Our look through the 2025 Minor League year continues with the Midwest League. High-end prospects like Thomas White, Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle, and Kendall George all spent time in the circuit this past year. And, all of those players stood out in some way.
The traditional numbers
Twenty-eight hitters had at least 10 home runs in the Midwest League this past season, led by Brandon Winokur (Twins), Izaac Pacheco (Tigers), and former first-rounder Ralphy Velazquez (Guardians) with 17. All three players played in at least 94 games in the circuit.
There were quite a few players, though, who didn’t need as many games. Brewers C/OF Marco Dinges hit 10 in 50 games, while Tigers catching prospect Josue Briceño hit 15 in 55, tied for sixth in the circuit. Those two were perfect examples as to why raw traditional numbers don’t tell the whole story.
However, one player who put up eye-popping raw numbers was Dodgers outfield prospect Kendall George. George finished the 2025 season with the second-most hits (125) in the Midwest League, plus the best on-base percentage (.409). What was likely the most impressive feat of his year was the 100 stolen bases he recorded with the Great Lakes Loons.
Seven hitters struck out at least 130 times, headlined by Midwest League league leader Rosman Verdugo (Padres) with 158.
Moving on to the pitchers, Dodgers pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski led the Midwest League in strikeouts with 136 over 108.2 IP. Serwinoski posted those numbers with two different teams in the league, as he was traded twice over a two-day timespan in July. The Reds traded him to Tampa Bay for Zack Littell, then flipped a day later, along with Paul Gervase and Ben Rortvedt, for Hunter Feduccia.
Serwinoski was one of 13 pitchers to have at least 100 strikeouts in the Midwest League this season. Others included Matt Wilkinson & Caden Favors (Guardians), Drew Beam (Royals), and Karson Milbrandt (Marlins).
Guardians prospect Jackson Humphries, also on that list, led the league in walks. Humphries, who struck out 102 over 96.2 IP, walked a Midwest League-high 91 batters.
Whiff rates
Much like in our past stat-based Minor League reviews, we’ll start with the pitchers who had the best whiff rates in the Midwest League:
| Player | MLB Team | Whiff% |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas White | Marlins | 42.6% |
| Braden Davis | Cardinals | 41.8% |
| Alex Makarewich | Dodgers | 41.4% |
| Carson Hobbs | Dodgers | 40.4% |
| Joseph Menefee | Reds | 40.4% |
| Angel Gonzalez | Cardinals | 39.7% |
| Yerlin Rodriguez | Brewers | 39.5% |
| Patrick Copen | Dodgers | 37.6% |
| Christian Ruebeck | Dodgers | 37.3% |
The Marlins have something special with Thomas White. White, who was taken 25 pitches after Noble Meyer was selected with the 10th overall pick, had the best swing-and-miss rate in the Midwest League in what was a stepping stone for the left-hander.
White finished the year in Triple-A, months after he started the 2025 campaign with Beloit.
Braden Davis, who had a marvelous season with Palm Beach and had a Whiff% over 40% in the Florida State League, posted an even better one over a smaller sample size of eight games with Peoria.
If we expand this list even further, down to 25, there are a lot of other notable names. Clark Candiotti (37%, Diamondbacks), A.J. Causey (34.7%, Royals), Gage Jump (35.2%, Athletics), and Karson Milbrandt (34.2%, Marlins) were among them.
And like we’ve done in the past, just because a pitcher misses a lot of bats does not necessarily mean that individual is a high-end prospect.
Angel Gonzalez, the 23-year-old right-hander, was released in July by the Cardinals. Gonzalez walked 47 over 35.1 IP. Alex Makarewich, who struck out 48 over 31 innings with Great Lakes, walked 41.
Yerlin Rodriguez and Christian Ruebeck also had walk problems in High-A.
