Category: Baseball

Earlier today, former Yankees reliever David Robertson took to his social media platforms to officially announce his retirement from baseball. At 40 years old entering what would have been his age-41 season, this news hardly comes as a surprise, especially considering how the past few years went for the former Olympian. Still though, for anyone that’s familiar with me, this news is devastating.

Robertson was first drafted by the Yankees in the 17th round of the 2006 MLB draft and worked his way through the minors before eventually making his MLB debut in 2008. In 2009 is when he truly made his mark during that playoff run when he pitched out of a bases-loaded-nobody-out jam in the 11th inning of the ALDS against the Twins. I remember telling someone then “this guy’s going to be good.” And my love affair had begun.

Since that playoff run, I was D-Rob’s #1 fan and maintain that title to this day. His best season came two years later in 2011 when he finished with a 1.08 ERA, earned his only All-Star nod, and received down ballot Cy Young and MVP votes. He was the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer ever, and he served that role well for one year before Brian Cashman ruined my life. He finished his first stint with the Yankees with a 2.81 ERA across 402 games before joining the White Sox in the South Side of Chicago in his first dalliance with free agency.

He spent two and a half seasons there before Brian Cashman made attempted to make amends with me personally and brought him back for the 2017 playoff push and run. That postseason we saw something truly remarkable out of Robertson when he came in and pitched 3.1 scoreless innings as the Yankees clawed their way back to steal victory out of Luis Severino’s hands in the one-and-done Wild Card game. His second stint in the Bronx ended after the 2018 season when Brian Cashman once again ruined my life.

His first stint with the Phillies would also be quickly forgotten as injury forced his two-year deal come down to just seven games in 2019 before he was shutdown and unable to return to the mound until 2021, missing the COVID-shortened 2020 season completely. However, he had an opportunity to suit up for Team USA at the Olympics, where he appeared in three games and helped the US Team earn the Silver Medal after losing to Japan in the finals.

His Olympics stint and overall resume was enough to earn him a flyer from the Rays to help bolster their bullpen for their own playoff push and run. Unfortunately, that Rays stint did not go great for him, but he was able to secure a free agent contract for his second stint in the city of Chicago, just this time he’d pitch for the Cubs. They eventually traded him to the Phillies for his second stint there and since then he’d bounce around to the Mets, Marlins, and Rangers until ultimately signing a midseason contract with the Phillies in 2025, which we now know would end up being his final season as a major leaguer.

pic.twitter.com/YuiIgvgO2H

— David Robertson (@DRob30) January 30, 2026

The tail end of his career will likely soil some memories of him, but he really should be remembered fondly for a truly impressive career. It’s not often that someone gets drafted with the pedigree of a reliever and actually makes it to have a 15-year career. Not only that, but he’s a World Series champion, a World Baseball Classic gold medalist, and an Olympic silver medalist. He finishes his career with a 2.93 ERA, an ERA+ of 143, 179 saves, and 1176 strikeouts across 881 games. He’s not going to be a Hall of Famer (though he’d have my vote….which is only partially why I don’t have a vote), but he’s the pinnacle of what a truly good and stable relief pitcher should be.

Sure there were some bumps, but overall more good than bad and again a 15-year career as solely a relief pitcher is something truly remarkable in my books. That’s the most volatile position in the game and for him to have done that for as long as he did should be remembered fondly. I wrote his entry into PSA’s Top 100 Yankees series as well, and every year I’d show back up to plead my case to Brian Cashman to either sign him in free agency or trade for him at the deadline. This is why, even though I don’t show up often around here anymore, I jumped at the chance to write his retirement post. He helped me fall in love with the game when I was just getting into it, and he’s why relief pitchers are my favorite players and why I’ve been obsessed with them.

Thank you, D-Rob, for letting this one baseball fan fall in love with you. I’ll cherish the memories of wearing my socks high during those playoff runs you were part of, and sometimes even channeling your spirit for the ones you weren’t a part of as well. I’ll miss my annual tradition Congratulations on an amazing career and I wish you nothing but the best in retirement and on your next venture.

I knew this day would come, but I still think back to just commenting about D-Rob in the old PSA comments section before I even joined the staff year. Age comes for us all, I guess. But today we wear our socks high with pride for this Yankee that was, tomorrow, we hang them up even higher.

The Mariners’ starting pitching depth took a hit today, as the Mariners announced starter Logan Evans had UCL reconstruction surgery with the internal brace procedure. The surgery was performed by Dr. Keith Meister in Texas.

Evans, 24, made his debut last year and pitched in 16 games for the Mariners, accruing 81.1 innings. He started 15 of those 16 games, filling in for a Mariners rotation that suffered a spate of injuries. While Evans didn’t pitch in the playoff run, his contributions down the stretch helped the Mariners patch together a workable rotation while the regular starters healed, allowing the team to go on a deep playoff run.

The highlight of Evans’ season was a May 27th start against Washington where he went eight innings, the longest start by any Mariners pitcher all season. He surrendered just one run over those eight innings, a solo home run to James Wood. That game was also remarkable because the Nationals ran out an Oops! All Lefties! lineup against the righty Evans, who became the first Mariners pitcher in decades to face an all-lefty lineup.

Evans did spend some time on the IL this past season with right elbow inflammation, missing a month starting in mid-August after being diagnosed with VEO, or “pitcher’s elbow.” However, imaging at the time did not show structural damage. Evans first felt the pain on an August 14th start against Baltimore; he was moved to the IL and underwent a treatment plan of rest and cortisone injections. Evans returned to the club late in the season and threw three innings in a game on September 27th against the Dodgers, but was left off the playoff roster as the team progressed into October.

The timeline for recovery for an internal brace procedure is closer to 12 months than the 18 months of traditional Tommy John surgery, so if all goes well in recovery Evans could return as soon as spring training 2027. That doesn’t ease the sting of losing him for this year, though; Ryan just did Evans’s 40 in 40, dissecting the curious nature of Evans the first time vs. second time through the order, and what adjustments could be made to bridge the two performances. Now we will have to wait an extra year to find out the answer to that question.

