Format = Player Position | Age on 1-4-2026 | Highest level played | Estimated time of arrival
1. BY Walker Jenkins | 21 | AAA | 2026
Jenkins, the sixth overall pick in the stacked 2023 class, is a left-handed hitter with power and plate skills at 6’3″, 210 pounds, but as I say all the time here, those measurements are looking a little outdated. He has dealt with a number of injuries that have cost him reps, but nonetheless steadily climbed the organizational ladder, finishing 2025 with 23 games in Triple-A. In 84 games, across four levels, he has steadily climbed the organizational ladder .286/.399/.451 with ten home runs and 17 stolen bases. It’s hard to predict how the team will handle his timeline. They seem to be going back and forth on trading Joe Ryan this winter.
Here is a link to Grey’s 2026 Fantasy Outlook for Walker Jenkins.
2. SS Kaelen Culpepper | 23 | AA | 2026
Here’s what I wrote about Culpepper in this space last year:
“Culpepper was the standout as the starting shortstop for three years at Kansas State, going 21st overall to the Twins and cruised through Low-A in 17 games, slashing .294/.366/.541 with just two strikeouts in nine games to force the quick promotion to High-A Cedar Rapids for 17 games to end the season. He will likely open the 2025 season there (here) at Iowa, where it These days it’s colder in the spring than in the winter, but this team knows how to develop a talented hitter, so the smart money suggests he’ll weather the icy months and end up on the doorstep of the big leagues heading into 2026.”
Well, in 113 games split almost evenly between High-A and Double-A, Culpepper hit .289/.375/.469 with 20 home runs and 25 stolen bases, along with 90 strikeouts (17%) against 50 walks (9.7%). He looks like yet another draft coup for a club and could quickly team up with Luke Keaschall to form a dynamic midfield.
3. FROM Emmanuel Rodriguez | 23 | AAA | 2026
Dynasty players have been rooting for Rodriguez since he signed for $2.5 million in July 2019, but he has struggled to stay healthy throughout his professional career. 99 is the most games he has played in a season. That was in 2023. He played 47 games in 2024 and 65 games in 2025. The games he missed due to Covid should not actually be held against him, the outcome is that he has been a professional baseball player for almost seven years and has played a total of 295 games. When he is on the field, he has the extreme patience of a left-handed power bat. He slashed .269/.431/.409 in his 65 games this year. He also struck out 31.8 percent of the time, and that was the biggest problem for Rodriguez. Hopefully he’ll be a bit more aggressive early on as he gets more reps against high-end weapons.
4. FROM Gabriel González | 22 | AAA | 2026
Gonzalez has always hit, but took his game to another level in 2025, slashing .329/.395/.513 with 15 home runs and eight stolen bases in 123 games in Double and Triple-A. He also struck out just 14.5 percent of the time against an 8.7 percent walk rate. The combination of power and speed isn’t all that enticing, but Gonzalez finds the barrel with apparent ease on pitches of all shapes and sizes. I’d give him a chance to break camp with the big club if I was running that organization, but they have a lot of outfielders to sort through, so Gonzalez may have to wait a while.
5. C Eduardo Tait | 19 | A+ | 2029
Tait, a left-handed hitter who weighs 6’0″ 175 pounds, tore through Philadelphia’s minors with speed and got himself dealt to Minnesota in the Jhoan Duran trade. In 112 games at Low- and High-A this year, he slashed .253/.311/.427 with 14 home runs against mostly older players. I like Tait, but I was hoping for some pieces that would be closer to contributing if moving a premium arm like Duran, although you could say they got that in OF Hendry Mendez.
6. BY Hendry Mendez | 22 | AA | 2027
At a spindly 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds, Mendez has finally bulked up and found some manpower with extra weight. He had a nice season for Philadelphia with Double-A Reading and turned it up a notch after being traded to Minnesota in the Jhoan Duran deal, slashing .324/.461/.450 with three home runs and four stolen bases in 33 games. He also walked 27 in just 21 games. strikeouts, bringing his season-long strikeout rate to 13.2 percent, compared to a walk rate of 13.6 percent. He’s kind of like a bigger, left-handed take on Gabriel Gonzalez, in that the power and speed may not clear a path for him to play, but the hitting tool is now ready for a new challenge.
7. SS Marek Houston | 21 | A+ | 2027
Minnesota selected Houston 16th overall in the 2025 draft based on plus defense at shortstop and late-developing pop with the bat. At 6’3″ and 205 pounds, he has just started using his solid contact skills to launch and pull pitches that he can damage. He hit well in Low-A through 12 games (.370/.424/.444), but came up empty 12 games in High-A (.152/.220/.239). Pretty irrelevant sample size. He will open 2026 again in High-A and would be could increase potential stock with a For now, he’s a defense-first player with a bit of speed and just enough power. Probably not someone to rush your draft boards.
8. RHP Charlee Soto | 20 | A+ | 2027
A right triceps strain in April led to elbow surgery for a loose bone spur and filled Soto’s 2025 season with rest and rehab. He had three dominant starts before the injury, with a 1.38 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched. A powerful 6-foot, 210-pound pitcher with a high-90’s fastball, high-80’s slider and deceptive changeups, a healthy Soto would handle the best stuff in this system.
9. RHP Andrew Morris | 24 | AAA | 2026
Morris gets more speed than many high-angle arms, a testament to the athleticism in his 6-foot-4 frame. A sneaky aspect of his game is that he has thrown a lot of innings (577) between college and the pros, which gives a little insight into how he repeats a unique pitch with such consistency. From the Nolan Ryan Pitching School: How do you learn to throw a lot of innings? You throw a lot of innings. In 94.2 Triple-A innings in 2025, Morris posted a 4.09 ERA and 1.33 WHIP on a plus fastball with ride and a solid slider that he can see wherever he wants in any count. Doesn’t look great, but I think his numbers can get a little better outside of the Triple-A environment.
10. LHP KDRY ROJAS | 23 | AAA | 2026
Rojas, listed at 6’2″ 190 pounds, signed with Toronto from Cuba in 2020 and has been impressing at all levels since. He worked his way up to Triple-A this season after coming over at the deadline in the buzzer-beating Louis Varland trade. He works with a fairly standard lefty pitch mix: fastball, slider, changeup. If the changeup takes off, he has a good chance of remaining a starter.
Thanks for reading!
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