Arjun Nimmala headlines three Blue Jays featured among ESPN’s 2025 Top 100 prospects ranking

With spring training fast approaching, it’s that time of the year for fresh prospect rankings.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel released this season’s Top 100 prospects list, headlined by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki (because of course) at No. 1.

For the Toronto Blue Jays, the franchise has a trio of prospects featured among the publication’s top 100: shortstop Arjun Nimmala at No. 69, left-hander Ricky Tiedemann at No. 89 and infielder Orelvis Martinez at No. 98. Only Tiedemann cracked last year’s top 100 group.

Nimmala, selected 20th overall by Toronto in 2023, endured a slow start out of the gate and was assigned to the Florida Complex League after slumping to a .167/.280/.306 slash line over his first 29 games. But the 19-year-old, who didn’t turn 19 until after the minor-league season ended, exploded upon his return to single-A Dunedin.

The right-handed-hitting shortstop hit 13 home runs and drove in 38 while slashing .265/.331/.564 across his final 53 contests, accounting for a 146 wRC+ (100 league average). In comparison, he only recorded three home runs in 29 games before receiving a much-needed breather from A ball.

Limiting strikeouts remains a work in progress for Nimmala, who posted a 31.3-per-cent strikeout rate compared to his 8.3-per-cent walk rate with Dunedin in 2024. But he hasn’t lost any shine as one of the sport’s most highly touted high-school prospects in recent years, as McDaniel wrote.

Tiedemann, ranked 24th on ESPN’s 2024 pre-season list, likely won’t throw a single pitch in ’25 after undergoing Tommy John surgery last July. He made eight starts, four at triple-A Buffalo, before continuous left elbow soreness put an end to his third professional campaign.

The 22-year-old southpaw, once considered among baseball’s premier pitching prospects, was also plagued by arm injuries in ’23 and was limited to just 44 innings across four levels. Thus, he hasn’t logged more than 78.2 innings — set during his first professional season in ’22 — since being drafted by the Blue Jays in the third round of the ’21 draft.

If healthy, Tiedemann — Rule 5-eligible next winter — could become a critical piece of Toronto’s pitching staff a year from now, especially with Chris Bassitt entering free agency after the ’25 season. However, the organization will undoubtedly closely monitor his workload due to the significant amount of time he’s missed due to injury.

Martinez’s development hit a major speed bump last season as a result of his 80-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That prevented him from earning additional reps at the major league level following his debut versus the Cleveland Guardians on June 21, where he went 1-for-3 with a single and one strikeout.

The 23-year-old infielder primarily spent the 2024 campaign in Buffalo, mashing 17 home runs and 49 RBIs while slashing .267/.346/.523 with a 120 wRC+ in 74 contests. He appeared unphased after returning from his suspension, recording 14 hits — half of which went for extra bases — in 46 at-bats (.304 AVG) across 11 games before the triple-A schedule concluded.

In the short term, Martinez’s path to the majors is currently blocked with Andrés Giménez — acquired via trade from Cleveland earlier this off-season — expected to occupy second base regularly next season. Plus, the likes of Ernie Clement, Will Wagner, Leo Jiménez and Davis Schneider are seemingly ahead of him on the depth chart.

The most likely scenario has Martinez — entering his final option year — beginning the season at triple-A, working toward further improving his power stroke and defence at second base as he waits for an opportunity to arise either due to injury or poor performance.