We’ve already seen a plethora of players from my preseason top 100 MLB prospect rankings reach or appear in the majors this year, including the top two prospects, five of the top 10, four of the next 10 and 18 from the top 50. With that in mind, here’s an updated list of the top 50 prospects still in the minors, adjusted slightly for early performance and more than slightly when we have something more substantial to work with.
A reminder that, for my midseason lists, I omit any players who are currently on a big-league roster, even if they have not yet reached the thresholds for rookie eligibility, so players like Bryce Eldridge, Trey Yesavage and Gage Jump are not on this list. Players who’ve already passed those rookie thresholds (130 AB, 50 IP, or 45 days on the major-league active roster) are always ineligible.
I don’t use a model or any precise formula for these rankings, but because we are still in small sample-size territory — what you see here only reflects 2026 performance a little bit. New information, like someone adding a pitch or changing a swing, carries more weight, as does a significant injury that might affect a player’s short- or long-term outlook.
I’ve talked to pro scouts who’ve been out seeing players, as well as some execs, and reviewed data and video, in addition to the handful of prospects I’ve seen between spring training and regular-season games. When in doubt, I have deferred to the pre-2026 evaluation and outlook, because we’re only about a third of the way through the season.
(Note: Stats as of Sunday, May 24. Scouting grades are on the traditional 20-80 scouting scale. Ages as of July 1.)
Team Arizona Diamondbacks Athletics Atlanta Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Chicago White Sox Cincinnati Reds Cleveland Guardians Colorado Rockies Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Los Angeles Dodgers Miami Marlins Milwaukee Brewers Minnesota Twins New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Seattle Mariners St. Louis Cardinals Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Toronto Blue Jays Washington Nationals
Position 1B C CF LHP OF RHP SS
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Preseason Rank: 3
Made rises to the top as the two players ahead of him on the preseason top 100 both graduated. Made’s performing well at the plate in Double A. despite only turning 19 in early May, with a .277/.353/.452 line that puts him well above the Southern League average. His defense at shortstop has taken a hit as he’s gotten thicker and has lost some lateral range, however.
Preseason Rank: 13
De Vries, acquired in the Mason Miller trade last July, is also 19 in Double A, about seven months older than Made is, and is hitting .281/.360/.401 with slightly improved defense at short.
Preseason Rank: 12
Arias has already set a new career high in homers, with 11 in 36 games so far in Double A, but more impressive is how difficult it has been to strike him out: he has just 19 strikeouts on the season, a 12.3 percent rate, with a whiff rate on pitches in the zone of just 13 percent this year. Arias is very likely to stick at shortstop with excellent hands and a plus arm, with 25+ homer upside.
Preseason Rank: 28
Through eight starts in Double A, last year’s No. 3 pick has struck out 41 percent of batters he’s faced and walked all of seven batters (4.9 percent). His changeup remains at least a plus pitch, with hitters whiffing on half their swings, while his slider remains his best breaking pitch and may be plus at this point as well. His velocity has crept back up to the mid-90s after he was down a little in spring training and in his first start or two of the regular season. I think he’ll be up the next time the Mariners need more than a spot starter in their rotation.
Preseason Rank: 70
He’s back. Our third 19-year-old in Double A — Salas turns 20 on June 1, and I will probably say this a hundred more times before one of us retires, but he’s the first player I ever scouted who was younger than my daughter — has returned from a 2025 lost to a back injury to hit .298/.361/.482 in the first two months of this season. He’s receiving well again, and his contact quality is back up now that he’s both healthy and a year older.
Preseason Rank: 24
For the second year in a row, Lombard got off to a hot start and the Yankees promoted him inside of a month, so he’s now in Triple A, only hitting .198/.358/.233 but drawing walks (obviously) and at least keeping the strikeouts in check. He’s had some bad luck already, hitting the ball much harder than the statline indicates, but he’s been somewhat passive as he was after his promotion to Double A early last year. He’s a gifted shortstop and a 55 to 60 runner who has enough power to get to 15-20 homers in time. Given his history of adjusting to new levels over long periods of time, I’m not worried about the slow start.