The Mariners have done an admirable job building depth so far this season, with the addition of Cooper Criswell as well as some stalwart minor-league signings like Dane Dunning and Randy Dobnak. But Evans was a known quantity and proven performer, and the loss stings. This shifts pressure to Emerson Hancock to continue figuring it out at the big-league level, and also turns up the temperature somewhat on top prospect Kade Anderson, who is yet to throw a professional pitch but is almost certain to be a quick mover once he does. In the meantime, we wish Logan Evans well in his recovery, and hope to be back to two Big Logans soon.

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Previous Winner

Anderson Brito, RHP
21 | 5’10” | 155
A+ (HOU) | 3.28 ERA, 2.91 FIP, 49.1 IP (12 GS), 31.1% K, 13.4% BB
AFL | 11.1 IP, 6 H, 7 BB, 22 K

Acquired in the Brandon Lowe trade, Brito has three plus pitches with a fastball that touches 100 with cut-ride, and two breakers in a mid-80s curveball with surprising depth and a mid-80s slider he commands best. He also mixes in a developing low-90s cutter and a scattershot but intriguing mid-80s changeup with strong velocity and movement separation, with some added deception from his smaller frame helping limit hard contact. The concern is control, as he’s posted below-average strike rates in A-ball across 2024–25 and lacks consistent feel outside the slider, leaving him to project as a slightly wild, high-leverage reliever for now. Still, with multiple plus pitches, improved durability, and meaningful command gains, he has mid-rotation starter upside, giving him possibly the widest range of outcomes on this list. Baseball Prospectus describes him as having “Shohei Ohtani’s stuff with Johnny Cueto’s body.”

Rank	Player	Position	Votes	Total	Percentage	Last Season
1	Carson Williams	SS	14	25	56%	1
2	Brody Hopkins	RHP	19	25	76%	8
3	Jacob Melton	OF	14	28	50%	N/A
4	Theo Gillen	OF	14	26	54%	13
5	Ty Johnson	RHP	12	25	48%	15
6	Daniel Pierce	SS	13	23	57%	N/A
7	Jadher Areinamo	INF	15	28	54%	N/A
8	TJ Nichols	RHP	13	28	46%	N/R
9	Michael Forret	RHP	8	33	24%	NA
10	Santiago Suarez	RHP	11	30	37%	16
11	Anderson Brito	RHP	7	28	25%	N/A

Brito is arguably a top-5 prospects based on stuff, but with the projected outcomes so varied, he slots in to 11 on our list. It was a very close vote, with four prospects getting at least 5 votes. Brito narrowly edged X-man, who just got an invite to Spring Training, by one vote — a player that received a vote as far back as the first vote in our polling.

Testers suggested Chandler Simpson for this upcoming round, but he exceeded rookie limits during 2025 season, and I’m feeling grateful I don’t have to write up his profile this year. Simpson could be the fastest man in baseball, but his bat completely disappeared at the AAA/MLB level. Tough projection! Instead, we’ll add Aidan Smith.

Candidates

Caden Bodine, C
22 | S/R| 5’10” | 200
A (BAL) | .326/.408/.349 (133 wRC+) 49 PA, 0 HR, 0 SB, 5 BB, 8 K

Drafted 30th overall in 2025, Bodine was acquired in the Shane Baz trade. He profiles as a relatively safe prospect thanks to 60 grade bat-to-ball skills, and comfortably-plus blocking and receiving behind the plate. There is some concern that his smaller frame limits him to fringe power, but those concerns are off-set by solid plate discipline from both sides of the plate; his sweeter swing is left handed. All catching prospects will see their value proposition shift with the challenge system, but his defensive actions, leadership, and receiving give him real value, projecting him as a solid major league contributor.

Slater de Brun, OF
18 | L/L | 5’10” | 187

Drafted 37th overall in 2025, through a draft pick traded by the Rays, de Brun was essentially re-acquired in the Shane Baz trade. Like many Rays outfield prospects he’s not expected to develop much power, but compensates with an ability to hit to all fields, and has the benefit of years to develop. His hit tool rates plus thanks to a quick, compact swing, and his double-plus speed elevates both his baserunning and range in center; he has a solid arm and can stick long term. The key to his development will be improving pitch selection to maximize his power potential. Despite not yet playing in a pro game, he’s a good bet to skip the complex league and debut in Charleston this season.

Homer Bush Jr.
24 | R/R | 6’3” | 215
AA | .301/.375/.360 (122 wRC+) 546 PA, 0 HR, 57 SB, 8.8% BB, 17.9% K

Acquired in the 2024 Jason Adam trade, the starting center fielder at Double-A passed the test of advanced pitching, but just barely. He lacks in-game power due to a lack of use of his lower half in his swing, and he whiffed more often than you can for long term success with a low-power approach. His calling cards are Rays-grade defense and plus-speed, having notably swiped 57 bags in back-to-back seasons.

Nathan Flewelling, C
19 | L/R | 6’2” | 200
A | .229/.393/.336 (126 wRC+) 439 PA, 6 HR, 9 SB, 20.3% BB, 27.6% K
A+ | 22 PA, 4 H, 5 BB, 6 K

The 94th overall pick from 2024, Flewelling made his debut at 18 years young and caught a full season (75 C, 26 DH), plus a five game cup of coffee (3 C, 2 DH). Taking the longview, he could grow into 50-60 grade power with 50 grade defense, which makes him one to follow. His plus zone awareness at the plate offsets his lagging contact, and most importantly for the position his ability to call games and frame pitches are already plus. A strong season with the bat at High-A could vault him into Top-100 consideration.

