Jose Franco has been within the Cincinnati Reds farm system since way back in 2019, and in that seven-year stretch has seen plenty. After a strong 57.1 IP debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2019, he – like every one else – lost the 2020 season, and by the time 2021 rolled around he’d been brought stateside to take on A-ball batters with the Daytona Tortugas at just 19 years of age.
It didn’t go very well.
He trudged through two seasons in the Florida State League with some tough results only to then lose the entire 2023 season to Tommy John surgery. By the time he got back on the mound in 2024, though, something began to click for the then 23 year old, and he’s been on the rise up the system rankings ever since – and now finds himself on the 40-man roster.
Last year saw him pitch to a 3.11 ERA and 1.26 WHIP across 110.0 IP split between AA Chattanooga and AAA Louisville, his fastball flirting with 100 mph with great deception as he fanned over a batter an inning. While his secondary pitches are still a work in progress, it’s that heater that has him on the cusp of the big leagues, where he already looks like he’d be a solid reliever even if those secondary pitches never round into form.
If they do, though, suddenly the Reds have a 260 lb righty who can beef up their rotation options in a hurry.
Franco lands on this year’s Community Prospect Rankings in spot #11, which he rightly claimed with nearly 32% of the vote on a crowded (and talented) ballot. I’d add the photo of the voting totals here, but it somehow did not save properly before I cleared out the Google Form, so it’s lost to history unless you’re willing to simply take my word for it.
There’s no doubt veteran Harrison Bader improves the Giants outfield defensively. He’s got the flair, the hair, and the hardware, not to mention eight years of consistently excellent defensive metrics, to back up his reputation as one of the best center fielders in the game.
Considering the 2025 Giants outfield defense ranked dead last in many meaningful categories, this is a good get and a necessary one. The signing is a rising tide that lifts all ships. Thanks to Bader’s range, left field will get smaller, penning Heliot Ramos in and allowing him to focus on being more consistent within his patch of grass. Jung Hoo Lee is a far better fielder than last season’s numbers suggest. In 2026, he’ll have a season’s worth of first-hand experience in his back pocket. He’ll know the dimensions of outfields better, be better acclimated to playing outdoors, be more assertive — but with Bader now as the meat in the outfield sandwich, Lee will take this progress, along with his natural athleticism and strong arm, and focus on right field. Considering Oracle’s tough dimensions in the corner, it’s a position that deserves a player’s full attention.
What feels more up in the air is what Bader can do with his bat. The 31-year old has been a defensive first player for his entire career. He’s a harbor seal: graceful in the water, incredibly awkward on land. A wide flat lawn is Bader’s happy place. When he gets his cherubic curls bouncing as he tracks a liner into the gap, everything is gravy. Give him a glove and he’s zero to hero — he looks like the cartoon version of Hercules too.
But swap leather for wood, and Bader’s grace goes out the window. Hitting for Bader is all 12 of Hercules’ labors, from the Nemean Lion to Cerberus, rolled into one frustrating task. He’s been a free swinger who doesn’t walk much. When he makes contact, it’s rarely hard-hit. His career 96 OPS+ has him a hair below average — and that’s after a bit of a lift from a 114 OPS+ in 2021 (103 G) and a 117 OPS+ in 2025 (146 G). In the intervening three years, Bader didn’t log an OPS above .657. Success with the club has been few and far between.
Then, after years in the wilderness, bouncing from team to team, Bader set career-highs with 146 games played and 501 plate appearances logged between the Twins and Phillies. He slashed .277/ .347/ .449, his .796 OPS, another career mark at the plate.
Some nice, productive numbers there — but there’s plenty to suggest they’re a little fluke-y. For instance, his expected stats, like .220 xBA and .374 xSLG, were not only well below his actual results and in the bottom quarter percentile compared to the rest of the league. After hitting .258 against fastballs as a Met in 2024, Bader’s average jumped to .319 against the heater — but his .252 xBA suggests there wasn’t any significant change in the quality of contact. Did he just get lucky? Was he just catching an unsustainable amount of breaks, with squirrely balls in play finding gaps and holes? Those kinds of things to happen. Bader’s .359 BABIP was the highest in his career by far and another significant jump from 2024’s .276 average.
While there’s plenty to doubt about some of Bader’s seemingly inflated offensive numbers in 2025, there are foundational differences that might give us some hope that the improvements are viable.
Bader made some important changes to how he set up at the plate. He maintained the same distance from the plate and depth in the box but closed off his stance a bit, but shortened the distance between his feet by about ten inches and closed off his stance from 16 degrees open to 12 degrees open. This tweak simplifies his lower half as he steps into his swing. Instead of having to pull his front foot back and in at pitch release, the front foot starts further back and has a much quieter move to its position when the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand.
This fundamental adjustment in how Bader sets up at the plate could lend some credibility to the offensive numbers last year. The quality of contact did improve: His 40.3% Hard-Hit rate was a career high as was his 10.2% Barrel percentage (not including 2020). The harder contact came from a much quicker swing speed, jumping from a 71.2 MPH (38th percentile) in 2024 to a 73.5 MPH (71st percentile). Statcast points out that a “fast swing” at 75 MPH or quicker is akin to hitting a ball 95 MPH or faster. Good things happen when you pass that threshold. Fast swings mean harder hit balls in play which generally translate to higher averages and more damage.
Bader started making those quality cuts at a much higher clip than ever before, going from uncorking a Fast Swing 20% of the time to doing it 37% of the time. Now he didn’t catapult himself into the upper-echelon of bat tracking gods like Kyle Schwarber or Aaron Judge, but those swing improvements did land him among a relatively high-tier. Bader’s 2025 bat tracking metrics would’ve put him comfortably in the top-3 of fast-swingers on the Giants line-up clustered right alongside Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman.
The swing isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s got good bones. That being said, it’s hard to argue with history. Players don’t typically improve as hitters in the early-30s, or in San Francisco, and Bader will be both in his early-thirties and playing in San Francisco in 2026. So yeah, it’d be realistic to expect some sort of regression back to his mean offensively. The positive improvements and adjustments he made in 2025 aren’t cures to every ingrained bad-habit. You’d be right to point out that a fast swing still has to make contact with a baseball.
All those qualifications and realism aside — what happened last year happened. People change, and there’s the possibility that Bader is a better, not badder, batter than we thought.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are hoping to break their drought of over a decade of not playing in the postseason in 2026.
They certainly helped their chances with some free agency and trades this offseason. That’s why MLB.com reporter Mark Feinsand listed the Pirates as one of the winners of the offseason.
“The Pirates haven’t played into October since 2015. Early in the offseason, word was that Pittsburgh was ready to spend some money this winter, though nobody expected them to dive into the top end of the free-agent market,” Feinsand wrote.
“Still, the Pirates hadn’t signed a free agent to a multi-year deal since Ivan Nova in December 2016, and no free-agent hitter had received a multi-year contract since John Jaso a year before that. That changed this winter when the Pirates signed All-Star Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year, $29 million deal, while the Pirates also acquired two-time All-Star Brandon Lowe. The additions of O’Hearn and Lowe should help a lineup that ranked last in the NL in runs scored in 2025, while Mason Montgomery (acquired in the Lowe trade) and Gregory Soto (one year, $7.75 million free-agent deal) should help fortify the bullpen.”
The other teams listed as winners included the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Chicago White Sox.
While the Pirates moves don’t guarantee much, it gives them the opportunity to be better than they were a year ago. That is enough to bring some optimism and life into the clubhouse, which could be exactly what the Pirates need in order to break this long curse of mediocre baseball.
BD community, do you feel as if the Pirates had a winning offseason? Let your voice be heard by chiming off in the comments section below.
Fourth in the series.Today we look at the Cubs’recently-acquired backup DH/First Baseman.
Tyler Austin is a 34-year-old journeyman, drafted by the Yankees in the third round of the 2010 MLB Draft. His lifetime 0.9 bWAR is inflated by his reasonable 2018-2019 seasons.
