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In 2026, the Nats are not likely to make a ton of progress at the MLB level, at least when it comes to wins and losses. However, we should see Paul Toboni’s new plan lead to quick results at the minor league level. The Nats have several breakout candidates in their system. One of them is 19 year old RHP Landon Harmon, and I wanted to chat about him today.

Harmon was selected in the third round of the 2025 draft, but was given a $2.5 million signing bonus. That is way above slot value, and shows the Nats valued Harmon like an early second round talent. The industry also viewed him that way, with MLB Pipeline ranking Harmon as number 48 prospect in his class. 

After getting drafted last year, Harmon did not appear in any professional games, which is very common for high school pitchers. That means this will truly be his first pro season. Heading into this year, he has a lot of buzz behind his name. Fangraphs mentioned him as a guy who could be a top 100 prospect a year from now. MLB Pipeline also ranked him in the top 10 of the Nats system.

Now that we know the level of hype he has, let’s dive into what makes the Mississippi high school righty such an intriguing arm. His bread and butter is his fastball, which consistently gets plus grades. Pipeline has it as a 65 grade pitch and BA put a 70 on his heater. That makes it easily a plus pitch, with plus-plus upside.

The heater has everything you want. Harmon throws very hard, sitting in the mid-90’s. However, he can run that heater up to 98 or 99 MPH when he wants to reach back. When you look at his slender 6’5 frame, there is also more velocity to dream on. He could be a pitcher who touches triple digits one day.

However, it is more than just the velocity that makes Harmon’s fastball great. The pitch also has explosive life and comes from a flat approach angle. This makes his heater look even quicker than it is. It also has a bit of cutting action at the end as a little cherry on top. He was able to blow the fastball by even good high school hitters like Ethan Holliday at showcase events.

The heater gives him a strong foundation to build on, but there are also some interesting breaking ball shapes here. He throws both a sweeper and a harder slider. Neither are outstanding right now, but they both have above average potential. The fact he already has the ability to spin multiple different breaking ball shapes is also a positive indicator. It indicates a feel for spin and an ability to experiment. 

The changeup is admittedly a work in progress right now. He did not need to use it much as a high schooler because he could overwhelm hitters with his fastball and sliders. When he did throw it, the pitch was not anything special. However, at 19 years old, Harmon has plenty of time to find an off-speed pitch.

You can teach that, but you cannot teach Harmon’s size and fastball quality. Those building blocks make him a strong candidate to be a top 100 prospect in a year. They have some differences, but Harmon reminds me of Travis Sykora after he got drafted. Both have outstanding stuff and a better feel for pitching than most kids their age. 

Sykora obviously had a massive year in 2024, becoming a top 100 prospect. He was on his way to being one of the premier pitching prospects in the game before having to go under the knife in 2025. Harmon could be on a similar trajectory given his talent level.

There is already footage of Harmon at Spring Training throwing a bullpen. I do think it is a bit notable that we have seen him, but not guys like Miguel Sime or Coy James yet. It may mean the Nats are more comfortable letting Harmon be seen by the public due to feeling he is more advanced. 

Another indicator to see what the Nats think of Harmon is how they assign him. If they send him straight to Low-A, that means they have a high level of confidence in him to produce right away. If they think he is a bit raw, they will have him make starts in the FCL. 

Harmon should spend most of the season in Low-A, but he might get a taste of High-A if he dominates with the Fred Nats. I think that is in the cards due to the quality of his stuff. He is also a guy who should be helped by the Nats new development team. Harmon is a big ball of clay for those pitching gurus to work with. Hopefully, they can turn him into a high end prospect.

Today we are looking at the talented but enigmatic right-hander.

Ben Brown has had several lives as a Chicago Cub. He’s worked as a starter and a reliever, has ridden the Iowa bus often. His talent is undeniable, but he just doesn’t get people out as consistently as he or the Cubs would like. There are times when he’s dominant, and there are times when he gives up runs in bunches, and the latter happens way too often.

The word is that he has a couple of new pitches and is being looked at as a starter.

“I developed a sinker and changeup this offseason,” Brown said.— Sharma{$}

26-year-old Ben sports a career 0.7 bWAR (2.4 fWAR). He’s at this point a suspect rather than a prospect but his electric stuff is still tantalizing and he’ll get one last shot. He started 15 games in 2025, with middling results. His 5-8 record and 5.74 ERA indicate his success, as do his 1.439 WHIP and 1.5 HR/9.

