Murphy: Three prospects to watch outside the Top 25

Keep an out for . . .

Feb 06, 2025

Luke Scherrer

It's not the route you generally see players take, Luke Scherrer was signed as an undrafted prep-free agent in 2023. After getting in a handful of games to close the season after signing, Scherrer played all of 2024 in the Florida Complex League.

Some of his base numbers don’t exactly pop—he has yet to hit a home run and has batted .273/.406/.345—but there are some underlying traits to like heading into 2025.

In 148 career plate appearances, Scherrer has nearly as many walks (19) as he does strikeouts (24). So, he’s shown some great bat-to-ball skills and some good patience at the plate.

The next step is to see if he can add more authority to his swings without costing him the contact.

He’s still young, he’ll be 20 for the entire 2025 regular season, so this is the year you want to see him take that next step.

Lonnie White Jr.

It's not exactly the most under-the-radar name to pick, but of all the names listed so far, Lonnie White Jr. might be the most important name to watch outside the Top 25 in 2025.

White was drafted as a prep player in the 2021 draft. Injuries have slowed his progress, but he has struggled to make contact when he has been on the field.

Playing the entire 2024 season with Greensboro, White put up a respectable 14 home runs and 15 stolen bases while playing just 89 games. The downside is that he hit just .167/.275/.340 with a strikeout rate of 34.4%.

White has plenty of skill, but time is running out for him to figure it out. I’ve mentioned this before, but even though he is likely going to repeat High-A, considering this would have been his first full year in pro ball had he gone to college, it’s not completely horrible.

But there has to be movement this year, which is why he is a key player I am watching.

Duce Gourson

When I saw Duce Gourson in person at the end of the year in Greensboro, nothing particularly stood out at first glance. Upon watching again, and then diving deeper into his hitting metrics in Bradenton, he’s a deep position hitter that may be worth watching in 2025.

The biggest question about Gourson is how much impact he’ll make with the bat. He made great swing decisions and contact in Bradenton, and while he didn’t whiff much in Greensboro, he hit just .179.

In the video above, he showed good plate discipline and made solid contact. The biggest difference between the two levels was that his ground ball rate went up 25% in Greensboro. If he can get the ball back up in the air more, some of that success could return.

That being said, looking too deeply at base numbers only goes so far in a 22-game sample size (11 at each level).

Bonus: Carlos Castillo

I couldn’t stop at just three (and had to add at least one pitcher), so I added Carlos Castillo as an extra player to watch going into 2025. An arm I have mentioned multiple times on this site over the last year, Castillo pitched well in the FCL in 2024 before getting some playing time in Bradenton at 18 to close out the year.

Things got pretty ugly when he got to Bradenton—he allowed 15 earned runs in 14 IP—but there was some encouraging underlying data.

His xFIP (4.73 —> 4.10), as well as his Strikeout (18.2% —> 21.3%) and Walk (12.2% —> 8%) rates all went in the right direction when he moved up to Bradenton. According to Statcast, he got a 40% whiff rate with his curveball, slider, and change-up.

He just had his birthday, so he will be 19 for the entire 2025 season. He could start in the FCL again, which wouldn’t be an issue from a development path.

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