Welcome back to Diamond Diplomas, a weekly rundown of all the players knocking on the door to the major leagues. Whether you compete in the deepest of dynasty leagues, or simply want to win the office redraft title, Prospects Live has you covered. For an overview of the tier system used to prioritize players in this series, take a look at the first article in the series here:

Diamond Diplomas 5/6/25Lucas Morel (@theprospectprof) delivers a rundown of all the players getting their caps and gowns ready for graduation to the major leagues. Class is in session, time to find out who you need to add to your roster or watch list this week.

After a promotion-filled week, let us kick things off with a “Report Card” (all statistics courtesy of BaseballSavant, TJStats, Fangraphs and Milb.com, updated as of the conclusion of play on June 8):

Report Card

Called Up:

• Roman Anthony, OF (BOS): After he launched a ball into orbit this weekend, the Red Sox finally decided to bring Anthony up to Beantown. His ten home runs and .914 OPS in Triple-A give fans an idea of what to look forward to with him regularly in the big league lineup. Anthony is our #1 overall prospect and has all the makings of a fantasy superstar. Pick. Him. Up.
• Kyle Teel, C (CWS): Teel brought his hot bat from Charlotte to Chicago this week, tallying three hits and walking twice during his debut series against Kansas City. He will be splitting time with Edgar Quero behind the dish in the near term but could certainly play his way into a larger role with continued production.
• Johnathan Rodriguez, OF (CLE): With Jhonkensy Noel sent down to Triple-A Columbus, Rodriguez again got the call to the bigs. Making his first start with the Guardians since early April, the outfielder went one-for-three with a single.
• Otto Kemp, 3B (PHI): The Phillies called up the current International League home run leader on Saturday, but he went hitless across both weekend games. Bryce Harper’s injury will keep Kemp with the big league club for now, but perhaps not in an everyday capacity.
• Tim Elko, 1B (CWS): Elko picked up right where he left off upon rejoining the White Sox this week, showing off premium power and little else. He will need to keep the homers coming to maintain fantasy relevance.
• Ryan Ritter, SS (COL): Fresh off his appearance in last week’s article as a Sleeper Pick, Ritter got the call to fill in for the injured Ezequiel Tovar. He has tallied a base hit in each of his first three games with the Rockies, albeit with a 37.5% strikeout rate.
• Eury Perez, P (MIA): The Marlins activated Perez from the injured list on Monday, marking the final step in his recovery from Tommy John surgery. He has ace upside, looked close to full strength during rehab outings, and could be a fantasy difference maker in both dynasty and redraft formats the rest of the way.
• Ian Seymour, P (TB): Seymour joined the Rays on Sunday but has yet to make his major league debut. His first appearance with Tampa will likely come out of the bullpen, but his fantasy value would rise significantly if he worked his way into the rotation mix.
• Michael McGreevy, P (STL): Making his second big-league start of the year, McGreevy got knocked around a little by a potent Dodgers lineup. Eight hits and four earned runs were the extent of the damage, though he did not give away any free passes. He was subsequently optioned back to Triple-A but could still be in the Cardinals rotation mix going forward, so keep an eye on their announced starters for the next couple of weeks.
• Brandon Walter, P (HOU): My most controversial One to Watch selection yet, Walter returned to the Astros on Sunday, rewarding anyone who streamed him with a quality start, five strikeouts, and no walks issued. The Astros will reportedly keep him as the sixth man in their rotation for the next few weeks, enhancing his short-term value.

Locked In:

• Samuel Basallo, C/1B (BAL): What else can we say about this kid? Basallo bombs are becoming a regular occurrence in Norfolk, as the 20-year-old phenom crushed his eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth home runs this week. His season OPS is soaring closer and closer to 1.000.
• Dylan Beavers, OF (BAL): Basallo’s teammate in Triple-A, Beavers has not missed a beat since returning from injury on May 31. With twelve hits (two of them homers) this week alone, the former Cal Golden Bear officially regains his Diamond Diploma status.
• Brooks Baldwin, UTIL (CWS): The 24-year-old utility man has recently tapped into a power surge with Triple-A Charlotte, hitting three home runs and two doubles in his last six games. He has looked more dangerous at the plate since his mid-May demotion but remains a better real-life ballplayer than a fantasy producer.
• Chase Burns, P (CIN): Burns pitched a full seven innings for the first time in his professional career this week, carving up the Knoxville Smokies (Cubs AA affiliate). He struck out six, walked none, and gave up just three hits in this latest gem, and with each passing outing, he makes a 2025 big league debut look more and more likely. His Sunday night promotion to Triple-A came as no surprise.
• Chase Petty, P (CIN): The second-most aptly named Reds pitching prospect also put on a show this week, punching out eight batters over six innings of one-run baseball. His first two major league appearances were less than impressive, but the third time might be the charm for the rejuvenated Petty. That third time could also come quite soon, given that Wade Miley currently gets the ball every fifth day for Cincinnati.
• Jack Perkins, P (ATH): Perkins made his case for a call-up this week, racking up ten strikeouts in five shutout innings. The 25-year-old has a 3.58 ERA and 1.07 WHIP through seven starts this season and looks poised for a big league promotion this summer. Stay tuned for a closer look at Perkins below.

