6 Former Prospects Who Now Look Like Change-Of-Scenery Candidates

It's easy this time of year to focus on the most obvious trade candidates among the bunch. Players on expiring contracts -- or perhaps with one more year of club control -- who play for rebuilding teams or playoff hopefuls who've fallen short of expectations tend to dominate the conversation. That's understandable. Even the short windows of control over those seasoned veterans can be huge difference-makers with regard to the postseason fortunes of those teams that are still in the race.

On the other side of the coin, fans of those rebuilding clubs or disappointing teams can scour prospect rankings for contending clubs, hoping to get a glimpse of what the future might hold and what their soon-to-be-traded stars and mainstays might net.

Somewhere in between those two extremes, however, there are plenty of players who hold appeal. The reception when one of these players is included in a trade isn't always great among the fanbase. White Sox fans weren't exactly thrilled last year when the main return in the team's trade of Erick Fedde and Michael Kopech was infielder Miguel Vargas, for instance. Vargas wasn't far removed from being a consensus top-100 prospect and was only 24 at the time of the swap, but he no longer carried that shiny "top prospect" label or as much of the allure of the unknown. Instead, he was a young big leaguer who'd struggled to establish himself in three short, partial MLB seasons.

Vargas hasn't exactly broken through to superstardom in 2025 -- far from it -- but he's been a regular at the infield corners in Chicago and provided league-average offense on the whole, including a .246/.325/.458 slash (117 wRC+) over his past 320 plate appearances. He's walked in nearly 10% of those plate appearances, punched out at only a 14.7% clip and increasingly has the look of a solid regular.

Though he'd lost some of the luster from his prospect status, Vargas --who's controlled all the way through 2029 -- could yet wind up being a nice piece for the White Sox.

With that very recent example in mind, and with so much focus on the Eugenio Suarez-es and Spencer Jones-es of the world (i.e. rental veterans and hot-hitting prospects who are the talk of the deadline), it seemed like a worthwhile endeavor to try to pinpoint some once-ballyhooed prospects whose star has dimmed and who perhaps no longer have a clear path to an everyday role in their current organization.

Here's a look at six former top prospects who have exhausted that "prospect" designation but are hitting well in the upper minors without much of a path to playing time on their current club...

JJ Bleday, OF, Athletics (controllable through at least 2028)

Bleday was the No. 4 overall pick out of Vanderbilt by the Marlins back in 2019. Miami traded him to the A's in exchange for lefty A.J. Puk -- a swap of former top-10 picks who hadn't panned out as hoped with their original clubs.

Bleday's first year with the A's in 2023 was a disappointment. He hit .195/.310/.355 while Puk pitched well down in South Florida. It looked like a flop. At least, that was the case until 2024. Bleday was miscast as a center fielder last year -- he should clearly be in a corner -- but was still worth more than two wins above replacement despite terrible defensive grades. He hit .243/.324/.437 with a career-low 19.5% strikeout rate and popped 20 homers in 159 games. Factor in the cavernous confines of his former home at the Coliseum, and Bleday was 20% better than league average at the plate, by measure of wRC+.

This year, Bleday's numbers dipped. He hit .191/.288/.358 in 233 plate appearances in the majors. The A's have optioned him twice. Bleday still walked in 12% of those MLB plate appearances, though his strikeout rate crept back up and he became more prone to infield flies. His overall hard-hit rate increased, however, and he's currently hitting .354/.393/.584 in 122 Triple-A plate appearances.

Unfortunately for Bleday, he increasingly looks like a player without a role on the A's. Lawrence Butler signed a long-term extension in right field. Nick Kurtz's emergence at first base has pushed Tyler Soderstrom to left field. Denzel Clarke hasn't hit in the majors but has been maybe the best defensive player on the planet in his short time in the majors.

It's possible there's still a role for Bleday with the A's -- Butler can play center field, and Clarke can't keep striking out at a 38.4% clip and continue playing regularly -- but a team with playing time to spare in the outfield could try to buy low.

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