All players included in 2025 Bowman Chrome players have arrived to Hobby+! At this point in the season, accrued statistics weigh heavily, so DSL players who all have under 200 AB’s don’t get too high. But on those Hitting Skill and Age-Dependent Power leaderboards, oh baby is their presence felt. Our preview is coming very soon and is more comprehensive, but these are guys who largely haven’t been discussed much, so it’s a nice discussion point. Like the last few updates, most of the risers in this update are promotion related.
2025 Bowman Chrome players are also in the PLive+ App Suite now, although Dahl won’t have pricing info included there until about a week after the September 24 release date. For those subscribed at our 60 Tier, you can at least take a look at where their prices projects compared to everyone else! Take a little peak here – it’s truly a great tool that gives you a nice holistic look into where a player stands for the hobby based on performance, price, and future projection.
As always, if you have any questions on what Hobby+ is, or who is and isn't included, reference my Primer.
Hitting Skill
Nate Furman was down with a shoulder injury for the first three months of the season. He’s just making his debut in my leaderboard now. But what a way to do it at #1 on the Hitting Skill side! There’s not a lot of actionable moves from a hobby perspective though. He’s 24 years old and a 2B-only player with very limited time at AA. Still, his profile as a speed/hit guy is one that’s likely to make it to the majors in some capacity eventually. His base autographs in 2022 Bowman Draft are probably worth a shot for under $5 (parallels are selling more solidly).
I’ll pick on the highest 2025 Bowman Chrome guy in this Leaderboard – Johan De Los Santos. His bat, frankly, is gonna play in Low-A next year (whether the Pirates assign him there is a completely different question). He’s really good in every aspect at the plate, and most impressively he already knows what kind of player he wants to be “when he grows up”. He’s a speed demon who will do anything it takes to take advantage of that. He’ll be a little expensive and I’ll probably be limited to a few singles, but I want a piece of his cards.
There’s actually quite a few 2025 Bowman Chrome players high on this leaderboard that don’t have the same deficiencies as many. For those who know the DSL, Kevin Alvarez is an obvious name and showing a strong hit tool is only the beginning to a highly projectable future. Devin Fitz-Gerald is hurt right now, but has developed more quickly than expected and has solid utility appeal. Juneiker Caceres is in the same boat, but he’s younger so there’s a bigger dream. Topps couldn’t have picked a better DSL repeater to include than Cristian Arguelles – he’s got some legitimate sleeper appeal now.
Age-Dependent Power
Of course this leaderboard is now just littered with 2025 Bowman Chrome names. Remember, this is all age dependent, and Chrome has all those new International Free Agents. Among the lowest hanging of hobby names, Cris Rodriguez is certainly power-centric, but from what I saw he’s not power-only, and his performance got stronger as the DSL season went on. He’ll be a Top 5 chase in Bowman Chrome.
Gabriel Davalillo should be an interesting player to watch over the next few years to see where he ends up. His bat is just so strong, but his body is not good and he’s still quite rough around the edges as a catcher. He’s sure to have slow progressions though the minors unless the Angels move him off the position sooner than expected. But even then, there’s not a strong defensive position for him to move to. Just keep hitting please, Gabriel!
Of these 2025 Bowman Chrome names, I want to call out two whose power I don’t believe in, in different ways. Elorky Rodriguez is just more physically mature than pretty much everyone in the DSL. Although he has a smaller body that lacks real projection – he’s basically maxed out. Could he improve on that .506 SLG? Maybe, but I think that’s as high as it’ll ever be. He’s fine as a prospect in total, but this was a ceiling-type performance in the DSL by my eye, from a power perspective at least. Yorger Bautista put up the power numbers, but man did he look lost up there. He didn’t know what to do with anything that had spin. The negative side of the profile also showed up in the DSL as well. I’m just saying, I don’t believe in power as a deodorant in his case.
Caleb Bonemer hit the double tap of being promoted and staying hot once he got to High-A. In total it’s 12 XBH with a wRC+ over 200 since my last update. Keeping in mind he’s still not 20 until the offseason, he’s been pretty great all year. The only question is whether he can level up one of his tools to being above average. Right now he’s showing that it’s likely to be power, and it’d be nice for the hobby if that stuck. Nobody’s really sleeping on that fact - his cards from 2024 Bowman Draft are priced appropriately (if not slightly inflated) already.
Hobby+
I don’t think I’ve written enough about Konnor Griffin (2024 Draft) this year. He rises to number #1 this update as he’s settled into AA as a 19 YO with a flourish – we don’t need to parse out the exact numbers, but they're awesome. I haven’t always been on board on him as the #1 prospect in baseball, but I am now – definitely for the hobby, and by a country mile if we’re only talking about non-debuted prospects. He just has so much dynamism in his game that’s already playing on the field as such, and has proven time and time again that he’s not to be trifled with. Every time someone utters a phrase of doubt, he seems to answer it. I will not be doing that anymore.
