Now with this sixth update of the season of Hobby+, we’re entering the home stretch of the MiLB season. Promotions have largely all happened now as the Complex league is over. This causes a shift of talent for those who excelled at lower levels, and/or a shift in players that teams want an extended look at. It also provides a boost in Hobby+ score after hitting enough AB’s at the new level. So who’s seeing the biggest of boosts? Check out the leaderboards below! This update I mostly focused on players I haven’t written a lot about thus far, because if you’ve been following along, the leaderboards have become somewhat sticky with the exception of those promotion-related risers. My leaderboards show all the data and promotions as of 8/3 (a few trickled in afterwards).
Since we also had a ton of trades between this update and last, I’ll give you a quick note on why teams for these prospects show as they do. As I mention in my banner, my sheet uses data from Fangraphs. The data from Leaderboards is what shows in my sheet. For instance, Yophery Rodriguez still shows as Milwaukee, yet Eduardo Tait already shows as Minnesota. Sure, I can adjust manually, but checking over 800 prospects for something that does not affect any of my scores is fruitless, and would need to be fixed again in future updates. For the Hobby+ tool in the app suite, that team data comes from a different place, and the teams are accurate.
For those subscribed at our 60 Tier, the The Hobby+ portion is updated in the PLive+ App Suite with pricing information as well as the season updates laid out below.
As always, if you have any questions on what Hobby+ is, or who is and isn't included, reference my Primer.
Hitting Skill
There’s never been any doubt about the bat-to-ball skills of Dameury Peña (2024 BC). But this year it’s been to a fault – he’s not been selective enough in Low-A, and his quality of contact has suffered greatly. It’s just the hard truth for a talented hitter who needs to mature. There is some sleeping pop in his bat though – he has 6 HR, more than any full-season teen within 5 percent of his K%. It’s likely that he just needs to add strength to his frame so he can square up with more regularity. We’re not talking about big power here - he’s only 5’10” and his swing isn’t geared for it. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this offseason is the nadir for Peña’s hobby value.
With Robert Arias (2024 BC) apparently not continuing his season at Low-A, he’s wrapped up a great 2025 season at the Complex. It’s not about the .287/.389/.402 slash line – it’s about the projection. His hit tool still looks to be every bit of plus, and his speed and defense in CF remain strong assets. He’s still quite physically immature in his upper body, but he still muscled up for 14 XBH in 46 games. I think if his power gets to even below average, he’ll be a significant hobby player. I’m comfortable predicting that! His card prices remain slightly undervalued.
I want to write about William Bergolla (2022 BC), because I haven’t this season yet, and he is at a very challenging level for his age (20 in AA). He’s performed very well to that end – he’s hitting .288 while solidifying himself at the SS position and showing some solid base-stealing acumen. He also has the lowest K% in AA. Full stop. No age dependency needed. The trade off is that there’s no power whatsoever (0 HR, 16 XBH%). While he is smaller in stature at 5’9” and has little development in his upper body, I don’t think that’s the main reason why there’s so little impact. He simply doesn’t use his back side at all – everything is coordinated through his hands, be it pull side or oppo. He’s great at it! A 3.5 SwStr%? Ridiculous! But for a long-term hobby prognosis, it’s a tough look to be paying where his prices are. The other factor is that the White Sox are a bad development organization. Any tweaks to get to more impact, any strength added to his frame, will be completely guided by himself and his people. And hey, it could happen – he has pro baseball bloodlines, so they know what it takes. Bergolla has the floor of reaching the majors – that’s clear. But is his toolkit loud enough to make it as a regular with zero power? That’s tough to project.
Age Dependent Power
I wrote about Richard Matic (2025 Bowman) last time, and called out his swing change and how it essentially vaulted him to Top-5 DSL hitter status. What I didn’t mention is that even though he’s repeating the league, he didn’t turn 18 until this update. There is absolutely still a ton of time for him to even play half of next year at the Complex before moving to Low-A, and still easily remain on track to stay hobby relevant. All other caveats in regard to his swing-and-miss and being lower on the defensive spectrum still apply.
I’ve mentioned Tyson Lewis a few times this year, but his promotion to Low-A has really brought out his inner Leroy Jenkins, if that wasn’t already apparent. He’s looking great on the surface (.300 average, 6 XBH in 10 games) and those ancillary tools will always float him up higher than others of his ilk. But man is the 22 SwStr% outlying-ly bad (it’s a small sample, but representative). I think with Lewis, your best course of action is to gird your loins and charge straight forward with what you’ve got.
Emil Morales (2024 BC) finished his season in the Complex with a bang, then in his first 6 games in Low-A smashed 5 XBH. The power has simply never been in doubt, and he’s beginning to show that could continue to be the case throughout the lower levels. There’s been very little improvement to his swing-and-miss concerns though – while he’s only 18 there’s absolutely still time to improve, we shouldn’t be vaulting him up any rankings just yet. I’m OK with where he is price-wise, but to buy in now you have to believe he’ll improve his contact rate.
I’m going to quickly hit on a few guys I haven’t written about this year. Yassel Soler (2024 BC) has had an emergent 2nd half with his bat all-around, but being a poor defender at 3B has left him without a promotion to High-A. I’ve apparently not written about Eric Bitonti (2023 Draft) this year. He’s not a sleeper anymore! Not with a 2nd season of 16 HR at Low-A before turning 20. But he remains high-risk with so much swing-and-miss. It’s essentially the same story for Tai Peete (2023 Draft) with the power and the whiff, but he’s at a level higher. Naibel Mariano (2025 Bowman) and Yovanny Rodriguez (2024 BC) are DSL repeaters who are showing improvement enough to deserve hobby relevance, but still have major warts.
