Top MiLB Hitters By Age & Underlying Metrics

For the third consecutive year, Baseball America measured minor league performance using underlying Statcast metrics collected via Hawk-Eye data from across the minors. Our RoboScout model incorporates this data to evaluate the performance of hitters and pitchers and better project their future major league outcomes.

At the lower levels of the minors, surface stats alone can be misleading and noisy because of the quality of pitching and defense. That is especially true of the poor pitching control in the Dominican Summer League. As J.J. Cooper noted on a podcast earlier this year, in the DSL, hitters can post a .350 on-base percentage simply by just keeping the bat on their shoulder.

Thatâ€s where RoboScout helps. The model blends traditional statistics with underlying data like contact quality, swing decisions and exit velocity to provide a truer measure of performance and projection. But sometimes, looking only at the underlying data is even more revealing. If a hitter can produce a 115 mph exit velocity or whiff on just 5% of in-zone swings, thatâ€s an objective skill—unaffected by field conditions, defense or ballpark size.

This article highlights the hitters age 23 and younger who posted the best underlying Statcast data in 2025 (minimum 150 plate appearances). DSL players age 20 and older were excluded.

Our Methodology: How Hit+ Works

To capture a hitterâ€s true underlying performance, we used weighted on-base average (wOBA) as our baseline and created a Hit+ score that weights each key metric by how strongly it correlates with future wOBA. Like wRC+, Hit+ is centered at 100, so scores above that mark indicate better-than-average underlying performance or vice versa.

The primary inputs include:

• Contact rate and in-zone contact rate (zCon%)
• 90th percentile exit velocity (EV90)
• Chase rate and Swing%–minus–Chase%
• Barrel rate (BRL%)
• Expected weighted on-base average on contact (xwOBAcon)

One important note: Each hitterâ€s performance was compared to the overall minor league average rather than level-specific averages, due to data availability. As a result, a Double-A and Low-A hitter with the same contact rate against breaking balls, for example, are evaluated equally in that category.

Please note: Hit+ measures only offensive skill and does not account for defensive value or baserunning.

Age 16

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconSami ManzuetaHOU10979%87%102 mph18%14%.349Freiker BetencourtCHC10684%95%99 mph19%12%.308Miguel CarabelloSFG10267%88%102 mph20%12%.347Angel AbreuCLE9989%90%95 mph18%6%.259

There weren’t many 16-year-olds in this data set, let alone ones with above-average Statcast metrics. Astros infielder Sami Manzueta and Cubs outfielder Freiker Betencourt were the classes of this demographic.

Age 17

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconGabriel DavalilloLAA11383%90%102 mph23%15%.392Richard MaticNYY11374%81%104 mph16%18%.380Josuar GonzalezSFG11081%89%104 mph21%17%.318Elorky RodriguezTEX11077%84%99 mph15%16%.357Starlin MiesesBAL10968%75%103 mph11%18%.344Juneiker CaceresCLE10884%88%105 mph26%13%.321Hyun Seung LeePIT10879%86%101 mph21%19%.297Juan SanchezTOR10778%89%100 mph26%18%.353Sebastian Dos SantosSTL10676%83%99 mph12%14%.324Teilon SerranoMIN10667%75%104 mph24%17%.397

Although he is in the middle of the list, Guardians outfielder Juneiker Caceres not only achieved these metrics stateside, but impressively did it in full-season ball for Low-A Lynchburg.

Age 18

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconEdward FlorentinoPIT12183%88%104 mph20%25%.403Josue BritoBOS12176%83%103 mph17%31%.425Edgar MonteroATH12072%80%105 mph13%30%.374Rainiel RodriguezSTL11776%80%105 mph24%24%.409Emil MoralesLAD11470%77%106 mph25%24%413Edgardo De LeonCHC11466%76%108 mph28%22%.464Luis CovaMIA11380%85%102 mph17%20%.358Jose CastroMIA11371%85%103 mph20%20%.410Ching-Hsien KoLAD11276%81%104 mph18%19%.345Ramiro DominguezMIN11184%90%100 mph24%17%.310Jonathan RangelMIL11175%83%102 mph17%28%.357

To no oneâ€s surprise, top prospects Pirates outfielder Edward Florentino and Cardinals catcher Rainiel Rodriguez are prominently featured. Another pair of Dodgers outfielders also appear: Emil Morales, who was one of the top DSL performers in 2024, and Ching-Hsien Ko.