He’ll have to do better.

The 2026 season is in the foreground, rapidly approaching. That means our coverage here at The Good Phight is also going to ramp up. We’re excited for the season ahead, ready to bring you more of the news, analysis and opinion writing that you’ve come to know. We’re also looking to expand to our staff of writers as well. While we have a substantial stable of excellent writers, we’re hoping to add one more person to the group to help provide more content.

What we’re looking for?

The new writer will be expected to complete at least 2-3 articles per week, depending on your agreed contract. The focus that we are looking to add is specific: we’re looking to expand our prospect coverage. Weekly reports, specific player profiles, deeper dives into all parts of the team’s player development system – this is what we are looking to add. While doing other articles about the major league team would always be welcome, the main focus of this position is expected to be on the Phillies’ minor league system, so priority will be given to those who are able to do so critically, analytically and fairly.

What else does the position entail?

There might also be occasions when we ask you to help with daily links (Rise and Phight), gamethreads and game recaps. It would all depend on what is needed and when.

Any writer who is accepted should:

• Be knowledgeable about the Phillies and will follow the Phillies closely.
• Follow Phillies media closely.
• Be able to concisely summarize text.
• Be well-versed in analytics and know how to use them to enhance articles.
• Be able to comment on text in an engaging manner.
• Be able to communicate regularly with the TGP team via Slack.
• Be a self-starter who can work with minimal direction.
• Possess solid communication skills.
• Be comfortable working in a virtual environment.

Is this position paid?

Yes! This is a stipend position, the amount of which is dependent on the agreed on number of writing pieces you would be expected to produce.

How to apply

Please fill out this form. We are a data focused site that uses Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, Baseball Savant, etc. to inform our ideas, so familiarity with those sites and content is a plus, but not necessarily a requirement.

In order to be considered, part of the above form will be submitting a writing sample as either a Google Doc or a PDF file. If you do not have any writing samples, you can submit something based on one of these two topics:

Topic 1: The Phillies’ player development system seems to be ranked anywhere in the mid- to low-teens in terms of national system rankings. In 500-700 words, where might that direction head after the 2026 season based on the state of the current system? Which players are crucial to help the team maintain their current position? Where does the team need to improve at to fare better in these rankings?

Topic 2: In fewer than 400 words, give a player profile of any minor league player in the team’s current system that is not one of Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter or Aidan Miller.

Please note: the application process will be closed on February 28, 2026 at 12:00 pm. From that point, we will be reviewing all applications and writing samples over the next few weeks. We will respond back to you in a timely manner. If you have any questions about the application process, feel free to contact me directly.

Last week, Royals Review Editor-in-ChLast week, Royals Review Editor-in-Chief Max Rieper asked us to highlight a minor leaguer to watch this spring. I immediately volunteered to write about a guy with a fantastic name who has been racing through the Royals’ system: Carson Roccaforte.

Roccaforte was drafted by KC in the 2023 Competitive Balance B round, 66th overall. He comes from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, where he slashed .325/.409/.550 in three seasons. He’s not known for his power, but he still popped 10 home runs in 2024 at High-A Quad Cities and 18 more last year between Quad Cities and Northwest Arkansas.

What stands out to me about Roccaforte is how he didn’t miss a beat after his promotion. He slashed .237/.364/.466/.830 (136 wRC+) for Quad Cities, then slashed .290/.387/.475/.862 for NWA (141 wRC+). Those numbers put him between Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen in terms of how well he hit in NWA. There’s some caution – he sported a .410 BABIP. But he has a lot of speed (he stole 43 bases between both teams last year) and he does a very good job of pulling the ball without overdoing it, so it’s reasonable to expect him to carry a somewhat high BABIP, even if that’s still a bit too high. He was also nearly a year younger than his competition at AA, which is one of the best signs of potential among minor league players.

He brings a ton of plate discipline with a solid walk rate while avoiding strikeouts. Probably part of the reason he doesn’t show more power is that he has a very short swing, which allows him to make sure he gets the bat on the ball, but might be the reason for his somewhat low bat speed.

That said, we have some statistics from the Arizona Fall League that show he doesn’t chase, but does an excellent job of getting the barrel on the ball. While he was there, he slashed .279/.393/.485/.878 and whacked two home runs and eight doubles in only 18 games.

He’s likely to start the year by returning to Northwest Arkansas, but with Jac Caglianone heading to the World Baseball Classic, he might have a chance to get some more playing time in Spring Training than normal. If he has a very good spring, he might have a shot to start the year in Omaha, where the Royals are known to have a somewhat weak outfield group.