Dropped Off:

• Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF (MIN): Health has been the most significant concern for Rodriguez during his time in the minors, and this most recent injury to his right hip accentuates that red flag. He has exceeded 50 games played in just one of his four previous professional seasons, so he will need to come back healthy and stay healthy for 2025 to feel like a step in the right direction.
• Sean Linan, P (LAD): After his shock move to Triple-A, the 20-year-old struggled to miss bats and find the strike zone. The Dodgers sent him back to High-A on May 31, and it looks like that will be his home for the foreseeable future.

Next up, take a look at this week’s Diamond Diplomas hitters:

Diamond Diplomas (Hitters)

Priority Add: Bryce Eldridge, 1B (SF)

Nick Kurtz and Jac Caglianone have stolen headlines all season for their light tower power from the left side. Still, Bryce Eldridge deserves to be in the conversation with those guys for the most impressive game-power among prospects. At 6’ 7”, 240 lbs., Eldridge could easily be mistaken for an NBA player, but he has a remarkable ease and fluidity in his swing that allows him to generate loft via his long levers. A wrist problem kept him sidelined for the beginning of the 2025 season, but in 39 games played across the AA-AAA levels since being activated on April 22, the former two-way player has hit .246/.346/.839 with eight home runs.

Though he did end the year in Triple-A last season, Eldridge had to work his way back, beginning at Double-A after recovering from his wrist injury. He was just recently promoted back to Sacramento on June 3. His five games played in AAA are a meager sample, but his underlying data provides some helpful insights. The top concern with a power-hitter of Eldridge’s size will almost always be swing-and-miss issues, as Spencer Jones of the Yankees’ system exemplifies. Not many players of their stature can control the zone and manipulate the barrel well enough to make consistent contact, limiting access to their power potential. What sets Eldridge apart is his solid (and still improving) bat-to-ball ability; his 84.6% Zone-Contact% far exceeds Caglianone’s rate (71.0%) in the twelve games he spent at Triple-A, for instance. He will likely never win a batting title. Still, suppose Eldridge continues to maintain Z-Contact% above 80% as a big leaguer with a tolerable strikeout rate. In that case, we could be looking at a fantasy monster at the first base position, one who should be viewed as just a hair behind Caglianone and Kurtz from a dynasty perspective.

One To Watch: Colson Montgomery, SS (CWS)

Going into the 2025 season, not many people held out hope for a bounce back from Colson Montgomery. The hype around the 23-year-old shortstop had been slowly fading for a while, with his weaker bat-to-ball skills and lack of tangible game power becoming more and more difficult to justify as he moved up the minor league ladder. The early stages of this season only increased the skepticism: Montgomery hit just .160/.227/.247 in April and only hit for extra bases four times in his first 23 games of 2025. The White Sox, recognizing that something needed to change as April came to a close, sent him to their Arizona Complex to recalibrate with the club’s Director of Hitting, Ryan Fuller.

The professional baseball season is such a day-to-day grind, with players seeing the field five or six days a week, even in the minor leagues, that making substantive changes to a player’s mechanics or approach becomes difficult, if not impossible.  Though uncommon, the White Sox’s decision to have Montgomery step away for some drastic, in-season workshopping certainly seems to have been the correct call. Upon returning to Triple-A Charlotte on May 5, Montgomery has proceeded to hit .250/.346/.426 in May, and has also had two multi-homer games to his name since then. 
Additionally, while the former Indiana prep star’s underlying data still looks rough due to his abysmal start to the season, his exit velocities show signs of life. Lack of game power was many people’s most significant concern in terms of future production, but a Max EV of 115.3 mph and 90th-percentile number of 108.3 mph are both excellent figures that point to some still untapped juice in the bat. Just like his overall stat line, the market for Montgomery’s fantasy value has yet to catch up to his newfound comfort in the batter’s box. This seems like an ideal buy window for a guy whose acquisition cost is the lowest it has ever been while the early signs of a post-hype breakout are just beginning to emerge.