After 2019, he journeyed to NPB, where he did well for six years, and also played for the US team during the last Olympics. The Cubs seem to be banking on some transferable improvements from those experiences. Austin right now is penciled in as a backup to first baseman Michael Busch and DH Moises Ballesteros. It’s unclear if he’ll open the season on the major-league roster, given the Cubs’ needed bench improvement, but if he provides a big RH bat off the bench, he very well could break camp bound for Wrigley.
Most projections have him in that spot, and slashing something like .240/.315/.430, with 10-ish homers and 30-ish RBI in 200+ plate appearances. Austin has good power and isn’t a butcher at first, but that and DH are his only spots, and the Cubs need positional versatility. He’ll have to hit his way to Chicago.
After 13 consecutive years of making the postseason, a run that included six American League pennants and four World Series titles, 2008 marked the first season in some time that the Yankees failed to play for keeps in October. It was still an 89-win campaign, but given their historic run, it was a disappointing way to end their tenure in that iteration of Yankee Stadium.
2009 was a new chapter for a the franchise, with a fancy new stadium to call home. Clearly, they had intentions of making some noise that year, and began that process with a historically active offseason. Many of their important moves will be covered in this series, but the first free agent domino to fall, which helped fuel the Yankees to their 27th World Series win, was veteran pitcher A.J. Burnett.
A.J. Burnett Signing Date: December 13, 2008 Contract: Five years, $82.5 million
Allan James Burnett, born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, was drafted by the Mets in the 8th round of the 1995 draft. Prior to breaking into the big leagues, the 6-foot-4 right-hander was sent off to the Marlins, in exchange primarily for Al Leiter. A season later, Burnett would be making his Major League debut for Florida.
This began a seven-season run with the Marlins, which was largely successful for Burnett and his club. His time in South Florida was not without his highlights — in May of 2001, Burnett tossed a no-hitter against the Padres, and later that season made blooper reels with a warm-up pitch that “accidentally” hit a promotional pickup truck driving behind the plate.
The following season featured some of Burnett’s finest work on the mound, as he managed a 3.30 ERA in over 200 innings of work, while topping 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career. He missed most of the ‘03 season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery, and had to watch from the dugout as his squad went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series that year. He would return, however, posting two more solid seasons with the Fish, throwing as hard as ever post-procedure.
Burnett would test free agency for the first time following the 2005 season, and landed in Toronto, where he would continue his solid work as a hard-throwing strikeout-heavy big league starter. In 2008, the righty pitched a career-high 221.1 innings and was the AL’s premier strikeout artist, amassing 231 of them. For the 31-year-old, it was among the ideal ways to enter free agency once again.
Burnett’s strong performance in Toronto, his free agency (via opt out), and the aforementioned Yankee desire to build a contender after a disappointing ‘08 season seemed to make for a good match. Hank Steinbrenner had made the Yankees’ interest in the veteran righty clear, and the club unsurprisingly inked Burnett to a five-year deal worth over $80 million.
A.J. Burnett’s time in New York started out quite well. Across 33 starts in 2009, he topped 200 innings once again, and despite a league-leading 97 walks, the hard-throwing righty racked up just shy of 200 Ks, and managed a respectable 4.04 ERA (114 ERA+). In terms of bWAR, it was actually Burnett’s most valuable season in the Majors – not a bad way to ring in the new contract.
On top of the solid regular season, Burnett made his mark in the Yankees’ successful postseason run as well. He started five games in the playoffs, including two in each of the Championship Series against the Angels, and the World Series against the Phillies. This stretch was highlighted by his performance in Game 2 of the Fall Classic, when he pitched seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits, while striking out nine Phillies to help New York quickly even the series in wake of a bumpy Game 1.
He wasn’t the Yankees premier starter that year, as they had signed CC Sabathia later in the offseason to fill that role, but Burnett, along with Sabathia and Andy Pettitte, formed a more-than-suitable front of the rotation — one that was clearly good enough to help win them a ring.
Unfortunately, the ‘09 season would be the best of Burnett in pinstripes, as he struggled to maintain nearly the same level of success over the following seasons. He continued to go out there every fifth day, making 33 and 32 starts respectively, between 2010-11, but with much diminished performance. In 2010, over 186.2 innings, the righty sported a much less palatable 5.26 ERA (82 ERA+), with a lower strikeout rate that he hadn’t seen since his early days as a starter. He struggled in the postseason too, allowing five runs in his lone start that October.
In his age-34 season, 2011, both he and the Yankees likely hoped for a rebound on the mound. Unfortunately, the story was much the same for the veteran. His 83 ERA+ marked little improvement, as more concerns started to pile up, as he also allowed a career-high 31 home runs in his third season with the Yankees. Burnett had become more inconsistent than anything following 2009, and despite still having good stuff on the mound, the Yankees appeared to have had enough after a second straight disappointment in 2011. He at least had enough to conjure up one last bit of playoff magic in the much-memed “I Believe in A.J.” start, Game 4 of the ALDS when the Yankees’ backs were up against the wall. Burnett was the benefactor of greatdefense in center from Curtis Granderson, but he still tossed 5.2 innings of one-run ball for the win. (The Yankees were eliminated the next day.)
After shopping Burnett’s services, the Yanks eventually struck a deal with the Pirates, sending the veteran starter to Pittsburgh for the final two years of his contract. The Yankees would eat more than half of the remaining money owed to him.
Burnett would pitch the next two seasons as a member of the Pirates (and eventually finish there), and despite beginning the 2012 season with a freak injury, would play some of his best baseball as well. Between 2012-13, in nearly 400 innings of work, Burnett posted a 3.41 ERA and impressive 3.17 FIP, figures he hadn’t touched since his days with the Marlins. On top of that, the 2013 season saw him remarkably post a career-best 26.1 percent strikeout rate at the age of 36.
Burnett made a brief and unsuccessful detour to the Phillies for the 2014 season, before returning to Pittsburgh to even more success. In 2015, his final season, Burnett posted a career-low ERA, walked fewer batters than he had in a decade, and for the first time, at 38-years-old, made an All-Star team.
Although his time in New York was shorter than what he or the organization envisioned when he signed his five-year deal, it would be hard to call his contract a failure. His success was mostly contained to just one season, but when that one season is spent as a critical part of a championship team, other warts can reasonably be overlooked.
His time in pinstripes was brief, in the span of a 17-year career in the Major Leagues, a very good one at that, but A.J. Burnett did his part when it mattered for the Yankees, making his signing all the more significant.
See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.
“Meet the Mets, meet the Mets, step right up and greet the Mets.” As their theme song would suggest, the Mets have done a pretty good job of introducing brand new players to fans over the years. While the Amazins’ may not have an excess of World Series rings to show for their 64-year history, they boast six Rookie of the Year winners, and are one of just three franchises with at least four ROTY-winning pitchers (along with the Yankees and Dodgers). It’s been eleven years since the Mets had multiple rookies put up at least 2.0 bWAR in the same season, but that streak seems likely to end this year. Even after trading Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to Milwaukee, the Mets enter 2026 with top prospects once again projected to get significant time in the spotlight — especially Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Carson Benge. Only time will tell which of these three players might blossom into stars by the season’s end, but all three should have the opportunity to make a mark.
In light of these exciting prospects waiting in the wings, this edition of Tuesday Top Ten will take a look back at some of the most memorable rookies who have worn orange and blue. As with all editions, this ranking is completely subjective, based on a healthy mix of stats, historical significance, and personal preference. So with all that out of the way, let’s count down the greatest rookie seasons in Mets history…
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Gary Gentry (1969)
The third starter on the Miracle Mets, Gentry pitched to a respectable 3.43 ERA and earned the win in the first World Series game at Shea Stadium.
Juan Lagares (2013)
Despite holding an 80 OPS+, Juan Lagares played stellar centerfield defense and recorded 3.4 bWAR, the second-highest mark for a position player rookie in Mets history.
Noah Syndergaard (2015)
Thor’s total of 166 strikeouts ranks sixth among Mets rookies, and his mark of 26 postseason strikeouts is tied for 5th among rookies in baseball history.
Jeff McNeil (2018)
Jeff McNeil impressed in limited playing time during his first season in the majors, putting up 3.0 bWAR and recording 74 hits in just 63 games.
