Kiley McDanielFeb 4, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel covers MLB prospects, the MLB Draft and more, including trades and free agency. Has worked for three MLB teams. Co-author of Author of ‘Future Value’ Follow on XMultiple Authors
MLB prospects to keep an eye on (1:16)Kiley McDaniel lists some baseball prospects to keep an eye on, including Caden Scarborough. (1:16)
Now that we have ranked the top 100 prospects in the sport and all 30 major league farm systems, it’s time for our first team-by-team MLB prospect rankings big board of 2026. The top 10 prospects for all 30 teams are listed below — and will be updated regularly throughout the season.
Here are the rankings for your favorite team, along with what to know for the season ahead and who we expect to reach the majors next. Players in the big leagues are eligible for this update as MLB rookie eligibility rules apply here — 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster.
The A’s have the thing every team is looking for: pitching depth. Jump, Arnold and Lin are all potential No. 2 to No. 4 starters who throw from the left side. Nett and Morris are either No. 4 starters or eighth-inning relievers depending on how their command develops.
Behind them on the team prospect list are upper-level arms including Henry Baez, Mason Barnett, Gunnar Hoglund and Eduarniel Nunez. Recently graduated pitchers include Luis Morales, Jacob Lopez, Jack Perkins, J.T. Ginn and Joey Estes, along with most of the projected big league bullpen.
Also keep an eye on Baez, as both haven’t debuted and are on the 40-man roster, but Nett’s stuff works better in shorter stints, so I think he is a bit more likely to come up if the opening is in the bullpen.
The D-backs ranked 21st in the farm ranking largely because they didn’t have any players in the top 50 prospects in baseball and only one in the top 100 at all — and the long arc of prospect history informs this valuation method.
But beyond that elite tier of prospects, they are quite deep with six players from 101-200 and a handful more who were in the mix for that range. It’s possible all of the top dozen players on the D-backs’ prospect list will be on next winter’s version; due to that, Arizona is a strong candidate to rise in these rankings throughout the season.
Brandyn Garcia and Andrew Hoffman are likely to start the season in the big league bullpen, but they and Cristian Mena (likely opens in the Triple-A rotation) have already debuted. Of those with no service time, Troy gets the nod over Drake.
The Braves are rich in potential starting pitching, with likely starters landing in the first four slots of the list and also seven through 10. There should be waves of arms coming over the next few years, but that also leads into the main concern here: the lack of position players.
Four of their top five bonuses handed out in the 2025 draft were to position players, headlined by Southisene, so Atlanta is trying to balance out the system more.
Braun should also open in the Triple-A rotation with both needing to be added to the 40-man roster after the 2026 season. Pending health, both should make their debuts this season, but Ritchie is the superior prospect and likely comes up first.
Baltimore could still use some starting pitching depth in the majors this season and also some long-term impact in that area with Trevor Rogers and Zach Eflin on expiring deals.
Gibson and German should debut at some point in 2026 while De Leon and Bateman could be coming up in 2027 — and there is a handful of others either behind them or with more relief risk. I think Gibson has the best chance to be a front-line starter of that group, this group is likely more middle-to-back of the rotation type contributors.
Beavers and Basallo have already debuted, so I’ll go with Gibson here. German is in line right behind him (likely starting the season in Triple-A) should a rotation spot come open.
After a big group of position players arrived at Fenway Park in the last year or two, there are now a few nice waves of starting pitching prospects making their way to Boston. Tolle and Early already arrived late last season and will be back up in 2026. Bennett seems on track to appear in 2027 with Witherspoon, Valera, Phillips and Eyanson all just behind that.
Witherspoon, Valera and Phillips are the ones to watch here: Some scouts think Witherspoon makes the leap this year and Valera just needs health and another pitch shape or two to do that, while Phillips is still around the middle of the starter/reliever line, but with dynamic and unique traits.
I’ve said many times that I liked what the Cubs did in the 2025 draft, with Conrad, Kepley, Hartshorn and Wing headlining the class. The rest of the prospects of consequence in this system will be in the upper minors or the big leagues this year.
Ballesteros looks set to be Chicago’s every-day DH with Wiggins, Long and Alcantara (and James Triantos, B.J. Murray Jr., Brandon Birdsell, Riley Martin, etc.) waiting in Triple-A for a call-up. I think Ramirez and Rojas will spend the whole year in the minors but both will also be in the upper minors.
