Week 20 MLB Prospect Watch: Bryce Eldridge, Taj Bradley, Jordan Lawlar On The Rise

With the minor league regular season ending in about five weeks, this will be my second-to-last player watch this year. Most of the relevant players have already been called up, but there could be a few additions arriving in the majors in early September.

Samuel Basallo (C), Baltimore Orioles

Basallo is trying his best to force the Orioles to call him up. He smashed a home run in each of his last three starts while riding a four-game hitting streak (7-for-18 with six runs, three home runs, and 10 RBIs). His swing has been trending higher over his previous 18 games (.311/13/8/26 over 74 at-bats) despite whiffing 21 times.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1B), Cincinnati Reds

Encarnacion-Strand’s bat has been rounding into form over his last six games at AAA. He went 9-for-23 with five runs, one home run, and six RBIs while striking out only three times. Since his demotion in mid-July, CES is hitting .240 with 12 runs, four home runs, and 15 RBIs over 75 at-bats.

Bryce Eldridge (1B), San Francisco Giants

Since returning from the injured list, Eldridge has been in power form over 19 games at AAA. He has 20 hits over his last 70 at-bats with 14 runs, eight home runs, and 27 RBIs. His home run stats (18 over 250 at-bats) in the minors this year. I could see the Giants adding him to their roster in September.

Zack Gelof (2B), Athletics

The fantasy chase for Gelof’s stats hasn’t gone well this year. Between injuries and a shuffle between AAA and the majors, his bat has been empty for almost four months. He’s been trending toward a return to the A’s over his last nine games (14-for-41 with nine runs, two home runs, and eight RBIs). The key to his late-season success is making better contact in the majors.

Jordan Lawlar (SS), Arizona Diamondbacks

Over the past week, Lawlar has upped his rehab work to live batting practice. He looks poised to begin playing minor league games this weekend if he doesn’t have any setbacks. Hopefully, fantasy teams can have his services down the stretch.

JJ Wetherholt (SS), St. Louis Cardinals

After his promotion to AAA, Wetherholt has continued his march to the majors. He opened the year with success at AA (.300/39/7/34/14 over 223 at-bats), followed by his uptick in power at the next level (.338 with 19 runs, six home runs, 13 RBIs, and two steals over 68 at-bats). Based on his approach (54 walks and 50 strikeouts) over 356 plate appearances this year in the minors, Wetherholt looks major league ready.

Tyler Black (OF), Milwaukee Brewers

Over his last 16 games at AAA, Black has 16 hits over 59 at-bats (.271), with eight runs, two home runs, 10 RBIs, and six steals. The Brewers continue to play him in the outfield while also giving him some playing time at first base. At some point, Black is going to be a fantasy thing, but that could only be my outlook/hope for him.

Dylan Beavers (OF), Baltimore Orioles

Beavers should have been called up in late July after the Orioles traded away some assets. He responded with back-to-back two-home-run games on August 3rd and 5th, upping his already rising profile since the All-Star break (.298/22/8/16/2 over 57 at-bats). For the year at AAA, Beavers is hitting .309 over 314 at-bats with 74 runs, 18 home runs, 50 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases.

The top 10 hitting prospects over the last 30 days in the STS model! 📈

1. Spencer Jones
2. Dylan Beavers
3. Carson Benge
4. Abimelec Ortiz
5. Bryce Eldridge
6. Samuel Basallo
7. JJ Wetherholt
8. Colt Emerson
9. Rainiel Rodriguez 🎦
10. Sam Petersenpic.twitter.com/RLL9oFDLYf
— Scout the Statline (@StatlineScout) August 7, 2025

James Outman (OF), Minnesota Twins

Since the trade to the Twins, Outman only has one hit over 17 at-bats at AAA with a run, an RBI, and one steal. The Los Angeles Dodgers barely gave him at-bats after calling him up on July 6th, coming on the heels of an impressive 12 games (.429/14/5/23/4 over 49 at-bats).

Jhostynxon Garcia (OF), Boston Red Sox

There has been no quit in Garcia’s bat since arriving at AAA. He has a six-game hitting streak in August (11-for-23 with seven runs, three home runs, and 12 RBIs) while playing well all year at this level of the minors (.311/44/15/48 over 222 at-bats).

Hunter Greene (SP), Cincinnati Reds

Over the past two weeks, Greene has made three rehab starts in the minors, leading to four runs, 10 baserunners, and two home runs over 7.2 innings with 17 strikeouts. His last start came on August 3rd, putting him on pace to make his last appearance at AAA this weekend. Greene threw 66 pitches in his last outing, while setting a goal of about 80 pitches on Friday.

Taj Bradley (SP), Minnesota Twins

Over the weekend, I traded in Dustin May for Bradley in some of my 15 leagues, with the hopes of getting more innings down the stretch. He had his second AAA start on Wednesday, resulting in another strong performance (one run, five hits, and a home run over six innings with four strikeouts). Minnesota should call him up next week based on his success at AAA (0.69 ERA, 0.54 WHIP, and seven strikeouts over 13.0 innings).

Kyle Harrison (SP), Boston Red Sox

For those not getting the fantasy memo, I started to break up with Harrison last week due to his struggles in the minors and the need to dump his buy-and-hold roster slot. As expected, he pitched well in his next outing (today – 8/7) – no runs and five baserunners over five innings with seven strikeouts. He is going to pitch in the majors this season and help the Red Sox win.

Cristian Javier, Houston Astros

The Astros gave Javier five rehab starts over the past four and a half weeks. He allowed eight runs, 10 hits, and 15 walks over 14.0 innings over 15 innings. His command issues invite WHIP risk out of the gate, along with short outings. The Astros expect to have him in their starting rotation next week.