Sleeper Pick: Brennen Davis, OF (NYY)

Like Montgomery, Brennen Davis once lived near the top of dynasty prospect rankings but has seen his stock fall precipitously over the past few seasons. The former Chicago Cubs second-rounder battled through several serious health issues in that time, most notably a back surgery in 2022 and an ankle surgery in 2024, before the Cubs designated him for assignment this past November. The Yankees swooped in shortly thereafter to sign him to a minor league deal. While the start of his 2025 season was also delayed because of said ankle injury, he has torched opposing pitching since his season debut on May 8.

In 19 games across three levels (Rookie and Double-A for rehab appearances, then recently in Triple-A full-time), Davis has an absurd 2025 slash line of .375/.481/.766. Also, in case you were worried, these numbers are inflated because of how well he performed against Rookie-ball pitching; his Triple-A-only line looks even more impressive: .474/.525/.895 with two homers in five games played. His batted ball data backs up his offensive outburst in this small Triple-A sample, with a 57.1% Hard hit rate and 14.3% barrel rate as the standout metrics. A weaker Z-contact% and a high Whiff% temper my optimism and hint at some looming regression, but Davis looks as dangerous as ever at the plate right now. He is currently rostered in just 7% of Fantrax leagues, and that number should be much, much higher, given his pedigree, his upside, and his hot start.

Hitters done, pitchers next. Here are this week’s Diamond Diplomas arms:

Diamond Diplomas (Pitchers)

Priority Add: Logan Henderson, (MIL)

With Mick Abel and Michael McGreevy back in the majors, the title of “Most Undeserved Demotion” is now squarely in Logan Henderson’s possession. The Brewers gave Henderson four starts with the big league club already this season, and each time he delivered: across all four outings (21 innings pitched), the right-hander boasts an ERA of 1.71, a WHIP of 0.95, and an outstanding 12.43 K/9. He even has a 3-0 record to show for it all! Despite his repeated excellence, Henderson currently finds himself in Triple-A Nashville, where he has demonstrated similar dominance (1.89 ERA and 0.92 WHIP over eight appearances, seven of them starts). 

The key to Henderson’s success? The dynamic duo of his fastball and changeup, which he turns to about 88% of the time, and to great effect. His 11.84 K/9 in AAA this year would rank third in the International League (behind Bubba Chandler and Ian Seymour) if he had thrown enough innings at the level this season to qualify. The only downside of his FB/CH combo being so deadly is how dependent the 23-year-old is on these two pitches alone and how the lack of a compelling breaking ball in his arsenal opens him up to some loud contact.

Back in February, our own Greg Hoogkamp highlighted Henderson in his comprehensive “Dynasty Starting Pitcher Preview,” noting that “Henderson is an extreme flyball pitcher, and while this hasn’t hurt him yet, it will once he reaches Milwaukee. Adding a capable third pitch is essential. He has been working hard on a slider, which will only help Henderson succeed.” This has proven to be spot on, as in Henderson’s four big league outings this season, hitters put up a 55.6% flyball rate, and he conceded three homers. If he can hone either his slider or his cutter into a viable third option, look out. Until then, the current iteration of Logan Henderson still deserves a big league rotation spot, and given his track record already in the majors this season, he will likely get that nod before his (equally deserving) Nashville teammate, Jacob Misiorowski.

One To Watch: Cam Schlittler, (NYY)

Ever since pitching wizard Matt Blake took the role of Yankees pitching coach in November of 2019, the New York club has quietly become a powerhouse for pitching development. Clarke Schmidt and Will Warren serve as current examples of this in the big league rotation, but the latest Yankee to dazzle in the lower levels is Cam Schlittler, a seventh-round pick out of Northeastern from 2022. The 24-year-old right-hander brings an imposing presence to the mound at 6’ 6”, 225 lbs., making his 96-98 mph fastball feel even more impossible to catch up with, given his extension. Schlittler began 2025 with Double-A Somerset and made it look easy, finishing his ten appearances with a 2.38 ERA, an 11.17 K/9, and a 64:17 K:BB ratio. He then was promoted to make his first Triple-A start last Saturday and picked up right where he had left off, going five innings and striking out eight, allowing just one earned run from two hits and three walks.

Lately, Yankees prospects have had to bide their time before earning a full-time role in the majors, with the organization waiting well past when fans feel a player deserves the chance (Exhibit A: Jasson Domínguez). Schlittler may find himself in a similar situation even if his superb form continues, given that Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil are both expected to reclaim spots in the Yankee rotation when they return from injury; that said, Cole will probably not be back until mid-2026, and Gil has yet to face live batters in his recovery process. If (and this is a sizable “if”) an opening were to materialize in the majors within the next couple of months, Schlittler is the most talented and advanced arm within proximity. Undoubtedly, the Yankees are telling him to keep doing him, and good things will happen. For fantasy managers, Schlittler is a must-add in dynasty formats with mid-to-deep prospect capacities and an arm to keep tabs on in redraft, just in case.