Preseason Rank: 38
Through 13 games — yes, it’s a tiny sample — Gonzalez is hitting .421/.551/.658 with more walks than strikeouts in the Arizona Complex League, where I doubt he spends too much more time. The comparisons to Francisco Lindor just keep coming; he’s a switch-hitter, a 70 defender at short, has real plate discipline, flashes power, just needs to play more and probably do so against better pitching. He could easily be the No. 1 prospect in January.
Preseason Rank: 21
Sloan is now throwing four pitches, using a cutter more in addition to the fastball, sweeper and kick-change. He’s still throwing strikes and missing bats, although this year in Double A, he’s given up more contact on the sweeper than last year and has had some bad luck on balls in play (.398 BABIP allowed), so his ERA doesn’t quite match up to the scouting report. He’s up to 100 mph, the changeup and sweeper both flash plus and the cutter is solid. He probably should stop throwing the sweeper to lefties, since he has such a good changeup and lefties have gotten to the slider this year. I still see No. 1 starter upside here.
Preseason Rank: 100
Hernandez’s pro debut has gone well, to say the least, as the Pirates’ 2025 first-round pick dominated Low A, with a 48 percent strikeout rate and only 20 baserunners total allowed in 28 innings. He’s followed that with two outings in High A, where he’s shown elite stuff but has walked eight in 7 2/3 innings. He sits mid-90s with one of the best changeups in the minors, along with two above-average or better breaking pitches. He does need to get in the zone more, especially since A-ball hitters have shown they can’t hit him, and he will have to pace himself better if and when the Pirates stretch him out beyond 60-70 pitches.
Preseason Rank: 5
The Tigers bumped Clark up to Triple A after he played just 43 games in Double A to end last season, and he’s been challenged for the first time in his pro career, hitting .268/.340/.393 with plenty of contact (15 percent strikeout rate) and enough hard contact to still see 20-ish homers in his future. He doesn’t miss fastballs at all, and doesn’t chase a lot; I don’t preach this much, but Clark is definitely a “needs to pull the ball in the air more” guy, given what he can already do at the plate. He’s a plus runner and 55 to 60 defender in center, too. He should make his MLB debut before the year is out.
Preseason Rank: 9
A slow start on paper for Quintero isn’t reflective of how he’s played; he’s at .265/.379/.360 in his return to High A — slightly below what he did at the same level in 32 games last year — but he’s still making excellent swing decisions and hitting the ball hard enough to stick with a forecast of future 55-60 power. He still needs to swing the bat more, as his Z-swing rate (swings at pitches in the zone) of 55 percent this year would be among the 10 lowest in the big leagues, and he has the juice to be able to do more damage on those pitches. He’s still moving through all three outfield spots with center field a strong possibility for his long-term home.
Preseason Rank: 31
Genao’s 2025 was mostly a lost year, as he hurt his right shoulder in spring training, missed about half the season, and then wasn’t swinging freely when he returned to Double A. He looks like his old self again, hitting .271/.418/.412 in a couple of weeks back in Double A before a recent promotion to Triple A. He’s already more than halfway to his career high in homers, he’s hitting everything hard and he doesn’t miss a fastball. He’s been oddly ground-ball-prone this year, way more than in any prior season, which might just be a fluke. He’s still mostly playing short and could stick there, with above-average or better defense at second base in a worst-case scenario.
Preseason Rank: 20
De Paula finished 2025 with an 0-for-18 showing in Double A, funny now since he’s hitting .302/.414/.485 there and has walked more than he’s struck out. His defensive profile is corner outfield at best and his value is all in his bat, but the on-base skill is real and he still makes consistently hard contact, with six homers already that puts him on pace to beat his previous high of 12.
Preseason Rank: 6
Miller remains out with what seems to be a serious lower back injury, and he has not progressed to swinging a bat yet as of last week, so he gets an incomplete for this season to date and I’m not moving him in the rankings until we see if this injury has a long-term effect. When healthy, he’s an advanced hitter with power and a plus defender at shortstop who I thought could end up in the Phillies infield — preferably at short — by the All-Star break. Now, I’m just hoping he plays this year.
