If I told you I was writing about a 17 year old who put up a 117 wRC+ at Single-A in 2024 you would probably think I was talking about Leodalis DeVries. That would be too easy. Also, DeVries is not a catcher, so I really would have missed the assignment for this spotlight.

No, instead I am talking about Eduardo Tait of the Philadelphia Phillies. I thank him for managing an identical 117 wRC+ to DeVries, as he made the comparison all the more smooth. But seriously, for all of the age-to-level love that DeVries gets, I think we should all be singing a similar tune for Tait. 

The power that Tait showed in 2024 is going severely under the radar. Tait cranked 5 HRs in only 104 ABs at Single-A Clearwater. Tait’s impressive power for a player in their age 17 season (11 total HRs  in 288 ABs) is backed by a 90th percentile EV just south of 104 MPH. That number, 104 MPH, is the MLB average where full grown adults play. For age-relevant comparisons, Tait’s 90th percentile eclipsed DeVries by just over 1.5 MPH, and was slightly lower than Jesus Made (dang that kid is special). While these hot names are found among many top 25 lists across the industry, Tait is barely cracking top 100s. It is difficult to decipher just how much projection is left for Tait. He appears to have filled out his 6 foot frame relatively well already, but it is not hard to believe that a newly turned 18 year old will continue to add strength as he progresses through the system. Regardless, Tait has shown special raw power for what is to be expected at his age.

There are warts to Tait’s game. First and foremost, he holds the curse of being a catching prospect, and a bat-first one at that. I am by no means a catching evaluator, but reports I have encountered appear to be hopeful that he could be serviceable behind the dish. Still, it would not be surprising to see Tait eventually move off of the position. Luckily, he appears to have the bat to survive a move to first-base. It is normal for catching prospects to have a slowed progression through the minors. However, the Phillies have not shown this to be the case, as he was the second youngest to reach Single-A in all of baseball in 2024. Whether the Phillies continue to push him remains to be seen. What I am most interested in watching is Tait’s strikeout-rate. It ballooned to 28.9% after being below 20% at each of his stops to that point. It sounds like there is potentially some in-zone whiff, but a 74.1% contact rate at Single-A (narrowly besting DeVries’s 73.8%) suggests that bat-to-ball skill is not the culprit. While I do not have access to the data, I suspect some chase issues are to blame here. Still, the acceptable contact rate gives hope that he may be able to maintain a strong enough hit-tool to support his exceptional power. To be fantasy relevant, the bat will have to be impressive, as we are largely looking at a zero in the steals department. While this is acceptable from your catcher or first-baseman, it requires that he is able to provide across the board with the bat.

Should Tait be as highly ranked as DeVries? No. He will presumably provide significantly less defensive value, which requires that Tait’s bat is truly impactful. He won’t provide on the basepaths, and his approach is not quite as refined as DeVries. That being said, Tait has the tools to be a middle-of-the-order masher with 30+ HR upside. I like letting the MLB teams tell me what they think of a player, and the Phillies’ willingness to push him thus far shows they trust in the maturity of the bat and the player. If he is able to refine the plate approach, his comparable contact rate to DeVries and superior present power suggest he could be a potential all-star. As with any 18 year-old, there is a lot of risk in this kind of profile. In a prospect pool where the best power bats such as Lazaro Montes and Xavier Isaac struggle to carry contact rates above 70%, Tait carries a unique blend of bat-to-ball and power that makes him worth a second-look going into 2025.

(Joe Juliette)