ESPN listed the top prospects moved at last year’s deadline. Let’s look at how they progressed with their new teams. 
 

Aiden Smith OF: Acquired by the Rays in the Randy Arozarena deal. At the time he had an FV of 50 while playing A Ball in Modesto. The most recent update has him with a FV of 40+ as he has advanced to high A. He has an uninspiring OPS of .716 and hasn’t made it to AA yet.

Jake Bloss SP: Acquired by Toronto in the Yusei Kikuchi deal. He had a good first half in AA with a 1.61 ERA over 8 starts in 2024. The Jays moved him to AAA where he posted a 6.91 ERA in 8 starts following the deadline. After 23 innings  in 2025 and a 6.46 ERA this year he is headed towards Tommy John surgery. By 2027 when he is fully ready to return he will be out of options.

George Klassen SP: Acquired by the Angels for closer Carlos Estevez. The former Gopher was lights out in A Ball at the time of the trade. He has moved to AA this year and has a 5.86 ERA with a lot of strikeouts and far too many walks. He did get invited to the futures game.

Augustin Ramirez C/DH: Acquired by the Marlins for Jazz Chisholm who had an 2+ years of control remaining. Ramirez is in the majors. He has started 32 games at catcher and has allowed 88% stolen base rate. He also leads the league in passed balls with 8 though he has only started 32 of 97 games. Fourteen wild pitches have also been thrown while he was catcher. He has DH’d more than he has caught this year and has a 103 wRC+. He will likely improve the bat and will need to in order to stick at DH. It doesn’t look like he will be anything beyond an emergency catcher.

Dylan Lesko SP: Acquired by the Rays in the Jason Adam deal. he has a great arm but has not pitched well in the minors yet following a 2022 Tommy John surgery. He pitched 14.1 innings after the deal last year with a 9.42 ERA and this year was shut down after 5 innings in which he gave up 10 runs. I am not sure of the status of his shut down.

Hindsight is 20/20 and there is one prospect traded that is flourishing. Kyle Stowers was acquired for Kevin Rogers. He was in ESPNs third tier of prospects. The corner outfielder appeared in the All Star game and looks to be a fixture. A high strike out rate might catch up with him as pitchers see him a second a third time but he looks to be the real deal.

Prospects always seem so promising. The reality is that success in the major leagues is really hard. Trading proven major leaguers for prospects is a risk. Teams acquiring the top tier of prospects were given good grades last year. In hindsight it sure looks like they didn’t get nearly enough. Maybe the Twins front office is much smarter than the front offices that acquired these players and there will be less risk.