Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2027 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. SS Franklin Arias | 21 | AAA | 2027
An Itch-favorite over the past few years, Arias had a breakout season in 2026, slashing .323/.400/.557 with 25 home runs and nine stolen bases in 117 games across Double-A and Triple-A and playing his way to universal top-five prospect status. He struck out just 74 times in 520 plate appearances (14.2 percent) and looks fully ready to hit major league pitching. I’m still a little surprised he didn’t debut in September to help the post-season push.
2. OF Justin Gonzales | 20 | AA | 2028
Guys with his size (6’5” 210 pounds) and strength who control the strike zone like he does (19.9% K-rate in 507 PA this year) don’t come along very often, so even though he’ll be limited defensively, the bat should at maximum would be good enough to hold down a designated hitter job. He closed out the season with 18 Double-A games and won’t turn 20 on New Year’s Eve. In 89 High-A games, he hit 17 home runs and stole ten bases.
3. C Franklin Primera | 19 | A | 2030
Primera produced like Ted Williams on a hot streak during his 32-game stint in the complex league, slashing .427/.549/.718 with eight home runs, four stolen bases and almost twice as many walks (22) as strikeouts (13). He was slightly less superhuman during his 46 Low-A games but still slashed .329/.466/.494 with five home runs and plus plate skills: 12.6 BB% v 11.2 K%. The present skill is obvious in the stats, but there’s athleticism and upside here, too. He’s fine as a defensive catcher, but he might be a little too promising with the bat to give the time it takes most catchers to reach big-league efficacy.
4. SS Jake Schaffner | 22 | A+ | 2029
The 20th overall pick in this summer’s draft, Shaffner’s as left-handed hitter at 6’2” 200 pounds who had a big junior season at North Carolina after transferring from North Dakota State. The Sawx sent him straight to High-A, and Shaffner rewarded their confidence by playing a solid everyday defensive shortstop and slashing .315/.362/.435 with one home run and five steals in 23 games.
5. SS Henry Godbout | 23 | AA | 2027
Outstanding baseball name. Ten out of ten. With a lot of these cool names, we can enjoy them in our little corner of the internet, but that’s about the extent of it. I’ll show a name to my wife once in a while. She doesn’t find them as fun as I do. This guy Godbout, however, might be good enough to reach the pun level of sports media exposure. The 75th overall pick in 2025, he played 61 games across three levels this season and slashed .291/.402/.530 with 15 home runs and nine stolen bases. If a broken hand hadn’t cost him the middle of the season, he might already be a household name among prospect hounds. He hit eight of those home runs in Double-A over his last 18 games while playing everyday shortstop, in case you had any worries he might have to let that hand injury linger. Turns out, he didn’t have to. Didn’t have to.
6. OF Owen Hull | 22 | A+ | 2028
The 67th overall pick in the 2026 draft, Hull had a great junior season at North Carolina after breaking out as a sophomore at George Mason. In 69 games, the big lefty (6’4” 215 pounds) slashed .393/.500/.615 with nine home runs and 18 stolen bases. Boston was confident enough in the bat to send straight to High-A, where he kept right on crushing it: .337/.436/.531 with three home runs and a 14.5 percent strikeout rate in 24 games. That’s 0.6 percentage points lower than his strikeout rate at UNC. Weird, wild stuff, that. Might’ve made a team or two re-evaluate their pre-draft thoughts on this dude.
7. RHP Sadbiel Delzine | 19 | A | 2030
Listed at 6’5” 198 pounds, Delzine’s build looks closer to 240 if he’s actually that tall. I’m not saying he’s fat (click here to have a look). I was just expecting to see a skinny dude when I first read the profile. It’s not a bad thing either. At all. Sure, I guess it could become a bad thing if this develops into a Bartolo Colon situation, but we’re nowhere near that today. Delzine looks good, flashing three plus pitching in his fastball, slider and curve while mixing in a changeup. In 25 Low-A innings spread across five starts, he allowed a 2.52 ERA and 1.08 WHIP with 36 strikeouts against six walks. If you don’t want to end up a sad biel, squeeze this guy onto a roster or two.
8. RHP Juan Valera | 20 | A+ | 2029
Like a lot of teenagers who can throw 100 miles an hour, Valera needed Tommy John surgery just three starts into his age-20 season, putting his return sometime around mid-season in 2027 if everything goes well in his rehab. That’s certainly not a given. We as a baseball community have perhaps gotten a little de-sensitized to reconstructive elbow surgeries for pitchers, but I’m a worrier. I hope it goes great for Valera, for what it’s Wuertz. When he’s right, he throws a high-nineties fastball with cut that mixes well with his fading changeup and diving slider.
9. RHP John Holobetz | 24 | AAA | 2027
We’ll probably see this guy fairly early in the 2027 season because he’s their closest-to-ready starting pitcher and because he’s a pitchability guy with good command who knows what he’s doing on the mound and why he’s doing it. Milwaukee drafted him in the 5th-round of the 2024 draft out of Old Dominion, which is kind of another way of saying exactly what I said in the previous sentence. When he’s right, he keeps hitters off balance with a pile of different pitches and might add another variation by the next time we see him. In 40.1 Triple innings this year, he recorded a 3.57 ERA with 39 strikeouts against 11 walks.
10. 3B Louis Andujar | 19 | A | 2030
A pull-happy hitter with precocious feel for contact, Andujar forced a promotion to full-season ball after just 15 games on the complex by slashing .404/.483/.731 with three home runs and six stolen bases. He struggled early against much older pros but found his footing with time and wound up with a 103 wRC+ after slashing .318/.464/.470 with great plate skills (14.3% BB v 17.9% K) over his final 19 games. He’ll be 19 for all of the 2027 season and is on track to finish it in Double-A if he can keep adjusting as he climbs.
Thanks for reading!
