1 Yankees prospect clearly stands out on new Baseball America list (it's not No. 1)

The New York Yankees have done an excellent job refreshing and restocking their farm in recent seasons — shoutout to the pitching lab. They've bet big on a number of standout tools, and a few of them, from Carlos Lagrange's fastball to Spencer Jones' otherworldly power, have at least somewhat paid off. They blitzed the draft with arm after arm in 2024 to rebuild their coffer. After years of frustration with a perceived gap between excelling in the minors and producing in the majors — thanks to Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells, among others — Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice helped change the narrative in 2025.

It's a pretty good time to be a fan of the Yankees' prospect pool, and the heavily restricted 2025 draft appears to have made things even sweeter.

Though the Yankees weren't allowed to pick until No. 39 because of their excessive spending and Max Fried contract (cool rule), they ultimately pounced on tooled-up shortstop Dax Kilby instead of any number of college pitchers they'd previously been tied to.

The reason became clear very quickly this summer. No, they didn't pivot wildly after losing Alabama's Riley Quick to the Twins. They believed in Kilby's tools, and were rewarded with a remarkable hard-hit rate and wise-beyond-his-years approach at Low-A Tampa.

Baseball America's latest version of their top 10 proves they believe Kilby is the fast-riser to watch as well. He's ranked third overall, and earned several other plaudits that might make top-ranked George Lombard Jr. a little jealous.

New York Yankees 2024 top draft pick Dax Kilby has risen faster than we imagined

Draft an overload shortstops and figure out where on the diamond they're supposed to go when they grow up, right?

Lombard Jr. — for now — has the narrative edge, but it doesn't take an eagle eye to see the Kilby momentum building. The Yankees' newer addition was named the top hitter, fastest base runner, and best athlete in the system by Baseball America, significant plaudits after a 68-AB season (.353 average, .898 OPS, everything you'd ever want to see below the hood).

Shoutout to breakout power prospect Dillon Lewis and the recovering Thatcher Hurd, too, who'll have a lot of eyes on him when he returns from Tommy John surgery this summer.

All due respect to the rest of the list, but it seems Kilby's helium is too powerful for the experts to bury and contain.