Trevor Harrison, RHP
20 | 6’4” | 225
A | 2.61 ERA, 3.26 FIP, 82.2 IP (17 GS), 22.4% K, 10.7% BB
A+ | 3.33 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 24.1 IP (5 GS), 23.8% K, 12.4% BB

Harrison entered the season as Baseball America’s top pitcher in the system thanks to a cleaned up delivery and high heat. He ran into some bumps in the road by running up his pitch count against batters, but he still made it over 100 innings in 22 starts. A power pitcher through and through, his hard slider flirts with cutter classification and could evolve into two distinct pitches down the road. It will be interesting to see how his change up plays as he’s challenged at higher levels, but for now he has premium stuff and the upside of a rotation anchor. (video)

Xavier Isaac, 1B
22 | L/L | 6’3” | 240
AA | .201/.366/.446 (144 wRC+) 175 PA, 9 HR, 1 SB, 19.4% BB, 29.7% K

Isaac had his season cut short large-in-part due to the discovery of a brain tumor, disrupting an otherwise great start to the season that duplicated his cup of coffee in Double-A as a 20-year old, despite some minor arm injuries along the way. He has the best power projection in the system, and if he can hold his own for a full season in 2026 — particularly against southpaws, which is somewhat of a concern — the former first round pick (29th overall, 2021) could see his status restored near the top of the Rays prospect rankings.

Tre’ Morgan, 1B/LF
23 | L/L | 6’0” | 215
AAA | .274/.398/.412 (119 wRC+) 402 PA, 8 HR, 8 SB, 15.9% BB, 19.2% K

Morgan continued to hit without power in 2025, a great discouragement for some evaluators, but his present 50-grade hit tool and feel for the zone allow a major league projection. He continued his improved, quieter two-strike approach in 2025 that built on his success retooling his swing in the AFL last year. The Rays gave Morgan 14 starts in Left Field last season, and Baseball America called the defense “playable,” but his value is tied to his plus-plus defense at First.

Aidan Smith, OF
21 | R/R | 6’2” | 190
A+ | .237/.331/.388 (114 wRC+) 459 PA, 14 HR, 41 SB, 11.5% BB, 31.2% K

Acquired in the Arozarena trade, Smith became the prince who was promised, a five tool athlete with a strong bat, good face, and a preternatural glove in center field. That promise unraveled a bit in 2025, with his strikeout rate rocketing nine percent and his power stroke faltering after facing harder velocities in High-A, causing both his hit and power grades to drop into the 40’s. It was a full transformation into a “center field” profile, but with his ceiling that’s not a compliment. He plays with a fire, but the dip in contact rate left some evaluators feeling burned.

Brendan Summerhill, OF
22 | L/R | 6’3” | 200
A | .333/.429/.444 (160 wRC+) 42 PA, 0 HR, 5 SB, 6 BB, 5 K

Following an All-Star performance at the Cape Cod summer league, Summerhill exhibited some of the best bat-to-ball skills in NCAA as a junior at Arizona. His draft stock took a minor hit due to injury (broken hand from from punching a cooler) and was drafted 42nd overall, but Summerhill rebounded well with a dominant stop at Charleston to finish the year. Summerhill has plus barrel control, allowing for a high-contact approach for his long swing. He has plus speed as well, which provides a chance to stick in center. Evaluators would like to see more power to complete a five-tool profile. Even if the power doesn’t materialize, it’s an above average contributor’s projection.

Jose Urbina, RHP
20 | 6’3” | 180
A | 2.05 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 92.1 IP (19 GS), 26.4% K, 8.2% BB
A+ | 2 ER (2 HR), 4.0 IP (1 GS), 5 K, 0 BB

Good pitchers grow and adjust, and Urbina has done that consistently at an age young for his level. Physically he has grown in strength, sitting at 96 with the fastball after flashing high octane in 2024, and technically he has grown, refining his dialed up slider and his two-plane curveball into complementary pitches — which lack plus command but are thrown with feel. He shouldered a starter’s workload at 19, and was awarded one additional start at High-A, where he allowed two solo shots and struck out five. Overall, the age, body, and body of work have him on the trajectory of top prospect lists in the near future.

The answer here, on the surface, is obvious: don’t allow runs. But what are the factors which go into a bullpen that’s good at run prevention? There are some obvious metrics which clearly have an impact. A high strikeout rate, for example: you can’t score, if you are carrying your bat back to the dugout. A low walk rate, similarly: free passes are never a good thing. Not allowing home-runs, too. These really don’t deserve looking into much. But there are other numbers where the correlation is less apparent. Ground-ball rate, say. Does dialing up a lot of ground balls help a bullpen? Or are fly-balls, which typically turn into outs more often, better?

To find out, I pulled numbers from Fangraphs for the last five years, for each of the thirty MLB teams. That’s 150 data points in total. I chose eight metrics and worked out the correlation of each against both ERA and FIP. Correlation is a number between -1 and +1: the closer to the extreme, the greater the connection between the two sets of numbers. +1 is a positive correlation: as X goes up, so does Y. -1 means as X goes up, Y goes down. 0 means the two data sets appear not to be linked. I’d expect the number of runs the D-backs score and my calorie intake at breakfast that day to be a zero correlation.

Below, you’ll find the metrics ranked in increasing order of average correlation.

#8. Fastball velocity. Average correlation: -0.088

Well, this was a surprise. The least significant metric to both bullpen ERA and FIP was pure power. Now, there is a known and logical link between velocity and K-rate. But for bullpens as a whole, that doesn’t seem to apply much. I think that may be because the best relief corps don’t just blow pitches past people. They have a variety of arms, approaches and slot angles, which let them keep batters off-balance. If all you’re seeing is 98-99 mph, hitters will eventually settle in. Variety makes that harder. If you look at the 2017 D-backs bullpen (perhaps our last truly good one), yes, they had Archie Bradley averaging 96.4. But they also had T.J. McFarland.

#7. Ground ball rate. Average correlation: -0.216

The negative number means the higher the ground ball rate, the lower the ERA and FIP. Which is what you want. While short of a definitive link, anyone who remembers Brad Ziegler will know it helps, even though ground balls are more likely to become hits. That factor is countered by a couple of things. Firstly, ground balls are much more likely to lead to double-plays, which is the best possible outcome. They also won’t become home-runs (without significant help!), the worst possible outcome. All told the OPS on ground balls last year across MLB was .514, while on fly balls it was .840, and that doesn’t take into account the sweet, sweet joy of a well-turned double-play.

#6. Line-drive rate. Average correlation: 0.290

Line drives are bad, m’kay? They are far more likely to become hits, with a BABIP of .616, compared to .245 for ground balls and just .091 for fly-balls (though the last have the best home-run chance). That helps lead to a meaty triple-slash line of .629/.622/.871 on line drives, a 1.492 OPS. So, more important for pitching than ground balls or fly balls, is simply avoiding line drives. While that is a skill, it’s one which is subject to random variation. In theory, we could look to buy low on a pitcher with a typically good LD rate which has spiked. But there’s always the risk the spike is not random.