THE LIST
10.Steve Henderson (1977)
Steve Henderson’s rookie season began in the wake of a massacre. In the final hours of June 15, 1977, the Mets did the unthinkable, trading Tom Seaver — a Met so iconic that his nickname was simply “The Franchise” — to the Cincinnati Reds. The stunning deal would soon be dubbed “The Midnight Massacre,” and is still widely regarded as the most infamous event in Mets history. In return for Seaver, the Mets received a quartet of young players, two of whom (Dan Norman and Henderson) had yet to make their major league debuts. Norman made his debut three months after the trade. Henderson made his debut the very next day.
In just 99 games, Henderson put up 2.7 bWAR, the third-most among position players on the 1977 Mets. The left fielder hit .297/.372/.480, setting a new record for Mets rookies in each sector of that slash line (min. 300 PA) throughout the team’s 16-year history up to that point. Had he played for a full season, Henderson might have been named the N.L. Rookie of the Year, but he was ultimately voted as runner-up to the Expos’ Andre Dawson. Over the course of his twelve-year MLB career, Henderson never again put up a bWAR total as high as his rookie season’s in 1977. Over the course of his four-year Mets career, Henderson put up 9.4 total bWAR, the highest among the quartet of players the Mets acquired in the Midnight Massacre.
9. Jason Isringhausen(1995)
Better known for his time with the Cardinals (or even his short stint with the A’s), right-hander Jason Isringhausen began his professional career as a 44th-round draft pick by the Mets. As a 22-year-old rookie in 1995, Isringhausen served in the role of starting pitcher. In 93.0 IP, Isringhausen posted a 2.81 ERA (that mark was good for a 144 ERA+ back at the start of the steroid era) while winning nine of his 14 starts. Despite only debuting in mid-July, Isringhausen’s performance was enough to earn him fourth place in that season’s N.L. Rookie of the Year voting, behind Hideo Nomo, Chipper Jones, and Quilvio Veras.
When the Mets traded Isringhausen to Oakland at the deadline in 1998, he had just one career save: a three-inning performance in a blowout, 10-0 victory over Montreal. When the Mets signed Isringhausen again in 2011, he had 293 saves. On August 15, 2011 at Petco Park, the 38-year-old became just the third player to record his 300th save in a Mets uniform, joining John Franco and Billy Wagner. With exactly 300 career saves, Isringhausen currently ranks 30th on the all-time saves leaderboard — the fourth-highest placement for a homegrown Met behind Jeff Reardon, Randy Myers, and Rick Aguilera.
8. Kodai Senga(2023)
As a 30-year-old who entered the majors with eleven years of professional baseball experience in Japan, Kodai Senga’s rookie season stands out from the other entries on this list. Instead of watching a top prospect deliver on high expectations or an unknown youngster rise to stardom, Mets fans in 2023 were treated to the story of a battle-tested veteran fighting to prove himself in a new league.
During a year when things came chaotically crashing down around the Mets and their postseason aspirations, Senga was a steady presence, posting a 2.98 ERA and making 29 starts (the most on the team). In just 166.1 IP, Senga struck out 202 batters, a mark which is rarely reached anymore by major league rookies. Since 2000, only four rookies have collected 200 strikeouts: Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007, Yu Darvish in 2012, Spencer Strider in 2022, and Senga in 2023. It’s no coincidence that three of those four players came over from Japan, giving them more high-pressure experience while also ensuring a full season of rookie eligibility (most rookies are called up from the minor leagues midseason, while Japanese players debuting in MLB are typically signed before the regular season starts). Senga did not become the seventh Met to win the N.L. Rookie of the Year Award, as that honor was unanimously bestowed upon Corbin Carroll, but Senga ran away with the runner-up position, becoming the tenth (and most recent) Met to finish first or second in ROTY voting.
7. Darryl Strawberry(1983)
A rookie season which long stood as the greatest by a Mets position player, Darryl Strawberry’s 1983 was the first sign of better things ahead for a fledgling franchise. After making his debut in early May, the 21-year-old and former first-overall pick put up a 134 OPS+ over 122 games, clubbing 26 homers and stealing 19 bases. Strawberry was the first rookie in baseball history to put up those home run and stolen base totals despite missing a month of the season, and only four other players in baseball history have matched them since: Nomar Garciaparra, Chris Young, Mike Trout, and Julio Rodríguez.
Strawberry got off to a relatively slow start. At the end of June, he was hitting .180/.245/.317, with only four homers to his name. But over the next 82 games, he hit .295/.379/.609 with 22 homers. At the time, Strawberry set new franchise rookie records in home runs and RBI, both of which would hold until a certain Polar Bear broke them in 2019. Strawberry also won the N.L. Rookie of the Year, and was the only Mets position player to achieve that accolade…until 2019.
6. Jacob deGrom(2014)
If you had told ten Mets fans on May 15, 2014 that a right-handed starting pitcher making his major league debut that week against the Yankees would go on to win Rookie of the Year, all ten fans would have bought Rafael Montero jerseys. Jacob deGrom, a 26-year-old drafted in the ninth round, was an afterthought — a quiet, lanky kid from Florida without a superhero persona or a Futures Game resume — but he impressed in his debut on both sides of the ball, firing seven one-run innings and getting a hit in his first major league at-bat (the Mets’ first hit of the game). Despite the performance, he was pinned with a hard-luck loss as the team fell 1-0 to their crosstown rivals. If that isn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.
After some midseason struggles, deGrom went on a tear to close out 2014, going 9-3 with a 1.90 ERA in his final twelve starts of the season. In his penultimate start on September 15, deGrom struck out the first eight Miami Marlins he faced, at the time tying a major league record for most consecutive strikeouts to open a game. By the season’s end, deGrom had tallied 140.1 IP, posting a 2.69 ERA and recording 144 strikeouts. Five and a half months after his unassuming promotion to the majors, deGrom had been named N.L. Rookie of the Year, and had become one of the key pieces in the franchise’s plans to build an elite rotation of young fireballers.
5. Tom Seaver(1967)
Tom Seaver was terrific out of the gate. While not yet at the level of dominance he would reach in 1969, when he won the N.L. Cy Young Award (along with 25 games), Seaver made an impressive statement as a 22-year-old Rookie of the Year in 1967. In 251 IP, Seaver posted a 2.76 ERA and racked up 170 strikeouts. He also mustered a complete game in 18 of his 34 starts, marking the most for a right-handed rookie since 1948.
Seaver eventually being nicknamed “The Franchise” feels inevitable when considering that, as a rookie, he set almost every major single-season pitching record — wins, strikeouts, and complete games — up to that point in the Mets’ six-year history. By 1969, at just 24 years old, Seaver had set the Mets’ all-time record in all three categories. He still holds each of those records to this day.
4. Jon Matlack(1972)
The Mets entered 1972 with a familiar, formidable duo of Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman sitting atop the starting rotation, but it was 22-year-old rookie Jon Matlack who might have been the team’s true ace. The lefty recorded a 2.32 ERA in 244 IP, striking out 169 batters and winning 15 games. He handily won the N.L. Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the second Met to win the award (after Tom Seaver had done so five years earlier).
Of all the phenomenal rookie seasons the Mets have had throughout their history, Matlack’s is perhaps the most overlooked — as is his career more broadly. Matlack ranks 12th all-time for bWAR as a Met, above two players (Keith Hernandez and Mike Piazza) who have their numbers retired, while he only played seven years in Queens. And as stellar as his 1972 was, Matlack’s magnum opus came in 1974, when he recorded 9.1 bWAR and seven shutouts. The only Mets pitcher with more shutouts in a single season slots in at the top spot on this list…
3. Jerry Koosman (1968)
Wait a minute, Jerry Koosman wasn’t even named the N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1968. What is he doing at third place on this list, ahead of four players who actually won the award? Even for “The Year of the Pitcher,” Koosman’s rookie season stands out as one of the best in Mets history. The 25-year-old southpaw pitched to a 2.08 ERA, the third-lowest for a rookie since integration (min. 150 IP). He totaled 178 strikeouts in 263.2 IP, firing a complete game in 17 (exactly half) of his 34 starts and racking up seven shutouts, marking the second-most for a rookie since integration behind Fernando Valenzuela’s eight in 1981. He also compiled a whopping 19 wins, a mark which only two rookies (Mark Fidrych in 1976 and Tom Browning in 1985) have reached since then.