Preseason Rank: 16
Walcott had an internal brace put in his throwing elbow in February, which puts him out of action until at least August, so while he should at least play somewhere this year — perhaps a return to the Arizona Fall League is in order — he’s going to lose 400 or so at-bats that he really needs for his development. He’s a massive kid with huge raw power and better feel for the strike zone than most players his age, but he needs time to work on specific swing decisions so he can swing at pitches he can drive, rather than just making medium or weak contact. I’ve never bought him as a shortstop; we’ll see if the arm returns enough for him to stick at third.
Preseason Rank: 11
Jenkins is, once again, on the injured list, having sprained his shoulder by slamming into the outfield wall, and he could be, at least, doing some baseball activity by the time this ranking runs. It’s the same old story for the Twins’ 2023 first-rounder, as he had a .396 OBP in Triple A prior to the injury despite a slow start, and there’s certainly room for him with the Twins, if he can stay on the field for more than a month. It’s All-Star upside in right field, still, even with all of the injuries he’s suffered.
Preseason Rank: 77
Celesten was the No. 24 prospect in MLB going into 2025 but he had just a fair season last year at the plate and did not seem to show the same effort or energy he had in the past, leading scouts to question whether he’d stay at short or get close to his offensive ceiling. Someone lit a fire under him, however, as he’s off to a .336/.446/.510 start in High A, playing harder and showing more on defense. He’s hitting well from both sides of the plate and already has four homers after he hit six all of last year, all at home in Everett, which is a pretty good place to hit. (Teammate Luke Stevenson, who’d be on a top 100 list if I wrote up that many prospects, has three homers this year, also all at home.) I’m back on the Celesten bandwagon now that all of his ability on both sides of the ball and the plate is coming through.
Preseason Rank: 51
There are a lot of Dodgers on this list, and what’s somehow more annoying about it if you’re not a Dodgers fan is that several of them started out in other organizations and were just handed to the Dodgers on a silver platter. Sirota was a great, great pick by the Reds in the third round in 2024 after he had down spring in the wake of an illness that cost him quite a bit of strength, then the Reds traded him a few months later for Gavin Lux, only for Sirota to turn back into the player he was in the summer/fall of 2023. He’s now in Double A after hitting .325/.478/.602 as a 23-year-old in High A, and the age is the only real knock on him. He’s a right fielder with a plus hit tool and no worse than average power. Yikes.
Preseason Rank: 55
Ryan has to be the oldest prospect I’ve ever put on any of these lists — he’ll be 28 in August, as he’s coming back from 2024 Tommy John surgery, and before that, he’d only become a full-time pitcher in 2022, after the Dodgers snatched him from San Diego for Matt Beaty. He’s made four rehab starts in Triple A this year, sitting 97-98 again with a plus fastball, plus slider, three other pitches that are all at least average, and excellent control. He should be pitching in someone’s rotation by the start of July, and I don’t mean Oklahoma City’s.
Preseason Rank: 26
Doyle was the No. 5 pick last year out of Tennessee, bringing an elite fastball that gets up to 100 that missed a ton of bats while he was in college. The Cardinals have worked with him on several breaking-ball options, specifically a slurve, a slider and a cutter, along with the plus splitter he already had. Right now, the cutter’s the most promising weapon, and he’s still missing plenty of bats, with a 30.3 percent strikeout rate overall and all of those breaking pitches getting whiff rates around 50 percent. The command isn’t the same right now, leading to some harder contact, but overall, this is a lot of development for less than a year in a pro system. I still see a No. 2 starter.
Preseason Rank: NR
If there’s one thing the Red Sox can do consistently on the development side, it’s add velocity. Boston’s third-round pick last year had been up to 98 at LSU, but sat more 93-94; he’s picked up about 2 full mph, hitting 100.2 mph in Boston’s Spring Breakout game, and everything else has been just as good if not better than it was in college. He still has that plus slider, which seems to break forever, while his curveball is a hammer that’s nearly 12/6, and his splitter has become a real weapon for him, with a 63 percent whiff rate in a small sample. He comes from a pretty high slot that adds some deception, although he can be a little north-south and doesn’t work inside that well to righties. I wrote in January that “I see a back-end starter future, although he could have a higher ceiling if the Red Sox can help him find a better fastball,” so, uh, well, that was fast.
