2026 Prospects

[Larry Cook]

Shortstop Pinto at Salem with another error tonight. Up to 10 on the season already, 

salem second baseman Tucker with 7 errors already. 
 

I wonder how the Salem pitching staff feels about the leaky defense 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Why are ifk and Duran getting so many at bats???

That is the right question.

[moonslav59]

GRE lost it's 14th game in 15!

Winnay hit 2 dingers, Cespedes (.922) and Gonzales (.913) had 4 hits each. Godbout had a rough night (0-5 w 3 Ks)

Sal had 12 hits, 7 BBs and scored 9 runs, but lost.

The farm went 0-4, but the big team WON!

[moonslav59]

Some small sample size numbers:

1.312 Louis Andujar FCL

1.263 Jorge Rodriguez FCL

1.235 Brooks Brannon AA (6 Hrs in 56 ABs)

1.171 Ronny Hernandez GRE

1.046 Conrad Cason

.976 Hudson White

OPS Against

.155 Yomar de la Rosa FCL

.288 Osvaldo Berrios FCL>GRE

.376 Sadbiel Delzine FCL

.396 Merlin Bido FCL

.441 Valera GRE (Out for season)

.466 Tejahari Wilson FCL

[moonslav59]

Brannon homered again, today!

[Larry Cook]

7 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Brannon homered again, today!

Gonzales with another outfield assist today! And a tater to boot! 

[Hugh2]

On 5/15/2026 at 12:01 PM, moonslav59 said:

True, but some seem way off, and as MVP pointed out, their updates are not done often.

Which ones seem way off?

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

Which ones seem way off?

MVP mentioned Monegro's 2027 ETA and his surgery, for one.

Witherspoon ('27) might not be way off, but I'd say "late '28.)

Maybe Azocar '28 is a bit of a push.

Maybe "way off" was not a good choice of words.

 

[Hugh2]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

MVP mentioned Monegro's 2027 ETA and his surgery, for one.

Witherspoon ('27) might not be way off, but I'd say "late '28.)

Maybe Azocar '28 is a bit of a push.

Maybe "way off" was not a good choice of words.

 

I mean, how absurd are these really?

Maybe they've recently updated their ETA's because they have Monegro at mid 2028 now, 2027 would have been unrealistic so if it was really that I"m sure it's in update thing. 

I'm not sure Witherspoon is that far off at all.  Yeah it doesn't look good, but he's just a month into his pro career.  We've seen how things click with pitchers and they just take off, late 27' is still almost two full seasons at this point, maybe closer to 1.5.  If Witherspoon figures it out he'll probably find himself in AA this year or early next year when it clicks.  I don't think it's far fetched that he should be knocking on the door in 27.  

That doesn't mean your 28 prediction is off either by the way, I think that's perfectly reasonable, this is a subjective exercise by the way. 

Azocar late 2028 very well may come to fruition but it does seem a little premature to be that aggresive on him.  

I dunno, I don't think they're perfect but I don't think they're far off either.  They're also predictions based on a snapshot in time and as you guys said, how often are these updated?  Obviously they do because it looks like they did update Monegros' which was probably the most absurd one. 

[mvp 78]

On 5/16/2026 at 12:33 PM, moonslav59 said:

Is this too absurd?

Trade or DFA Story, Yoshida and IKF.

Promote Ward, Sogard and Capra.

Bench Duran. (Ward LF, Capra 2B and Mayer SS)

Arias, Ferguson & Brannon from AA to AAA 

YRod, Cespedes & Godbout A+ to AA

Maybe Nunes, Opata & Azocar to A+?

Cespedes has cooled off. Godbout and Yophery did a lot of damage in Greensboro, which is basically a middle school field. There are a few parks in that league that hitters just launch HR's in. Be a little wary of the numbers and let it play out for a while. 

I'd also like to see Brannon be successful for longer than a month and a half. He has struggled for most of his career with k's and has really never gotten his feet under him. 