Koosman’s numbers surely would have been enough to earn him Rookie of the Year honors, but the lefty — often overshadowed on his own team by ace Tom Seaver — was characteristically relegated to No. 2 status by future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, who won the award by a single vote.
2. Pete Alonso(2019)
Pete Alonso’s inaugural season comes with the most punchy accomplishment on this list: he hit more home runs than any other rookie in baseball history. No addendums. No specific timeframe. No qualifying splits. He hit 53 home runs, and that’s the most by a rookie in the 157-year history of the major leagues. It almost feels trivial to add, but Alonso also obliterated the Mets’ record books, setting the rookie mark for RBI by mid-July and the single-season mark for homers before the end of August.
On top of all that, he won the Home Run Derby, invented a new slogan in “LFGM,” and instantly propelled himself to face-of-the-franchise status in the wake of David Wright’s retirement. For a player who was openly disappointed that he didn’t get a call to The Show during the prior season, Alonso proved he belonged in every possible sense. It’s also worth noting that without the gutsy decision of another “rookie” — first-time General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen — to sacrifice a year of team control in order to have Alonso on the team’s Opening Day roster, the Polar Bear might not have set his famous single-season records (not to mention his eventual franchise home run record).
1. Dwight Gooden(1984)
Arguably the most electric start to a pitching career in major league baseball history, Dwight Gooden’s emergence was the type of fantasy you dream up when throwing baseballs in your backyard, or beginning a new create-a-player mode in a video game. In 218 IP, Gooden struck out 276 batters, setting a record which still holds for the most strikeouts by a rookie in the modern era, as well as a record which has since been broken for highest K/9 (11.8) put up by a rookie. Gooden reached a new gear as the season came down the home stretch; over his final nine starts, he went 8-1, struck out 105 batters while only walking 13, and pitched to a 1.07 ERA and 0.74 WHIP. Gooden also dazzled on the national stage by striking out the side at the 1984 All-Star Game, earning him one of the top entries on another Amazin’ Avenue ranking.
While Gooden’s dominance reached its peak during his sophomore season in 1985, his rookie season in 1984 was more than enough to spark a city-wide sensation. His starts were must-watch events, drawing energized crowds which Shea Stadium wasn’t used to seeing after seven straight years of losing baseball. While I wasn’t alive to watch Gooden pitch, the stats speak for themselves, and the stories—well, the stories still seem to speak from every corner of Citi Field today, including the literal “K Korner,” which endures in scoreboard form in left field. Oh, and as if that level of on-field excellence and off-field phenomenon weren’t enough to cement this season’s legacy, Gooden was only 19 years old. That’s two years younger than any other player on this list. Doc’s 1984 comes out on top in a crowded field of impressive Mets rookie seasons, and it would take quite a campaign to strip him of that title. Though as Mets fans are known to say, “Ya Gotta Believe,” and nothing is impossible…(We’re looking at you, Nolan McLean.)
Have a top ten list you want to see featured on this series? Comment with your category below!
Now that the 2026 Top 100 Prospect lists are out, it’s time to take a look at some of the Braves prospects who could make a push to be included on the 2027 versions of the Top 100 Prospects in the game. Of course Cam Caminiti will not make this list, as he is already a consensus Top 100 prospect in the game. We also won’t include JR Ritchie, who made the Top 100 on both Baseball America and Pipeline – only missing on Keith Law’s list among the three big lists released so far.
Didier Fuentes
Fuentes is one of the two easiest choices for this list after exploding last year, going from A-ball to the big leagues in the same season. Sure, he struggled in his brief MLB stint but it was apparent that the then-20-year-old wasn’t quite ready for the show. Fuentes will be given more time to develop this year, and isn’t likely to be forced into a role he isn’t ready for again as last year’s promotion was related to injuries. It would likely take improvement with his secondary pitches for him to move into the Top 100, whether his slider or splitter. If he could turn the slider into a second plus pitch, or make his offspeed pitch into an above-average offering to join his plus fastball and above-average strike throwing ability.
Owen Murphy
The other easy pick for this list is Murphy, who looked great in his small sample size after his return from Tommy John surgery last summer. Murphy was trending towards the Top 100 in early-2024, but going down with his elbow injury stunted that progress. Now that he’s healthy and in his second year post-TJ, the Braves will better be able to turn him loose this season. Murphy has three average or above pitches along with average command, so a full and healthy season could push him up the rankings this year.
Diego Tornes
While it may seem questionable to include a player who hasn’t played above the DSL, but Tornes is the type of prospect who could force himself up the rankings. Tornes was the top international signee by the Braves last year, has received great reports from coaches, and has five tools that grade out as average or better. He will get a chance to hit his way to full-season ball, which is likely what he will need to do to rise enough for the Top 100. With Tornes it is more likely a matter of when, and not if, he makes a Top 100.
You'll want to keep an eye on Diego Tornes 👀
At just 17 years old, he has an EV of 105.4 mph and an average EV of 88.1 mph 😳
A quick look at his stat line shows Gil posted a .731 OPS with 25 doubles, a triple, and seven homers over 100 games with Augusta last year. What it doesn’t show you is the fact that he hit six homers with 10 doubles and the triple over his final 30 games there – which coincides with his return from injury in late-July. Gil has always had the hit tool and double-plus speed, but if this brief power spike can translate to this year he has only started to scratch the surface of his potential – even if Gil doesn’t homer once every six games this year, just some growth to make him a more well rounded hitter would go a long way.
Conor Essenburg
A bit of a sleeper pick here, as Essenburg was the Braves fifth round pick last year and has yet to make his pro debut. Still the reports from him from the summer and fall were promising for the former Illinois prep two-way star. As Essenburg focuses solely on hitting for the first time in his life, there is plenty of room for growth for the young slugger.
Briggs McKenzie
McKenzie wasn’t the Braves top pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, but he was the one who received the highest signing bonus. McKenzie will need to add more strength to hold his velocity deeper into games as well as gain more experience with his lightly used changeup, but he has all of the ingredients to push his way up the rankings this year or next.
Tate Southisene
As the Braves first round pick last year, Southisene is a candidate to push his way into the Top 100 for next season. I tend to think this is a bit aggressive, and that would likely be two years away for him as he needs to continue adding strength and adjusting to the pro game. Still he is a player with draft pedigree and has all five tools that are at least average.
Luke Sinnard
Another sleeper pick, Sinnard was the Braves third round pick in 2024 despite not appearing in a game that spring due to injury. His injury kept him out from June 2023 until April 2025, and while he missed some time with minor injury last year he did show why the Braves drafted him. Sinnard only threw 72.1 innings split between both levels of A-ball, though he did also make five starts in the Arizona Fall League after the season ended. Sinnard will be in his second season removed from Tommy John surgery, and the imposing 6’8” hurler has already shown he can miss bats with three of his pitches in the fastball, slider, and curve. If he can use this year to tighten his stuff and command, he is a player who could surprise from the Braves system.
Nick Castellanos to the White Sox? Please, no. | (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Sure, it’s practically February, but the White Sox promised to be players in free agency.
All it took was getting Luis Robert Jr’s $20 million salary off the books for the front office to suddenly get ‘very active’ at exploring roster upgrades.
Of course, needing to dump Robert’s salary just to have operating income to acquire talent has led to a new round of criticism toward the franchise. Much of the criticism challenges the notion that aggressive teams like the Dodgers are the “downfall” of baseball when teams like the White Sox need to give away salaried players just to attempt to be competitive for the coming season.
It is hard to avoid getting frustrated with the team’s frugal ways, considering roster upgrades still could have been made even with Robert’s bloated salary included in the payroll. The club had $87 million committed to the roster per FanGraphs’ RosterResource before Robert was traded to the New York Mets.
However, we must stop getting upset over or surprised by owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s failure to reallocate revenue into player payroll. It is what it is. The hope is that this current group of talented young players, along with the promising prospects on the way, will allow the franchise to succeed despite the frugal owner.