[Random aside. Bunts last year had a .482 batting average! You may be wondering why hitters aren’t trying it more often. That’s partly a false number, because if you bunt with a runner on-base, you’ll typically get credit for a sacrifice even if you fail, and that doesn’t count against batting average. Include those back in, and the average goes down to .269. With close to no chance of an extra-base hit, that’s why you’re usually better to swing away. We now return to your regularly scheduled article.]

#5. Exit velocity. Average correlation: 0.382

You might be beginning to detect a theme here, although this one might almost fall into the category of obvious enough not to need confirmation. If you give up a lot of hard-hit balls, bad things happen. Yeah. This is my unsurprised face. I am, however, gratified that my number is close to that from a Fangraphs study, which found a similar correlation at the individual player (rather than the team) level: “an r of .33 for ERA and an r of .40 for FIP”. The study notes that pitchers with lower exit velocities also tend to be better at limiting home-runs, which is logical – and also better at striking out batters. That seems a little less obvious.

#4. Hard hit %. Average correlation: 0.398

You’d think “Hard hit” would be easily defined, but note there are two different metrics here: Hard% and HardHit%. The former comes from Statcast, and is simply balls in play with an exit velocity of 95+ mph. But Fangraphs also has Hard%, which is those “classified as hit with hard speed by Baseball Info Solutions”. Nobody seems to know specifically what this means – it’s proprietary – but seems to involve trajectory as well. We will get to that in a bit, but the Fangraphs version here is only a few points better correlated than the simple average of exit velocity in the paragraph above.

#3. Barrel%. Average correlation: 0.492

Barrels are the best kind of hard-hit balls, the highest quality of contact when combining power and direction. They need to be at least 98 mph, and hit at a certain launch angle. That latter component varies depending on the velocity: the harder the ball, the bigger the range of acceptable launch angles. They aren’t common: only a half-dozen batters passed 70 barrels over all of last year. But when they happen, they are kryptonite for pitchers: the season they were initially defined in 2016, barrels resulted in a batting average of .822, and a 2.386 slugging percentage. Give up very many of those, and you’ll have a bad day on the mound.

#2. Hard%. Average correlation: 0.590

As noted above, this is best described as the BIS version of a barrel. Although nobody seems to know exactly what this means – it’s proprietary – but seems to involve trajectory as well as velocity. One comment on that post suggests its just BIS interns eyeballing things. But that is on Reddit, where anyone can claim anything (and frequently does). However, it clearly does a better job at correlating with bullpen results than the related metrics we discussed above. On the other hand, it may not be skills: studies suggest “hitters just have much more control over how hard their batted balls are hit than pitchers.”

#1. Left on base%. Average correlation: -0.666

Turns out nothing is better for a bullpen than stranding base-runners. However, this was the metric where there was the biggest gap in correlation between ERA and FIP. For the latter, the correlation was down at -0.515, but for ERA is was all the way up at -0.818. Why the difference? I suspect because LOB% is quite heavily dependent on defense. The problem is, pitchers don’t tend to have much control over this, unless you think “clutch” pitching i.e. with RISP is a thing. High K pitchers tend to be better there. But as we’ve seen, they tend to be better anyway. However, free agents with a lower than usual LOB% might represent good bounceback candidates for 2026.

What have we learned. Probably less than would justify me writing fifteen hundred words on the topic. Though I did gain some knowledge regarding these metrics, and it beat staring out the window and waiting for the D-backs to do anything. To build a good bullpen, you want pitchers that are adept at avoiding hard contact (however you want to measure it), and are particularly proficient at leaving runners on base. Good luck with that. Ground ball pitchers are somewhat preferred preferred, but you don’t necessarily simply want to load up on flamethrowers, because that will allow hitters to get comfortable.

However, I want to point out again that consistently creating a good bullpen is hard. Indeed, it may be close to impossible. In 2018, Jeff Sullivan plotted bullpen Win Probability against the same number the following year. The results are the amorphous blob shown above, and show almost no correlation (0.04). Having a good bullpen one season does little or nothing to help you the next season – for comparison, starting pitching and hitting WP both had a 0.14 correlation. So it’s possible Mike Hazen has simply had the equivalent of coming up tails ten times in a row. Maybe 11th time will be the charm?

In another sign that spring training is drawing closer, today the Mariners announced their 2026 NRIs. If you’ve been with us for a while, you know that NRI stands for “non-roster invite”: that is, the players who are not on the 40-man who nonetheless receive an invite to spring training, and the perks (and per diems) thereof. This group tends to be divided between top prospects getting a taste of life in the bigs and minor-leaguers or veterans looking to catch on with a new club. At least, that’s how we have them divided below. We’ll be updating this article with blurbs about each of the players, so check back, and make sure to bookmark this for when you inevitably say “wait, who?” during spring training.

The invites are divided between 15 pitchers and 19 position players. Of the 34, 24 spent time in the Mariners organization last year, either as prospects or minor-league signings. One of the names that might jump out to fans of the Tacoma Rainiers is Bryan O’Keefe, a long-tenured catcher for Tacoma. Other familiar names include established big-leaguers Dane Dunning, Randy Dobnak, and former Mariner Patrick Wisdom, as well as former first-rounder Will Wilson, taken 15th overall by the Angels in 2019.

Seven of the invited players appear on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects. Those players are marked with a star.

A few things of note: Jurrangelo Cijntje, who was drafted as a switch-pitcher and has been announced as that previously, is listed here as a right-handed pitcher. Also, former top prospect Felnin Celesten, who fell out of the Top 100 rankings this season after struggling with injuries, did not receive an invite to camp. The Mariners’ top two 2025 draftees, pitcher Kade Anderson and catcher Luke Stevenson, both received invites; the two have been rooming together and working out in Arizona, and it will be exciting to (hopefully) see the battery of top draft picks this spring.

