From BA's September 22 article
Caleb Bonemer: White Sox 2025 Minor League Player Of The Year:
Cold-weather Michigan punches below its weight for producing baseball talent, and 19-year-old shortstop
Caleb Bonemer would agree.
Unconvinced the lower velocity he faced in games was preparing him for the next level, Bonemer spent spare moments taking machine reps against pro-level velocity, even if it had him out in front for spurts of the season.
That level of preparation helped key an outstanding pro debut for Bonemer. He hit .281/.400/.458 in 96 games for Low-A Kannapolis to lead the Carolina League with an .859 OPS. He advanced to High-A Winston-Salem for 11 games and between the levels totaled 12 home runs and 29 stolen bases.
“He’s 19, but he feels like a guy who went to college,” White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller said of Chicago’s 2024 second-rounder. “He’s physical, really strong and simple out there. That’s what I love about him. It’s really good at-bats. He knows the strike zone. When he hits, there’s a lot of authority behind it.”
Filled out and physical, Bonemer moved to third base at Winston-Salem for newly-drafted Kyle Lodise. But improved reviews for his bat from scouts across the league suggest that Bonemer will survive an anticipated move off shortstop.
“A lot of people say they don’t see my hands moving at all, and well, I feel like I’m moving them,” Bonemer said. “I try to take my back pocket and turn it toward the pitcher, continuing to load that up, and when it’s time to go, I just release and unload it.
“With my hands, I set them with a slight hand pump—nothing too crazy—and make sure I get into those spots.”
Bonemer had a vulnerability to changeups that will be tested at higher levels, but his adjustments saw him post a slightly above-average contact rate, while his swing decisions improved. Outside of a missed series in August for a hip issue, Bonemer stayed healthy in his debut and is getting more recognition, but he is unsatisfied.
“I (texted him), ‘Congrats on getting named to the Top 100 (Prospects),’ ” said White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery, who trains with Bonemer in the offseason. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, No. 100 or something.’ I was like, ‘Dude, gotta start somewhere.’ ”
From BA's September 22 article
Henry Bolte: Athletics 2025 Minor League Player Of The Year:
Henry Bolte grew up in Northern California rooting for the Athletics, so it was meaningful to the Palo Alto High product when his hometown team drafted him in the second round in 2022.
Bolte’s athletic ability and raw power made him stand out, complementing his speed and defensive ability in center field.
“He gets a little streaky, but when you draft guys like that, you’re betting on the ceiling,” A’s farm director Ed Sprague said last offseason. “You’re never sure where the floor is going to land, and the ceiling is as high as it gets in terms of his athleticism and all his tools that he comes with.”
Bolte has steadily advanced through the ranks and reached Triple-A Las Vegas in late July. In 114 games this season counting 80 with Double-A Midland, he batted .284/.385/.427 with nine home runs and 44 stolen bases.
Bolte entered the 2025 season with the development goal of sharpening the minutiae of a better hitting position that offered more adjustability and the ability to make more contact.
He got off to a strong start at Triple-A, posting a .838 OPS in 34 games, before having wrist surgery to end his season.
A’s minor league hitting coordinator Jim Eppard complimented Bolte and how the 22-year-old approached this season.
“He’s a high school kid who was playing high school baseball three years ago. So for him to already have hit Double-A and now on his way to Triple-A and playing there, I think we have a great player in the making,” Eppard said in an interview with “A’s Cast” in July.
Bolte looked strong in his at-bats and batting practice sessions this season. While his power output dipped year-over-year, his batting consistency improved. He hit .284 and maintained a strong walk rate of nearly 12% while reducing his strikeout rate by nearly five percentage points.
From BA's September 22 article
Robby Snelling: Marlins 2025 Minor League Player Of The Year:
The Marlins acquired lefthander
Robby Snelling in July 2024 as the key prospect in the trade that sent Tanner Scott to the Padres.
The following season, the Marlins hired Rob Marcello—who had worked with Snelling in the Padres organization—as pitching coach at Triple-A Jacksonville.
When the Marlins promoted Snelling to Jacksonville in July, the 21-year-old teamed up again with Marcello—and proceeded to go on his best run as a pro.
“I’m known to push people,” Marcello said. “Nothing is good enough, and (Snelling) has taken it by storm.”
The Padres drafted Snelling in the supplemental first round in 2022, going well over slot to sign him for $3 million. He shined in his pro debut season of 2023, winning BA Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors.
