Hopes were high for 18-year-old catcher Eduardo Tait coming into the 2025 season. And early in the year, the Phillies' fourth-ranked prospect is exceeding expectations.
Let it eat, Eduardo Tait!
The @Phillies' fourth-ranked prospect goes deep for the second straight game, giving him a 1.034 OPS for the Single-A @Threshers: pic.twitter.com/gx4KTyL0zx
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 13, 2025
The Phillies signed Tait out of Panama in January 2023 and he hit .333/.400/.517 (.917 OPS) in the Dominican Summer League that year. He continued to impress in 2024, mashing 11 home runs and posting an .842 OPS in 79 combined games between the Florida Coast League and single-A ball with the Clearwater Threshers.
With Clearwater again in 2025, Tait is hitting .281/.378/.656 (1.034 OPS) with three home runs through 40 plate appearances.
Changeup down and away? Eduardo Tait (@Threshers) takes it out to right field anyway 🚀
Watch the rest of the action as the @Phillies prospect works as Andrew Painter's batterymate: https://t.co/twudCiZ70j pic.twitter.com/0rJQ5CwX9K
"The first thing I’d say is [Tait is] very strong," Phillies (then-assistant) general manager Preston Mattingly told Baseball America in 2024 ($). "He’s one of the stronger guys, when you factor in age, in our organization. And then I think secondly, the way his swing works, it’s kind of naturally geared to hit balls in the air. And that allows him to get to some power."
It's rare for a player to get to Clearwater before his 18th birthday.
"I’ve never had a 17-year-old in Low-A ever before," Mattingly said. "He would be a junior in high school. So you think, ‘This guy needs to get better at this.’ But he’s like four years younger than the entire league."
Here's MLB.com's most recent profile on Tait:
"A left-handed-hitting backstop, Tait has already displayed some impressive hitting traits. He finds the barrel consistently and makes a lot of hard contact. He’s capable of driving the ball to all fields and can hit the ball out everywhere, showing good power for such a young age. Like many young hitters with pop, he can get a little pull happy at times but should be able to learn to trust his natural strength and bat speed as he progresses.
"While Tait’s overall defensive game is a work in progress, the Phillies think he’s headed in the right direction after showing a lot of improvement behind the dish last year. They think he sets up well and his receiving has gotten better to the point where they think he could be an average defender in the future, pairing nicely with his plus arm. If that keeps trending in that direction, Tait should have no problem being a big league regular catcher in the future."
The website gives a 2028 ETA for Tait's arrival in the big leagues. But if he keeps up his current level of play, the young catcher may progress through the Phillies' system faster than expected.