Preseason Rank: 61
Chourio finally walked his 10th batter — in his pro career, not this season. That’s 10 walks in 78 professional innings, 3.2 percent of batters he’s faced, against 92 strikeouts, which would be impressive for a lot of pitchers, but is hilarious for an 18-year-old who’s sitting 95-96. He has a solid-average curveball now and a good-enough changeup for lefties, but I’m predicting that the Royals will give him a slider when he’s older and it’ll be a plus pitch, given his arm speed, slot and ability to spin the ball. He has the best command of any real pitching prospect in the minors.
Preseason Rank: NR
This is getting ridiculous — just call Arroyo up and give him the second base job already. He is now up to .344/.402/.595 in Triple A with 10 homers, four off his career high before we even see June. Meanwhile, Reds’ second basemen this season have hit .198/.299/.327. Arroyo is a natural shortstop but has always been an erratic defender there; I think he’ll be plus at second and the bat will play anywhere he’s likely to go. Free Edwin Arroyo!
Preseason Rank: NR
King Tibbs the Third was traded twice last summer, landed with the Dodgers after the second deal, and on the Dodgers’ instruction, just went back to the way he hit in college. He’s at .316/.424/.599 in Triple A, with a hard-hit rate of 56.5 percent, tied for fourth in the PCL in homers, even though he doesn’t play in one of that league’s high-altitude hitters’ havens. He’s swinging hard, and has some whiff in there, especially on breaking stuff, that will probably make him more of a low-average power hitter in the majors but with enough damage on contact and walks to be an above-average right fielder.
Preseason Rank: NR
Franklin is 95-100 with a plus slider working as a starter in High A, which is remarkable given that he had a 4.89 ERA for Tennessee last spring as a reliever, throwing 38 1/3 innings with just one start in 27 appearances. He was mostly fastball/cutter for the Volunteers, while the Cardinals have him throwing his true slider more, and harder, along with a sweeper, curveball and what might be a 55 changeup that he just hasn’t needed much. He’s stronger and repeating the delivery well without any real changes to it since college. There’s No. 2 starter upside here, which is incredible given where he was a year ago.
Preseason Rank: 27
Peña appears to be OK after a health scare in late April; he fainted in the dugout while playing for High-A Wisconsin, and the Brewers were concerned it was something neurological, but the word is he was just severely dehydrated and he’s back now rehabbing in the Arizona Complex League. He’s only played shortstop this year, an interesting decision with Jesús Made (in Double A) possibly having to move off that spot. Before he collapsed, Peña had hit .372/.462/.512 in 12 games while striking out under 20 percent of the time. It seems like it’s all good news on the health front at this point, which is the most important thing, and now we can talk about how this kid just freaking hits instead. (Side note: Braylon Payne is not on this top 50, but the 2024 first-rounder is perhaps having a breakout year on that same club. Payne was not that physical but very projectable when drafted, and now has 10 homers in 31 games.)
Preseason Rank: 67
The Rays’ 2024 first-round pick, Gillen has seen his power tick way up this year, with nine homers already in High A (he hit five last year in Low A) and a .370/.473/.750 line against right-handers. That’s good, but also means he has a platoon split as wide as the Sargasso Sea; in 35 PA against lefties this year, he’s struck out 15 times and is “hitting” .182/.229/.333. He’s a plus runner and a 55 defender in center who keeps improving there and could end up plus, although if he can’t stick there, he’s going to left field because of limited arm strength. He has All-Star ceiling, but some downside risk as a platoon bat.
Preseason Rank: 36
Hope is hitting .272/.342/.468 so far as a 21-year-old in Double A, a very credible line given his age and experience, but the swing and miss is creeping up. He’s always had some of that in his game, struggling with fastballs up and a tendency to chase too many pitches well out of the zone once he fell behind, and that’s all been exacerbated this year. He’s only whiffing on 16 percent of swings at strikes, but a chase rate of 27 percent and a whiff rate on those pitches of 51 percent is a toxic brew. He has electric bat speed and can show plus power, but the approach and the inconsistent swing path might keep him from becoming a 25-homer guy. He’s still ‘raw’ for someone at this level, even given all the progress he’s already made since the Cubs drafted him in 2011. (His trade-mate in the Michael Busch deal, lefty Jackson Ferris, has stalled in Triple A, walking more than he struck out in 23 innings before hitting the IL.)
