Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2026 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. SS Carson Williams | 22 | MLB | 2025
Featuring double-plus defense and easy power from the right side, Williams figures to open the season as the everyday shortstop for Tampa. I’ve always been low on him compared to the places he’s been ranked in most public facing places because he’s always struck out enough that I feel compelled to pump the brakes. In 32 MLB games, he slashed .179/.219/.354 after slashing .213/.318/.447 in 111 Triple-A games. Wait, should he even be atop this team’s list? Yeah, I think the proximity and power-speed upside warrants the spot. Plus there’s really nobody here to knock him off the top. I just don’t really want him on my teams.
2. RHP Brody Hopkins | 24 | AA | 2026
Tampa targeted Hopkins in the Randy Arozarena trade with Seattle and should push for a rotation spot this season. In 25 starts with the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, he recorded a 2.72 ERA in 116 innings. I’m surprised he didn’t get the bump to Triple-A at some point, but Hopkins did walk 60 hitters, and it can be tough to get by as a starter walking a guy every other inning. He also struck out 141 batters on the strength of a dynamic high-90’s fastball/slider combo backed up by a cutter, curveball and changeup. If the off-speed command comes together, he’s got the stuff to dominate even AL East lineups.
3. 1B Xavier Isaac | 22 | AA | 2027
A big lefty bat at 6’3” 240 pounds, Isaac had a weird year in 2025, slashing .201/.366/.446 with nine home runs in 41 Double-A games through June 25. He missed the rest of the season with an undisclosed injury. We can easily pick at the batting average and 29.7 percent strikeout rate, but he still produced a 144 wRC+, and he actually batted .218 if you drop the first week of the season. Not sure why you’d do that, except that Isaac got two hits in his first 25 at bats, and we didn’t get to see how the numbers might look across 120 or so games.
4. OF Theo Gillen | 20 | A | 2029
The 18th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Gillen features a quick, left-handed swing and a plate approach beyond his years, something he’s had to develop as opponents have tried to pitch around him. He might even be kind of a walk merchant right now. A little aggression could be just the ticket to a breakout season in 2026. In 73 Low-A games, he slashed .267/.433/.387 with five home runs and 36 stolen bases. Might be a good time to buy in your leagues.
5. SS Daniel Pierce | 19 | NA | 2030
Pierce signed for $4.3 million after the Rays selected him with the 18th overall pick but didn’t send him out for an assignment, so we don’t have anything on the back of his baseball card to look at. He’s a right-handed hitter listed at 6’0” 185 pounds and features a discerning eye at the plate and an approach geared toward all-field contact. He profiles as a sum-of-his-parts, do-it-all type whose hit tool will determine his ultimate upside.
6. 1B Tre’ Morgan | 23 | AAA | 2026
A third-round pick out of LSA in 2023, Morgan was selected on the strength of double-plus defense at first base. In Tampa’s system, he has developed into a weapon on offense as well, slashing .324/.408/.483 with ten home runs and 20 stolen bases in 100 games across two levels in 2024 and posting a .398 on base percentage in 92 Triple-A games this year. At 6’0” 215 lbs with average power from the left side, he still doesn’t have a prototypical first-baseman profile, but Tampa feels like the perfect team to maximize Morgan’s strengths.
7. OF Brailer Guerrero | 19 | A | 2029
At 6’1” 215 pounds from the left side, Guerrero’s a big time athlete with speed, power and a signing bonus of $3.7 million. He’s missed time due to a grab bag of injuries but looks impressive when he’s out there. In 50 Low-A games, his first shot at full-season ball, he slashed .251/.341/.403 with six home runs and nine stolen bases. Might not look like much, but it was 17 percent better than league average, and he was among the youngest players at the level. Feels like a Buy window this winter.
8. RHP Santiago Suarez | 21 | AAA | 2026
Suarez jumped from High-A to Triple-A to close out the season there with 11 innings across two starts that generated a 1.00 WHIP and accelerated his timeline quite a bit at least in my own perception. His season was interrupted by injury, but he managed a 3.12 ERA and 1.01 WHIP with 54 strikeouts in 51.2 innings in his 12 total starts, flashing the smooth delivery and plus command that has always allowed him to thrive against older players. His pitch mix is fine (fastball, curveball changeup), but none of the offerings is dominant at this point. He’s young and 6’2” 175 pounds, so the stuff figures to tick up at least a little, making him a high probability starter.
9. RHP Jose Urbina | 20 | A+ | 2028
As usual, Tampa’s system is deep. Urbina might be my favorite nine-spot guy I’ve ranked. At 6’3” 180 pounds with a double-plus fastball he can push up toward 100 mph, he’s just scratching the surface of what he can do on a ballfield. Scary stuff considering he banked a 2.15 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 20 starts this season, 19 of those happening in Low-A before the end-of-season graduation for an outing in High-A. He struck out 101 batters in 96.1 innings, backing up the fastball with a sweepy slider and promising changeup that tunnels well with the other two.
10. RHP Gary Gill Hill | 21 | A+ | 2028
Listed at 6’2” 160 pounds, Gill Hill has some frame-based upside to dream on here for the time being, and his current outcomes are good enough: a 1.16 WHIP and 3.86 ERA in 25 High-A starts (136.2 IP). He recorded just 107 strikeouts (18.8%), but the average age was 3.2 years older than him–a situation that will repeat in some form when he opens in Double-A at 21 in 2026. His birthday is September 20th, so he’ll kinda always be young all season until he’s not. Just spittin’ eternal truths here in the Gill Hill blurb. He’s already got control of five pitches: fastball, slider, curveball, changeup, cutter, so he’s got aptitude for spin and can probably adapt as he climbs the ladder.
Thanks for reading!
