2025 Fort Wayne TinCaps Position Player of the Year

Summary

It was a tough season in the Summit City. The TinCaps finished the season 36 games back of first place, finishing 56-75, and their -114 run differential was the worst in the Midwest League. While the TinCaps went from finishing last in the league in home runs in 2024 to fifth in 2025, the extra home run power came at the expense of a league-worst strikeout rate and a big enough drop-off in doubles that they finished just .001 ahead of the worst slugging team on the circuit.

After their unquestionable top prospect, Leo De Vries, was traded at the deadline along with multiple other starters, an already weak team stumbled to the finish line. First-year TinCaps manager Lukas Ray was coming off leading the Storm to the Cal League Championship Series in 2024, but could not replicate the same success with the TinCaps. Ray has been a manager in the Padres system since 2021.

Overview

Our approach to eligibility remains straightforward. Players are considered at whichever affiliate they logged the most service time. So, while lefty Luis Gutierrez was very impressive with the Storm to open the year, you’ll read about him here, instead. We recognize the top contributor to this year’s team as the top player, while the top prospect is based on our expectations based on his production, age, projectability, and potential impact in the major leagues.

Level

The elimination of short-season leagues have led to a significant decline in the quality of play at Single-A as extremely raw prospects receive on-the-spot development. This has made the jump from Single-A to High-A an even bigger jump than before, to the point that some evaluators now consider it the biggest in minor league ball. You will often find a player crush Single-A, and then struggle mightily in High-A.

Player of the Year

OF Braedon Karpathios (unanimous)

Three TinCaps finished with an OPS over .750.  Two of them were traded at the deadline, leaving Karpathios as the lone survivor. Despite being promoted to San Antonio at the start of August, the 22-year-old undrafted free agent finished top three on the team in runs (53), home runs (12), RBI (55), doubles (19), and walks (65).

While none of Karpathios’ tools stand out as exceptional, he is a remarkably consistent player. He never finished a month with an OPS under .750, but also never finished a month with an OPS over .850. He hit multiple home runs every month he was in Fort Wayne, but never hit more than three in a month. He makes good swing decisions and has enough bat speed to do damage even against velocity.

He has a well-above-average arm, which allows him to fit nicely in right field, and he also saw time in center this season. While he is not the fastest runner, he gets a good first step, which gives him more confidence that he will be able to stay in right.

Top Hitting Prospect

Braedon Karpathios (Clark Fahrenthold, David Jay, John Conniff, Kevin Charity)
Rosman Verdugo (Ben Davey)

The Padres had big hopes for Rosman Verdugo when they signed him out of the Diablos Rojos development program for $700,000 in 2022. Since then, he has shown extremely high highs (.981 OPS last July in Lake Elsinore) and the deep lows (.507 OPS over the final month this year). When he’s been on, he’s shown impressive power and bat-to-ball abilities, helping him to a .981 OPS for Lake Elsinore last July. But too often, he’s made very poor swing decisions, pushing his strikeout rate up to 30% and leading to stretches like his .507 OPS over the final month of this year

On May 15, Rosman Verdugo was leading the Midwest League with eight home runs and ranked among the top five with an .862 OPS.  After that game, the bottom fell out for the talented 20-year-old. Over the next two months, he added just two more home runs. Despite the slump, the Ensenada native led the team in home runs (13)  and walks (72).  As one of the youngest players in the league, Verdugo held his own throughout most of the season before struggling late. Defensively, he his something of a tweener, with a strong enough arm but poor footwork at third base, and below-average foot speed at second. Although he is not a particularly strong runner, if he can continue to gain muscle, he should be able to provide enough power to reach the 20 home run mark. Verdugo got a prescription for glasses at the end of the year in the hopes of seeing pitches better out of the hand.

Others of Note

The only other TinCaps batter to finish with a double-digit home run total was 24-year-old Jack Costello. The 2024 10th-round pick out of USD hit 10 home runs and stole 10 bases while splitting most of his time between first base and left field. … Kai Roberts, 24, was one of the breakout stars in 2024, when he hit .340 with a .884 OPS in Lake Elsinore. Unfortunately, he struggled to maintain that success in his first full year in the minors, hitting .211 with a .335 OBP as he struggled to catch up to velocity with any regularity. … Catcher Brendan Durfee, who turned 24 late in the year, hit .278 with a .753 OPS in April. He was quickly moved to the top of the TinCaps batting order, but would hit .188 over the next three months. The backstop did finish with six home runs over his final 37 games.

You can view all our level wrap-ups here as they are published.