Preseason Rank: 29
The Cardinals gave Rodriguez a quick promotion to Double A after he spent 32 games total in High A, hitting .311/.430/.519 at that level. He won’t turn 20 until January — that’s 2027 — making him the second-youngest player in Double A after Jesús Made. He’s a bat-first catcher but he can receive and throw enough to stay back there. He has yet to catch Liam Doyle, however, in three weeks in Double A, which seems deliberate.
Preseason Rank: 30
Montgomery had some contact issues in Double A to finish last year, returned there to start 2026, and mashed, hitting .313/.429/.606 for a month before the White Sox finally spared Southern League pitchers and moved him up to Triple A. He probably should stay in Triple A for a while, as the same contact issues have popped up and he still has some fine-tuning to do at the plate. He has at least 70 power, and his exit velocities have been very strong, with a peak EV of 114 in Triple A, and if he gets the ball in the air more, he’s going to hit 25-30 homers. Right now, it’s a lot of whiff, and a lot of balls hit on the ground, as he gets that lead elbow up and his swing flattens out. If he gets the ball in the air more, and can bring that 36 percent whiff rate down, there’s a ton of impact potential with the bat, along with plus defense in right field.
Preseason Rank: 53
Willits is having about as good a debut as you could expect from an 18-year-old in Low A, showing everything but power so far, and that may never be part of his game. He’s hitting .276/.414/.455, striking out a little more than expected (21 percent, which isn’t bad by any means), and he’s been surprisingly good from the right side, even though he’s always looked better hitting left-handed. He’s a certain shortstop who’ll probably be a plus defender there in time. It’s a high-contact, high-OBP profile, more leadoff hitter than middle-of-the-order, and so far, he’s done what he should be doing.
Preseason Rank: 42
The Florentine — shouldn’t he get a good nickname from that? Machiavelli? Gucci? — reached base 20 times in 40 PA in Low A to start the year, so the Bucs pushed him up to High A and he’ll probably spend most or all of the year there. He’s shown that plus power again this year, and after being uncharacteristically aggressive at the plate right after his promotion, he’s back to seeing more pitches and making more contact. He’s not sticking in center but still projects as a big power bat in an outfield corner or maybe first base.
Preseason Rank: 44
Bonemer has already hit 15 homers this year, more than he did in all of 2025 (when he hit 12), although it has come at a cost of a 31 percent strikeout rate that’s backed up by a 34 percent whiff rate — that is, he swings and misses often enough to raise concerns about his ability to keep making contact against better pitching. His ball-strike recognition is very strong, but he’s whiffing on pitches in the zone more often this year than any big-leaguer except Munetaka Murakami. The power/patience combo should make Bonemer at least a regular, probably at third base, but he has the potential to be much more than that.
Preseason Rank: 57
Rodriguez is, once again, hurt, tearing a thumb ligament, with the Twins saying last week he’d have to have surgery. Prior to that, he did what he always does: draw walks, hit dingers and strike out a little too much because he takes so many pitches in the zone. A .247/.417/.506 line — what he did in Triple A in 24 games — in an outfield corner is probably a 5-6 win player. If he plays 150 games, that is.
Preseason Rank: 80
Duno has big power and understands the strike zone well, always posting good walk rates for his age, although, this year in High A he’s run into some contact issues for the first time, with a 31 percent whiff rate that’s driven by a jump on all pitch types. I’m still skeptical that anyone this big at age 20 can stick behind the plate, although he has enough arm and moves well for a big — very big — guy. If he sticks back there, a 25-homer, high-walks catcher is a perennial All-Star; he could still be an above-average regular even at first or DH just on the strength of his bat.