I don't care about Ferguson.

Not sure Arias's timeline should be impacted by what BOS is doing. If his ceiling is as high as we think it can be, just be patient and let him get there. 

Capra and Ward both have very low MLB ceilings. We've seen Sogard in MLB and I think that's the type of upside they'd have there. Sox are just stuck in a holding pattern until guys with real ceilings are ready to go (Anthony) and it's going to take time.

[mvp 78]

 

[mvp 78]

Updated BA top 30:

1. Arias
2. Eyanson
3. Witherspoon
4. Gonzales
5. Bennett
6. Valera
7. Godbout
8. Soto
9. Phillips
10. Azocar
11. Delzine (SP 25)
12. Rivera
13. Samaniego
14. Holobetz
15. Uberstine
16. Romero
17. Cespedes
18. Rivas
19. Primera (SP 33)
20. Bastardo
21. Paez
22. Mullins
23. Ramos
24. G. Rodriguez
25. Heyman
26. Wehunt
27. Monegro
28. Brown
29. Finley
30. White

No Yophery. I know some people on here are crazy for him.

[Sthpaw777]

On 4/10/2026 at 9:24 AM, moonslav59 said:

Witherspoon has pitched one game. I'm not sure we can know enough about his "secondaries" to rank him higher.

What did Eyanson do to jump Phillips in the rankings, when neither has pitched one inning?

Eyanson is the best of the three IMO. Command, a veritety of pitches, good makeup. So far he dominated HIgh A and looks good in one start in AA. He may see a fast rise in the system. Hopefully the other two figure it out. Witherspoon was supposed to be more of sure thing than Phillips. Welcome to pro ball guys. 

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, Sthpaw777 said:

Eyanson is the best of the three IMO. Command, a veritety of pitches, good makeup. So far he dominated HIgh A and looks good in one start in AA. He may see a fast rise in the system. Hopefully the other two figure it out. Witherspoon was supposed to be more of sure thing than Phillips. Welcome to pro ball guys. 

Too bad Valera went under the knife.

[Sthpaw777]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Too bad Valera went under the knife.

Yeah, now it’ll be more like 2029 before we see him.

[moonslav59]

Tolle will graduate soon. Early just did. Bennett might in 2026, too, and he shows some promise, but the other top pitchers on the farm seem more than a year away, as in mid 2027 at the earliest and maybe mid 2028 as most likely for some. Samaniego will graduate too.

AA Eyanson 21 y/o

A+ Witherspoon 21 & Phillips 21 (Valera 19 and our for the year)

The next tier seem like longshots:

AAA Uberstine 26 is on the IL & Bastardo 23

AA Holobetz 23 might surprise & Wehunt needs more innings. Mullins is 26 and Paez 22 shows promise. Ziehl  and Monegro are 23.

FCL: Delzine has a high ceiling but is 3-5 years away.

[Larry Cook]

Two guys not mentioned very often, but maybe they can put it all together and surprise us and white and Tucker! 
 

 Neither will be a serviceable defender, but if they can pick up the spin of the ball, maybe they can hit major league pitching 

[mvp 78]

10 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Two guys not mentioned very often, but maybe they can put it all together and surprise us and white and Tucker! 
 

 Neither will be a serviceable defender, but if they can pick up the spin of the ball, maybe they can hit major league pitching 

White seems to be 2b only profile. He can really impact the ball. On the most recent SP podcast they mentioned that his ceiling is limited due to his size. Also, the really are discounting the High A numbers this year due to ballpark factors and pitching. Greenville is tied for the league lead in HR with 64 (tied with Greensboro who play in a known band box). 

 

[mvp 78]

On 5/16/2026 at 12:33 PM, moonslav59 said:

Is this too absurd?

Trade or DFA Story, Yoshida and IKF.

Promote Ward, Sogard and Capra.

Bench Duran. (Ward LF, Capra 2B and Mayer SS)

Arias, Ferguson & Brannon from AA to AAA 

YRod, Cespedes & Godbout A+ to AA

Maybe Nunes, Opata & Azocar to A+?

