Prior to the start of each season, the Draysbay community takes part in an excercise in which the top prospects in the Tampa Bay Rays system are ranked by popular vote.
This season, the Draysbay community
ranked the top 25 prospects in the Rays system with several others receiving votes but just falling shy of making the cut.
With the 2025 season officially over, we can now look back and see how each prospect performed and whether their stock has improved, remained the same, or fallen over past several months.
An important note:
This is not a re-ranking of the Rays top prospects but a review of the prospects in the order that they were ranked entering the season.
Also, I will not be featuring players no longer within the Rays organization.
#23: Colton Ledbetter
What Danny wrote entering the season:
Ledbetter is one of my favorite bats in the system, with an ability to get a jump on pitches and adjust to meet anything bending; although, the leap to Double-A next season will be the real test. In the meantime, it’s plus exit velos to all fields. He was held in High-A to get the lion’s share of center field reps but projects as a corner, and has 50’s across the board, giving major league projection with power and speed on the bases. In a worse system he’s a top-ten prospect.
Entering the year, Ledbetter looked like a sleeper prospect in the system as there was hope he’d be able to tap into his raw power and combine it with his plus speed to become an impact player. However, despite a solid overall season, Ledbetter still struggled in the power department. A solid April got Ledbetter off to a hot start and Ledbetter proceeded to have an excellent campaign for the better part of the year; entering play on August 7th, Ledbetter had a 131 wRC+ and was slugging .413. However, Ledbetter only slugged .286 and produced 61 wRC+ over the rest of the season.
Minor League Stats by Month:
April: .297/.360/.446 | 2 HR | 11 SB | 34.9 K% | 10.5 BB% | 136 wRC+ | 86 PA
May: .261/.323/.375 | 1 HR | 6 SB | 24.0 K% | 7.3 BB% | 108 wRC+ | 96 PA
June: .286/.404/.429 | 2 HR | 5 SB | 20.2 K% | 14.9 BB% | 149 wRC+ | 94 PA
July: .287/.366/.402| 0 HR | 5 SB | 17.8 K% | 9.9 BB% | 129 wRC+ | 101 PA
Aug: .204/.266/.276 | 1 HR | 7 SB | 25.5 K% | 7.3 BB% | 63 wRC+ | 110 PA
Sept: .268/.292/.366 | 1 HR | 3 SB | 20.8 K% | 6.3 BB% | 87 wRC+ | 48 PA
2025 SEASON NUMBERS:
AA: .265/.337/.378 | 7 HR | 37 SB | 23.9 K% | 9.5 BB% | 112 wRC+ | 535 PA
Ledbetter just turned 23-years old and is ticketed to be the Durham Bulls primary right fielder in 2026. Ledbetter did showcase a solid ability to put the ball in play and collected 37 stolen bases ranking him among the leaders in the organization. However, for Ledbetter to fully breakout as a prospect, he must tap into his raw power.
So is Ledbetter’s stock improving, the same, or falling?