Preseason Rank: 94
What I saw from King in the Arizona Fall League turned out to be a real change in his swing and approach — more specifically a return to the hitter he was at Wake Forest when the Nats took him with the No. 10 pick in 2024. He spent 80 games with Double-A Harrisburg last year and hit .233/.287/.313; after the swing restoration, he returned there this April and hit .336/.427/.562 in 35 games, more than earning a promotion to Triple A. He’s a 70 defender at short with plus bat speed, above-average power and an aggressive approach at the plate that should produce a lot of contact but maybe not many walks.
Preseason Rank: 60
Parker has hit .239/.384/.384 so far in his pro debut, with much harder contact than the statline implies. His exit velocity has peaked at 109.2 in-season after hitting a ball at 111 mph in spring training. He’s uber-patient, swinging just 37 percent of the time, and has ended up with two strikes on him in more than half of his PA this year, a condition known around here as “Emmanuel Rodriguez Syndrome.” In 2-0 and 3-1 counts, when you’d expect him to be in attack mode, he’s only swung at 17 percent of pitches while taking strikes almost half the time. The Jays have mostly kept him at shortstop with a few games at third base; second also seems like an option. Batting average is far from my favorite stat for a hitter at any age or level, but I do expect Parker’s to creep up over the course of the season as he goes after more pitches in hitters’ counts.
Preseason Rank: 39
Holliday did not look good after he signed last year, and in the early going in March, he was still having issues with contact. He then started 2026 by going 1 for 12 with seven strikeouts in Low-A Fresno’s opening series. He’s up to .262/.395/.557 now with nine homers, and since that first series, his strikeout rate is a manageable, if slightly too high, 25.7 percent. He’s on the IL right now with a foot injury. I still don’t think there’s any way he stays at shortstop, and would love to see him move to third base sooner rather than later to try to maximize his chances of staying on the dirt.
Preseason Rank: NR
The youngest player on this list, Hernández signed in January and is already hitting .328/.395/.642 in 17 games in the Arizona Complex League as a 17-year-old. He’s very different from Josuar Gonzalez, his teammate in the ACL, even though they’re both elite shortstop prospects; Hernández is smaller, more physically developed, and less flashy, but still a capable shortstop and a very advanced hitter for his age in almost every way. He’s more likely to move off short for Gonzalez at some point, probably to third base, with the hit/power tools to profile as at least a 55 there or at second.
Preseason Rank: 35
I admit I was hoping for a little better performance from Caminiti to start this year, but some of it is about his use of different pitches, as he’s been working almost entirely with a fastball/sweeper combination, cutting the use of his plus changeup by about a third from last year to focus on developing other weapons. He’s 93-94, up to 97, from a low three-quarters slot that gets him some extra deception against lefties, and he’s getting some good tilt to that sweeper to crush lefties. Because he’s barely using the changeup, righties are killing him, but I seriously doubt that will remain a problem once he’s using his whole mix. He’s still very athletic and repeats the delivery well, with a good shot to end up an innings eater as a No. 2 starter.
Preseason Rank: 89
Nimmala returned to High A, where he spent most of last year, and hit well enough out of the gate for Toronto to bump their 2023 first-rounder up to Double A in early May, where he’s hit .317/.359/.383 in 17 games. He’s a true shortstop who does have plus power and he’s been making more hard line-drive contact since he got to the Eastern League, where pitchers have been attacking him with more sliders and he’s still adjusting.
Preseason Rank: 32
Arquette missed about a month to start 2026 after undergoing core muscle surgery, then hit .276/.333/.517 in 14 games in High A before the Marlins promoted him to Double A this week. A 2025 first-round pick, Arquette has mostly played shortstop, with a couple of innings at second base here and there. He’d be one of the largest shortstops in MLB history if he sticks there. His bat is very likely to carry him wherever he ends up.
Preseason Rank: 85
Baltimore’s 2025 first-round pick, Irish was a catcher at Auburn but hasn’t spent an inning behind the plate this year, playing mostly corner outfield with a little time at first base, which is the right move given his receiving skills and the strength of his bat. He’s making hard contact and still using the whole field really well — four of his five homers are to left field — but is swinging and missing a little more than I expected from him, even on good fastballs. I’ve seen him look good in right field with at least a 60 arm, and I’ve seen him unable to reach home plate on multiple bounces, so I’m not really sure what’s going on there.