It should be Wiggins or Long, but I see more routes (read: relief) that Wiggins can help while Long is blocked by Tyler Austin at the moment.
I’m intrigued by the pitching pipeline in this system, as the White Sox still need a good bit of long-term help in the rotation. Schultz is a unique, towering lefty slinging from a lower slot, and Oppor was a big arrow-up performer in 2025 who now looks like a potential starter. Smith’s strike-throwing concerns undermined his pretty steady midrotation profile.
McDougal and the recently acquired RHP David Sandlin (11th, if the list went that long) have some relief risk, but above-average stuff and deeper arsenals where a command improvement would put them in the previous group.
Because Sandlin has some experience as a reliever in Triple-A last season (and may end up there long term, too), I think he’ll fill more potential openings than McDougal when an arm is needed. If Schultz throws more strikes, he should get a look in the second half as he’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster after the season anyway.
Stewart, Lowder, Petty and a few prospects beyond the top 10 listed here have all debuted already, so I’ll go with Rodriguez. He’s on the 40-man roster with a polished hit/power combo and has already played 53 games in Triple-A.
The Guardians have a lot of upper-minors help at the top of this list. DeLauter and Messick both could break camp with the big league team while Ingle and Bazzana have already played in Triple-A. Velazquez, Stephen, Genao and Rosario have all played in Double-A.
Kahlil Watson and Juan Brito are just outside these rankings and should open the season in Triple-A. Lots of help is on the way for the defending division champs.
DeLauter made his big league debut in the playoffs, which doesn’t technically count for this question. He is set to be an every-day big league outfielder for the Guardians starting this year. Bazzana and Ingle both qualify, though their arrivals likely come later in the season.
I would bet most, if not all, of the best 15 prospects won’t graduate from this list by next winter. It’s a good sign for growth to keep prospects on the list and implies high upsides from lower-minors types.
On the other hand, it’s also good to have waves coming to constantly help the big league team. Thompson and Zac Veen are optionable 40-man outfield depth while Condon, Thomas, Riggio and Cole Carrigg seem likely to stay in the upper minors the whole season and the rest of the list is behind them.
The Tigers have a strong crop of position players headed to Detroit. McGonigle should show up in the majors at some point this year or early next year and has star potential, as does Clark.
Briceno is on a similar timetable and could be a middle-of-the-order type. Rainer and Rodriguez are boom-bust types with some hit tool risk but have upside on par with the others in this group. Having this many prospects with impact potential is the envy of every team in baseball.
Anderson isn’t necessarily an impact prospect, but he is a steady lower-end every-day type, like Lee. In Triple-A, the Tigers will likely have Anderson (not on the 40-man) and Lee (on the 40-man), along with Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney (graduated prospects, on the 40-man) and maybe McGonigle. There’s no telling the order in which these guys come up or where/when the opening will be, but I’ll gamble Anderson fits the bill.
Four of the top five prospects here were touted signees — Matthews, Janek and Neyens were first-round picks, Alvarez signed for $2 million internationally — but the others have been the result of solid scouting and development.
Frey was the most hyped one, going in the third round last year out of LSU. The rest were way under the radar: Pecko was a sixth-rounder from Towson, Blubaugh was a seventh-round pick out of Milwaukee, Cole a 10th-rounder from Ball State, Bush a 16th-rounder from a Texas junior college and Huezo a 12th-rounder who got $400,000 out of a California high school.
I give Ullola a slight edge over Pecko because he is already on the 40-man roster and has enough command issues that he’s likely seen as a potential reliever, and bullpen spots come open more often than rotation slots.
I’ve got my eye on the last few drafts and international signing classes currently playing at the lower levels of the Royals system. Hammond and Gamble were both early picks last year and have big upside as prep position players; Hammond (shades of Josh Donaldson) is my pick to click in the system this year.
I was all over Lombardi as a reliever-to-starter conversion coming out of Tulane when K.C. landed him in the second round. Shields (2024 draft) is an old-school pitchability lefty with enough angles and youth to eventually be a midrotation type. Gomez signed last month for just under $3 million and has big offensive potential, and Chourio signed a year ago and is now one of the better starting pitching prospects in the lower minors.