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Not every major leaguer succeeds with the organization that first signed them.  Or even the second.  I caught them all with New York farm clubs the last few years, but now they're succeeding elsewhere in the majors.  Jeremiah Jackson, drafted by the Angels in 2018, came to the Mets in a deadline deal five years later.   And while he saw plenty of action in parts of 2023 and '24 for AA Binghamton, he hardly ranked among their top prospects.  Things changed quickly after signing with the Orioles as a minor league free agent a year and a half ago.  After posting good numbers for AA Chesapeake and AAA Norfolk, Jackson was promoted to Baltimore last summer, where he's become a near-regular in the infield.  Last week, he was in the Orioles lineup against the Yankees.

Carlos Cortes certainly falls under the banner of "late bloomer."  He spent seven seasons in the Mets system, never hitting above .265 or popping more than 16 homers.  But after signing with A's in the winter of '25, he found the secret sauce: in 71 games at AAA Las Vegas he hit .322 with 17 home runs.  That led to a promotion to West Sacramento, where the Orlando, Florida native kept hitting -- posting a .309 average, which he's raised to .355 so far this year.  Few would have expected this from a player turning 29 at the end of June.

(Below:) Across town, the Yankees long touted Oswald Peraza as a future star.  But the minor league promise never turned into MLB production.  Anthony Volpe became “the” shortstop in the Bronx, while Peraza split his time between the bench and AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Frankly, things didn't improve when the Angels picked him up at the 2025 deadline. But they have during 2026 -- splitting his time between 3rd base and shortstop, Peraza is hitting .276 with five homers in 38 games.