{"id":152321,"date":"2026-01-27T23:12:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152321\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:12:29","slug":"keith-laws-top-2026-prospects-plus-catch-up-with-the-angels-new-hitting-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152321\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Law\u2019s top 2026 prospects. Plus: Catch up with the Angels\u2019 new hitting coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a special day in baseball\u2019s offseason calendar: Keith Law\u2019s 2026 top 100 prospects list is here \u2014 and so is Keith, to tell you about it himself. Welcome to The Windup!<\/p>\n

Top 100: What to know about 2026 prospect rankings<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been writing about prospects for nearly 20 years now, and over that time, that whole world has changed in more ways than I can count. Players have gotten bigger, faster and stronger, and they throw several miles an hour harder. We\u2019ve had a data-driven revolution that started when I worked with the Blue Jays but truly picked up speed in the last 10 years, with no end to its effects on the sport anywhere in sight, leading to new pitches, swing changes, delivery changes and even players learning to run faster.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball decided to strangle the goose that lays its golden eggs by eliminating short-season baseball, pushing many teenage prospects to Low A before they\u2019re ready. There\u2019s video everywhere of players, down to the Dominican Summer League.\u00a0Twenty years ago, I didn\u2019t have enough information. Today, I think I have too much.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s prospect rankings package<\/a>\u00a0reflects all of the information I was able to synthesize, including my own looks at players, video work, data and, most importantly, collecting the opinions of the scouts and executives around the game whom I respect and who are kind enough to share their thoughts with me.<\/p>\n

The minors aren\u2019t in great shape right now, the result of the epidemic of torn UCLs (requiring Tommy John surgery), the loss of those 42 minor-league teams in the low minors and major-league teams moving players to the big leagues more aggressively, but there is still a slew of potential stars across minor-league baseball, highlighted by\u00a0the most exciting No. 1 overall prospect we\u2019ve had in a decade, Pittsburgh\u2019s Konnor Griffin:<\/p>\n

Griffin was the Pirates\u2019 first-round pick in 2024, out of Jackson Prep in Mississippi. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Griffin is a superb athlete whose ability to hit decent pitching was the biggest question everyone had about him before the draft.
\nHe raked at three levels last year, reaching Double A at age 19, passing Detroit\u2019s Kevin McGonigle (another high school draftee) and Milwaukee\u2019s 18-year-old wunderkind Jes\u00fas Made.<\/p>\n

Those three rank atop my list, and they make up half of the shortstops in my top 10, as that\u2019s the strength of the minors right now. That\u2019s where the best prospects often start out, moving to less difficult positions from there as they grow or are pushed off by superior defenders.<\/p>\n

As strong as the minors are with position players up the middle, there\u2019s a real paucity of pitching right now, unfortunately. They break, they throw hard, but they don\u2019t throw strikes; occasionally, they throw strikes but don\u2019t throw hard enough, and teams don\u2019t let them pitch as much because everyone is so afraid of them getting hurt. It\u2019s a systemic problem that isn\u2019t going away, and the sport will have to reckon with it down to the youth level if it\u2019s going to change.<\/p>\n

There is a number of prospects on this list who\u2019ve already debuted in the majors, as I use rookie eligibility as my cutoff for consideration as a prospect.\u00a0Once a player has passed the thresholds for rookie status \u2014 130 AB, 50 IP or 45 days on the major-league roster \u2014 then he has \u201cgraduated\u201d and, like Fredo, he\u2019s dead to me.<\/p>\n

The top 100 is just the beginning of my prospect rankings, and it\u2019s worth noting, as I do every year, that a prospect\u2019s omission from that list isn\u2019t a statement that he\u2019s not good \u2014 there are more than 100 prospects in the minors, and some guys off the list will end up stars because they reach their ultimate ceilings or make some significant changes to their bodies or mechanics or arsenals.<\/p>\n

After this, I\u2019ll have another story with a dozen guys who I considered for the top 100 but who didn\u2019t make the cut, a ranking of all 30 farm systems and then individual rankings of the top 20 prospects for each team, along with a note on who might appear in the majors this year and a prospect I think could break out in 2026.<\/p>\n

Peruse (and bookmark) the full 100 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over to Ken now for a check-in with a familiar name.<\/p>\n

Ken\u2019s Notebook: Anderson lands first formal coaching job<\/p>\n

As a player, Brady Anderson never imagined he might one day coach. But the three-time All-Star outfielder experienced something of a revelation in 2003, his last year in professional baseball, after the San Diego Padres released him in spring training. Rather than simply retire, Anderson surprised late Padres general manager Kevin Towers by asking if he could go to Triple A. Towers agreed, and Anderson relished his time with the Portland (Ore.) Beavers. For the first time, at age 39, he found himself serving as a mentor.<\/p>\n

Years later, after rejoining the Orioles in his front-office role, Anderson gravitated not just to hitters but also to pitchers. \u201cSeeing the potential in guys,\u201d former Baltimore star Trey Mancini said, \u201cthey might not see in themselves.\u201d The Orioles parted with Anderson after the 2019 season, Mike Elias\u2019 first as head of baseball operations. But Anderson continued working with players on his own.<\/p>\n

In 2024, he spent a week as an instructor with the Angels in spring training. The 62-year-old did not anticipate that, a little more than a year later, GM Perry Minasian would contact him about becoming the team\u2019s hitting coach.<\/p>\n

The idea gave Anderson pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know in these jobs, and in jobs in general, if you want to be good, it has to be your life\u2019s obsession,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThat was the first question I asked myself: Am I ready to make this my life\u2019s obsession? I quickly answered yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping players improve, he said, is a driving force in his life.<\/p>\n

Read more in\u00a0my latest story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Handshakes and High Fives<\/p>\n

With less than three weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, Jim Bowden ranked\u00a0the top free agents left on the market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yu Darvish, who will miss the 2026 season after undergoing a third elbow surgery, said Saturday he was\u00a0considering voiding the remainder of his contract<\/a>\u00a0with the Padres but had yet to make a final decision.<\/p>\n

The trial over whether Yasiel Puig lied to federal investigators about his gambling conduct is expected to conclude soon. Sam Blum can\u00a0catch you up on how we got here<\/a>\u00a0and what\u2019s at stake.<\/p>\n

Shortly after our last edition went out, the Nationals\u00a0traded<\/a>\u00a0left-handed starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for five prospects. Our graders\u00a0gave the deal middling marks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The White Sox have found a late-innings option, reaching a\u00a0two-year, $20 million agreement<\/a>\u00a0with reliever Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez on Friday.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez and the Guardians are finalizing a contract extension that will keep him in Cleveland through the 2032 season, when he\u2019ll be 40 years old.\u00a0It\u2019s just a perfect union<\/a>, as Zack Meisel writes.<\/p>\n

Craig Kimbrel agreed to a minor-league deal with the Mets, with an invite to spring training. He holds\u00a0a decent chance at breaking camp<\/a>\u00a0with New York, says Will Sammon.<\/p>\n

A Nick Kurtz trading card sold for $516,000. It\u2019s a\u00a0little\u00a0more<\/a>\u00a0than the 2025 Rookie of the Year said the card was worth.<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in our last newsletter:\u00a0Trade grades<\/a>\u00a0for the deal that sent Freddy Peralta to the Mets.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Steven Bisig \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1334],"class_list":["post-152321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-mlb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}