Pitchers:

LHPs (2):

Kade Anderson*, Austin Kitchen

RHPs (13):

Charlie Beilenson, Jurrangelo Cijntje*, Tyler Cleveland, Nick Davila, Randy Dobnak, Dane Dunning, Casey Lawrence, Teddy McGraw, Michael Morales, Gabe Mosser, Michael Rucker, Ryan Sloan*, Guillo Zuñiga

Position Players:

INF (6):

Michael Arroyo*, Colt Emerson*, Brock Rodden, Carson Taylor, Will Wilson, Patrick Wisdom

OF (6):

Brennen Davis, Jonny Farmelo*, Victor Labrada, Lazaro Montes*, Spencer Packard, Jared Sundstrom

INF/OF (1):

Blake Rambusch

C (6):

Josh Caron, Connor Charping, Bryan O’Keefe, Nick Raposo, Jakson Reetz, Luke Stevenson

We’re so close to Spring Training! So close! And we’re surprisingly close to finishing our ranking of the top 44 prospects in the San Francisco Giants organization, too. The list marches on, as we gear up for real baseball once more.

The next name on the list is a newcomer: it’s outfielder Cam Maldonado, who makes his CPL debut as the No. 34 prospect in the system. Maldonado, who hits and fields right-handed, was the team’s seventh-round pick in July’s draft out of Northeastern, and received a signing bonus ($287,400) right in line with his draft position.

He got into 17 games after being drafted, all with Low-A San Jose, where he hit .237/.352/.339 for a .691 OPS and a 92 wRC+.

Maldonado, who turned 22 in November, has some big time tools, notably his speed. He stole five bases in his short stint with the Baby Giants (without getting caught), and in his three years of college ball he swiped 90 bags, while being caught just 13 times. But he’s no tweener: he also has some exciting power, and bopped 15 home runs in just 60 games in his final season with Northeastern, while sporting a .631 slugging percentage and a .279 isolated slugging.

The downsides are ones that are shared by a few of his prospects in this area of the list. The biggest hole in Maldonado’s game is that there’s a large amount of swing and miss. He K’d in 18.8% of his at-bats last year with Northeastern which, on the one hand, represented huge improvement over his 25.9% rate the year prior but, on the other hand, is still a way-too-high number for college, especially outside of a power conference.

Maldonado also has, despite his speed, some question marks surrounding his center field defense, though those question marks are more of the “unknown” variety than the “red flag” variety, which is the case with most outfielders getting ready for their first full season of affiliated ball. Needless to say, we’ll likely get some clarity on his defensive abilities in the upcoming year, and if he can play decently in center, that will make his offensive profile a lot greener. I’d expect him to return to San Jose to start the year, where he should play every day in the outfield, and hopefully see a lot of time in the center of the grass.

Now let’s add to the list, and we’ve got some new names to vote on today.

The list so far

1. Bryce Eldridge — 1B
2. Josuar González — SS
3. Jhonny Level — SS
4. Bo Davidson — CF
5. Dakota Jordan — CF
6. Luis Hernandez — SS
7. Gavin Kilen — SS
8. Carson Whisenhunt — LHP
9. Blade Tidwell — RHP
10. Keyner Martinez — RHP
11. Jacob Bresnahan — LHP
12. Trevor McDonald — RHP
13. Argenis Cayama — RHP
14. Luis De La Torre — LHP
15. Trevor Cohen — OF
16. Jesús Rodríguez — C
17. Parks Harber — OF/3B
18. Carlos Gutierrez — OF
19. Drew Cavanaugh — C
20. Daniel Susac — C
21. Gerelmi Maldonado — RHP
22. Josh Bostick — RHP
23. Lorenzo Meola — SS/2B
24. Will Bednar — RHP
25. Yunior Marte — RHP
26. Joe Whitman — LHP
27. Joel Peguero — RHP
28. Alberto Laroche — RHP
29. Trent Harris — RHP
30. Carlos De La Rosa — LHP
31. Diego Velasquez — 2B
32. Lisbel Diaz — OF
33. Maui Ahuna — SS
34. Cam Maldonado — OF

Note: Clicking on the above names will link to the CPL where they were voted onto the list.

No. 35 prospect nominees

Rayner Arias — 19.9-year old OF — .173 OPS/-42 wRC+ in Low-A (30 PA); .699 OPS/87 wRC+ in ACL (178 PA)

VictorBericoto — 24.1-year old OF/1B — .478 OPS/16 wRC+ in AAA (46 PA); .784 OPS/130 wRC+ in AA (393 PA)

SabinCeballos — 23.5-year old 3B — .670 OPS/102 wRC+ in AA (420 PA)

JackChoate — 24.9-year old LHP — 3.51 ERA/4.17 FIP in AA (102.2 IP)

JakobChristian — 23.4-year old OF/1B — .950 OPS/155 wRC+ in High-A (92 PA); .815 OPS/119 wRC+ in Low-A (318 PA)

Reggie Crawford — 25.1-year old LHP — did not pitch in 2025; 1.04 ERA/4.07 FIP in AAA in 2024 (8.2 IP); 4.66 ERA/4.93 FIP in AA in 2024 (9.2 IP)

Reid Worley — 19.6-year old RHP — yet to debut

Note: Each player’s first name links to their Baseball-Reference page, and their last name links to their Fangraphs page. All stats are from the 2025 season.

Patrick Wisdom had an interesting four years (plus two at-bats in the 2020 pandemic season) as a Cub.

He hit 28 home runs in just 106 games and 338 at-bats in 2021, setting a franchise rookie record. In a nine-game stretch not long after being called up from Triple-A Iowa, he hit .379/.438/1.138 (11-for-29) with seven home runs. That got him named NL Player of the Week. But he also struck out 12 times in that stretch, and as was the case for Matt Mervis, the K’s were his undoing.

Wisdom certainly had his moments. He hit 23 or more homers three straight years, and for a time played a decent third base. But his defense started to slip and so did his playing time. By 2024 he was a bit player, appearing in just 75 games and hitting .175 with eight home runs.

One of those 75 games included his pitching appearance in relief of Mervis in that awful April 27, 2024 game in Boston.

