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The Los Angeles Dodgers' farm system has been top-heavy with catchers in recent years. Will Smith's stellar performance in 2025 and longtime former Dodgers backstop Austin Barnes limited the team's need for them.
Los Angeles on January 9 traded top catching prospect Diego Cartaya to the Minnesota Twins to clear some of its catching logjam. The Dodgers prioritized Dalton Rushing's development, which paid off, as he's been in the big leagues since May 14.
The trade to the Twins didn't pan out well for Cartaya. Minnesota released the 23-year-old on July 23 after a rough first half in Triple-A. He batted .085/.217/.136 for the St. Paul Saints and struck out 40 times in 20 games. He allowed 25 stolen bases, posted three errors and caught three runners stealing in 159.2 innings behind the dish.
The 2025 season has been, by far, Cartaya's worst in professional baseball. On paper, it seems like the Dodgers got out while the getting was good, but that is not the case. Cartaya was the No. 18 prospect in baseball before the 2023 season, according to Baseball America, and No. 14 per MLB Pipeline, but fell off both lists soon after.
Former Dodgers catching prospect Diego Cartaya released by Twins
Danger of refusing to trade top prospects at the deadline alert: Just three years ago, Diego Cartaya was the Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect. He was untouchable in trade talks. Now, he’s just another hyped prospect who never made it. https://t.co/P1i9ygGVWN
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 23, 2025
Cartaya posted three good-to-great seasons in LA's farm system at the beginning of his career. The best of them came in 2021, when he batted .298/.409/.614 with a 1.023 OPS, 10 homers and 31 RBI over 31 games with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. He logged 95 games between Single-A and High-A the following season, and slashed .254/.389/.503 with 22 doubles and 22 homers.
The young catcher's production only decreased from there. He batted .189/.278/.379 over 93 games with Double-A Tulsa in 2023, and his top prospect stock evaporated.
The Dodgers waited to trade Cartaya until his value was too low to collect a solid return. The pitcher they got from the Twins, 20-year-old pitcherJose Vasquez, is still pitching in rookie ball and won't be able to help the big league team for quite some time, if he even gets that far. Vasquez has clocked a 14.44 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 33 walks over 28.2 innings so far this year.
The Dodgers should've traded Cartaya earlier to get a better return if they had diminished plans to use him in the big leagues. At least they got a return for him at all before his value completely collapsed with the Twins, but a trade involving a former top prospect should have gone better for LA.