Flipping the script
Let’s flip this around and take a look at the hitters who swung and missed the most in the High-A level:
| Player | MLB Team | Whiff% |
|---|---|---|
| Kay-Lan Nicasia | Brewers | 42.2% |
| Bennett Lee | Tigers | 41.6% |
| Connor Burns | Reds | 40.0% |
| Sean Barnett | Padres | 39.8% |
| Diego Guzman | Royals | 39.6% |
| Carter Frederick | Royals | 38.0% |
| Rodney Green Jr. | Athletics | 36.7% |
| Daniel Guilarte | Brewers | 36.7% |
| Joe Vetrano | Dodgers | 37.7% |
| Ethan Long | Padres | 36.7% |
The bottom 10 includes a couple of Day 2 picks from the 2023 MLB Draft in Trevor Werner, Joe Vetrano, Bennett Lee, and Connor Burns.
However, some very interesting names just missed this list.
Rodney Green Jr. (36.7%, Athletics) had a lot of swing-and-miss trouble in college. That continued in 2025 as a pro. Former first-rounder Blake Mitchell (35.5%, Royals) had some as well in his second full pro season.
Dodgers outfield prospect Zyhir Hope had the 23rd-worst Whiff% at 34.1%
On the opposite side, there were 21 hitters with sub-20% Whiff% rates in the Midwest League based on the above criteria. Kendall George (19.3%), Max Clark (18.0%), and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (14.2%) were among the players in that group.
Kuroda-Grauer had the second-best Whiff%, behind only fellow A’s prospect Casey Yamauchi.
Hard-hit machines
Next, a look at the best hard-hit batters:
| Player | MLB Team | Modified Hard-Hit% |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Sirota | Dodgers | 17.2% |
| Braedon Karpathios | Padres | 16.5% |
| Jack Penney | Tigers | 15.0% |
| Zyhir Hope | Dodgers | 14.9% |
| Brendan Durfee | Padres | 14.2% |
| Ralphy Velazquez | Guardians | 13.8% |
| Izaac Pacheco | Tigers | 13.8% |
| Josue Briceño | Tigers | 13.8% |
| Frank Rodriguez | Dodgers | 13.8% |
| John Michael Faile | Reds | 13.6% |
As I’ve noted in past recaps, this metric has more subjectivity based on how the batted ball is scored. However, there are quite a few notable names here.
Mike Sirota only played 59 overall games this season, 35 of which came in High-A. However, Sirota, who came into 2024 as a potential first-rounder, got his prospect stock back up. The former Northeastern star slashed .316/.458/.556 with six home runs and 15 extra-base hits with the Loons.
Other notable power hitters, including Zyhir Hope and Josue Briceño, are also here.
Ground-ball rates
Lastly, let’s take a look at the best ground-ball pitchers in the Midwest League:
| Player | MLB Team | GB% |
|---|---|---|
| Josh Hartle | Guardians | 61.9% |
| Bodi Rascon | Padres | 57.5% |
| Evan Shaw | Dodgers | 56.8% |
| Jesús Broca | Brewers | 56.2% |
| Fernando Sanchez | Padres | 56.1% |
| Cade Winquest | Yankees | 55.9% |
| Jose Montero | Reds | 55.0% |
| Wyatt Crowell | Dodgers | 54.8% |
| Nick Wissman | Padres | 54.5% |
| Joe Adametz | Tigers | 53.5% |
Ground-ball pitchers can vary in terms of effectiveness. However, there were quite a few who are notable ones among the 10 listed above.
Wyatt Crowell was a former fourth-rounder by the Dodgers who struck out 93 over 78 innings in Great Lakes before he was promoted to Double-A.
Josh Hartle, acquired by the Guardians last winter for Spencer Horwitz, was the only pitcher with a 60%+ GB% among the criteria. Hartle averaged almost a strikeout per inning (100 over 103.1 IP) and had a .195 opponents’ batting average.
Then, there’s Cade Winquest, the hard-throwing pitcher taken by the Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft.
Check out more of our Minor League coverage.