How Jesus Made Compares To Jackson Chourio, Junior Caminero & Other DSL Stars

Image credit: Jesus Made (Photo courtesy of Juan Berson/Milwaukee Brewers)

Since the release of the Top 100 Prospects, there’s been debate swirling throughout the prospect world around Jesus Made.

Baseball America was extremely aggressive, ranking the Brewers’ top prospect 17th overall in our most recent list. Made’s surface level stats were impressive in 2024, as he hit .331/.458/.554 over 51 games with six home runs, 28 stolen bases and a walk rate of 18.1% compared to a strikeout rate of 13%. This line produced a 169 wRC+, or production that was 69% better than the competition in the Dominican Summer League. Even more remarkable, Made signed in January 2024 making his professional debut less than a month after his 17th birthday. This is an important context to keep in mind, as Made is younger than 2025 prep prospects Ethan Holliday, Xavier Neyens, Billy Carlson and Dean Moss.

While Made’s age and standout production in the Dominican Summer League is impressive, when you begin to blend in advanced data, Made separates from the pack even more.

To put his numbers into historical context, we went back and looked at advanced data for similarly highly-touted prospects who have played an extended period of time in the DSL over the past few seasons. We kept the sample to 2021-23, as the amount of Trackman devices and reliability of the data in the DSL became more standardized following the 2020 pandemic shutdown.

Below, you’ll find the names of each prospect with their corresponding season in the DSL along with their current Top 100 rank. This sample includes a pair of 2024 rookies in the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio and the Rays’ Junior Caminero, both of whom impressed during their professional debut.

2023

2022

Josue De Paula (No. 47)
Michael Arroyo (No. 77)
Jaison Chourio (No.32)
Lazaro Montes (No. 97)

2021

When comparing historical data, it’s never one-for-one, as each season brings a new crop of players with varying levels of ability.

Still, the average player age has remained fairly consistent in the Dominican Summer League over the last four seasons. While one can argue over a few percentage points here or there, Made’s data as listed below against similarly-aged contemporaries does a good job of putting his performance into perspective:

Player	pos	org	bats	pa	izwhiff%	chase%	90%EV	MaxEV	year
Jesus Made	SS	MIL	S	218	10%	15%	104.2	108.9	2024
Franklin Arias	SS	BOS	R	162	7%	16%	100	105.3	2023
Jaison Chourio	OF	CLE	S	67	10%	23%	96.8	101.7	2022
Jackson Chourio	OF	MIL	R	189	11%	27%	100.4	106.8	2021
Michael Arroyo	SS	SEA	R	60	13%	17%	100.3	101.2	2022
Moises Ballesteros	C	CHC	L	187	14%	17%	100.7	107.4	2021
Junior Caminero	SS	CLE	R	171	16%	29%	103.9	110	2021
Angel Genao	SS	CLE	S	192	16%	24%	94.5	101.2	2021
Welbyn Francisca	SS	CLE	S	180	16%	19%	100.5	105.3	2023
Robert Calaz	OF	COL	R	189	17%	26%	107.2	113.8	2023
Josue De Paula	CF	LAD	L	70	17%	23%	96.8	102.3	2022
Eduardo Tait	C	PHI	L	167	20%	35%	102.9	110.9	2023
Samuel Basallo	C	BAL	L	154	21%	27%	98.2	103.6	2021
Lazaro Montes	OF	SEA	L	53	34%	27%	103.4	104	2022

As you can see, Made boasts the third-lowest in-zone whiff rate among this group, the lowest chase rate, the second-highest 90th percentile exit velocity data and the fourth-highest Max EV. He’s also one of four switch-hitters on the list along with Jaison Chourio, Angel Genoa, Welbyn Francisca, and his exit velocity data is significantly higher than each of them while boasting equal-or-better in-zone whiff rates for each.

This lays out clearly how advanced Made’s blend of plate skills and power truly is. He not only boasts the best plate skills on the list, he also is among the elite when it comes to raw power, as he posted data on par with the major league average just months removed from his 17th birthday. When you begin to consider Made’s ability to stick in the infield long term—whether or not he remains at shortstop, however, is still up in the air—and his running ability, it becomes evident just how complete of a player Made is already.

While Made’s DSL exploits were jaw-dropping, he didn’t skip the complex levels all together like the Padres’ top 2024 international signee, Leodalis De Vries, who is is seven months older than Made. De Vries jumped to full-season ball and impressed as the season went along despite some expected early-season struggles. In comparing De Vries to Made below, the numbers lean toward Made.

While there’s no denying the degree of difficulty De Vries faced is not comparable to DSL or complex level competition, Made still ranks one spot ahead of De Vries on the Top 100 Prospects list entering the season.

player	pos	org	bats	pa	izwhiff%	chase%	90%EV	MAxEV
Leodalis De Vries	SS	SDP	S	360	20.20%	25.00%	102.1	106.9
Jesus Made	SS	MIL	S	218	10.20%	14.60%	104.2	108.9

All things considered, the data is fairly close in comparing two switch-hitters at a similar age. How much more whiff Made might have had if he faced a similarly aggressive assignment, we’ll never know. I do think it’s reasonable to expect Made’s plate skills to perhaps show a little better in his full-season debut. As far as raw EVs go, Made’s numbers are superior, but once again, we don’t know how those numbers would have scaled against older, more advanced competition over a larger sample size.

While the jury is still out as to how Made will handle a full-season level in 2025, it’s clear to see his professional debut stands out in historical context.