Scheduling note: Baseball America and the BAPR are observing Labor Day on Monday. We’ll be back with prospect news & analysis in your inbox Tuesday morning. But first, two highly anticipated pitching prospect debuts…

Payton Tolle, LHP, Red Sox: The Red Sox are reportedly set to make 6-foot-6 lefthander Payton Tolle the third pitcher from the 2024 draft to make his MLB debut, following the Angels' Ryan Johnson and the Reds' Chase Burns. He’ll make his debut Friday night at Fenway Park against Pirates RHP Paul Skenes.

Tolle is a 23-year-old former two-way player at TCU who has pitched 91.2 innings in the minors this season as he breezed through Double-A and Triple-A on his way to his first big league start on Friday. Tolle is a power pitcher with a big fastball, wide repertoire and surprising control for someone who has been a full-time pitcher for only one season. At his three minor league stops this season he struck out 133 batters while walking just 23 and allowing 10 home runs in 20 appearances (18 starts).

Go deeper:

• Tolle ranks No. 2 in Boston’s system. Read his full scouting report.

• Tolle was one of 10 Statcast Standouts on Aug. 18.

• Tolle had the best fastball and was the best pitching prospect in the South Atlantic League.

• Geoff Pontes tabbed Tolle as one of the 10 biggest breakout pitching prospects of 2025

Jonah Tong, RHP, Mets: Longtime Prospect Report subscribers are no stranger to Tong, who has dominated these pages all season. He has a high bar to clear to keep up with fellow Mets prospect Nolan McLean, who has been scintillating in his brief big league career, but Tong represents another potential injection of life into New York’s rotation down the stretch. He’ll debut today against the Marlins.

Here’s what you can expect.

• Tong invokes Tim Lincecum comparisons, but are they legit?

• Like Tolle, Tong was one of the year’s biggest breakouts.

• Here’s a deeper dive into his under-the-hood metrics.

• Tong ranks No. 3 in the Mets system. Here’s his full scouting report.

• A new changeup grip unlocked another level this season.

We covered both Tong and Tolle even more in-depth this week on the Baseball America prospect podcast.

Joey Oakie, RHP, Guardians: Low-A Lynchburg righthander Joey Oakie struck out 11 of the 18 Fredericksburg batters he faced on Thursday. The 19-year-old covered five innings and allowed four walks and no hits. He struck out the side in the first, fourth and fifth innings. The Guardians drafted Oakie in the third round in 2024 out of high school in Iowa. He opened this season in the Arizona Complex League, striking out 47 in 35 innings to go with a 7.46 ERA. Cleveland pushed Oakie to Low-A after the ACL season ended.

Aidan Smith, OF, Rays: High-A Bowling Green center fielder Aidan Smith connected for two home runs in a game at Greenville, marking his third two-homer game of the season for the Hot Rods. Smith pulled his first home run to left field in the first inning. He followed with a blast to left-center field in the seventh. Smith's totals of 14 homers this season ranks seventh in the South Atlantic League. The 21-year-old is batting .236/.329/.394 this season in 95 games.

Colt Emerson, SS, Mariners: Double-A Arkansas shortstop Colt Emerson is finding his power stroke this season. He connected for two home runs in a game at Wichita, pulling them both to right field as part of a 2-for-5 day three RBIs. Emerson has hit 14 homers this year after hitting six total in his first 94 pro games. Emerson is batting .277/.378/.453 in 110 games this season.

Caden Scarborough, RHP, Rangers: High-A Hub City righthander Caden Scarborough fired four scoreless innings at Asheville to complete a month of August in which he allowed no earned runs in 20 innings. The 20-year-old's journey began with Low-A Hickory, for whom he made two starts this month totaling 11 innings. He allowed two hits and two walks while striking out 12. Promoted to Hub City on Aug. 21, Scarborough has continued his dominant run with nine innings, three hits and 15 strikeouts. The 2023 sixth-rounder has compiled a 2.57 ERA this season with 110 strikeouts and 21 walks in 84 innings. We tabbed him as a potential hidden gem in April.

Editor’s Picks

Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes has been a man on a mission in August detailing some of the biggest data standouts and sleepers from the 2025 season exclusively for BA subscribers. You can find it all below.

• 10 hitting prospects with standout data from August

• These pitching prospects are trending toward 2026 breakouts

• Meet 10 prospects with significant exit velocity gains in 2025

• 5 under-the-radar prospects with strong underlying metrics

• DSL prospects with the most impressive Statcast metrics

• A deep dive under the hood for 10 of MLB’s best hitting prospects

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Each day, we’ll pick a prospect that has our attention.

John Gil, SS, Braves: Signed in January 2023 out of the Dominican Republic, Gil is arguably the best hitting prospect in a shallow Braves system.

A 19-year-old shortstop who's put up above-average production across each minor league stop, Gil has spent all of 2025 with Low-A Augusta, hitting .251/.344/.366 over 92 games. Though he's not known for his power, he's shown off some strong plate skills this season, as evidenced by a 12.1% walk rate against a 13.9% strikeout rate. Gil has plus plate skills, showing plus bat-to-ball ability and an advanced approach at the plate.

In August, Gil put on a clinic, hitting .346/.433/.590 with four home runs. He brought his power stroke this month, and it resulted in the best 30-day stretch of his young career.

Gil is still a few years away, but he brings an intriguing profile as a plus-contact-hitting shortstop. 

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Rays RHP TJ Nichols struck out 10 over seven innings of one-run ball for Double-A Montgomery on Thursday.

• Twins outfielder Emmanuel Rodriguez is back on the rehab trail this week as he returns from an oblique issue.

• Fellow Twins prospect Enrique Jimenez, who ranks No. 20 in their system after they acquired at the deadline from the Tigers, blasted two homers yesterday for Low-A Fort Myers.

• Phillies outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. (No. 8 prospect) also hit a pair of homers for Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

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