Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2026 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. OF Chase DeLauter | 23 | MLB | 2025
Here’s what Grey had to say the other day in his 2026 Fantasy Outlook for DeLauter:
“He’s a monster lefty bat who takes a ton of walks. That’s who he is. It’s who he’s been for a few years. He went 7/1/.264 with a 15.8 walk and strikeout rate. Yes, 15.8% for both. He’s a .380 OBP guy with power. In my rookie outlook post for him last year, I said, “So, he’s old. Not like dinosaur old, but Chase DeLauter is 23 and played less than 40 games last year in the minors. Does he have proclivity for injuries? By the way, you can’t say proclivity aloud without sounding like Dr. Evil.”
Great take. You don’t even have to say it aloud. Once you put “proclivity” in your head with Dr. Evil’s voice, that’s the way it stays. And it’s fun. I kinda can’t stop doing it. Anyway, I think DeLauter is the front-runner for rookie of the year. Unless Cleveland sends him back to Triple-A again, where he would almost certainly get injured riding a bus or sleeping on a couch or picking a fight with a mascot who hits the gym a lot.
PS: I’ve been watching TENET off and on today, and I feel like there’s a connection to DeLauter’s development path. I mean he just POOF appeared out of nowhere in the playoff lineup. Perhaps his timeline has been inverted.
2. 2B Travis Bazzana | 23 | AAA | 2026
The first overall pick in the 2024 draft, Bazzana brings patience and power from the left side at six-foot, 199 pounds. He hasn’t made a lot of contact as a pro, but the impact is still there. He slashed .245/.389/.424 with nine home runs and 12 stolen bases in 84 games, about 37 percent better than league average at each level. He hasn’t been a disappointment, per se, but I think it’s fair to say he’s an example of what you might get when you go bargain hunting at the top of the draft.
3. 1B/OF Ralphy Velazquez | 20 | AA | 2027
The 23rd overall pick in 2023, Velazquez is a 6’3” 240 pound left-handed slugger who looks like a steady bet for our game thanks to an intriguing blend of power, patience and contact skills. His catching days are behind him, and the bat responded with a big 2025. He hit 22 home runs in 122 games across two levels, finishing strong over a 28-game stretch with Double-A to close out the season during which he slashed .330/.405/.589 with five home runs. He’ll probably head back to Akron to open the 2026 season, but there’s a case to be made he’s already graduated that level, and that perhaps Cleveland should stop slow-roasting all their prospects.
4. SS Angel Genao | 21 | AA | 2026
Listed at 5’9” 150 pounds, Genao fits the Cleveland prototype of a smallish switch-hitting infielder with plate skills and excellent hands, both in the field and the batter’s box. 2025 brought the first real hurdle in his development, as he slashed .259/.323/.359 with two home runs and six stolen bases in 72 Double-A games. His 103 wRC+ was still better than league average, which is pretty solid considering his age, but most prospectors had him on a more aggressive trajectory than that, and I’m not convinced he’s tracking to be much more than pretty solid for at least the near future.
5. RHP Khal Stephen | 23 | AA | 2027
People like what they like, and the people in Cleveland’s front office like pitchers who pepper the strike zone with a plethora of plus pitches. Thus, when they were shopping Shane Bieber, they settled on Stephen: whose four offerings tunnel well together: a fastball with ride that sits in the low-to-mid 90s, a disappearing changeup from the same release point and a slider-curveball combo that suggests significant skill with spin. In 103 innings across three levels, he struck out 110 batters against just 20 walks and recorded a 2.53 ERA and 0.99 WHIP.
6. OF Juneiker Caceres | 18 | A | 2030
I ranked Caceres 99th on my Top 100 Update for Mid-September 2025 partly because he hit his way into being a major piece of several trades across my dynasty leagues down the stretch. I traded him along with Luis Pena in the Razz 30 for Seiya Suziki before the trade deadline, and then when the-offseason opened up a couple weeks ago, that same duo got dealt for Cade Horton. He also changed hands a couple times in the Highlander Invitational. Sometimes, this kind of hype goes sideways, but these days, if the interior of the echo chamber is clamoring for a kid, he’s likely to hold value for quite a while. A left-handed hitter listed at 5’10” 168 pounds, Caceres cruised through the complex league at 17 years old and closed out the season with 30 games in Low-A. All told, he slashed .270/.379/.410 in 70 games against players who were about three years his senior, on average.
7. 2B Juan Brito | 24 | AAA | 2026
2025 was supposed to be Brito’s big moment, or at least his big league debut season, but he broke his thumb on April 17 sliding into third base for Triple-A Columbus. He missed about three months after surgery and then injured his hamstring, had another surgery, and is reportedly ready to play some winter ball. A selective switch-hitter with contact skills from both sides, the 6’ 202 pound Brito slashed .256/.365/.443 with 21 home runs and 13 stolen bases in 144 Triple-A games during the 2024 season. He struck out just 105 times (16.1%) against 88 walks (13.5%). With a middle infield of Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio, Cleveland remains a land of opportunity for anyone who can hit, so Brito should finally get his chance to carve out some playing time in spring training. Trouble is, of course, Bazzana will be right there with him.
8. OF Jace LaViolette | 22 | NCAA | 2027
LaViolette hit .258 in his junior season at Texas A&M, costing him a few million dollars in the draft as he “fell” to 27th overall despite packing perhaps the best college power in the draft. At 6’6” 230 pounds, he blocks out the sun as a true off-the-bus All-Star. The club didn’t assign him to a full-season league after the draft. Might’ve been in the lab. LaViolette swings and misses at pitches he should smash, so pitch recognition and hand-eye coordination is where they can make the biggest impact in his development. I might even put him at first base. He’s athletic, especially for his size, so he’s mostly played outfield. Might be good for his eyes to see everything closer up for a little while.
9. C Cooper Ingle | 24 | AAA | 2026
At 5’8” 190 pounds, Ingle as a catcher leaves the umpires plenty of room to see the plate. I’m not sure if that’s a positive or negative. He hits well enough though, and he walked (16.9%) more than he struck out (16.7%) in 120 games across two levels this year, slashing .260/.389/.419 with 10 home runs. He’s a better real baseball prospect than fantasy prospect and a better OBP league prospect than roto prospect, so I’m not that crazy about him. He’s going to be on a bunch of top hundred lists over the winter, but I’ll bet he’s a free agent in a lot of dynasty leagues. Not that I wouldn’t scoop him up. Just that the rush to get him this spring if he’s pushing for playing time might be the peak of his dynasty value.
10. OF CJ Kayfus | 23 | MLB | 2025
Kayfabe didn’t break the dynasty prospect wall, checking in at 123 at bats in his 44 major league games. He graduated from non-fantasy lists on time served, making those major league ends for a couple months. A six-foot, 192-pound, third-round pick in the 2023 draft, Kayfus isn’t the kind of guy who generates big coverage in the prospect-sphere unless he hits well every step of the way and forces a big-league look. So he did just that, slashing .300/.390/.539 with 14 home runs in 86 minor league games across two levels. His big league debut didn’t go so well (.220/.292/.412), but it’s just fine in context and gives him a shot to grab some playing time at the start of 2026.
Thanks for reading!