Pablo Reyes, the first hitter Wisdom faced, singled. That scored the sixth run of the inning, charged to Mervis. Then Wisdom walked Tyler O’Neill, which loaded the bases.

That brought up Wilyer Abreu, who had singled earlier in the inning off Mervis.

Wisdom got him to hit a comebacker to end the inning [VIDEO].

As you can see, the first baseman taking the throw was… Mervis, who moved back there after his disastrous pitching stint.

Wisdom played the 2025 season for the Kia Tigers in KBO. He batted .236/.321/.535 with 35 home runs in 119 games… and 142 strikeouts. That was enough for him to get a minor-league deal with the Mariners with a NRI to Spring Training, so we could potentially see him play against the Cubs March 12 at Sloan Park.

I wish Wisdom well. He was well-liked as a Cub and his 84 home runs in blue pinstripes rank 35th in franchise history (tied with Ron Cey and Moose Moryn).

While it lacks the thump it once had when James Wood and Dylan Crews were atop the rankings, the Nationals’ farm system is currently the deepest it has ever been, and certainly in a better spot than where it was this time last year. Opinions on the farm range, as Keith Law of The Athletic ranked the Nats farm 6th best in baseball, and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN ranked it 14th, but the overall sentiment remains: the future looks brighter than before for the Nats, even if the present is not where they hoped to be.

The farm system has seen a big boost this offseason from prospects acquired in deals for players such as MacKenzie Gore, Jose A. Ferrer, and Jake Bennett, and there is still the potential of more to come, with Paul Toboni taking calls on other major leaguers such as CJ Abrams and Jacob Young. While I don’t expect a deal to get done this winter, perhaps being a move that happens at the trade deadline or next winter, I fully support Toboni looking to maximize this team’s farm system, setting them up for a future run at contention better.

Given all the young talent in the farm system, the fact very little Nats prospects will be graduating from prospect status soon, the potential for one or both of CJ Abrams and Jacob Young to be moved this year, and the Nationals picking 11th in the 2026 MLB Draft, it’s fair to assume this farm system will be in an even better spot at the end of 2026 than it is now. Let’s take a look at how the top of this hypothetical Nationals farm could shake out.

Graduating From Prospect Status

C Harry Ford

1B/DH Abimelec Ortiz

OF Christian Franklin

RHP Luis Perales

1B Yohandy Morales

OF Andrew Pinckney

Given that most of the talent in the Nationals’ farm system is accumulated in the lower levels of the minor leagues, there are very few prospects who are going to lose prospect status in the 2026 season. The only players who are locks to graduate prospect status this season are catcher Harry Ford and first baseman Abimelec Ortiz, both likely to be in the lineup on Opening Day, or soon afterwards at the very least.

Outside of those 2, there are very few prospects near the top of the Nationals’ farm system who I see losing prospect status in 2026, with Luis Perales having the best chance if he lights up Triple-A and debuts midway through the year. After him, it’s an assortment of lower-ranked prospects, such as outfielder Christian Franklin, outfielder Andrew Pinckney, and first baseman Yohandy Morales, who could end up getting enough time in the bigs to make them no longer prospects.

Top 100 Prospects

SS Eli Willits

RHP Travis Sykora

RHP Jarlin Susana

3B Gavin Fien

One of Devin Fitz-Gerald/Seaver King/Landon Harmon/Other

While the Nationals have 4 top 100 prospects currently, with one soon to graduate in Harry Ford, they also have a ton of high upside prospects who could jump into top 100 lists with a strong 2026 campaign. One prospect who I’m highly confident in cementing himself as a top 100 prospect soon is Gavin Fien, the headliner of the return in the MacKenzie Gore trade. While he wasn’t dominant in his 10 professional games in 2025 following the draft, he showed promise and why many analysts are so incredibly high on his bat.

After Fien, there is a long line of young prospects in the Nationals’ farm system who could make the leap from interesting to exciting in 2026. Top of that list may be second baseman Devin Fitz-Gerald, who was scorching Low A pitching in 2025 before a shoulder injury ended his season. After him, plenty of names jump to mind, with Seaver King, who is already a top 100 prospect according to Keith Law, standing out as a prospect who could see a big breakthrough in 2026 with the new coaching staffs in the minor leagues.

New Additions

Prospects From CJ Abrams Trade (Top 100 Prospect + More)

Prospects From Jacob Young Trade (Top 250ish Prospect)

11th Overall Pick (Top 100-150 Prospect)

42nd Overall Pick

78th Overall Pick

There are numerous avenues Paul Toboni and his front office could take to boost the Nat’s farm system, many that us fans wouldn’t even think of right now, but as of now, these are the most likely ways they can do so. If the report that the Nationals turned down a package led by Shortstop Josuar Gonzalez from the Giants, a top 50 prospect in the sport according to some outlets, for CJ Abrams, then we can make the eventual trade return for him to be at the very least in the same ballpark.

Perhaps that does mean getting a deal done for Gonzalez and others with the Giants, perhaps it means a deal centered around a top-ranked pitcher like Bubba Chandler, Seth Hernandez, or Hunter Barco from the Pirates, but whatever it is, I trust this front office to not give in on their demands in the sake of making a deal happen.

The Nationals will also have the opportunity to add a strongly touted prospect in the MLB Draft this July, as they hold the 11th overall pick. While it’s unfortunate that the new lottery rules have once again knocked the Nats out of the top 10, there will still be plenty of highly regarded prospects available at 11th overall, with Bryce Rainer and Braden Montgomery, both consensus top 100 prospects currently, both being selected 11th or later in the 2024 MLB Draft.

While he favored prospects who played up-the-middle positions with his first-rounders during his time in Boston, anything could be on the table for Toboni and his staff this year, depending on how the draft class and draft board shake out.

Mock End of 2026 Top 10Nationals Prospects

1. SS Eli Willits
2. SS Josuar Gonzalez
3. RHP Travis Sykora
4. RHP Jarlin Susana
5. 3B Gavin Fien
6. 2B Devin Fitz-Gerald
7. RHP Cameron Flukey
8. SS Seaver King
9. RHP Landon Harmon
10. OF Bo Davidson

From this hypothetical list, you have 4 surefire top 100 prospects, 3 very close to being top 100s, and 3 more with the talent to be top 100s. While prospect rankings are irrelevant once these players reach the bigs, as then it becomes about your performance and not your potential, the more lottery tickets you can stock up to cash in the big leagues, the better. I’m excited to see what more tricks Paul Toboni has up his sleeve, and how else he’ll stock up the Nationals’ farm system for years to come.