Sleeper Pick: Jack Perkins, (ATH)

Unlike Schlittler, who may have to thread the needle with some fortunate timing to reach the bigs in 2025, Jack Perkins may get the most important phone call of his life quite soon. The Athletics have the worst team ERA (5.68) in all of Major League Baseball, with multiple starting arms on the IL, so they have little reason not to let some of their more promising prospect arms garner some big league experience. If not Luis Morales, the next call will almost certainly be to Perkins. The former Indiana Hoosier has a 3.58 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, with a fantastic 13.50 K/9 in seven starts for Triple-A Las Vegas this season. 

A bit undersized for a starter at 6’ 1”, Perkins has two plus-grade offerings in his fastball and slider, the latter of which he uses as his put-away pitch and supplements these with a cutter, curveball, and changeup. The command was the knock on him coming into 2025 since he finished the last two seasons with walk rates of 10.2% (2023) and 10.9% (2024), respectively. He has improved slightly in this regard, as his 2025 walk rate is 9.7%. In our pre-season Athletics farm rankings, Rhys White wrote that Perkins “could be a fine four starter or a nice weapon to pair with Mason Miller,” and I concur. Although owned in only 11% of leagues (less than half of Luis Morales’ 24% ownership), Perkins could provide an excellent return from a fantasy production standpoint in either a bullpen or rotation role as soon as this summer.

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MINNEAPOLIS – University of Minnesota women’s golf head coach Matt Higgins announced the signing of Olivia Deakins to join the Golden Gophers for the 2025-26 campaign with one year of collegiate eligibility remaining.

“We are very excited to add Olivia to the team for this upcoming season,” said head coach Matt Higgins. “She brings a lot of tournament experience to our program. She is very athletic and long off the tee. She is very motivated and an extremely hard worker.” 

Deakins comes to Dinkytown after spending three seasons at NCAA Division II Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Fla., where she was the 28th-ranked player nationally last year. A native of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., she improved her scoring average each season with the Lions and won individual event titles in each of the last two seasons. She was also named an Honorable Mention All-American in NCAA Division II this season. 

“I am super excited for the opportunity to play for Coach Higgins and Coach Greene at the University of Minnesota,” said Deakins. “I chose Minnesota for the combination of elite athletics and academic opportunities. I am extremely excited to get the year started with my new teammates and coaches. Go Gophers!” 

She competed in all 12 events as a junior and led the Lions with a 74.0 scoring average across 34 total rounds. Deakins paced Saint Leo four times during the 2024-25 season, including six top-10 performances, and won a tournament title at the Augustana Spring Fling. She carded a season-low round of 6-under-par (66) to close the Lynn Invite and ended the season with 13 rounds of even par or better.

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Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications

Louisiana Tech women’s basketball’s Autumn Smith was selected as one of 10 recipients for the Conference USA Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship, as announced by the league office on Thursday.

Smith recently graduated from Louisiana Tech with her bachelor’s in biology with a pre-med concentration while maintaining a 3.54 GPA. She is a four-time CUSA Honor Roll recipient and a 2021-22 CUSA Academic Medalist. She plans to continue her education in a physician’s assistant program.

The Arlington, Texas, native is a four-year member of the Lady Techsters and appeared in 82 games. She shot 34.4 percent from the field and 32.6 from long range for her career. She had a career-high 15 points on 5-6 shooting from three in a win over Central Baptist on December 19 during her senior year.

This marks the 17^th year the award has been named after Dr. Jim Castañeda, who served Rice for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed in 2008. Every season, CUSA grants a $4,000 scholarship to distinguished graduates selected by the league’s Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Conference USA Board of Directors.

2025 Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients
Mathys Lefebvre, FIU, Men’s Soccer
Hannah Buffington, Jax State, Softball
Tianna Rivera, Kennesaw State, Women’s Soccer
Taiva Reinertson, Liberty, Women’s Lacrosse
Autumn Smith, LA Tech, Women’s Basketball
Kendall Maynard, MTSU, Women’s Golf
Elizabeth Cervantes-Vanderlugt, NM State, Swimming
Jaylen Phillips, Sam Houston, Football
Ema Uskokovic, UTEP, Volleyball/Beach Volleyball
Brooke Sleeva, WKU, Women’s Soccer

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