Starting with a big shakeup at the top, we rank baseball's next wave of stars.
And since this is also the time of year when the conversation across the sport shifts into trade speculation, it's the perfect opportunity to update my minor league prospect ranking -- just before some of these players appear in deals over the coming months.
ahead of this first update to the offseason top 100 prospects list. You can read that intro for info on the Future Value tiers and deeper scouting reports.
Players in the big leagues are eligible for this update , but players projected to lose eligibility in the next week or so are not included. . Seven of the players below are on active big league rosters, so they could all fall off the list in the next month or so.
The criticism of Made is that he doesn't lift the ball enough to make his raw power show up in home runs totals but his 90th percentile exit velos are already 60-grade among big leaguers and Made just turned 19 years old earlier this month. That shows he has huge bat speed that could produce 25-30 homers if he learns to lift the ball more.
As is, he's already incredibly advanced as a hitter, at controlling the strike zone and on the bases along with having the traits to become a standout shortstop -- and he's doing all of that in Double-A this season. If the lift in his swing comes in the second half of this season, Made will likely be a 65 FV player on my offseason list, as Konnor Griffin was last winter and Kevin McGonigle almost was .
De Vries has exceptional feel for pulling and lifting the ball as a teenage switch-hitting shortstop already in Double-A. That's a ton of stuff to like, which explains why it took a player like this to pry all-world closer Emerson hit a homer in his second big league game and seems to be auditioning to take the every-day shortstop role next season after He may not have a true plus tool, but Emerson is above average at almost everything while still being younger than almost every top collegiate prospect in the 2026 MLB draft.
Clark isn't hitting for much power thus far in 2026 -- that will come and go as his swing plane is quite flat right now -- but he's so good in all phases with true five-tool ability and an excellent approach that he can be an All-Star even with fringy power production. Walcott holds serve here even though he'll miss most or all of the season while recovering from elbow surgery.
He'll return to the upper minors late this summer or next spring with 30-homer upside and a shortstop/third-base defensive profile. Arias is one of the more notable arrow-up players in the early going; his 90th percentile exit velos are up 3 mph from last season and he's lifting the ball more while not sacrificing contact.
Those exit velos are 55-grade among big leaguers and Arias is still 20 years old, so there's potential for 20- to 25-homer upside if he keeps this up and the elements click together in the coming years. Regardless, he has filled out his profile to project as an impactful big league shortstop while we wait to see how his power manifests the rest of this season.
, just behind Kade Anderson, Eli Willits and Ethan Holliday, and now that Holliday is hitting, that looks like the correct group of players who will probably flip order every few months based on who's hot. I liked Hernandez's two-way-player athleticism that manifested in his delivery/fastball velo along with precocious feel for a changeup, but worried his breaking stuff would never be above average, with his curveball ahead of his slider in high school.
His changeup is still good and his curveball is still roughly average, but the Pirates have had him tweak his slider into an 87-90 mph bullet slider that's above average to plus now, while his fastball shape is also notably better than in high school. Those two adjustments along with his command playing a little better than expected have unlocked the upside that still makes teams consider taking prep righties in the top 10 picks -- even with the huge risks, there are also huge potential rewards.
Willits has largely done what the Nats could hope for early in his pro career: controlled the strike zone, been strong on the bases and in the field, and is progressing with power. He's the age of the prep position players in the 2026 draft and is standing out at Low-A with average to plus tools across the board as a switch-hitting shortstop.
Reaching it will take a bit longer than for the top collegiates from the 2025 draft, but Willits' ceiling is a little higher.in the 2025 draft in large part because I felt really confident his path to the big leagues would be clean and quick with second/third starter upside because of his feel, fastball shape and offspeed stuff. That's basically what has happened and he's still in the conversation for best prospect from that draft.
Lombard is now in Triple-A at the age of most college juniors and would be one of the top couple picks in the draft if eligible. He has improved his contact rate this season and has the tools for 20 homers from a strong defender at shortstop with enough contact to make it all work.
The former No. 1 pick has improved his contact rates this season, which was one of the main questions about his profile, and he's currently raking in the big leagues. Jenkins is hurt again to where you have to project he won't be an annual 150-game type of player, but he's so good and so close to the big leagues, it's hard to put him much lower than this.
He has elite plate discipline, can play all three outfield spots and is an above average to plus hitter with plus raw power. Yesavage isn't exciting and will graduate in the next week or two, but there's tremendous value in a steady midrotation starter who shows flashes of front-line performance -- like he did last October.
I was bullish on Ewing since the second half of 2025 and temporarily had him above fellow Mets outfielder Carson Benge , but settled on them being pretty close within the same tier. If he can add more loft to his swing, he could be a star.
The development path for catchers can be quite circuitous so there's some demographic risk here, but Rodriguez is a polished power hitter with the tools to stick behind the plate. He doesn't have much physical projection and will need to prove his approach works in the upper minors. A back issue has sidelined Miller since the spring, so he slides back within this tier, but the preseason scouting evaluation stays the same.
Sloan's velo is up a tick and he has added a sinker, but he's otherwise continuing to trend like he will be a front-line starter, with the standard caveats on young pitchers.32. Jett Williams, SS, Milwaukee Brewers 34.
Zyhir Hope, RF, Los Angeles Dodgers There are lots of familiar names in this section from the preseason top 100 along with Salas, who has bounced back just as prospect watchers started to question why he was ranked so high early in his pro career. Waldschmidt and Prielipp were collegiate players I was high on as draft prospects who are now standing out in the big leagues.
I was the high man on Bonemer over the winter and he has repaid my faith by hitting 14 homers in 39 games this season. Doyle , Holliday , Parker , and Bremner were all early 2025 MLB draft picks and this group is mostly performing as expected/hoped.
Holliday has answered questions about his contact ability from the past two summers by getting his timing back , like he did last spring; the39. Angel Genao, SS, Cleveland Guardians 41. Jhonny Level, SS, San Francisco Giants 45. Eduardo Quintero, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers 49.
River Ryan, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers There is a range among the pitchers in this tier from athletic projection types such as Caminiti to players with big league experience who have a key question still to be answered in Tong/Schultz , Fuentes , and Ryan . Jump/Arnold both need to sharpen their command one notch to debut this year or next while Eyanson is the big riser fueled by a velo spike, but his fastball/slider/curveball are still just average to a tick above even with that gain.
Culpepper and Genao are both closing in on the big leagues while Hammond was a personal favorite in last year's draft doing exactly what I hoped he would in the early going. And there are two more rising arms who just missed the cut -- Miami Marlins RHP Karson Milbrandt and St. Louis Cardinals RHP Tanner Franklin -- along with one pitcher in injury limbo who would reenter the top 50 with a clean bill of health.12-year-old student to graduate community college as valedictorian
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