Looking at Numbers from the 2025 California League

The top of this list belonged to former Ball State pitcher Ryan Brown, a ninth-round pick by the Dodgers in 2023. Brown had his walk problems in A-ball, as Brown walked 47 batters over 48 total innings between Rancho Cucamonga and Great Lakes. But with the Quakes, the 23-year-old struck out 79 over 41.2 IP.

Moving on, there are some familiar names on this list.

Riley Huge was one of the top strikeout pitchers in the NCAA during the 2024 campaign with Winthrop. Huge, who leveraged a very good knuckle-curve to go with a low-90s fastball, moved into relief this year. Brody Brecht, meanwhile, struck out 95 over 61 innings with Fresno. Brecht, a hard-throwing righty out of Iowa, was a first-round pick in 2024.

Christian Zazueta, a Dodgers prospect, struck out 81 and walked 16 over 67.1 IP for Low-A Rancho Cucamonga. The Dodgers acquired Zazueta from the Yankees in the Caleb Ferguson trade nearly two years ago.

Darlin Pinales struck out 56 over 39.2 IP with Visalia in the Diamondbacks’ organization. Pinales was one of several high-whiff relievers the A’s picked up in the Minor League phase of the 2025 Rule 5 Draft, along with an Astros prospect from the Carolina League.

But out of the ten, Bresnahan’s Whiff% of 35.8% might have been the most impressive. The Giants prospect put that percentage up in 763 total swings, good for a top-ten finish in that category among California League pitchers.

There were a few other interesting names who didn’t make the top-ten with this criteria but did have strong Whiff% rates. Those pitchers include 2024 Padres first-rounder Kash Mayfield (32.3%) and Mariners prospect Ryan Sloan (32.2%).

Flipping the script

Now, let’s take a look at the hitters’ whiff rates. More specifically, we’ll start with the hitters who had the worst Whiff% in 2025:

Thus far, Myles Naylor is very different compared to his big brothers.

Naylor, a first-round pick by the A’s in 2023, struck out a lot over his first two seasons as a pro. This past year, the 20-year-old slashed .185/.319/.307 with 137 strikeouts over 81 games.

Both Naylor and Padres prospect Kavares Tears were in the top four in terms of most strikeouts. Tears was a fourth-round pick by San Diego in 2024.

Other players of interest who were in the bottom 25% were Kellon Lindsey (34%) and Robert Calaz (33.4%). Lindsey, though, only played 32 games in 2025, 28 of which were in Low-A.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, former Vanderbilt outfielder Davis Diaz had the lowest Whiff% (14%), followed by Rockies infielder Roynier Hernandez (14.5%). Trevor Cohen, a contact machine who was taken by the Giants in the third round last July, had the fourth-lowest Whiff% (15.3%).

Before moving on, let’s take a look at how some of the 2025 first-rounders who played in the California League did this summer in their debuts:

• Ethan Holliday (Rockies): 42.8%
• Gavin Kilen (Giants): 15.7%
• Kayson Cunningham (Diamondbacks): 22.0%
• Luke Stevenson (Mariners): 21.4%
• Charles Davalan (Dodgers): 13.5%

Something to watch heading into 2026 is how well Ethan Holliday handles pro pitching in a full season. Holliday, who came into 2025 as a strong contender to go #1, had six extra-base hits over 18 games. However, Holliday struck out 33 times over those games.

Hard hitters

Victor Figueroa was one of six prospects to be traded from the Padres to the Orioles in the Ryan O’Hearn/Ramon Laureano trade.

Best groundball pitchers

Lastly, let’s take a look at the best groundball pitchers in the California League:

Brody Brecht finished 11th, with a 53.9% GB%.