2025 Bowman Chrome brings a new name near the top of the sheet – Rainiel Rodriguez. He’s been at the top of my “Prospects without a Bowman Autograph” sheet for the entire year. There’s no surprise that he debuts where he does at #2, and it comes at a time when he’s red hot and just got promoted to High-A at age 18. There’s not really a lot to say about him other that hasn’t been said by the Prospects Live team throughout the season. He’s the real deal, and could be a power-centric star catcher. Hobby-wise, we’ll forgive the catcher thing because 1) he’s being moved quickly unlike most catchers and 2) the rest of the package is just so darn appealing. He’s the best name in Bowman Chrome by my measure.
Alfredo Duno (2023 BC) now has 5 more XBH than any other teen in the minors. If you would’ve asked me a month ago if I thought this would happen I probably would’ve laughed. But in that month – yes, a whole month – he’s slashed .356/.500/.808, which includes 15 XBH. In that span he struck out much less than he’s walked (13/22) as well. In short, he’s ready for High-A. But he’s run out of season to make that promotion a reality. There’s also the issue of being rough around the edges defensively yet. This is his first fully healthy season, so we can absolutely forgive that (but hobby-wise we’d rather not). He’s got the arm to stick behind the dish though, so there he’ll stay for now, and the Reds aren’t aggressive with promotions, so I’d expect him to be at least 2+ seasons from the majors, optimistically. The bat is the most intriguing part of his profile, and always has been – it’s just a matter of his being challenged now. His cards are finally getting some hobby love.
Colt Emerson (2023 Draft) has had his second little power spurt this season, this one at AA. He’s got 8 XBH in the 17 games since my last update. Coupled with his excellent contact-ability and offensive value in general, he’s hit a nice little rise in my ranks. Just…don’t have any fear with him if you’re thinking about buying in. I think he’s the real deal and should spend time in Seattle next year.
My model has always favored Luis Peña over Jesus Made among the top tier 2025 Bowman Brewers. And really, it’s easy to see why – Peña makes more contact and is equal in base-stealing and game power output. But as Peña has struggled to find meaningful contact (at age 18 in High-A, lol – he’ll be fine), Made has proven he is a bona fide, certified potential superstar at the same level, and was promoted to AA as I’m writing this. There’s nothing eye-popping about the .313/.384/.406 slash since my last update, but the fact that he’s 18 and did it at High-A is pretty special.
In my last two updates Aidan Miller (2024 Bowman) has improved his Hobby+ score by a whopping 17.7 points. In real-life terms, that’s having gone from having a disappointing season at AA to having just earned a promotion to AAA. This is a guy who was slugging just .354 on July 31. Since then he’s been doing the things that we’re accustomed to seeing him do at lower levels, and he’s now back on track to debut right around the time he turns 22 next June. If there ever was a buying opportunity, it’s gone now.
I don’t know if he’ll ever develop enough of a consistent approach or make enough contact to hit his true offensive potential that would include at least 20 HR in the majors, but Denzer Guzman (2022 Bowman) has proven since my last update that he can get hot with the best of ‘em. The 4 HR and 4 2B in that span are part of it, but the increased BB% that’s yielded a .390 OBP – for him – is very nice. If somehow this can be sticky, there’s a nice player for the hobby here. For under $10 per base auto, it’s probably worth it. For those paying attention, he is playing a lot of 3B at AAA, and Yoan Moncada is only on a 1-year contract. He might get to the majors early next year should this performance continue. I think he’s a solid candidate for the AFL to get more reps at the hot corner.
There were a lot of call-ups with this now being September. Graduating players who would have been on the Leaderboards are Sal Stewart (2022 Draft), Carter Jensen (2021 Draft), Harry Ford (2021 Draft) , Jhostynxon Garcia (2025 Bowman), and Carson Williams (2021 Draft). George Valera (2022 Bowman) also ...finally... graduates, as does 2021 Bowman hype beast Maximo Acosta, and 2022 Draft sleeper (who hasn't had a good year) Jimmy Crooks.
Conclusion
This will be my last normal update of the season. The MiLB season is now mostly over, with only the upper levels remaining with a week of play. But fear not! I will have a wrap-up, of sorts. A little bit of a longer piece that I’ll have fun with. I’ll include guys who saw big rises throughout the year, and others that there’s also a lot of interesting tidbits to glean. And right now, my plan is to tell most of that story through the lens of class superlatives. Time to get those creative juices flowing.
Until next time, collect what you love!
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