1. SS Sebastian Walcott | 19 | AA | 2026

Here’s what I wrote for last year’s list:

“An extreme athlete at 6’4” 190 lbs with double-plus power and easy plus speed, Walcott has a path to becoming baseball’s top prospect by this time next year. He’s smooth enough on defense to project a future at shortstop and jumped Low-A to join the High-A team as it headed toward the playoffs. In 35 games on the complex, Walcott slashed .273/.325/.524 with seven home runs, nine steals and 51 strikeouts. Anyone pumping the brakes on him is especially concerned with this last piece because Walcott has some swing-and-miss in his game that could become an issue if the contact skills don’t make a leap as he ages up.”

I dropped that in here because it’s pretty close to what I’d write about Walcott this winter, particularly the number one prospect part, the best argument against which might be that he’s there already. In 121 games, the final five in Double-A, Walcott slashed .265/.344/.452 with 11 home runs, 27 stolen bases and a 25.6 percent strikeout rate. He was 4.1 years younger than the average at High-A and 6.2 years younger than the average in Double-A.