It’s almost impossible to envision Roccaforte breaking camp with the big league club, but he can play all three outfield positions – he won the Royals’ Minor League Defensive Player of the Year award while playing center in 2024. If he continues to rake as he did last year, all it would take is an injury or some ineffectiveness from any of the Royals’ current group of outfielders to see him make his debut sometime around midseason or later.

Even if he doesn’t debut for KC this season, he should find himself in a prime position to compete for a roster spot at the beginning of 2027, perhaps to take over from Kyle Isbel ahead of his age-30 season. The ceiling isn’t nearly as high as that of Jac Caglianone, of course, but if he can continue to improve his hitting, he could be something of a faster Luis Arráez with better defense at a more premium defensive position. And I think we’d all enjoy watching that guy patrol centerfield for years to come.

Howie Rose won’t be hitting the road this season unless the Mets make the playoffs.

The longtime radio voice of the Mets will call 84 games this season, he told Newsday — all 81 home games and the three-game series against the Yankees in The Bronx.

The 72-year-old, who worked 100 games in 2025, would call every playoff game, though, should the Mets qualify. Beyond that, nothing is guaranteed.

“I’m going to work this whole season,” Rose told the outlet. “And whether or not I work next season is not a matter of whimsy or anything like that. I’ll know. When I decide to say it — and it could be at any time — it could be in a couple of years. Who knows?”

Rose, who previously was the Mets’ TV play-by-player, has been part of their radio booth since 2004. He currently calls games with Keith Raad, while pre-and-postgame host Patrick McCarthy fills in when needed.

Rose’s schedule had been reduced in recent years in part due to bladder cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2021. His bladder and prostate were removed and a “neobladder” was created from the intestines.

Calling games is still enjoyable for Rose, but everything that goes into it before and after has become a “grind.”

“If you could parachute me into the booth at 7 o’clock every night and parachute me back home when the game is over without dealing with traffic and preparation and everything else, then I’d go on indefinitely,” Rose told Newsday. “But there’s a lot of factors as you get older — your health, certainly the greatest of it. The other things that, I suppose, contribute to an ultimate decision is do I want to continue leaving my wife home at night all the time? Do I want to continue working at night? Do I want to continue finding the energy to prep properly for a game? Those are the things I evaluate.”

Rose will be on the call Saturday for the Mets’ spring opener against the Marlins in Port St. Lucie.

The start of spring training is usually the time of year where we start to hear copious reports about [insert any baseball player you want here] being in The Best Shape of His Life heading into camp. Ronald Acuña Jr. may fall into this category after he was spotted hitting batting practice bombs at the start of spring training and exclaiming loudly that “I’M HEALTHY!” afterwards. There’s no other message to take from this post other than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is currently in The Best Shape of His Life.

While the topic of this particular article may not be in the best shape of his life, the Braves would certainly benefit from having him healthy once again and you might even say that it’s crucial that he stays healthy going forward. That man is Austin Riley, who has spent the past two seasons scuffling a bit and seeing his campaign get cut short due to injury. Just when Riley was starting to really get rolling in 2024, he got hit on the wrist with a heater and that was it for his season. A sports hernia essentially derailed anything that Riley had going on in 2025.

Of course, one player is not going to derail any given season. We got a clear example of that up close and personal in 2021 when this team won the World Series without Ronald Acuña Jr. playing any games in the second half or Postseason. With that being said, it’s a stone cold fact that this team absolutely needs to have Austin Riley doing well at the hot corner and the bottom line is that if this team is going to accomplish what it wants to, they need Riley to be healthy and productive.

Fortunately, it feels like Riley is feeling good coming into this season. Braves beat writer Mark Bowman wrote an article on Riley recently and while every single baseball team and player has reason to feel optimistic at this time of year, it sure seems like Atlanta’s star third baseman has very good reason to feel optimistic.

The sports hernia surgery performed this past summer didn’t limit Riley this offseason. So, there’s reason the two-time All-Star is confident he can get back to where he was when he finished top seven in National League MVP balloting three straight seasons (2021-23).

“The sports hernia, I’m not even thinking about it,” Riley said. “The hand, I’m not even thinking about it. So, having a whole offseason getting to do what I’ve done in the past is huge.”