Preseason Rank: NR
I admit, I didn’t see this coming: Lamkin, the Royals’ fourth pick (their second second-rounder) in 2025, is among the minor-league leaders in strikeouts with 53 in 39 2/3 innings (34.9 percent of batters faced). He recently moved up to Double A, where he’s continued to miss bats with two plus breaking pitches and a fastball that plays above its velocity. Kansas City’s 2025 draft class is mostly off to a great start — Josh Hammond is raking in Low A, Michael Lombardi is missing a ton of bats for the same club, with only Sean Gamble struggling in the early going.
Preseason Rank: NR
I think I may have overreacted on this one, seeing some warning signs in Velazquez’s 2025 performance that are still there but are mitigated by his patience and power. He started this year hitting .317/.414/.566 in Double A, and is off to a fast start in Triple A since his promotion a week ago. He’s still whiffing more on offspeed stuff than you’d like and with an 18 percent whiff rate in the zone that’s below the MLB median. Cleveland has only played him at first base since he moved up to Triple A, so that may be (finally) his long-term position. He may not hit for high averages but should have strong OBPs and 25+ homers a year.
Preseason Rank: NR
Caba is a sorcerer on defense, one of the best defensive shortstop prospects I’ve ever seen, and he’s starting to hit more, as the Marlins have really helped him develop his body to get more impact into his game. He moved up to High A this year for the first time and has already set career highs in homers (three, but still, he had three total before this year) and doubles (eight) in just 33 games, with a .258/.396/.411 line. He doesn’t have to hit much more than that to be a regular if the defense is as good as I think it is.
Preseason Rank: NR
Flewelling made my just-missed list this offseason after he hit .229/.393/.336 in Low A with excellent defense and batted-ball data that pointed to more power. The power has arrived; he’s up to 10 homers already after hitting six all of last year, with a .287/.384/.551 line so far in High A. He’s absolutely staying behind the plate, which I know is good news for Rays fans who’ve been dying for a real catching prospect to come out of their system, and he’s gone from “probably a future regular” to “this guy might be a two-way star.”
Preseason Rank: 69
The Giants’ 2025 first-round pick is up to .311/.374/.466 for High-A Eugene with just a 14.5 percent strikeout rate. He’s getting back to his pre-draft self of making a lot of hard contact now that he’s recovered from a bone bruise in his hip. He’s playing shortstop but isn’t going to stick there, probably moving to second base. I’m most sanguine about his chances to continue hitting for high averages given his contact skills and tendency to put the ball in the air.
Preseason Rank: 17
Rainer’s 2025 season started with a bang but ended after 35 games when he dislocated his right shoulder and had season-ending surgery. He’s come back slowly, with 45 strikeouts in 106 PA (42.4 percent) since he got to High A in late April, with a big move back when he loads his hands and an enormous leg kick that seem to be messing with his timing. He’s still a plus defender, at least, and I’m hoping some of his poor performance is a result of the long layoff and perhaps getting comfortable swinging at full speed again. Either way, he has to cut down on all that extra movement so he can get the bat head there on time.
Preseason Rank: NR
The Diamondbacks’ 2025 first-rounder is hitting .353/.449/.436, murdering fastballs in Low A and doing well enough on other pitch types to see a future plus hit tool here. He’s a plus runner as well and is showing at least average control of the strike zone. Early reports have him probably moving off shortstop, but with more than enough hit tool to end up as an above-average regular at second base. His pro debut last year was miserable, with 15 strikeouts in 47 PA in Low A right out of high school, so just keep that in mind for the high draft picks this year who face-plant when they go to a full-season club in August.
Other players who weren’t on my preseason top 100 ranking but are heading towards next winter’s list include:
Nolan Perry, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
Nate Payne, LHP, Miami Marlins
Jhonny Level, SS, San Francisco Giants
Ethan Petry, OF, Washington Nationals
Devin Fitz-Gerald, 2B, Washington Nationals
Roldy Brito, OF/2B, Colorado Rockies
Charles Davalan, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Ty Harvey, C, San Diego Padres
Josh Hammond, SS, Kansas City Royals
Luke Stevenson, C, Seattle Mariners
May 28, 2026
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