It has happened before (although the owner eventually finds a way to ruin everything).
At least, Getz immediately reinvested Robert’s salary by signing reliever Seranthony Domínguez to a two-year, $20 million contract. He is going to be counted on to be the team’s closer, even though he has sporadic experience in that area. At the very least, he is a solid, high-leverage reliever. The bullpen desperately needed an upgrade in that area.
This club could still use a veteran outfielder to provide some cover in case Luisangel Acuña or Brooks Baldwin fail to take off with the runway they will be given. A left-handed bat off the bench would be nice to have. Another starting pitcher would be a welcome addition. That would allow the recently-signed veteran Sean Newcomb to be moved to the bullpen, where he has been more effective.
If another innings-eater is not added, then adding another high-leverage left-handed reliever must be a priority. I am not sure I trust Tyler Gilbert or Brandon Eisert to get outs in tight situations, considering they were not very good at it in 2025.
The prevalent thinking is that the White Sox should not shun the idea of acquiring any talent because of the team’s three-straight 100-loss seasons.
That was true when it came to last offseason. The club was coming off the worst season in the 162-game era. When you only win 41 games, any player available was better than what the team had.
Things changed last season when a young, talented core of players emerged in the process of losing “only” 102 games. The franchise now has young talent. It just needs that core to continue to ascend while mixing in additional prospects who are showing promise in the minors. While those prospects are still marinating, effective veterans to bridge the gap must be added (although it seems like the general manager prefers discarded talent that was once highly thought of).
I am actually fine with Getz sticking to his plan of finding former highly-regarded prospects who have not panned out yet due to a lack of consistent playing time. It cannot hurt to search for the next Brent Rooker.
If one does not exist, then Getz should be pursuing veterans where there is a good chance of still squeezing out the last good ounces of baseball those players have left.
Getz must also avoid upsetting a clubhouse that is building tremendous chemistry.
All that considered, there are three moves he must avoid making before Spring Training kicks off.
Do not trade for Nick Castellanos There is no official rumor linking the White Sox to Castellanos. Two brothers in the White Sox content world have floated the idea. It was based on USA Today’s Bob Nightengale’s suggestion that the Philadelphia Phillies would have to dump Castellanos’ salary to sign Bo Bichette.
The Phillies will likely still try to trade Castellanos, even after failing to acquire Bichette. They added Adolis García in the offseason. The relationship between Castellanos and the organization is strained. Castellanos was benched for a game because of a tirade he had toward manager Rob Thomson over getting pulled for defensive purposes. The relationship continued to deteriorate from there.
The logic behind the White Sox adding Castellanos is that they have the payroll flexibility, so long as the Phillies eat a significant chunk of his $20 million salary. Chicago could use a veteran corner outfielder, and the cost to acquire him will likely be a lowly-regarded prospect.
However, the White Sox must avoid considering adding the combustible and declining veteran. Nightengale pointed out that any team that acquires him must be ready to play him every day, or there will be problems: “If you bring Castellanos in, you’d better play him every day, or he is going to be upset and could cause you a disturbance in the clubhouse, which is what would happen in Philadelphia.”
Castellanos’ production decline no longer makes him an everyday player, at least not in the field. He is terrible defensively, with a career -90 defensive runs saved in right and -77 outs above average per FanGraphs. The White Sox already have one terrible defensive corner outfielder in Andrew Benintendi. They should not be adding another.
The Pale Hose also must keep the DH spot as flexible as possible to make sure young players such as Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, and Lenyn Sosa get regular at-bats.
That means no regular playing time for Castellanos, and opens up a clubhouse cancer to wreak havoc. This young, impressionable roster cannot afford to be exposed to Castellanos’ temper tantrums over a lack of playing time. They need a solid, steady veteran to show the kids how to go about the business, not someone who pouts when he is asked to take a reduced role.
Speaking of younger players, Baldwin provided very similar production last season:
I would rather give Baldwin a runway to see if he can reach the Ben Zobrist ceiling that the front office believes he has, rather than seeing if Castellanos bounces back.
Signing Michael Conforto over Harrison Bader It appears the plan for the outfield is to give Acuña a runway to prove he can still live up to his highly-regarded prospect status in center field. The Mets at least made sure he got some reps there in the minors, so here is hoping the conversion to the outfield goes better than it did for Andrew Vaughn or Gavin Sheets.
Baldwin appears slated to be the starting right fielder, with Everson Pereira in reserve. Then you’ve still got Benintendi’s atrocious defense in left.
If Derek Hill or Jarred Kelenic make the roster out of Spring Training, they can at least replace Benintendi late in the game for defensive purposes. That will still leave Baldwin or Acuña needing to play late as they still adjust to tracking fly balls.
That makes me incredibly uncomfortable, along with only having Benintendi as the only true veteran.
That is why adding another proven veteran to the outfield is a must. Signing Harrison Bader to a short-term contract would have been the ideal solution. It would have lessened the sting of losing Robert’s elite defense. He would still provide that glove to rob some doubles and singles as LRJ did. Also, Bader would have provided a huge upgrade over “Louie” Robert at the plate against right-handed pitching.
The problem with adding Bader is that he could get in the way of the front office wanting to give Acuña that runway it so desperately wants to provide. And cost — Bader signed virtually the same deal as Domínguez, getting two years and $20.5 million from the Giants on Monday — would have been another issue.
Now, the White Sox reportedly are interested in signing Michael Conforto. That rumor came out when Getz was working with a tighter budget, but knowing the White Sox it still could be true with a few more dollars to work with; never underestimate this organization’s ability to save money and bet on a veteran having a “bounce-back” season.
Rolling the dice on a proven veteran like Conforto producing better numbers than a .199/.305/.333 slash line in 2025 could make sense. Getz has a bit more cash to work with and should have used that money on Bader, who can play better defense in center and right while still having some good baseball left in him. Even with both players to choose from, it would not be a shock if Getz went with Conforto.
Bringing back Mike Clevinger as an organizational depth pitcher Signing Mike Clevinger when no other big-league club will has become an annual tradition on the South Side, one that has become a terrible look for the Pale Hose.
First, you got his off-the-field issues with past domestic violence allegations. This organization already has enough public relations problems. Continuing to bring back this shady character only exacerbates them.
The other reason it becomes an annual embarrassment is that 29 other big-league teams won’t touch him with a minor-league deal and non-roster invite to camp. He has been available on the open market four times since the White Sox brought him to 35th and Shields. All four times, no other team showed interest.
He was placed on waivers after the trade deadline in 2023, when he was pitching well. No contender claimed him despite the pitcher being on the way to a 3.2 bWAR season. No team signed him the following offseason despite the impressive metrics. Unlike the White Sox, the rest of the league saw him for what he is — injury-prone, and a public relations nightmare.
That did not stop the organization from bringing Clevinger back in 2024, where he could not throw strikes and suffered a season-ending injury. Once again, no team touched him in the offseason except the White Sox, who thought he could be the team’s closer in 2025.
They were asking a guy coming off a major surgery to throw harder, and it went as badly as expected. Yet, the organization kept him at Triple-A after designating him for assignment.
Hopefully, that was his last run with the club. The team has to get out of the Clevinger business because the business has been bad for years now.
Twenty-nine other teams will not touch him. Hopefully, the White Sox finally become No. 30.
McLean dazzled in 48.0 innings over eight starts during his big league debut last season, posting a 2.06 ERA and 1.04 WHIP while striking out 57 batters. He is expected to slot near the top of the 2026 rotation, perhaps right behind Peralta.
The other two prospects on the list will likely open 2026 in the minors.
Tong showed flashes during his first taste of the majors in 2025, but his arsenal can use some refining. The expectation is that he'll begin the season with Triple-A Syracuse, where he made just two starts before his promotion to the bigs late last season.
As far as Ewing, he had a breakout season in 2025, slashing .315/.401/.429 (.830 OPS) across three levels, ending with Double-A Binghamton. The speedy Ewing smacked 10 triples and 26 doubles while swiping 70 bases.
Williams and Sproat ranked No. 32 and No. 73, respectively.