Age 19

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconAlfredo DunoCIN11669%73%105 mph15%25%.382Konnor GriffinPIT11674%84%108 mph25%20%.407Anthony HuezoHOU11464%86%107 mph24%27%.419Caleb BonemerCHW11476%85%105 mph18%19%.373Eduardo QuinteroLAD11376%80%104 mph18%18%.391Devin Fitz-GeraldTEX11281%88%104 mph20%14%.353Theo GillenTBR11274%82%103 mph15%20%.346Brendan TuninkLAD11166%73%103 mph18%26%.393Irvin NunezMIN11177%86%99 mph19%20%.377Franklin AriasBOS11088%93%103 mph25%16%.303

Reds catcher Alfredo Duno and BA’s No. 1 overall prospect, Pirates shortstop/outfielder Konnor Griffin, are the class of the 19-year-olds. Weâ€ve talked about Astros outfielder Anthony Huezo before here and here. Twins catcher Irvin Nunez is the biggest surprise. He barely qualifies with 152 plate appearances and is quite passive with a 36% swing rate, but when he swings, he makes contact and pulls it in the air, hitting it in the sweet spot 48% of the time (the minor league average is 31%).

Age 20

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconBryce EldridgeSFG12166%78%108 mph27%29%.483Kevin McGonigleDET11882%84%105 mph20%21%.379Ralphy VelasquezCLE11776%83%107 mph24%24%.373Samuel BasalloBAL11770%81%108 mph33%27%.443Josue De PaulaLAD11476%80%106 mph14%23%.346Demetrio CrisantesARI11486%91%103 mph20%19%.335Deniel OrtizSTL11470%77%104 mph21%24%.393Max ClarkDET11482%88%105 mph19%18%.329Walker JenkinsMIN11376%83%103 mph22%22%.370Zyhir HopeLAD11266%73%109 mph21%22%.368

The names in the age-20 bucket are a veritable whoâ€s-who of top prospects. To intermittent readers of RoboScout, perhaps Cardinals third baseman Deniel Ortiz sticks out, but we wrote about him as an underrated fantasy prospect last week.

Age 21

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconSal StewartCIN12078%82%107 mph28%27%.412Ryan CliffordNYM11972%80%109 mph21%24%.419Will BushHOU11772%80%106 mph18%20%.429Luke AdamsMIL11677%83%104 mph15%19%.392Victor FigueroaSDP11671%81%107 mph20%24%.385Esmerlyn ValdezPIT11670%86%108 mph21%20%.423Jacob ReimerNYM11575%85%105 mph23%20%.397Callan MossPIT11574%80%105 mph24%22%.405Aidan MillerPHI11376%83%106 mph17%15%.379Hendry MendezMIN11285%90%105 mph19%14%.322

Twins outfielder Hendry Mendez was another underrated target by RoboScout last week, and the data above explains why. Reds infielder Sal Stewart contributed to Cincinnatiâ€s brief playoff run and has been a RoboDarling for a couple years now. Geoff Pontes identified Astros catcher Will Bush as a prospect with strong underlying data, too.

Age 22

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconMike SirotaLAD12272%78%107 mph13%25%.432Izaac PachecoDET11967%73%107 mph23%30%.436Carter JensenKCR11973%82%107 mph20%25%.396Travis BazzanaCLE11879%84%104 mph15%23%.357JJ WetherholtSTL11779%84%104 mph17%24%.362Jason SchiavoneHOU11762%70%108 mph13%29%.395Ryan WaldschmidtARI11775%82%105 mph16%18%.414Carson BengeNYM11680%86%106 mph22%20%.372James Tibbs IIILAD11574%81%105 mph17%22%.362Joshua BaezSTL11573%80%107 mph23%22%.386

Age 23

NameOrgHIT+Cont%zCon%90EVChase%BRL%xwOBAconOwen CaissieCHC12372%81%108 mph25%31%.440Parks HarberSFG12172%83%108 mph22%29%.415Brock WilkenMIL12072%79%106 mph16%23%.454Chase DeLauterCLE12082%84%107 mph16%21%.381Dylan BeaversBAL11780%87%105 mph20%19%.385Jordan LawlarARI11773%82%104 mph24%23%.446Yohendrick PinangoTOR11680%85%109 mph22%17%.378Joseph SullivanHOU11672%80%108 mph13%21%.354Jonathon LongCHC11678%85%106 mph24%22%.374Kalaâ€I RosarioMIN11571%78%108 mph19%20%.384

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