-6, 4.75, although he did strike out 120 in 89 innings.  That dropped him behind Paul Skenes (1st overall/Pirates) and Rhett Lowder (7th/Reds) in the draft but he was quickly selected by the Rockies with the ninth overall pick and signed for a $5,716,900 bonus.

2024 Summary
Dollander did nothing other than indicate he’s a fast-track big league starting pitching prospect, dominating hitters at High A and especially at AA in his first season as a professional.  He combined for a 6-2, 2.59 record at the two levels, with 169 strikeouts in 118 innings and only 94 hits allowed.

2025 Perspective
The seven Rockies pitchers who made the most starts in 2024 combined for a 26-67 record, with the best ERA among the group being Ryan Feltner’s 4.49.  It’s fair to say that Dollander is the organization’s best starting pitcher right now; it’s just a matter of whether the Rockies want to start his service time clock immediately.

2023 Featured PG Player:  UTL Sterlin Thompson
2024 Update:  Thompson hit .245-13-57/.704 in 119 games in AA with a much higher strikeout ratio than in 2023. 

2022 Featured PG Player:  C Drew Romo
2021 Featured PG Player:  OF Zac Veen

 
San Diego Padres  --  RHP Victor Lizarraga

High School: Monterrey HS (San Diego, CA)
Travel Team:  San Diego Show
Final PG Class Ranking:  55
Drafted:  Signed as an International Free Agent, 2021, San Diego
Highest 2024 Level:  AA
2025 Age:  21

Lizarraga is one of the increasingly common foreign prospects who spends significant time in the United States but either doesn’t attend school in the country in order to stay eligible for the international signing date or attends school in the United States, then returns to his native at least a year before signing.

The latter was the case with Lizarraga, a Mexican citizen who attended Montgomery High School about two miles from the US/Mexico border for a while and played for the San Diego Show at three Perfect Game events as a 14-year old in 2018.  He was named to the All-Tournament Team at the 2018 14U PG World Series after striking out nine hitters in six innings while throwing 84-87 mph with a low 70’s breaking ball and a change up.  Lizarraga also threw at the 2018 PG Fall National Championship and impressively topped out at 90 mph while still 14.

Lizarraga was eligible to sign as an international player in 2020 as a 16-year old but the pandemic got in the way of that but he did sign in 2021 with the Padres for a signing bonus of $1M.

One of the more interesting aspects of Lizarraga’s baseball journey this far is that if he had stayed in the United States and eventually gone to college, 2025 would be his college junior season.  With a fastball in the 92-95 mph range to go with a four-pitch arsenal, strike throwing ability and a still young 6-foot-3, 180-pound build, it doesn’t take much to imagine Lizarraga getting far more than $1M as a signing bonus in this year’s draft

Instead though, he has a full year of getting AA hitters out under his belt and is on the verge of making his MLB debut.

2024 Summary
Lizarraga had an excellent season as a 20-year old in AA, going 5-6, 4.03 in 21 starts and 96 innings with 102 strikeouts.  He’s still very projectable physically and has notably remained completely injury free, a testament to his low effort and easy mechanics.

2025 Perspective
The Padres have traded away virtually every upper-level prospect they’ve had for years and it’s certainly possible that Lizarraga could continue that pattern.  Until then, he is their top upper-level pitching prospect.

2023 Featured PG Player:  C Ethan Salas
2024 Update:  The realities of starting the year as a 17-year old in High A caught up to Salas a bit in 2024, as he hit .206-4-53/.599 OPS in 111 games.  Reports on his defense were outstanding, however.

2022 Featured PG Player:  LHP Jay Groome
2021 Featured PG Player:  OF Robert Hassell III


San Francisco Giants  --  1B Bryce Eldridge

High School:  James Madison HS (Vienna, VA)
Travel Team: USA Prime               
Final PG Class Ranking:  12
Drafted: 1st round (16th overall), 2023, San Francisco
Highest 2024 Level:  AAA
2025 Age:  20

Eldridge matured early as a prospect, not a given by any means for an athlete who already measured 6-foot-6, 184-pounds when he participated in the 2019 PG 14U Select Festival.  He was already sitting in the 86-88 mph range and throwing plenty of strikes at events such as the 2019 WWBA 14U National Championships and the 2019 WWBA Freshman World Championship and made the jump to the 90-94 mph range at the 2020 WWBA 15U National Championships, striking out nine over seven innings in two outings.

One thing that Eldridge was not doing at a young age, notably, was performing with the bat.  He always played both ways at these major tournaments but it would take three years and over 100 at-bats for him to even get his career PG batting average over .200.  It’s just hard to hit when you are 15 years old and already stand 6-foot-7.

Even at the 2022 PG National Showcase pitching was still the priority but everyone was taking more notice of the bat.   Eldridge’s report from the event read:

Bryce Eldridge is a 2023 RHP/1B with a 6-7 222 lb. frame from Vienna, VA who attends James Madison HS. Extra large frame with physicality and strength present to the build. Primary right-handed pitcher with a low effort operation and a closed stretch start. Short turn and throw out of the windup. Deliberate operation with methodical movements. Good amount of strikes with the fastball that topped out at 94 mph. Works down consistently and gets short tilt on the slider with sharpness to the break. Shows a curveball too along with a straight changeup. Left-handed hitter who generates a ton of leverage. Inside path and really unlocks the lower half. Hits the ball hard and out in front consistently. High exit velocities in game. Highest level skill both on the mound and offensively. Good student. Verbal commitment to Alabama. Named to the 2022 PG All-American Classic.

At the All-American Classic and all the opportunities for extra batting practice at a Major League field and the occasion to hit right next to the best hitters in the 2023 class that it become obvious that Eldridge had some special hitting talent.  He further cemented his rapidly developing offensive skills and standing in the scouting community by winning the MVP at the 2022 18U Baseball World Cup after hitting .316-3-13.

Eldridge’s senior year at James Madison (VA) High School further cemented his standing as the top two-way talent in the 2023 class and also that he was more likely to prioritize hitting and first base.  He went 11-0, 1.30 on the mound with 88 strikeouts in 52 innings while hitting .422-9-23 and wowing scouts with his batting practice displays.  He was ranked 12th in the final PG class rankings.

Eldridge had signed with Alabama but was picked 16th in the first round by the Giants and signed for a $3,997,500 bonus.  Although he was announced after the pick as a “TWP” (Two-Way Player), Eldridge has not taken the mound as a professional.

2024 Summary
Eldridge surpassed even his biggest supporters hopes and goals by moving through four minor league levels as a teenager, finishing the year in AAA and then followed up with a productive couple of weeks in the Arizona Fall League.  He hit a combined .292-23-92/.890 OPS in 116 games.

2025 Perspective
Not surprisingly, Eldridge’s power disappeared at the AA and AAA levels and lots of work remains with his defense (18 errors in 100 games at first base), so there is plenty of development remaining.  He’ll likely start the season in AA but is the Giants top overall prospect by a significant margin.

2023 Featured PG Player:  LHP Carson Whisenhunt
2024 Update:  With the Giants rotation wide open for another starter, Whisenhunt couldn’t throw enough strikes or get enough hitters out to get the call, going 3-5, 5.93 in 25 AAA starts, although he still averaged 11.6 strikeouts per 9 IP.

2022 Featured PG Player:  RHP Trevor McDonald
2021 Featured PG Player:  LHP Kyle Harrison 
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