Earlier this week, CBS Sports highlighted five interesting young players who received the call as part of Major League Baseball’s roster expansion period. That group included, among others, Seattle Mariners catcher Harry Ford and Cincinnati Reds infielder Sal Stewart.
Today, we’re flipping the script by examining five top prospects who haven’t yet been promoted to the majors — and we’re explaining why that’s been the case. Simple enough, right? Let’s proceed. (Do note that the players are presented in no particular order.)
Painter’s big-league arrival has felt imminent since April 2023. Unfortunately, he injured his elbow and a few months later underwent surgery that wiped out two whole regular seasons. He returned last Arizona Fall League, but this is his first true season since the 2022 campaign. The results have been mixed: through 22 starts, he has a 5.21 ERA and a 2.52 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Perhaps predictably given the layoff, Painter appears to have hit a wall. He’s surrendered 22 runs in his most recent 24 ⅓ innings, and he posted his lowest monthly average fastball velocity in August. The Phillies abstained from promoting Painter after losing Zack Wheeler, and at this point it’s fair to wonder if his long-awaited debut will have to wait until sometime next spring.
Whenever Painter finally toes a big-league pitching rubber, he’ll do so with above-average potential thanks to a broad arsenal that includes multiple quality breaking balls.
Jones celebrated his promotion to Triple-A in late June by putting forth one of the most impressive individual months of the season. He hit .419/.477/.946 in July with 11 home runs and six doubles in 18 games. Most promising of all? He struck out in just 22.7% of his trips to the plate, a massive improvement over the otherwise bloated K rates he had posted to that point in the season.
You could understand how people felt Jones was on the rise, and why they wondered if he might get the call after Aaron Judge hurt his elbow and required an injured list stint. The Yankees did not press the button then, and they have no reason to press the button now. Jones followed up his torrid July with a horrid August, hitting .180/.250/.306 with three home runs and a ghastly 37.9% strikeout rate that doubled as the worst full-month mark of his 2025 campaign.
Jones has been one of the most polarizing prospects in the minors the last few years on account of his extreme combination of strength and swing-and-miss tendencies. Based on his last couple of months, expect him to continue to occupy that space — and to remain in Triple-A until 2026.
If you’re a believer in the multiverse, the idea that there are parallel realities playing out separately and simultaneously to this one, then you’ll probably have little trouble accepting the idea that Eldridge has reached the majors already in a not-insignificant amount of them.
Remember, Eldridge was pushed all the way to Triple-A in 2024, in his first full professional season. He opened this year in Double-A before earning a promotion in early June, seemingly setting the stage for a big-league debut sometime over the ensuing few months. And that’s when a few unforeseen developments occurred that pushed his launch date into 2026.
The first of those developments saw the Giants obtain Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox with an eye on teaching him how to play at the cold corner. The second saw Dominic Smith play well above his usual standards to maintain his roster spot. San Francisco has taken to splitting them and Wilmer Flores between first base and designated hitter, leaving no country for another first-base only type (such as Eldridge) to settle as his own. Don’t feel too bad for him: his combination of power and on-base skills, particularly against righties, should keep employed for a time to come — even if his strikeout and platoon issues threaten his overall ceiling.
Wetherholt slipped to the seventh pick in the 2024 draft after missing half his platform season because of a hamstring injury. Clubs are always anxious about soft-tissue ailments, doubly so when they’re attached to a player listed at just 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds. That’s understandable, to an extent, but the hesitancy of other teams has proven to be a boon for the Cardinals.
Indeed, Wetherholt has already reached Triple-A in his first full professional season. He’s performed well there, too, slashing .331/.423/.620 with nine home runs and seven stolen bases (on eight attempts). All the while, the Cardinals have continued to crosstrain him at several infield positions: mostly shortstop, but also second and third base to improve his optionality.
The Cardinals could justifiably promote Wetherholt at any point and slot him in where they please. It’s defensible, though, if they’d prefer to leave him in the minors until next spring, using September to get everyday looks at three other young infielders — Nolan Gorman, Masyn Winn, and Thomas Saggese — before they enter the winter and a potential period of transformation.
Another member of the 2024 draft class who went a little later than expected, Yesavage has made a quick ascent through the minors after making his professional debut earlier this year. He’s made 22 appearances over four levels, with each of his last three assignments coming in Triple-A. Overall, he has a 3.24 ERA and a 3.95 strikeout-to-walk ratio to show for his efforts.
Yesavage’s delivery features some unusual aesthetics. He has a short stride that leaves him upright at release, as well as a high arm slot that allows him to loosen the ball more than seven feet from the ground. Understandably, his arsenal is built around north-and-south movement rather than east-and-west. You’re not going to catch him throwing a sweeper away from a right-handed hitter or busting a lefty in with a well-placed cutter. All three of his pitches — fastball, slider, splitter — average arm-side movement.
That dynamic hasn’t prevented Yesavage from carving up minor-league lineups. It’s to be seen if he gets the opportunity to take on big-league foes before the year is out, or if the Blue Jays will hold him in reserve as a means of having more control over his workload. (He’s essentially matched his career-high in innings pitched.) Whatever the case, whenever Yesavage debuts he’s going to immediately become one of the most interesting young pitchers in the majors.