The Royals have signed veteran right-handed pitcher Aaron Sanchez to a minor league deal, according to FanSided reporter Robert Murray. Sanchez was an All-Star back in 2016, but hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2022. The 33-year-old did not pitch in affiliated baseball last season, but he impressed scouts in the Dominican Winter League, winning Pitcher of the Year honors with a 1.55 ERA in eight starts.
Sanchez was originally a first-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2010 and faced the Royals in the 2015 ALCS as a reliever. He went 15-2 with a league-best 3.00 ERA in 2016, earning his only All-Star appearance. It was also the only season he made as many as 30 starts in a year. His season was limited in each of the next two years with blister issues in 2017 and a right-hand contusion in 2018. He struggled in 2019 and was traded to the Astros, where he suffered a torn capsule in his right shoulder, keeping him out the entire 2020 season.
When he returned, he showed positive signs in 2021 in 35.1 innings with the Giants, posting a 3.06 ERA, but he was ineffective the next year with the Nationals and Twins. He spent time in the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays organizations in 2023 and 2024, but did not pitch in the big leagues. Sanchez was not much of a strikeout pitcher in his prime, but succeeds with high groundball rates, often over 50 percent.
Sanchez will receive $1.35 million if he makes the big league roster, with incentives for games pitched. He has opt out clauses on April 15 and May 15.
The people have spoken and switch-hitting outfielder Jaison Chourio is our No. 10 Cleveland Guardians prospect. Chourio won a nailbiter, earning 24.5% of the vote, beating out Daniel Espino (22.4%), Khalil Watson (16.8%) and Jace LaViolette (16.8%). He drops seven spots from No. 3 in 2025.
Chourio was signed in the 2022 international class out of Venezuela for $1.2 million. He debuted in the Dominican Summer League that same year, putting up impressive numbers, slashing .280/.446/.402 with nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts.
In 2023, the switch hitter debuted stateside in the Arizona Complex League and he put up even better numbers, slashing .349/.476/.463 while stealing 19 bases in 39 games, good for an elite 147 wRC+. His performance earned him a late-season promotion to full-season ball, where he played nine games with the Lynchburg Hillcats.
Jaison spent his entire 2024 season with the Hillcats, although he likely would have earned a late-season promotion to High-A Lake County if he hadn’t fractured his wrist in late August. Despite the injury, he was named the Carolina League MVP after putting up some impressive numbers, slashing .269/.414/.398 with a career-high five home runs while stealing a whopping 44 bases in 98 games played, good for a 144 wRC+. He walked more than he struck out and also represented Cleveland in the 2024 Futures Game.
The 2025 season expected to be one where Chourio cemented himself as one of the best young outfield prospects in baseball, but it never happened. He missed about three weeks in May with a right shoulder strain. During his rehab stints, he left at least two games after tweaking the injury and even though he never hit the IL again after returning June 6, it appeared the injury bothered him the rest of the season. Chourio struggled mightily at High-A Lake County, slashing .235/.380/.284, hitting just two home runs and six doubles in 79 games played.
I’m going to chalk up the entire 2025 season to the fact that he dealt with nagging injuries because his numbers before that were too good. There’s no other discernable reason for his ISO to drop by 66% in one year. Chourio also is still just 20 years old and given the track record of his older brother, who is one of the best young outfielders in the game with the Milwaukee Brewers, it’s far too early to give up on him.
Now, it’s time to determine who is number 11 in the Guardians’ loaded farm system and you now have a whopping 10 players to choose from! Your options are below:
Impressed at the complex league, then hit the ground running in a late season promotion to Single-A before running out of steam late in his age-17 season. Loaded with potential.
Chourio was lining up to be Cleveland’s top prospect after a sensational 2024, but he was slowed in 2025 by a nagging shoulder injury and had a very average season. He’s looking to bounce back in 2026.
Daniel Espino, RHP (Age 25) 2025 (AAA): Threw 0.2 innings in one start for Columbus at the end of the season. 2025 (AFL): 4 G, 4.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 2.14 FIP, 33.3 K%, 14.2 BB%, 1.50 WHIP
Espino has long been an object of wistful dreaming for Guardians’ prospect aficionados with his upper 90’s fastball and slider that might be even better than the heater. The question is whether he can ever be healthy enough to make the big leagues, where his path is probably now as a reliever.
Venezuelan prospect who broke out in with increased velocity in 2025, putting up nearly identical numbers at both High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron. Gomez was added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster.
Acquired from Pittsburghin the Spencer Horwitz trade, Hartle was one of Cleveland’s most successful starting pitchers in its minor league system in 2025. Stands 6-foot-6, but doesn’t have a ton of velocity.
Cleveland’s first round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, the 6-foot-6 LaViolette instantly becomes one of the top power hitting prospects in the system. Strikeouts and contact have been an issue, however.
Cleveland’s 3rd round pick in 2024 out of high school, Oakie got off to a rough start in the Complex League, but then absolutely dominated when promoted to Single-A Lynchburg with a pair of 11 strikeout performances.
Absolutely dominated Double-A to begin 2025 looking well on his way to repeating his tremendous 2024 season, but then struggled after an early-season promotion to Triple-A. Remains on the 40-man roster.
One of Cleveland’s most impressive hitters in its minor league system during his stint at High-A Lake County as a 20-year-old. Rosario has a unique combination of speed and power, but will need to overcome his strikeouts.
Former top prospect returned from a torn knee and put up good enough numbers to finally make his MLB debut with Cleveland in 2025. Hit a memorable home run against the Detroit Tigers in the playoffs.
Acquired in the Josh Bell trade, Watson had his best season in 2025 after switching to the outfield from shortstop. Possesses a unique blend of speed and power mixed with great athleticism.
Our list so far: 1. Chase DeLauter, LHH OF 2. Travis Bazzana, LHH 2B 3. Parker Messick, LHP 4. Ralphy Velazquez, LHH 1B/RF 5. Angel Genao, SH SS 6. Braylon Doughty, RHP 7. Cooper Ingle, LHH C 8. Khal Stephen, RHP 9. Juan Brito, SH 2B/1B/RF/3B 10. Jaison Chourio, SH OF
With the 2025 Texas Rangers season having come to an end, we shall be, over the course of the offseason, taking a look at every player who appeared in a major league game for the Texas Rangers in 2025.
Today we are looking at outfielder Evan Carter.
Two years ago, one of the popular topics of conversation was which of the Rangers young stud outfielders you preferred — Evan Carter or Wyatt Langford?
Langford was the 3rd overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, tore through four levels in the minors in the two months after he signed, and posted an aggregate .360/.480/.677 slash line, making him a consensus top ten prospect heading into 2024.
Carter, meanwhile, went from being a national punchline when the Rangers took him in the second round in the 2020 draft to stud prospect (when he was healthy) to September callup, slashing .306/.413/.645 in 23 games to help get the Rangers to the playoffs, and then putting up a .300/.417/.500 slash line in the playoffs to help the Rangers win their first World Series title, making him a consensus top ten prospect heading into 2024.
During spring training in 2024, we did a Rangers Reacts survey on whether you were more excited about Langford or Carter. Langford won, but it was close, and there wasn’t really a wrong answer. The future looked bright with those two manning the outfield.
Heading into spring training 2026, the picture is much different. Langford has had his ups and downs in his first two seasons, has had a couple of injured list stints, has struggled with consistency…but he’s still put up a slash line of .247/.335/.423, good for a 121 OPS+, in 1130 plate appearances, while stealing 41 bases in 50 attempts and, surprisingly for a guy whose defense was considered mediocre in college, has been excellent defensively. In two seasons, Langford has accumulated 9.5 bWAR, and didn’t turn 24 until November.
Carter, meanwhile…Carter has had his ups and downs as well, but there have been more downs than ups. He missed most of 2024 due to back issues, started the 2025 season in the minors as he worked on a new swing to ease the pressures on his bat, got called up in early May, and ended up spending time on the injured list three different times, the final one being the result of being hit by a pitch and suffering a broken wrist, which ended his season.
Carter ended up playing in just 63 games in the majors in 2025, after logging just 45 games in 2024.