Again, it’s probably not a coincidence that this team (and the lineup in particular) is better when Austin Riley is productive. Riley put up five consecutive 5 fWAR seasons from 2021 through 2023 — the Braves won the World Series in 2021, they won 101 games in 2022 and then won 104 games in 2023. During Riley’s injury plagued 2024 and 2025 campaigns, the team limped into the Wild Card round in 2024 and missed the Postseason entirely in 2025. Again, one man doesn’t make or break a team’s fortunes in the ultimate team sport that is baseball but it’s clear that Riley is going to play a very big part in any level of success that the Braves hope to have going forward.

The good news is that there seems to be some evidence that a healthy Austin Riley should live up to the lofty expectations that are expected of him. MLB.com also recently posted a list of every team’s projected leader in WAR for the upcoming season and while Ronald Acuña Jr. is the obvious favorite to lead the Braves in WAR going forward, there figures to be a furious fight for second place in that category and he leader of that pack might be Austin Riley. FanGraphs Depth Charts is projecting that Acuña will finish with 5.4 WAR as a batter but then Austin Riley is right behind him at a projected 3.6 WAR.

In fact, Riley’s being projected to hit .261/.324/.470 with .340 wOBA. While that’s slightly below his career numbers of .270/.334/.492 with .352 wOBA, it’s also better than the .258/.316/.445 slash line (with .328 wOBA) that he produced over the course of the past two seasons. In fact, his 2024 numbers (.256/.322/.461, .338 wOBA, 116 wRC+) weren’t terrible and were actually trending upwards until he got hit on the wrist.

Even in 2025, he was doing pretty well right up until his abdomen started acting up on him as he had hit .274/.324/.441 with a .330 wOBA and 111 wRC+ over 408 plate appearances. While all of these numbers are still lower than what he was putting up during his peak performance, it’s productive enough to help make sure that this is a tough lineup to deal with with a healthy Austin Riley in it.

Alex Anthopoulos is also on record saying that he believes that the offense as a whole bouncing back may be a more important influence on any of Atlanta’s future success going forward, so obviously that would include a healthy Austin Riley in any formula that leads to the Braves doing well as a lineup going forward. There may be some questions about health and consistency but a lot of this lineup has the track record behind them to believe that a bounce back could absolutely be possible.

Austin Riley is absolutely a prime candidate to bounce back and if he does then the Braves should be in very good shape going forward. Riley might not be the straw that stirs the drink but the Braves absolutely need a healthy and productive Riley to come through for them if they want to perform well as a team going forward. We’ll see what happens but for now, it’s fun to imagine Riley going out there and raking like usual while shattering all types of proverbial glass.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The New York Mets will play their first Grapefruit League game of 2026 on Saturday afternoon at Clover Park.

Brandon Waddell will be on the mound for the spring opener and some notable names will be noticeably absent.

But there have been some clues about what could potentially come down the line for the Mets before the upcoming season. There are some intriguing names, noteworthy injuries and position battles to watch.

Here are three way-too-early predictions for the 2026 season about two weeks into spring training:

Veteran reliever Yency Almonte is back with the Dodgers on a minor league contract, rejoining a team he pitched for in both 2022 and 2023.

Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic reported the signing, and earlier Thursday morning Almonte himself posted a picture on Instagram of him holding a Dodgers cap in front of his locker at Camelback Ranch.

Almonte has battled injuries over the past four seasons, including right shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in July 2024 while with the Cubs. He didn’t pitch in the majors in 2025, spending the entire season on the 60-day injured list. He did last year pitch 15 games in the minors on rehab between High-A South Bend and Double-A Knoxville, posting a 1.86 ERA in 19 1/3 innings, with 17 strikeouts and 10 walks.

In his first foray with the Dodgers, Almonte also signed a minor league deal in 2022. He reached the majors in May and posted a 1.02 ERA and 2.89 xERA in 33 games, with 33 strikeouts and 10 walks in 35 1/3 innings and missed seven weeks with right elbow tightness. He struggled in 2023, with a 5.06 ERA and 4.38 xERA in 49 games in a year that was cut short by a right knee sprain.

Traded to the Cubs in the Michael Busch deal, Almonte in 2024 had a 3.45 ERA and 3.29 xERA in 17 games with 20 strikeouts and eight walks in 15 2/3 innings before succumbing to his shoulder injury.

Almonte, who turns 32 in June, has a 4.44 career ERA in 213 games, all relief appearances for the Rockies, Dodgers, and Cubs over seven major league seasons, with 215 strikeouts and 95 walks in 223 innings.