photo: Ryan Campos (Palm Beach Cardinals)
The Cardinal Nation’s Top 50 prospect countdown for 2025 reaches no. 35 with a 2024 draft pick who has a good eye at the plate and developing defense behind it. Free report!
Position: Catcher
Age: 22 years old
Bats/Throws: L/R
Height/Weight: 5’8, 190 pounds
Acquired: Selected in the fourth round of the 2024 First-Year Player Draft, 109th overall
Hometown: Mesa, Arizona
College: Arizona State University
Opened 2024: Palm Beach Cardinals (Class-A)
Primary team in 2024: Palm Beach Cardinals (Class-A)
Finished 2024: Palm Beach Cardinals (Class-A)
Prior Top 50 rankings – not applicable
Click on the above photo to be taken to Campos’ player page at The Cardinal Nation, with additional biography and history information.
2024 highlights
| PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | HR | SB | CS | BB% | K% | BABIP | wRC+ |
| 106 | 0.319 | 0.396 | 0.407 | 0.803 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12.3% | 12.3% | 0.363 | 133 |
Blake Newberry’s scouting report
Blake’s ranking – no. 37
(current grade/future grade)
| Hit | Power | Run | Arm | Field | FV |
| 40/55 | 35/40 | 45/45 | 50/50 | 40/50 | 35 |
Ryan Campos is a gritty, undersized catcher who has good athleticism for the position but still needs development to stick behind the plate. He played exclusively behind the plate post-draft. In the backstop pecking order, that may put him ahead of (our no. 48 prospect) Josh Kross, who was also announced as a catcher when drafted but played exclusively first base in his debut season.
Many scouts have rated Campos as a fringy defensive catcher with a fringe-average arm, but he has enough athleticism for one to think that he has plenty of development ahead. That’s why I’m giving him a future 50 behind the plate even if he is below average currently. If Campos doesn’t stick behind the plate, then the outfield could also be an option. He runs well enough to cover ground out there and has some experience playing in the grass from his college days.
For now, though, it seems clear that Campos will be developed as a catcher and will get a reasonable chance to stick there.
At the plate, Campos has a lot of tools for someone who stands only 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds. His best tool is clearly his hit tool as he simply makes a ton of contact and does a great job of hitting the ball consistently hard. In fact, he struck out in less than 9% of his plate appearances in his final collegiate season while 57% of his batted balls were hit over 95 mph.
He also has a fantastic eye at the plate and makes great swing decisions. Campos rarely chases but is still aggressive in the zone which allows him to attack hittable pitches while still drawing walks at a high rate.
Campos’ power profile isn’t super exciting, but he has decent raw pop and consistently hits the ball 95+ mph, which gives him plenty of gap-to-gap power. He is limited by a propensity to beat the ball into the ground, but I still expect to see plenty of doubles from Campos with a chance to reach double digit home runs at his peak.
It’s easy to see what attracted the Cardinals to Campos. He projects to hit for a high average and draw a lot of walks. He has enough athleticism to potentially work his way toward being an average defensive backstop. There’s plenty of value in a player like that.
Summary: Ryan Campos makes a ton of contact and great swing decisions but has limited power projection and is still developing behind the plate.
Brian Walton’s environmental impact report
Brian’s ranking – no. 33
Background
In his junior campaign at Arizona State in the spring of 2024, Campos slashed .364/.461/.610/1.071 with 11 home runs and 56 RBI in 58 games. He reached base in 137 of 147 career games, including 57 of 58 contests in 2024. His career .369 batting average as a Sun Devil was tops among all Division I catchers.
Campos was twice named to the Pac-12 First Team, in both his sophomore and junior seasons.
On draft night, Cardinals scouting director Randy Flores called Campos “a baseball player; well rounded” while admitting the term is hard to define. He noted it can be difficult to ascertain how much game calling experience a catcher has, but through their interviews, Campos knew the “pulse of his staff” and “he has always hit.”
The pool amount for his pick, the 176th overall, was $669,300. That is also the amount Campos received to sign.
2024 recap
Assigned to Class-A Palm Beach to open the professional phase of his career, Campos was tried up and down the order by manager Gary Kendall before settling into the number two spot for the eventual Florida State League champions.
As the season neared its end and the Beach Birds clinched the second half division title, Campos went 9-for-17 including five doubles plus two walks in September. The left-handed hitter cooled off in the postseason, however, going 4-for-20 (.200) all singles with two walks in five games.
In 106 plate appearances over 26 regular season games, Campos slashed .319/.396/.407/.803. His strikeout rate was low and his walk rate high, both at 12.3%. However, his BABIP was a bit concerning at .363.
Campos’ wRC+ of 133 was eighth best of any Cardinals farmhand with at least 100 plate appearances in 2024. And it was third highest in the organization’s 2024 draft class, after only Ian Petrutz (172) and JJ Wetherholt (137).
Defensively, Campos threw out five of 21 attempted base stealers (23.8%). He was charged with just one passed ball and three errors for a .983 fielding percentage.
2025 outlook
With Jimmy Crooks slated for Triple-A and Leonardo Bernal likely at Double-A to open the 2025 schedule, that would seem to leave the starting duties at High-A Peoria to be shared by two prospects, Sammy Hernandez and Campos.
Campos’ offense should play well in the Midwest League. Perhaps he will be used in other spots to get both prospect backstops’ bats into the Peoria lineup. After all, the 2024 Chiefs were not prolific in run scoring.
Future outlook
Future Value: 35
Role: AAAA guy/reserve
Risk: High
It was a little surprising that the Cardinals drafted a catcher with their third selection in the 2024 draft (after they forfeited their second rounder). After all, the position was already one of the organizational strengths. The Cardinals have two young catchers in St. Louis in Pedro Pages and Ivan Herrera plus a trio of top 20 prospects in Crooks, Bernal and Hernandez.
In other words, Campos is currently at least sixth in the Cardinals catching depth chart. On the other hand, he has yet to play a full season and those ahead of him are hardly established as MLB fixtures. As Tony La Russa was fond of saying over the years about playing time conflicts, “These things have a way of working themselves out.”
One downstream answer could be what Blake stated. Perhaps Campos will eventually end up at first base. However, that would put more pressure on his hitting development and accentuate his 5-foot-8 height disadvantage.
At this early juncture of his career, there are obviously many open questions.
MLB debut: 2028
Rule 5 eligible: 2027
Exclusively for members of The Cardinal Nation
Our 2025 Top 50 series continues
To see the entire list of top Cardinals prospects, grading scales and remaining article schedule, click here. This includes the Top 50 countdown and 11 in-depth, follow-up articles breaking down the list.
50 Days, 50 Nights, 50 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2025
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian on X/Twitter.
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