I saw someone describe 2025 as another lost season for Carter. I understand the sentiment, but I don’t really see it that way.
Yes, Carter played just 63 games, but unlike in 2024, he was pretty good in those 63 major league games. He slashed .247/.336/.392. He stole 14 bases in 16 attempts. He was excellent defensively.
Carter’s 1.9 bWAR for the season was the sixth highest among position players on the Rangers. And yes, that says something about the rest of the lineup, to a degree, but a 1.9 bWAR is generally considered a pretty decent season. Doing it Craig Gentry-style, in just 220 plate appearances, well, that makes it all the more remarkable.
(And if you don’t like bWAR, Carter put up a 1.4 fWAR, which, again, is pretty impressive for 63 games and 220 plate appearances).
The concerns about Carter coming up were whether he could stay healthy and whether he would hit lefties. Those concerns haven’t changed. The back issues, which have plagued him his entire career, were what had him spending the first six weeks of the 2025 season in AAA. He spent two weeks on the injured list in 2025 with a quad strain, and then, as mentioned above, missed the final month-plus with the broken wrist. Even if you want to chalk up the broken wrist as a fluke, the durability concerns with Carter remain.
And lefties? Carter was 2 for 23 with 4 walks and a HBP against lefties in 2025, an .087/.250/.087 slash line. For his career, Carter has an .083/.191/.083 slash line against lefthanded pitchers in 68 plate appearances. Evan Carter has yet to record an extra base hit against a lefthanded pitcher in the majors. (The regular season, anyway — he doubled off of Jake Diekman in the playoffs in 2023).
But even with those concerns, Evan Carter is a special player. He’s put up a 4.1 bWAR in 131 career games, all of them before he turned 23 years old (his 23rd birthday was the day the Rangers moved him to the 60 day injured list last year).
Maybe he’s always going to have durability concerns. Me, I’d be happy if the Rangers could get 130 healthy games out of him per season.
And maybe he’s always going to struggle against lefties. I have no doubt he’s going to put in the effort to improve against them, though, and again, he’s just 23 years old. Growth and improvement should be expected.
Maybe I’m just setting myself up for disappointment. Maybe the Grady Sizemore comps are all too accurate.
But I’m keeping the faith in Evan Carter. I’m asking the Baseball Gods to keep him healthy. Not even Cal Ripken Jr. healthy, or even Marcus Semien healthy. As I said, I’ll take 130 games a year from him.
Just give us that. Give us 130 healthy games a year from Evan Carter. Do that, and we will get to experience a special player.
Jacob Reimer’s father, Brandon, played baseball at Concordia University in the late ‘90s and took every opportunity to ensure that his son would pursue the same sport, installing a batting cage in their home and enrolling him on various little league and travel ball teams. Jacob initially began his high school baseball career in 2019 on the Yucaipa High School junior varsity baseball team, but by the end of the season, he had been promoted to the varsity team. He lettered over his next three seasons and ended his time with the Thunderbirds hitting .398 with 8 home runs in his final season there.
Reimer was selected by the Mets in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB Draft and had to choose between going professional or honoring his commitment to University of Washington. His desire to be a pro won out, and the infielder signed with the organization for $775,000, almost $250,000 over the MLB-assigned slot value of $507,500. The Mets assigned him to the FCL Mets in August and he appeared in 7 games with them, hitting .261/.414/.478 with 1 home run, 0 stolen bases, 6 walks to 3 strikeouts. That winter, Amazin’ Avenue ranked him the Mets’ 14th top prospect.
Reimer was assigned to the St. Lucie Mets to begin the 2023 season and hit a solid .280/.412/.392 with 10 doubles, 1 home run, 3 stolen bases, and 44 walks to 61 strikeouts for them in 75 games, missing a bit of time in late June and early July due to an injury. At the beginning of August, the 19-year-old was promoted to the Brooklyn Cyclones and finished the rest of the season in Coney Island, hitting .203/.354/.279 in 25 games with 1 home run, 0 stolen bases, and 17 walks to 22 strikeouts.
Ranked the Mets’ 9th top prospect by Amazin Avenue coming into the 2024 season, Reimer pulled his hamstring in March during spring training. His recovery took longer than expected, beginning his rehab assignment in mid-July rather than in June as initially believed, and after his rehab assignment ended, it only took another few weeks before he was placed back on the 7-Day Injured List. Ultimately, he only appeared in 14 games for the Brooklyn Cyclones and went 9-46 in those 14 games, with 3 doubles, 8 walks, and 7 strikeouts. The Mets sent the infielder to the Arizona Fall League a not only did he get a few more reps with the bat to get some of the rust off, but he also started learning a little left field. He appeared in 17 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions and went 11-53 with 1 triple, 2 home runs, 1 stolen base, and 15 walks to 13 strikeouts.
Amazin’ Avenue ranked Reimer the Mets’ 21st top prospect coming into 2025 and the infielder had a season that fully reestablished his top prospect bona fides to all. Assigned to the Cyclones to begin the year, the 21-year-old appeared in 61 games for Brooklyn and hit .284/.384/.502 with 18 doubles, 4 triples, 8 home runs, 11 stolen bases in 13 attempts, and 32 walks to 52 strikeouts. He was promoted to Double-A Binghamton in late June and finished his season with the Rumble Ponies. In 61 more games with them, he hit .279/.374/.479 with 14 doubles, 1 triple, 9 home runs, 4 stolen bases in 5 attempts, and 26 walks to 60 strikeouts. In total for the season, he appeared in a cumulative 122 games and hit .282./.379/.491 with 32 doubles, 5 triples, 17 home runs, 15 stolen bases in 18 attempts, and drew 58 walks to 112 strikeouts.
Listed at 6’2”, 205-pounds, Reimer stands open at the plate, holding his hands high at the eyes and wrapping his bat behind his head angled almost perpendicularly to the ground. He swings with a leg lift and has a level stroke that is direct to the ball. His swing is better geared towards pitches middle and up in the zone because he stands somewhat tall and stiff in the box, but Reimer has the plate coverage to make contact with pitches down in the zone he wants to make contact with and a good enough eye to know what pitches to lay off of. Especially relative to his age and amount of professional experience, he reads spin well, tracks pitches well, and has a strong sense of the strike zone.
During the 2024-2025 off-season, he put in a lot of work with organizational hitting instructors to modify and optimize his mechanics at the plate, leading to an improvement in his bat speed and his batted ball profile. This past season, he had a 39.3% groundball rate, 33.5% flyball rate, and 27.2% line drive rate with the Brooklyn Cyclones and a 39.6% groundball rate, 40.3% flyball rate, and 20.1% line drive rate with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, good for a combined 39.4% groundball rate, 36.7% flyball rate, and 23.9% line drive rate. Coming into the season, one of the biggest criticisms about Reimer was the fact that too many of the balls that he put in play were hit into the ground, causing him to run a problematically high groundball rate/problematically low flyball rate. In 2023, he played in a combined 102 games and ran a 46.1% groundball rate to a 32.2% flyball rate and 21.7% line drive rate. In 2024, he played in a combined 25 games and ran a 49.2% groundball rate to a 23.8% flyball rate and 27% line drive rate. In 2025, Reimer pulled more balls than ever, posting a 51.0% Pull rate, and hit more balls into the air than ever. He has always had solid in-game power, but was hamstringing himself by hitting the ball on the ground far too often. Lifting the ball more consistently, Reimer is driving the ball more and his burgeoning power really displayed itself in 2025.
A combination of facing more advanced pitchers combined with a hitting philosophy at the plate to go after more hittable pitches, Reimer’s Swing% is up slightly this past season, sitting at 43.3% as compared to 37.7% in his limited innings in 2024 and the 36.9% rate he posted in 2023. Reimer’s passivity at the plate was sometimes a source of concern in the past, as he would pass on just as many good pitches that he would be able drive as he did bad pitches. While he did swing-and-miss a bit more last season- he posted a 10.5% SwStr% last year, as opposed to a 8.2% rate in 2024 and a 7.8% rate in 2023- and make a bit less contact- he posted a 75.7% Contact%, as opposed to a 78.3% rate in 2024 and a 78.9% rate in 2023- Reimer’s overall offensive profile improved, as he was simply doing more damage.
