Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2027 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. RHP Seth Hernandez | 20 | A+ | 2028
The 6th overall pick in the 2025 draft, Hernandez had a fantastic debut season, pitching 74 innings across two levels and striking out 118 hitters while recording a 2.43 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. At 6’4” 190 pounds, Hernandez faced little resistance during his six Low-A starts, but his high-90’s fastball proved a little more touchable in High-A. His curveball, slider and changeup were still hell on hitters, but he might need a little tweak to his heater to keep dominating as he climbs the ladder.
2. OF Edward Florentino | 20 | A+ | 2029
In dynasty baseball, we tend to hunt for upside, and Florentino shows up to the dynasty upside convention carrying flowers at 6’3” 200 pounds with an intimidating cut from the left side. He’s still playing centerfield and looking like he could stick at the position while popping 27 home runs in 103 games, mostly in High-A, where he slashed .228/.354/.490 with a 26.4 percent strikeout rate, good for a 110 wRC+. I’ve been comparatively low on Florentino due to hit tool concerns, and these outcomes do little to assuage that, but I’m keeping in perspective that he was three years younger than the league-average age as one of the few hitters who get circled by minor league pitching staffs.
3. 3B Murf Gray | 23 | AA | 2027
A three-year starter at Fresno State, Gray went 73rd overall in 2025 after hitting 36 home runs in 172 college games. A powerful righty at 6’3” 220 pounds, Gray continued to mash against minor league pitching, slashing .305/.402/.567 with 32 home runs in 126 games across three levels. Perhaps the most important piece of his professional journey so far is his climbing walk rate, from nine percent in Low-A to 11.2 percent in High-A to 14.9 percent in Double-A after going from 6.2 percent as a college sophomore to 8.2 percent as a college junior. That’s four straight levels of increasing his plate patience across three calendar years, which is especially notable considering one of the knocks on his draft profile was that he’d always been a free swinger who ran low strikeout rates partly because he ended at bats early in the count. He struck out 22.1 percent of the time while running that 14.9 percent walk rate for 45 Double-A games. I’m intrigued.
4. OF Derek Curiel | 21 | NCAA | 2028
Pittsburgh played the bonus-pool bonanza at the five-spot in this year’s draft and selected Curiel as a draft-eligible sophomore out of LSU, where he won a championship as a true freshman while leading his team in batting average (.345) and playing left field. He moved over to center as a sophomore and played well enough on defense that the Pirates will likely keep him in centerfield. A left-handed hitter at 6’2” 192 pounds, Curiel signed for $2 million under slot and might prove to be a huge value if he can add a little loft to his swing. He hit 13 home runs and stole 16 bases in 126 college games, so the current carrying tool for our game and the real one is the double-plus bat-to-ball skills, but that’s an excellent place to start.
5. SS Wyatt Sanford | 21 | A+ | 2029
A 2nd-round pick in 2024, Sanford enjoyed a breakout season in High-A this year, slashing .292/.423/.551 with 17 home runs and 33 stolen bases in 72 games. He did strike out 29.3 percent of the time, but I’m not worried about that in the face of his impact-on-contact and speed around the diamond. Last year in this space, I wrote “I think he’s way more interesting than his draft price and outcomes so far suggest,” and I might even double down on that after the loud outcomes. A left-handed hitting middle infielder at 6’1” 175 pounds with double-plus speed and plus power, Sanford has a topside that rivals just anyone.
6. C Axiel Plaz | 21 | A+ | 2029
One issue with evaluating Pirates hitters is the home park where the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers play. It’s 315 feet to left field and 312 feet to right field, and the fences don’t curve out toward center, so it’s still about 320 feet to each side as you slide toward the left-center and right-center field gaps. Anyway, the right-handed Plaz hit 18 home runs in 94 High-A games while slashing .305/.389/.513 with a 17.2 percent strikeout rate despite being two years younger than the league-average age. Listed at 5’10” 165 pounds, he’s much bigger than that today, and despite my opening blurb about that ballpark, it’s a line like this that makes me kind of ignore the voice telling me to be careful about the context. This guy controls the strike zone, attacks pitches he can damage and has plenty of power to play in just about any setting.
7. SS Aiden Ruiz | 20 | NA | 2031
Most of the money Pittsburgh saved by signing Derek Curiel for $2 million under slot value went to Ruiz, who signed for $1.2 million above slot value for the 44th overall pick. A premium defender at shortstop, Ruiz is a switch-hitter with plus contact skills from both sides. He won a gold medal for Team USA as the infield linchpin for the under-18 World Cup team that had number-two overall pick Grady Emerson at third base. I’m typically wary of glove-first prospects because they garner a lot of attention from public-facing lists built for the real game, but that’s not happening yet with Ruiz, who has plenty of potential as a hitter.
8. 2B Chris Rembert | 21 | A | 2029
A two-year starter at Auburn, the right-handed Rembert thrived against SEC pitching, slashing .344/.433/.505 with 14 home runs and just 75 strikeouts in 115 games. Pittsburgh went almost a half-a-million over slot to sign him after selecting him 51st overall in the 2026 draft. He settled in quickly with Low-A Bradenton, posting a .415 on base percentage in his 18-game debut.
9. OF Mitch Jebb | 23 | AAA | 2027
A shortstop-turned-centerfielder, Jebb features double-plus speed at 6’1” 185 pounds along with excellent plate skills from the left side. In 55 games with Triple-A Indianapolis, a Pawnee-area team that’s still named the Indians, Jebb slashed .286/.364/.475 with eight home runs, eight stolen bases and a 16 percent strikeout rate. He’s not even among the club’s top 30 prospects according to MLB.com, but I like his chances to help our fantasy teams in the near future.
10. SS Johan De Los Santos | 18 | A | 2030
If you’re crunched for time, you might opt for Johan’s older brother, Yordany, who just posted 19 home runs and 45 stolen bases in 92 games. I tend to reserve the ten spot for high-upside plays whenever it’s reasonable, so I’ll opt for Johan even after he got the bat knocked out of his hands in Low-A, where he slugged .310 in 21 games. He’d posted a 129 wRC+ with twice as many walks as strikeouts in 31 games on the complex prior to that promotion, and he was 3.9 years younger than the league average in Low-A, so it’s easy to handwave a 21-game slump for a 17-year-old. A left-handed hitter listed at 5’10” 165 pounds, De Los Santos is among a handful of guys with the speed, power and age-to-level context to make hyperspace jumps up the lists.
Thanks for reading!