The Tampa Bay Rays have announced their non-roster invitees to Spring Training and the list is made up of several top prospects and former top draft picks as well as several players with big league experience.

The most notable player to receive an invite is Brody Hopkins, whom many consider to be the team’s top pitching prospect. The 24-year is considered a sensational athlete and Baseball America thinks his curveball may be one of the best in the entire game. The hurler was a 6th round draft by the Seattle Mariners in 2023 and then he was dealt to the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline in the deal that ended Randy Arozarena’s much beloved tenure in Tampa Bay. This past season, Hopkins compiled a 2.72 | 3.33 FIP with a 28.7 K% & 12.2 BB% over 116 IP in Double-A; he is projected to begin the 2026 season in Triple-A.

Hopkins is joined by a couple of other exciting starting pitching prospects in the Rays system: Ty Johnson and TJ Nichols. Both had incredible seasons in 2026 with Johnson effectively being one of the best starting pitchers in all of minor league baseball.

Other notables include former first round draft picks Brayden Taylor and Xavier Isaac, both of whom had years to forget in 2025. Taylor dealt with poor performance all season long in Double-A while Xavier Isaac underwent surgery in July to remove a brain tumor, ending his season.

As of now, the Rays will have 25 non-roster invitees joining the players already on the 40-man roster in camp, giving the Rays spring roster of 65 players. Several players will be partaking in the World Baseball Classic and thus will be later arrivals.

Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to hold their first workouts on Thursday, February 12th while the rest of the roster will officially begin on Tuesday, February 17th. The Rays will play their first game on Saturday, February 21st against the Atlanta Braves at 1:05.

The full list of non-roster invites are below

• PITCHERS:
  • Luis Guerrero, Brody Hopkins, Ty Johnson, Trevor Martin, TJ Nichols, Austin Vernon, Andrew Wantz, Kodi Whitley, Logan Workman, Cam Booser, John Rooney, Chase Solesky, Jake Woodford
• CATCHERS:
  • Blake Sabol, Logan Driscoll, Tatem Levins, Kenny Piper
• INFIELDERS:
  • Logan Davidson, Raynel Delgado, Gregory Barrios, Xavier Isaac, Cooper Kinney, Tre’ Morgan, Brayden Taylor
• OUTFIELDERS: 
  • Edward Olivares

Part of the spring training ritual is figuring out which pitchers are a little behind the curve, and who might not be ready for the start of the season. It’s inevitable and happens with every team.

The first domino for the Dodgers fell on Thursday, when Blake Snell at a team community event at Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach said his offseason throwing program has been limited after a taxing final few months of 2025. That puts his readiness for opening day in question.

This shouldn’t be a surprise with Snell, a classic excellent-when-healthy pitcher who rarely pitches a full season. He has pitched at least 130 innings twice in his 10 major league seasons (2018, 2023), and won a Cy Young Award in both years.

Don’t take this as a knock on Snell. The Dodgers knew what they were getting into when they signed Snell to a five-year contract. Just like they knew who they were getting when they traded for and extended Tyler Glasnow, who has pitched 100 innings three times in his 10 seasons. Both Snell and Glasnow were healthy down the stretch last season and into October, and the Dodgers rode their rotation to a second straight championship.

Last year was the idealization of the Dodgers’ annual goal, to have the big names all healthy in October. This strategy also requires the depth necessary to fill in the gaps for the six months of the regular season. To that end, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman on the Dodgers Territory podcast Thursday said of the 2026 roster, “It’s the deepest and best collection of arms I’ve ever been around.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan, and Roki Sasaki are the top six on the depth chart, but there are plenty of other starting pitchers potentially available as well.

Gavin Stone and River Ryan are back after rehabbing from surgeries and missing all of 2025. Justin Wrobleski and Ben Casparius have pitched in hybrid roles in the majors, and could start if needed. Landon Knack has another year of options to fill in when called upon.

If recent history is any guide, the Dodgers will need all of these pitchers, and likely more, in 2026.

Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw were second and third on the 2025 Dodgers in innings pitched during the regular season. May was dealt at the trade deadline, and Kershaw pitched only twice in 17 postseason games. In 2024, Stone and Glasnow were the only Dodgers to top 90 innings and neither were available in the postseason.

At least seven Dodgers pitchers have started 10 games in each of the last five seasons, and at least 10 Dodgers have started five games in each of the last four seasons. In each of the last two years, only two Dodgers started 20 games during the regular season.

Year	Starters	20 starts	10 starts	5 starts	Top 6 starts
2025	17	2	7	11	116
2024	17	2	8	10	112
2023	17	4	8	10	111
2022	12	4	7	10	131
2021	19	3	7	8	128

Those current top six on the 2026 depth chart combined for 93 starts last season. In the last five seasons, the most the top six starters combined for is 131 starts, with an average of 120 starts per year. That still leaves a lot of other starts to account for. But the Dodgers are used to that.

The Dodgers this week signed Ryder Ryan to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training, per multiple reports. The pitcher if he makes the majors would earn a salary of $800,000, per both Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic and Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Ryan pitched parts of two seasons in the majors, in 2023 with the Seattle Mariners and in 2024 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, putting up a combined 5.40 ERA in 16 relief appearances, with 19 strikeouts and 10 walks in 21 2/3 innings. In 2025, Ryan had a 4.73 ERA in 42 games for Triple-A Indianapolis, with 61 strikeouts and 38 walks in 72 1/3 innings.

He turns 31 in May.

I buried the lede a little bit here, as Ryan is the older brother River Ryan, who debuted with the Dodgers with four starts in 2024 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Ryan missed all of the 2025 season, and is part of the Dodgers rotation depth mix heading into 2026.

