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The Itch

Author: The Itch

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The Itch

Prospect News: Top Five Takeaways From The Arizona Fall League

November 8, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 1 Comment

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The Arizona Fall League’s regular season ended this week. They’ll have a home run derby today before heading on to post-season play, so this seems like a nice time to sift through some outcomes to see if we can find some home runs of our own. 

Guardians SS Welbyn Francisca (20, AA) hit a career-high 19 home runs in 79 games during the regular season and kept the good times rolling in the fall league, slashing .419/.482/.716 with four home runs and six stolen bases in 16 games. A switch-hitter listed at 6’0” 184 pounds, Francisca grew into some strength last off-season and might do the same again this winter. It’s a trademark of this organization, which has a track record of helping hit-tool kids like this one add muscle across time while retaining the twitch that could make them special. 

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The Itch

Prospect News: 2027 Minor League System Rankings: NL Edition

November 4, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 2 Comments

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Look, I can’t claim I’ll be good at this. I’ve never tried to rank organizations. I think it’s partly because I come from the perspective of learning, as in, I’m just trying to learn quickly enough to keep up. These organizations are staffed by numerous professionals whose job it is to identify, acquire and develop talent full-time 365 days a year. The idea that a single mind can track, categorize and rank the collective “value” of all the people (many of them teenagers) populating those 30 baseball-player-making planets strikes me as a little silly. Nonetheless, I have a deadline to meet, and I’m old enough now to accept that some grace is built into the premise. Anyone who really follows baseball knows every individual player’s skill level fluctuates across time, so here we go: let’s rank 2,475 players by their organizational sets of 165. 

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The Itch

San Francisco Giants Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

November 1, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 11 Comments

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1. SS Josuar Gonzalez | 19 | A | 2029

A switch-hitter listed at 5’11” 178 pounds, Gonzalez signed for $2,997,500 in the 2025 J-15 class after demonstrating plus bat speed from both sides of the plate on the amateur circuit and drawing comparisons to Francisco Lindor. In 61 games split almost evenly between the complex league and Low-A, Gonzalez slashed .351/.447/.544 with five home runs, 21 stolen bases, 41 walks and 51 strikeouts. I expect him to open the year in High-A. He won’t turn 20 until October 16 and will be among the youngest players at his level(s) for the next few seasons, trending toward universal top ten prospect status.

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The Itch

San Diego Padres Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

October 25, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | Leave a comment

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1. C Ethan Salas | 20 | MLB | 2026 

A defensive wunderkind behind the dish who signed for $5.6 million as a 16-year-old, Salas erupted with the bat in 2026 and wound up in the majors about six weeks after he turned 20. San Diego’s is often among the most work-intensive reports to write because there’s so much turnover within the system, but Salas has been a cornerstone in the pipeline. This should be his last time on the list. He might even push for rookie of the year in a class that could be a little light on guys who earn early playing time.

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The Itch

Los Angeles Dodgers Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

October 21, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 3 Comments

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1. OF Josue De Paula | 21 | MLB | 2026

Listed at 6’3” 185 pounds, De Paula appears to be bigger than that to the naked eye–not that I’m walking around with inappropriate eyewear looking at teenage athletes. A left-handed hitter with great plate skills and impressive contact skills for a guy with his raw power, De Paula looked like the toughest out in LA’s lineup for a minute, posting a .500 on base percentage through 42 major league plate appearances. When I sent Grey my top prospects for 2027 redraft leagues on the eve of the postseason, I ranked De Paula first and thought he had all but displaced Teoscar Hernandez as the everyday left fielder. Grey was dubious that De Paula would get the playing time to secure that outcome. I thought they’d need him in the lineup to compete for a title and that they generally need to start infusing some youth into an aging offense. I genuinely thought he might become a star on the national stage this October. Dear reader, I was wrong. The Dodgers left De Paula on the bench as they got swept. Is that a harbinger of how they’ll deploy him next season? Certainly could be. They did have him skip Triple-A, so I suppose they could send him back there and leave him in Oklahoma City until some kind of injury opens a door for him. In 124 Double-A games this year, he hit 27 home runs and struck out just 87 times against 81 walks. A better hitting prospect does not exist right now.

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The Itch

Colorado Rockies Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball 

October 18, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 1 Comment

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1. SS Ethan Holliday | 20 | A | 2029

Holliday was hitting for power and taking his walks in Low-A when he broke a bone in his foot, ending his 33-game season in May with a slash line of .262/.395/.557 and nine home runs. A huge lefty bat with a big swing at 6’4” 210 pounds, he struck out 28.3 percent of the time and will likely always face some issues when it comes to making consistent contact, but the impact when he connects should be enough to carry him through the system. 

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The Itch

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

October 14, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 5 Comments

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Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2027 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival  1. 3B Demetrio Crisantes | 21 | AAA | 2028 A sure-handed defender with average athleticism at 6’0” 178 pounds, Crisantes doesn’t have the highest ceiling but looks like a high probability major league hitter after slashing .292/.377/.477 […]

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The Itch

St. Louis Cardinals Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

October 11, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 2 Comments

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1. C Rainiel Rodriguez | 20 | AA | 2027

Comfortably among the best hitting prospects in the game, Rodriguez is listed at 5’10” 197 pounds with a quick right-handed cut. If you’ve been around a while, you’ll know the next sentence refers to this human being larger than his listed weight. He’s already generating easy power to all fields, and St. Louis has promoted him quickly, but with their catcher position stacked several studs deep, they’ve got several decisions to make in short order. Rodriguez is forcing the issue on the field, slashing .324/.417/.574 in 115 games across two levels. That’s the kind of bat you don’t handcuff to some dream of topside defensive value, but Rodriguez can really play the position, and this is the perfect organization to mix him in behind the plate while his bat develops against major league pitching. 

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The Itch

Pittsburgh Pirates Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

October 7, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 2 Comments

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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. 

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The Itch

Chicago Cubs Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

September 23, 2026 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Featured | 2 Comments

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Chicago Cubs Top 10 Prospects For 2027 Fantasy Baseball 

Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2027 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival 

1. OF Josiah Hartshorn | 20 | AA | 2028

Here’s what I wrote about Hartshorn on June 3 in Prospect News: Hurtado So Good or Frias From Evil:

“Cubs OF Josiah Hartshorn (19, A+) has been playing center field in High-A: something of a surprise considering his six-foot, 220-pound frame. The switch-hitter has three home runs through just seven games at the level, slashing .400/.469/.800 with five walks and five strikeouts, bringing his season-long totals to 39 walks (18.7%) against 32 strikeouts (15.3%). He might be ready for his next challenge already and makes for an intriguing trade target in dynasty leagues. Perhaps it’s already too late to buy low, but you could probably still buy on the rise at a reasonable rate.”

Flash forward three-point-five months and Hartshorn’s season has just ended with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies. He won’t turn 20 until February 2nd. In 83 High-A games prior to his late-season promotion, he slashed .297/.405/.560 with 18 home runs, 12 stolen bases and a 21.4 percent strikeout rate against guys who were 3.1 years his senior, on average. Impressive stuff. Don’t let your heart get cut here because the Cubs churn through a lot of good prospects, but this kid looks good. 

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