We continue our look into the 2025 MiLB full-season leagues with the Carolina League. The league was littered with elite prospect talent but who exactly excelled? Here’s a nuanced look at what went down this year.
The traditional numbers
Before we dive deeper into the 2025 Carolina League season, let’s start with the basics.
Since the Carolina League is Low-A, don’t expect a lot of gaudy home run totals. After all, it is the lowest run of the full-season Minor League ladder. On top of that, it’s a stepping stone for many high-end prospects. Meaning, a good couple of weeks, and that prospect may be moved to High-A.
Twelve players had double-digit home run seasons in the Carolina League this past season. At the top of that list was infielder Caden Powell (19), followed by White Sox prospect George Wolkow (13).
And since it’s near the bottom of the organizational food chain, expect a lot of walks. That was indeed the case in 2025, as over 30 players had a BB% north of 10% last season. The leader was a former third-round pick in the Rays’ organization, catcher Nathan Flewelling.
As for the pitching, it can be hard to get reads on players without context, like velocity, stuff movement profiles, or visuals. However, traditional numbers can help at least piece the puzzle together.
Almost 20 of the top 25 pitchers in the circuit, as far as total strikeouts were concerned, had a K/9 above 9.0. The Carolina League strikeout king, Melkis Hernandez, did, as he punched out 116 over 113 innings.
However, many also had problems with limiting walks. Astros pitchers Joan Ogando (69 BB over 95 IP) and former Auburn product and current Orioles prospect Chase Allsup (65 BB over 91 IP) certainly did. Caden Scarborough, a Rangers prospect, didn’t, however. Scarborough posted an 11.4 K/9 and sub-3.0 BB/9 with Hickory.
Whiff rates
Okay, let’s get into the fun stuff now. We’ll start with pitcher whiff rates:
| Pitcher | MLB Team | Whiff% |
|---|---|---|
| Abel Mercedes | Athletics | 47.5% |
| Noah Beal | Rays | 40.3% |
| Jonathan Clark | White Sox | 38.9% |
| Liam Paddack | White Sox | 38.6% |
| Jesus Travieso | Pirates | 38.3% |
| Ethan Bell | Cubs | 37.0% |
| Adam Shoemaker | Braves | 36.7 |
| Luis Flores | Guardians | 36.6% |
| Sean Matson | Guardians | 36.6% |
| Leomar Rosario | Astros | 36.3% |
If the name Jesus Travieso sounds familiar, it should. Travieso, who has throwing very hard in High-A last season, was acquired by the Pirates in the trade that sent Johan Oviedo to Boston.
Abel Mercedes walked 48 over 41.1 IP despite the high strikeout (66) number. The Athletics picked him in the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft.
Now, it should be noted that many of the pitchers above were relievers, like Paddack and Clark. As for notable starters who came close, Mason Molina (35.5%), Carson Dorsey (32.8%), and Cam Caminiti (32.1%) were around.
Let’s flip this around for a second. The hitters who were the most egregious in the swing-and-miss were as follows:
| Name | MLB Team | Whiff% |
|---|---|---|
| Josi Novas | Royals | 47.5% |
| Yosander Asencio | Red Sox | 45.8% |
| Yahil Melendez | Cubs | 44.1% |
As for the best, Angel Acosta (14.5%), Tommy Hawke (14.2%), and Kevin Bazzell (14.0%) were at the top. Ty Southisene, a fourth-rounder in 2024 by the Cubs, was in the top-11. Expanding it out, Nate George and Luis Pena were in the top-30.
Before we move to the next section, let’s quickly take a look at whiff rates for the first-round hitters from this past year:
- Eli Willits (Nationals): 17.2%
- Gavin Fien (Rangers): 28%
- Ike Irish (Orioles) 25.4%
- Tate Southisene (Braves): 40.1%
- Caden Bodine (Orioles): 16.7%
- Wehiwa Aloy (Orioles): 31.2%
- Brady Ebel (Brewers): 26.2%
- Brendan Summerhill (Rays): 15.5%
Be mindful, though, that the above percentages are small sample sizes.
Hard-hit machines
Next, let’s take a look at the best hard-hit kings of the Carolina League:
| Player | MLB Team | Modified Hard-Hit% |
|---|---|---|
| Caden Powell | Astros | 19.0% |
| Drew Brutcher | Astros | 15.8% |
| Alexley Lumpuy | Cubs | 14.4% |
| Kevin Guerrero | Orioles | 12.8% |
| Eric Bitonti | Brewers | 12.4% |
| Yasmil Bucce | Orioles | 12.1% |
| Theo Gillen | Rays | 12.0% |
| Nathan Flewelling | Rays | 11.7% |
| Nathaniel Ochoa Leyva | Nationals | 11.5% |
| Jesus Made | Brewers | 11.2% |
Now, you might look at these numbers and think that the percentages are low. These are, and I’ll explain why.
For the Florida State League and all Triple-A levels, Statcast tracking is live. By definition, MLB declared that a hard-hit ball is 95 MPH or greater coming off the bat. The other Minor Leagues don’t have stat tracking. However, there are still trackers that denote batted-ball location, and whether soft, medium, or hard contact was made in the official Minor League play-by-play database.
Still, these numbers give us something to chew on.
At the top of this list is Caden Powell, a former sixth-rounder by the Astros out of Seminole State back in 2024. Not a shock that Powell is here; he blasted 32 home runs in the NJCAA a couple of years back. Powell had 27 extra-base hits, including 10 home runs, with Fayetteville.
There are some other notable names in the top-20, including former Brewers third-rounder Eric Bitonti and Cubs prospect Owen Ayers (9.8%), who had a breakout season in the AFL. Then, there are the two big names.
One is outfielder Theo Gillen, the former first-round pick by Tampa in 2024. Gillen missed almost all of April but had a good overall year. The 20-year-old stole 36 bases and had 18 extra-base hits.
Lastly, there’s Jesus Made, who may join Jackson Chourio in the next year or two in Milwaukee to form a dynamic duo in the Brewers’ lineup.
Flipping the script
On the opposite side of the spectrum, there were a few interesting names in the bottom 25% of the list. Several include Astros prospect Alonzo Tredwell (11.0%), a former second-round pick who had a good overall year, making it to Double-A. However, the one downside was that he gave up six home runs in 48 innings with the Woodpeckers.
However, Tredwell struck out a lot of batters (122 over 100 cumulative IP) this season across three levels. That home run total proved to be a disproportionate amount, as he conceded just three over 52 IP between High-A and Double-A.
Another was Cam Caminiti (6.9%), who only allowed one home run in Low-A this season, yet still ranked in the bottom-50 of the league in this department. Why? While he allowed a lot of hard contact, it was primarily to the ground (50% GB%).
Caminiti had a great overall season, as he struck out 75 over 56.1 IP with Rome.
Ground balls
I suppose we can end with ground balls. Thirty-one pitchers had a GB% above 50% last season (min. 100 batted balls). Among those pitchers were Caminiti and Guardians prospects Braylon Doughty (50.2%) and Rafe Schlesinger (55%).
At the top was White Sox prospect Pierce George (62.7%).
Check out more of our Minors coverage.