River Ryan was at Glendale Recreation Center on Thursday in a Dodgers community outing, and talked about his brother’s signing. From Blake Williams at Dodger Blue:

“I’m excited to get out to big league camp and be on the same team again,” River Ryan said. “The last time we were on the same team was in high school, so it’s been a long time. But it’s really cool to be on a team like the Dodgers with your brother.”

When Ryder Ryan made his major league debut in August 2023 with the Mariners, the Dodgers allowed River — then in Double-A Tulsa — to travel to Seattle to see his brother’s debut in person. Eleven months later, the Pirates allowed Ryder to go to Los Angeles to see River’s major league debut at Dodger Stadium, along with several members of the family.

“It was truly a blessing to have all them make it out. Their support has been unbelievable throughout my entire career, starting when I was little,” River Ryan said after his major league debut. “I’m extremely happy they were able to make it here.”

Should the elder Ryan reach the majors with the Dodgers, he still has one option year remaining, having used options in 2023 and 2024.

Well, it’s not really a solution to a perceived need for additional heft in the starting pitching department, but it’s a move anyway:

The Braves and LHP Martin Perez have agreed to a Minor League deal, sources tell @JustBB_Media.

Perez, 35 in April, pitched to a 3.54 ERA in 56 IP with the White Sox in 2025. Owns a career 4.41 ERA over 14 seasons. Was an All Star with the Rangers in 2022.

— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) January 30, 2026

A 14-year MLB veteran, the Venezuelan left-hander has 17.1 career fWAR across over 1,630 career innings. His career pitching line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-) is 100/103/107 — basically a fourth-ish starter over the arc of a decade and a half. That said, Perez had a career year in 2022 (3.9 fWAR on a 74/81/96 line), but has fallen on hard times since. He’s thrown 332 2/3 innings after that season, never exceeding 0.8 fWAR in a season, and with a moribund 104/115/114 line, which is basically fifth starter territory. He’s pitched for four different teams in that span, and missed a bunch of time last season due to a (gulp) shoulder strain.

Given that he’s aging, Perez having the worst xFIP- of his career last season isn’t really surprising. His success generally relies on not getting smashed by HR/FB, but he doesn’t seem to have any propensity for actually limiting homers (groundball pitchers often have high HR/FB rates because the fly balls they allow are crushed at a greater rate). The Braves probably don’t need to be adding additional risk exposure via HR/FB rate given what happened last year, but they’re probably not going to rely on Perez all that much anyway.

On the plus side, Perez is a sinker-changeup-cutter guy who showed good command of the first two last year. If he carries that over and stops relying on his cutter so much (as it has been consistently crushed in 2022), there may be something there. For now, though, this is just pure depth — just amassed in the offseason, as opposed to in a panic a la the Carlos Carrascos and Cal Quantrills of yesteryear.

Miguel Rojas is the latest Dodger to withdraw from consideration for the World Baseball Classic, joining Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages, Andy Ibáñez and perhaps other players. MLB Network will reveal all 20 team rosters Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.

Rojas, 37, will not represent his native Venezuela because of difficulty obtaining insurance. The versatile World Series star expressed regret that he cannot play in an Instagram story that included a photo of himself with the Venezuelan flag draped over his shoulders.

Read more:Why some MLB players are deemed 'uninsurable' for the World Baseball Classic

"Today I am very sad," he wrote in Spanish. "A real pity to not be able to represent my country and wear that flag on my chest. On this occasion, age wasn’t just a number.”

Insurance was required to guarantee his $5.5-million salary in case he missed Dodgers games because of injuries incurred during the WBC, which will take place from March 5-17 in Tokyo, Miami, Houston and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Rojas' situation is similar to that of Clayton Kershaw ahead of the 2023 WBC. The pitcher was disappointed that he couldn't play for Team USA because his injury history made obtaining insurance impossible. The Dodgers declined to waive his insurance requirement and assume financial risk in case Kershaw got hurt during the tournament.

“I’m frustrated,” Kershaw said at the time. “They should make it easy for guys that want to play to play.”

Read more:One last roundup for Clayton Kershaw: He'll pitch in World Baseball Classic

Insurance coverage protects teams from having to pay a player for time missed because of an injury stemming from the WBC, which requires participants to undergo entrance and exit physicals to document injury information.

Players can be deemed uninsurable for several reasons, a source told The Times in 2023. Included are players who finished the previous season on the injured list or spent considerable time on the injured list. Also uninsurable are players diagnosed with a “chronic condition.”

Rojas, who has said this will be his last season major league season as a player, has sustained a succession of lower-body injuries in recent years. The 12-year veteran utility infielder began his career with the Dodgers in 2014 then played for the Miami Marlins for eight years before rejoining the Dodgers in 2023.

He will always be remembered by Dodgers fans for his game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The baseball Rojas struck sold for $156,000 at auction.

Read more:Hernández: WBC will never be the World Cup of baseball if paperwork bars stars from playing

This will mark the second WBC in a row that Rojas has missed. He was on Venezuela’s 2023 roster but withdrew after fellow infielder Gavin Lux tore his ACL during spring training, increasing Rojas' role with the Dodgers.

Hernández has elected not to play for the Dominican Republic while Pages and Ibáñez — who signed a one-year, $1.2-million contract with the Dodgers this offseason — won't suit up for Cuba. It is unclear whether insurance concerns were factors in their decisions.

However, Houston Astros stars Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa were forced to withdraw because of their inability to obtain insurance. Altuve would have played for Venezuela and Correa for Puerto Rico.

Dodgers who plan to play in the WBC include World Series heroes Will Smith of Team USA and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Team Japan. Shohei Ohtani announced in November that he would play for Japan, although the two-way superstar has not decided whether he will pitch.

Read more:Why Dodgers face a ‘delicate’ situation with their Japanese stars ahead of the WBC

Smith will be a teammate of Kershaw, who because he retired from the Dodgers doesn't need insurance now to participate in the WBC. In fact, he's gone from needing insurance to being insurance.

“I just want to be the insurance policy,” Kershaw told MLB Network. “If anybody needs a breather, or if they need me to pitch back-to-back-to-back, or if they don’t need me to pitch at all, I’m just there to be there. I just want to be a part of this group.

“I learned a long time ago, you just want to be a part of great things.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.