Snelling scuffled through much of 2024 but found his footing in the Marlins organization late in the season. This year has been a different story.
Snelling struck out 166 batters, one of the highest totals in the minor leagues, while pitching to a 2.51 ERA across 136 innings. He walked 39 and allowed 10 home runs, while making 14 starts for Double-A Pensacola and 11 more for Jacksonville.
From the day Snelling made his first start for Jacksonville on July 10, he had the top ERA (1.27) and most strikeouts (81) at Triple-A.
Snelling’s arsenal includes a four-seam fastball that averages 94.7 mph and tops out at 98 with extreme movement. His go-to secondary pitch is his curveball, which has shown improved power and spin since he arrived in Triple-A and has been up to 2,650 rpm.
Snelling also has amplified use of his changeup to combat righthanded batters.
“He lost the vertical movement on his fastball last year,” Marcello said. “But he came back with that changeup and the return of his fastball (which had lost an average of 2 mph).
“I think he can be a No. 2 (in a rotation) or even a No. 1.”
From BA's September 22 article
Alex Clemmey: Nationals 2025 Minor League Player Of The Year:
As a 20-year-old pitching in Double-A, lefthander
Alex Clemmey quickly ran into adversity by getting hit hard in his first three starts for Harrisburg.
“He had to change his plan of attack,” Double-A Harrisburg pitching coach Rigo Beltran said. “He couldn’t pitch to the middle of the plate like he had when he dominated in A ball.”
Clemmey went through a series of drills and made small tweaks to his delivery. He focused on using his 92-96 mph fastball, sinker, slider and changeup at the right times and less hittable areas.
The results showed in his final three starts for Harrisburg when he had a 2.04 ERA, .177 opponent average and 0.91 WHIP.
That strong finish gave Clemmey an overall 3.47 ERA with 136 strikeouts and 73 walks in 116.2 innings between High-A Wilmington and Double-A.
The 6-foot-6 Clemmey stands out for both his raw stuff and the resiliency he showed as one of the youngest pitchers in the Eastern League.
“You have to wait at least a couple of games before you can get aggressive with adjustments,” said Beltran, a lefthander who pitched for four major league teams over five seasons. “I felt like he was in a good spot during spring training, but he had gotten away from that.
“Now, he’s in a spot where he’s able to make in-game adjustments.”
Clemmey was a second-round pick of the Guardians in 2023 out of Bishop Hendricken High in Warwick, R.I. He came to the Nationals in the 2024 trade that sent outfielder Lane Thomas to Cleveland.
Beltran said Clemmey’s fastball and sinker were his most Double-A-ready pitches when he joined the Senators. Clemmey’s slider is also a plus pitch—or at least the good version of it is.
“His slider is his best pitch, but it’s also his worst pitch,” Beltran said. “It’s just that when he flies open and throws it in the wrong spots, it can really get hit. That’s one of the things he’s working hard at improving.”
From BA's September 22 article
Sal Stewart: Reds 2025 Minor League Player Of The Year:
A wrist injury suffered during the 2024 all-star break required surgery and cost
Sal Stewart the second half of the season at High-A Daytona.
The Reds moved Stewart up to Double-A Chattanooga to begin this season, and the 21-year-old third baseman responded with his best pro season.
Stewart hit .308 through his first 56 games but had just three home runs. Then, everything began to come together in mid June, and he hit .310 with 17 homers in his final 62 games for Chattanooga and then Triple-A Louisville.
“Early on, I was kind of chasing, then I just had to hone in my zone,” Stewart said. “Once I did that, they had to come to me, and from there the power took off.”
Through the first two months of the season, Stewart made plenty of contact, but he wasn’t drawing many walks. As that started to change in June, his power began to show. He carried that into the all-star break, when he represented the Reds at the Futures Game.
Following the Futures Game, the Reds promoted him to Triple-A, where he just kept hitting.
“He’s a student of the game,” Reds senior director of player development Jeremy Farrell said. “As he’s continued to grow and develop, he‘s met the challenges in the minor leagues and you can see that in the numbers.”
Stewart hit .309/.383/.524 with 20 homers and 17 stolen bases in 118 games at two minor league levels. The Reds called him up on Sept. 1 when rosters expanded from 26 players to 28.
He reached the majors three years after the Reds drafted him 32nd overall in 2022 with the first-round compensatory pick they added when Nick Castellanos signed with the Phillies as a free agent.
“It was the quality of at-bats that he continued to take in Double-A and Triple-A that put him on the radar for the big leagues,” Farrell said.