Format = Player Position | Age on 1-4-2026 | Highest level played | Estimated time of arrival
1. SS JJ Wetherholt | 23 | AAA | 2026
Wetherholt is a 5’10” and 190-pound left-handed hitter with double-plus contact skills, plus power and speed. He topped the list several times last year, as I thought he earned a big league debut by slashing .306/.421/.510 with 17 home runs and 23 stolen bases in 109 games in Double and Triple-A. He also gave up 72 walks 73 strikeouts an everyday role in St. Louis and a chance to win Rookie of the Year.
2. C Rainiel Rodriguez | 19 | A+ | 2027
Rodriguez hit 20 home runs in 84 games across three levels in 2025, striking out just 17.7 percent of the time while slashing .276/.399/.555. At 6-foot-4 and with a quick right-handed cut, he is more physically developed than most boys his age and is already generating power in all areas. St. Louis was quick to promote him, but with their catcher position stacked several studs deep, they might want to pump the brakes a little harder this year instead of letting Rodriguez race to a red light.
3. LHPLiam Doyle | 21 | AA | 2026
At 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, Doyle is an energetic lefty with a dominant fastball. He led the league in strikeouts for Tennessee this year, recording 164 punchouts in just 95.2 innings en route to a 10-and-4 record and a WHIP of 0.99. He relies heavily on the high-90’s heater, but combines a slider, cutter and splitter with it, which should keep him in the rotation for a long time, even if his high-effort efforts could hinder his lead in the long run.
4. CLeonardo Bernal | 22 | AA | 2026
Bernal, a stocky, 6’0″, 240-pound switch hitter, came out of the gate this year hitting 11 home runs and hitting .303/.383/.554 with a 15.9 percent strikeout rate through his first 47 games. He hit .204 with just two home runs over his next 60 games. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but I’d put it much closer to hot than the cold places. one. This guy is a good hitter. Maybe I played through some pain. Overall, he’ll have to deal with the fatigue that comes with being so big behind the plate.
5. RHP Tink Hence | 22 | AA | 2026
As a result, he suffered a strain in his ribcage during spring training and did not pitch until halfway through the season. When he did pitch, he was injured again after just eight starts and that was his season: 21.1 innings, 24 strikeouts, a 2.95 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. I think it’s okay to label it a lost season and look back at the 109 strikeouts, 2.71 ERA and 1.07 WHIP he put up in 79.2 Double-A innings in 2024. So on the mound, he has excellent balance in a 6-foot-1, 195 lb frame, allowing him to maximize deception on his double-plus changeup.
6. 1B/3B Daniel Ortiz | 21 | A+ | 2027
A surprisingly agile athlete at 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, Ortiz racked up 39 bases in 107 games in Low and High A. He also hit 13 home runs and hit .300/.416/.462. He was a 14th round pick out of Walters State Community College in 2024, so he’s a pretty big scouting and development pick wherever things go, and I’m optimistic about this. is the start of something intriguing rather than a blip. He has an interesting operation: a slow lead leg that hangs in the air as he fires and follows his base with deceptively fast hands. There’s a bit of Justin Turner in there, but Ortiz seems to be driving the margin the other way at this point instead of looking for pulls at every opportunity.
7. SS Yairo Padilla | 18 | CPX | 2029
I thought Padilla would make a big impact in his stateside debut, but he ended up playing just 38 complex league games, slashing .283/.396/.367 with zero home runs and 24 stolen bases. It’s not a discouraging result by any means, but it likely keeps Padilla off the top hundred lists heading into 2026, even if the sky remains the limit for switch-hitter with raw power and easy speed.
8. LHP Quinn Mathews | 25 | AAA | 2026
At 6-foot-1 and 188 pounds, Mathews uses a plus changeup that he can see anywhere in the zone to set up his solid trio of fastball, curveball and slider. The biggest determining factor of his future will likely be the stickiness of the speed bump he enjoyed in 2024, when he pushed his low-90 heat to 97 at times. There’s a pretty big upside here if he can keep adding km/h, which seems likely given the space remaining on his frame. In 94 Triple-A innings across 22 starts this year, he posted a 3.93 ERA with 107 strikeouts and a 1.60 WHIP. The best thing he did was recover from a bad start and finish the season strong. He’s still run with too many guys all season, but the upside is that he could improve slightly in that area and make some pretty big gains in his results.
9. LHP Cooper Hjerpe | 24 | AA | 2027
Hjerpe, a 2022 first-round pick out of Oregon State, missed the 2025 season with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. Nothing new really, as a series of elbow injuries have slowed Hjerpe’s climb through the minors, but he’s always been good when he’s pitched. He is a change-up/slider type with plus command and guile. His depth implies a long career as a reliever if the fastball doesn’t develop. At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds and with a delivery that he repeats well, he has a good chance to add command and/or speed if his health lasts long enough, but that may require some trickery. He will be out until mid-2026.
10. SS Jesus Baez | 21 | A+ | 2027
Baez came from the Mets this summer in the trade for Ryan Helsley. At 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, he isn’t exceptionally powerful or fast, but he combines a solid mix of above-average tools. In 109 games, played mostly at High-A, he hit 14 home runs and hit .242/.326/.387.
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