Our final look at the 2025 Minor League season will focus on the Triple-A level. The International League (IL) was loaded with talent, and many players from that circuit wound up making it to the Majors last season. Let’s take a slightly deeper look at the year in the IL.
The traditional numbers
Given that Triple-A is a level where some cap off, one would expect full-season totals for many players. And that’s exactly what happened with many individuals who spent the year in the International League.
Now-Mets farmhand Jose Rojas led the IL with 32 home runs with Scranton, two ahead of former Ray Bob Seymour. Seymour will head to Asia for the 2026 campaign.
Those were two of 21 players who had at least 20 home runs last season in the IL. Samuel Basallo and Carson Williams each had 23 home runs, while Cubs prospect Owen Caissie had 22.
Cubs farmhand Jonathan Long led the league with 157 hits, 10 more than Justin Crawford posted with Lehigh Valley. However, Crawford notched 147 hits in only 112 games, 28 fewer games played than Long.
Crawford was also a machine on the basepaths, as he stole 46 bases in the International, third-most. Only Jakob Marsee (47) and Jared Oliva (57) had more stolen bases.
Twenty-seven pitchers had at least 100 strikeouts, including K/9 leader Alan Rangel (131). Rays farmhand Logan Workman had 152 to lead the league in total strikeouts.
Joe Boyle, Mick Abel, Bubba Chandler, and Parker Messick were also among the pitchers with 100+ strikeouts.
Best swing-and-miss pitchers
Let’s take a look at the best Whiff% pitchers in the International League:
| Player | MLB Team | Whiff% |
|---|---|---|
| Joe Boyle | Rays | 40.5% |
| Roddery Muñoz | Astros | 40.5% |
| Quinn Mathews | Cardinals | 34.8% |
| Forrest Whitley | Rays | 34.5% |
| Enoli Paredes | Orioles | 34.4% |
| Robby Snelling | Marlins | 33.9% |
| Geoff Hartlieb | Athletics | 33.8% |
| Codi Heuer | Guardians | 33.7% |
| Jose Franco | Reds | 32.6% |
| Matt Pushard | Cardinals | 32.5% |
Creating these lists at the Triple-A is a pain. Why? Players bounce around.
Geoff Hartlieb played for three teams last year, while Codi Heuer spent time between the Rangers and Tigers’ organizations. So, these lists can vary depending on what league (IL or PCL) one considers a player to be from.
The top ten includes some familiar names. Roddery Muñoz and Matt Pushard were both Rule 5 Draft picks this past December. Forrest Whitley was a former first-round pick.
There are also two elite pitching prospects here: Quinn Mathews and Robby Snelling. Snelling showed big velocity once more at the Triple-A level and put himself in a strong position to make his MLB debut next year. The left-hander was one of the big pieces that went to Miami in the Tanner Scott trade.
Mathews, meanwhile, walked 74 batters over 94 innings. However, he picked up plenty of strikeouts (107) along the way.
Flipping the script
Let’s flip this around and look at the biggest swing-and-miss hitters:
| Player | MLB Team | Whiff% |
|---|---|---|
| Jorge Alfaro | Brewers | 42.9% |
| Nick Schnell | Padres | 42.2% |
| Spencer Jones | Yankees | 41.5% |
| Ryan Noda | Orioles | 40.1% |
| Everson Pereira | White Sox | 39.8% |
| Gage Workman | Tigers | 39.0% |
| Carson Williams | Rays | 38.6% |
| Bobby Dalbec | White Sox | 37.5% |
| Seby Zavala | Red Sox | 37.3% |
| Blake Sabol | Red Sox | 37.1% |
Carson Williams is going to be a very interesting name to watch in 2026.
Williams will likely get rope in the Rays’ infield next season, especially now that Brandon Lowe is with the Pirates. However, the swing-and-miss in his game hasn’t gone away.
Spencer Jones, meanwhile, posted a Whiff% above 40% in the International League, much like he did in Double-A.
Bullet hitters
Now that we’ve reached the Triple-A section of this endeavor, the hard-hit numbers will look more normal (not statistically normal per se). Here are the hitters who had the highest Hard Hit% in the International League:
| Player | MLB Team | Hard Hit% |
|---|---|---|
| Samuel Basallo | Orioles | 57.6% |
| Bobby Dalbec | White Sox | 56.5% |
| Carson McCusker | Twins | 54.4% |
| MJ Melendez | Royals | 53.8% |
| Jared Young | Mets | 53.7% |
| Edwin Rios | Reds | 51.9% |
| Owen Caissie | Cubs | 51.5% |
| Tim Elko | White Sox | 51.0% |
| Everson Pereira | White Sox | 50.0% |
| Johnathan Rodriguez | Guardians | 49.6% |
Yeah, Basallo can hit the ball hard. The same can be said for Owen Caissie.
Barrels
Next up, the barrels:
| Player | MLB Team | Barrel% |
|---|---|---|
| Samuel Basallo | Orioles | 21.3% |
| Sal Stewart | Orioles | 21.0% |
| Roman Anthony | Red Sox | 20.3% |
| Bobby Dalbec | White Sox | 18.1% |
| Spencer Jones | Yankees | 17.6% |
| Carson McCusker | Twins | 16.7% |
| Owen Caissie | Cubs | 16.7% |
| Jack Suwinski | Pirates | 15.9% |
| Carter Jensen | Royals | 15.7% |
| Christian Encarnacion-Strand | Reds | 15.5% |
It’s amazing to think that many of the names listed above had an impactful year in the Minors — and the Majors.
Basallo, Sal Stewart, Carter Jensen, and Roman Anthony all had success to some degree in the Majors after their respective clubs promoted them to the Majors. It’s also worth noting that Basallo, Jensen, and Stewart retained their rookie eligibility.
Groundball machines
Lastly, the best ground-ball pitchers:
| Player | MLB Team | GB% |
|---|---|---|
| Joel Kuhnel | Athletics | 65.2% |
| Joe Jaques | Mets | 59.0% |
| Reiver Sanmartin | Reds | 57.4% |
| Bryan Mata | Red Sox | 56.1% |
| Eddy Yean | Pirates | 55.8% |
| Hurston Waldrep | Braves | 55.7% |
| Adonis Medina | Phillies | 54.9% |
| Cade Cavalli | Nationals | 54.7% |
| Alex Cornwell | Cardinals | 53.9% |
| Brian Van Belle | Rays | 53.1% |
Hurston Waldrep’s splitter became one of the best offspeed pitchers in the Majors last season. But before Waldrep established himself as a big leaguer, he posted one of the best ground-ball rates in the IL.
So did Cade Cavalli, who also finished last year in the Majors.
Note: For our Triple-A articles, we amended our calculation of whiff rates, as we included four tip bunts to align with Statcast.
Check out more of our Minor League coverage.