Hobby+
The two newcomers to the Top 10 this update are both AAA performers – Sal Stewart (2022 Draft) and Bryce Eldridge (2023 Draft). Eldridge has been a hobby hero for awhile now obviously. With his power never in doubt, his only questions have been keeping his contact rate in check and proving he can stay healthy. Neither of those things have gone particularly well in the last 6 weeks, but as he’s slugged over .650 since returning from injury, nobody cares. Sal Stewart is a different story. Not 22 until the offseason, Stewart has evolved this year as a hitter. He’s still running an excellent contact rate, but he’s also already set career highs in HR and 2B, and is on track to blow away his career SLG. He’s been intentionally more aggressive, and it’s cost is minimal – his quality of contact is as good as it always been. In short he really looks like an MLB-ready hitter now, and the only question is, where’s he going to play? Despite not making many errors, his defense has always graded poorly – but I’ll give the Reds credit for running him out to a position everyday (mostly 3B) instead of DH’ing him like the Orioles do with Samuel Basallo! Both of these players have been known commodities and are appropriately priced for who they are, and are probably not being called up this year for significant playing time. There will be better times this offseason to acquire their cards.
Walker Jenkins (2024 Bowman) only played 2 games before getting hurt, and didn’t make it back to AA until mid-June. After finally debuting in last update’s leaderboard, he’s showing us that he is who we thought he was – a precocious 20 YO stud who is more than ready for the level. He’s slashed a ridiculous .367/.431/.653 since my last update. It’s nothing new or unexpected, and his hobby status is lofty. But it’s well-deserved, and I don’t think he’ll ever be considerably cheaper.
Carson Benge (2024 Draft) is also riding a massive hot streak to the Top 30. He wasn’t struggling by any means at High-A, but since his promotion to Binghamton he’s taken off like a rocket. His wRC+ stands at a whopping 227 at the level. You can bet your bottom dollar, if you still have it, that Mets fans have gobbled that up and caused a massive price spike. Is there still potential to grow? In the NYC market, I would never bet against that!
When 2025 Bowman released, there were a lot of prospects I liked, and Aron Estrada was one of them. But he fell by the wayside in my personal chases because he’s positionally limited and I didn’t know how loud the tools could be. Well now, fueled by a promotion, half a season later he’s popping up the leaderboard and showing that it’s definitely his hit tool that’s going to be the one to shine, and with some impact. Since the beginning of July he’s run a 12.5 K% while slashing .313/.396/.554. The beautiful thing about that is, the last week of that is as a 20 year old in AA. The beautiful thing for me is that the hobby hasn’t fully reacted yet, so I might be able to sneak a purchase or two in.
In these Hobby+ ranks, the biggest riser that’s a free square in the hobby is Arizona’s Jose Fernandez. He’s known as a defensively-minded infielder who at 6’3”, is an intriguing option to stick at SS. While that’s his best asset, and it secures his floor, he’s showing that he has potential to be a bit more. The first thing to consider is that he’s only 20 and has been in AA all season. Last year he only popped 16 XBH in High-A, which made his cards a complete afterthought in 2024 Bowman Chrome. This year, he’s already more than doubled that power output with 36 XBH. It’s a great sign that he’s going to be able to access power moving forward. However – don’t go crazy. There are no loud tools in his kit. He’s a very aggressive hitter who makes enough contact, and while the in-game strength gains are nice, he’s going to also have to develop his approach to make it as a regular. He’s just a little boring for my liking, but if you can get parallel autographs for under $10, go for it! I would not chase his base autos. For a player of this ilk there’s no guarantee they ever eclipse $6-8 even if he makes it to semi-regular playing time in the majors.
He hasn’t had a perfect season, and there’s still considerable risk, but Shalin Polanco remains one of the few interesting prospects from 2021 Bowman Chrome. Let’s benchmark the improvements instead of looking at overall numbers. He moved up a level for 2025, seeing High-A for the first time. He’s improved his batting average by .042. He’s shaved 5.8 off his K%. I don’t even have to hide the ISO he’s risen to – it's quite impressive at .220. He’s also improved as the season has gone on. Those improvements will need to continue and be sticky to make it as a player of significance, because with maturity he’s slowed down and is destined for LF. I think he’s done enough to open 2026 at AA as a 22 YO, which anecdotally could still leave time for him to have a hobby breakout. For under $5 per base auto, he’s worth the shot.
There’s a few graduations of hobby significance. Warming Bernabel (2022 Bowman) is surprisingly the most significant based on what he did in his first few games with Colorado and saw some massive spikes in his autographs, and newfound interest in his non-auto cards! His ceiling is not incredibly high though. C.J. Kayfus (2023 Draft) and Alex Freeland (2022 Draft) got the call as well, but are too recent to really pull any MLB results from. Jakob Marsee (2022 Draft) has less hobby significance, but don’t be surprised if he grows into some as he finishes the season with the Marlins.
Conclusion
Larger AB samples lead to a lot of the same players appearing from week to week. But it doesn’t make them not interesting to collect – it’s just boring to write about Konnor Griffin having another good few weeks. The leaderboard tells the story with players like him. I will definitely summarize everything with a season wrap-up – I’ll even make it fun by giving out superlatives! But that’s a few updates in the future. Until then I’ll continue to primarily highlight players who I haven’t written about much, or are undervalued in the hobby.
As always, collect what you love!
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