For most of his prep career, Reimer played shortstop, but he grew off the position and was shifted over to third base in his senior year of high school. Since becoming a professional, he has primarily manned the hot corner, occasionally serving as DH and occasionally filling in at first base; in the 2024 Arizona Fall League, he even played a few games in left field for the Scottsdale Scorpions. Solidly built, Reimer is strong and athletic but does not have quick-twitch muscle. He is missing the explosive first step and lateral quickness that you want your third baseman to have, an issue compounded by passivity when fielding plays, letting the ball come to him instead of charging in on the ball. His arm is strong enough for third base, but his accuracy can sometimes be scattershot, depending on the difficulty of the play and how much time he has to set and release. If he puts on additional mass as he ages, his mobility will further suffer and he may be eventually forced to move off of the left side of the infield altogether.
2026 Mets Top 25 Prospect List
8) Ryan Clifford 9) Will Watson 10) Jack Wenninger 11) Mitch Voit 12) Jonathan Santucci 13) Elian Peña 14) Zach Thornton 15) Nick Morabito 16) R.J. Gordon 17) Chris Suero 18) Dylan Ross 19) Ryan Lambert 20) Antonio Jimenez 21) Edward Lantigua 22) Eli Serrano III 23) Randy Guzman 24) Daiverson Gutierrez 25) Boston Baro
Our 2026 Community Prospect List is through the first three rounds and there weren’t any surprises in the early going. Shortstop Leo De Vries absolutely dominated the first round of voting to no one’s surprise, taking over 95% of the vote to get things started. Considering he was the #3 overall prospect in the entire sport last year, it was an easy call for A’s fans to anoint him the top prospect in the system again. In a bit of a frustrating news De Vries couldn’t keep that spot in this year’s top prospects list, falling to the fourth spot behind Brewers middle infield prospect Jesus Made. De Vries didn’t do anything but tear the cover off the ball after the trade over from the San Diego Padres last year so one can’t help but think that De Vries is getting dinged a bit for being in the Athletics’ system now. Or perhaps if the top three weren’t also shortstop prospects De Vries would be higher up on the list. The top four prospects right now will all be judged against one another for the next few years and it’ll be interesting to see which ones have the best futures. Hopefully it’s our guy.
The next two rounds were also fairly predictable but also closer. Left-hander Jamie Arnold took roughly 60% of the vote in Round 2 to take the second spot on our CPL. Arnold only just joined the organization this past year when he was drafted 11th overall, which was a miracle for the Athletics considering he was expected to go much higher than that. While he’s a bit farther away as he’s yet to pitch in a professional game yet, A’s brass believes he could be a fast riser through the system. The A’s have had stud lefty prospects not pan out in the past though (staring at you, AJ Puk) so let’s not assume we have a budding ace before he’s even thrown a professional pitch. That’s the hope and the dream though, for the left-hander to be atop the rotation when the A’s make their eventual push for the playoffs.
Another left-hander followed suit in Gage Jump, who also took roughly 60% of the vote en route to claiming the third overall spot. A second-rounder in 2024, Jump’s rise has caught even A’s fans by surprise. A survivor of the dreaded Tommy John, Jump doesn’t have the typical build of a major league starter, or the obvious arnsenal and advanced repetoire of other high-end starter prospects. Instead Jump uses deception and a funky arm angle to give himself an advantage on the mound. He might not have the high ceiling that Arnold does, and there are some in the industry that believe an eventual move to the bullpen will happen, but for the coming year Jump is going to be continued to groomed as a starter and has the potential to be a quality mid-rotation starter behind Arnold on a future playoff squad. Jump currently ranks as the game’s #57 ranked prospect and could see the big leagues as soon as this summer.
Now that we’ve gotten the obvious top three out of the way, things will start to get much more interesting. Outfielder Henry Bolte has been considered the #4 prospect by national media and scouts in the know, but right-handed pitcher Braden Nett has become a serious contender to lay claim to that position. Then we have Wei-En Lin, who has absolutely rocketed up everyone’s boards and could be the option there ahead of Bolte and Nett. The early returns from you guys indicate it’s going to be one of those three, and it’s going to be close. So don’t wait! Go to our CPL and cast your vote if you haven’t already!
Here’s the location of a 99 mile per hour fastball.
I wouldn’t advise swinging at this pitch. In the Statcast era, there have been 2,416 pitches thrown at least that fast in this part of the plate. The rare guys who’ve swung have a 56% whiff rate and a .307 xwOBAcon. (Imagine Mike Zunino’s whiff rate with Leody Taveras’s quality of contact. Only worse.) Swinging at that pitch is frankly reckless. But here’s what Josh Naylor can do with it:
There’s an Elizabeth Taylor quote that aired relentlessly during the playoffs as Fox pushed its documentary about her: “I don’t think I’m reckless. But I am fearless.” That’s Josh Naylor. And it’s exactly why we all fell for him so hard so quickly. He’s not afraid to swing at a pitch like that, but because he can pull it off, it’s not reckless.
Ryan dug into Naylor’s penchant for swinging high and away after Naylor’s three-hit ALCS Game 2. In that piece, Ryan pointed to Dan Wilson’s thinking on why Naylor can get away with this where others can’t: “His swing is so adjustable. When he sees a pitch up in the zone, he’s able to stay really short and get on top of it, and that’s the key.”
By nature, Naylor’s a bat control hitter. He’s got the raw power you’d expect for a first baseman, and he could use that to chase dingers. But rather than selling out for launch angle, he uses his skills to square up the ball at the 89th percentile, peppering hits all over the field, with enough power to keep pitchers honest. Given his baseball IQ, you trust that choice.
It’s that ability to get the most out of his swing that allows him to fearlessly go after pitches most guys would only flail at. In the Mariners’ biggest regular season series of the year, he went after another high pitch to help bury the Astros.
The conventional wisdom is to elevate and celebrate. Naylor knows he’s better this way, and he’s brave enough to go against the grain.
While it comes through in his hitting, when you think of Josh Naylor’s fearlessness, it’s probably his baserunning that comes to mind first. And in this department, his fearlessness is actually underrated.
Naylor’s a big-bodied first baseman with a sprint speed in the third percentile, 12th lowest in MLB. And yet he stole 30 bases this year, including going a perfect 19 for 19 with Seattle. When he first started his spree, you could say it was just pitchers ignoring a big guy, but he didn’t get any less daring after the word got out.
So when people talk about his stolen bases, they usually talk about how he’s able to do it because of his baseball IQ. He can spot tendencies and timing in pitchers at an apparently elite level, enough to compensate for his concrete shoes. But consider the 27 other players with sprint speeds under 25 feet/second. 17 of them are catchers; it’s not exactly a low-baseball-IQ group. Yet those other 27 players combined for just 15 stolen base attempts. Naylor’s 32 attempts are a testament to his willingness to take risks. His 94% success rate proves he knows what he’s doing and that his baseball IQ is, in fact, elite.
This all came together in one of the biggest games in Mariners franchise history: Game 5 of the ALDS. If ever there was a time for caution, this would have been it. A slow guy getting caught stealing, wasting a precious base runner against Tarik Skubal, could easily have ended up being the story of how the Mariners were eliminated from the playoffs. But Josh Naylor wasn’t afraid to try, and in a game that went 15 innings, you can bet the run mattered.
He plays defense the same way. As he daringly plays farther toward second than any other first baseman. Others play a bit farther from the bag, but they do it safely, playing back rather than shading towards second as Naylor does. His confidence that he can still cover the bag means he’s not sacrificing outs to play with optimized positioning. In other words, it’s not reckless. Aren’t you glad he wasn’t closer to the bag in ALCS Game 3? Lots of teams would like to position thier first baseman here against Alejandro Kirk. Only Naylor’s can actually do it.
Naylor employs a style of play that seems crazy. But he’s not being reckless, just fearless. And beyond merely being good, this is what made him an instant fan favorite and a player the Mariners and their fans felt they couldn’t live without. It’s no wonder he was ready for the big moment.
