Week 13 MLB Prospect Watch: Justin Crawford, Colby Thomas Headline Rising Outfielders

Fantasy baseball managers should keep a close eye on rising outfield prospects like Justin Crawford and Colby Thomas, who are tearing it up across the minors. With elite batting averages, speed, and power potential, these future stars are knocking on the big-league door and could become impact adds down the stretch.

Justin Crawford, Philadelphia Phillies

Despite missing eight games in June with a quad injury, Crawford leads the International League outfielders in hits (78), leading to a .342 batting average over 228 at-bats with one home run, 26 RBIs, and 24 stolen bases. His batting average floor has been high over the past two years (.324/124/10/87/67 over 689 at-bats), putting him within a phone call of helping the Phillies in some way. They drafted Crawford 17th overall in 2022 out of high school. He has 16 hits over his last 36 at-bats with 10 runs, eight RBIs, and seven steals.

Colby Thomas, Athletics

Another week goes by, and Thomas played well at AAA (8-for-23 with four runs, two home runs, 10 RBIs, and two stolen bases), yet no phone call for a major league call-up. He’s hitting .310 over 274 at-bats this year with 56 runs, 17 home runs, 63 RBIs, and five stolen bases, giving almost a full season of experience at AAA (.291/103/34/108/8 over 553 at-bats).

Colby Thomas on Wednesday:

✈️3-for-3
✈️ 4 RBIs
✈️Launched 17th homer of the season

(📽️: @AviatorsLV)pic.twitter.com/n6TIubCz6a
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) June 19, 2025

Carlos Cortes, Athletics

Heading into Thursday, Cortes has a 17-game hitting streak (23-for-67 with 16 runs, four home runs, 22 RBIs) while taking more walks (12) than strikeouts (11). He has been struck at AAA over the past four seasons (.243/161/41/158/6 over 921 at-bats), putting him in the journeyman category while being older (28) than most of his competitors at his level of the minors.

Jake McCarthy, Arizona Diamondbacks

I stumbled into McCarthy’s profile again on Sunday after doing some in-depth waiver wire research. He has his 12-game hitting streak (21-for-53 with 13 runs, one home run, five RBIs, and five steals) broken on Tuesday (0-5), followed up by a 2-for-4 night with a run, a double, and a triple. Since his demotion to AAA, McCarthy has 191 at-bats (.314/41/1/13/12).

Jake McCarthy was itching to get running 🏃

We're up 1-0 following McCarthy's leadoff triple and an RBI from Jorge Barrosa pic.twitter.com/3ivmPqsMpI
— Reno Aces (@Aces) June 19, 2025

Victor Labrada, Seattle Mariners

In June at AA, Labrada began to find his stride at the plate, resulting in a .333 batting average over 60 at-bats with eight runs, one home run, eight RBIs, and nine stolen bases. His approach (42 walks and 43 strikeouts) has been favorable this year over his 275 plate appearances. His bat had less value over 193 at-bats at AA last season (.233/30/5/27/25). At age 25, his development should be higher, suggesting Labrada has more work to do to become a major league player.

Chandler Simpson, Tampa Bay Rays

Since his return to AAA, Simpson has 19 hits over 57 at-bats with eight runs, four RBIs, and six stolen bases. He is still looking for his first home run this year (253 at-bats) while putting only one ball in the seats in his 1,174 career at-bats in the minors and majors. His drawing card is his elite speed (239 stolen bases) and high floor in batting average (.322 in the minors and .285 with Tampa).