Ferguson was promoted to AAA briefly last season when the WOOSox needed IF help. He's probably up for good now. 

[moonslav59]

Eyanson is looking like the REAL DEAL.

Tonight: 

5 IP

0 Hits

3 BB

4 K

His ERA is now 1.00.

Arias is 2 for 4 in the 7th.

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Eyanson is looking like the REAL DEAL.

Tonight: 

5 IP

0 Hits

3 BB

4 K

His ERA is now 1.00.

Arias is 2 for 4 in the 7th.

His stuff was not really super sharp tonight. 

it looked like he was working on secondary stuff, velocity was noticeably lower tonight. 

That 60 pitch count they use for college pitchers is baffling to me! 
 

 

[Larry Cook]

At Greenville - winnay with his 6th tater of the season, and Jackson with his 5th tater of the season. 
 

azocar, arias Eaton and Gonzales all with decent nights at the plate and all batted lead off for their respective teams 

[moonslav59]

10 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

His stuff was not really super sharp tonight. 

it looked like he was working on secondary stuff, velocity was noticeably lower tonight. 

That 60 pitch count they use for college pitchers is baffling to me! 
 

 

Pretty amazing that he gets these results when not all that sharp.

[moonslav59]

8 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

At Greenville - winnay with his 6th tater of the season, and Jackson with his 5th tater of the season. 
 

azocar, arias Eaton and Gonzales all with decent nights at the plate and all batted lead off for their respective teams 

Winnay has been a beast the last week.

Azocar is on fire and begging for a promotion.

[moonslav59]

24+ IP ERA (OPSA)

0.74 Eyanson .350

1.85 Bennett .518

3.03 Futrell .621

3.06 Brown .602

3.91 Bickerstaff .711

100+ ABs

1.026 Arias

.947 Gasper

.943 Gonzales

.919 Capra

.915 Azocar

.908 M White

.877 Godbout

.871 Sogard

.865 Winnay

.835 Baez

.810 Heyman

 

[mvp 78]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Eyanson is looking like the REAL DEAL.

Tonight: 

5 IP

0 Hits

3 BB

4 K

His ERA is now 1.00.

Arias is 2 for 4 in the 7th.

Only 3 XBH for Arias in the last 12 games. 

I keep missing the POR Eyanson starts. I hope my schedule frees up so that I can catch the next one. 

[mvp 78]

49 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Winnay has been a beast the last week.

Azocar is on fire and begging for a promotion.

Winnay has been on a tear all month. 1211 OPS after posting a 644 OPS in April.

All the underlying metrics have looked great for Azocar even going back to last season. He's been in SAL for 100+ games now, so the only thing holding him back would be playing time at GRE (Yophery/Jackson/Gonzales). Maybe a corresponding promotion would be needed? 

[moonslav59]

31 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Winnay has been on a tear all month. 1211 OPS after posting a 644 OPS in April.

All the underlying metrics have looked great for Azocar even going back to last season. He's been in SAL for 100+ games now, so the only thing holding him back would be playing time at GRE (Yophery/Jackson/Gonzales). Maybe a corresponding promotion would be needed? 

 

32 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

 

I think Azocar gets promoted, soon. Maybe...

Azocar to GRE

Jackson to POR (He's 22, YRod 20 and Gonzales 19.)

Jo Garcia to WOO (mostly to DH)

Montero or Thaiss traded or cut loose.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

 

I think Azocar gets promoted, soon. Maybe...

Azocar to GRE

Jackson to POR (He's 22, YRod 20 and Gonzales 19.)

Jo Garcia to WOO (mostly to DH)

Montero or Thaiss traded or cut loose.

I don't see them cutting Thaiss loose. He's the main backup at C. 

[Old Red]

KC in May. 8-39 with 19 K’S 1 HR 5 RBI. He doesn’t seem to be progressing very much, or at all.🤔