Ryan Waldschmidt is top-30 prospect in baseball

Former Kentucky outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt came off the board in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft when the Arizona Diamondbacks took the 21-year-old with the 31st overall pick. That selection is starting to show some major return on investment potential.

The Florida native who began his career at Charleston Southern before spending two years at Kentucky is now considered one of the best prospects in baseball. After the 2025 MLB Draft concluded, The Athletic’s Keith Law updated his top-50 prospect big board. Waldschmidt checked in at No. 29 overall.

The D-Backs’ second pick in the 2024 draft, Waldschmidt destroyed High-A pitching earlier this year before a promotion in late June to Double-A Amarillo, a crazy hitter’s park where, surprisingly, he’s homered just once so far. He’s a good hitter who happens to have power, and is making plenty of contact in Double A, possibly just getting too pull-conscious (small sample size caveats definitely apply). He’s mostly played left field this year and that’s probably where he’ll stay, so he does have to hit to be an above-average regular. I’m predicting a huge second half from Waldschmidt, boosted by the ballpark, which at least gets him to Reno – another great place to hit – if not further south.

Keith Law on Ryan Waldschmidt (The Athletic)

Ryan Waldshmidt jumped nearly 40 spots after being ranked No. 65 overall in Law’s previous big board. The corner outfielder is slashing .260/.410/.413 with 20 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs, 58 RBI, and 18 stolen bases across 471 plate appearances over 106 games during his brief minor league career. Waldschmidt is currently making an adjustment to Double-A pitching (.230/.346/.368 in 104 plate appearances) but will be a candidate to move up to Triple-A at the end of the season.

The Kentucky product who earned All-American honors will likely get his chance in the bigs sooner rather than later.