Top 100 prospect rankings preseason 2026

Before I share my list, here are a few factors that go into my list:

1) These rankings are geared towards a 12T dynasty league. As a result these rankings will tend to boost high risk/upside players more. In deeper formats like your 30 team leagues where just getting players who will play every single day matters much more you should be lowering the values of those high risk players

2) I use >50 IP or >130 AB's as the cutoff for when someone is no longer considered a prospect for this list

3) My own personal biases tend to favor prospects on teams I trust (TB, MIL, CLE, SEA, etc) while heavily penalizing teams I don't trust (COL, MIN, LAA, CWS, etc). That will have a significant impact in my rankings

The List

A Few Notable Standouts from the list:

Colt Emerson (5)
Colt Emerson is the crown jewel within the deep Mariners farm system, but his hype doesn't fully reflect just how good of a player he is. When he was drafted 23rd overall in the 2023 draft, there were some concerns with his inconsistent power numbers fueled by a lot of ground balls and his fielding projections over whether he could stay at SS in the long term with his size and speed.

While still a work in progress, Colt Emerson has improved his ground ball rate while learning to pull the ball a bit more. His defense has improved significantly, especially with his range and quickness around the bag as well as his footwork. At this point it's looking like he will play 3B with the Mariners once he is called up in 2026 and then will shift back to SS for the 2027 season once J.P. Crawford becomes a free agent as I expect the Mariners to prioritize their spending in other places.

Colt Emerson has improved multiple skills while jumping multiple levels of professional baseball in the past 2 seasons, which is a big green flag for his profile. Even if he doesn't win the starting job out of spring training, he should be up relatively early in 2026. If it all clicks, I think this could be a 25+ HR/SB combo with a .290 BA or higher.

Bryce Eldridge (16)
Part of the reason I'm in on him is because of the live look I got on him back in August of 2024 in high A. In this game Eldridge went 2 for 3 with 2 walks, a single, flyout, and an absolute mammoth of a home run. In my 1 game live look he showed incredible plate discipline. He took the pitches outside the zone, fouled off the borderline pitches, and dealt damage when mistakes were given to him. At 6 foot 7, he really took control of his AB's and made the pitchers fear him.

The other reason I'm invested in him is because I believe the public perception is lower on him than it should be. The public opinion of Bryce Eldridge has soured due to his rough debut and how he'll need to play half his games in SF. Those are absolutely legitimate concerns, but how many players struggle when making the largest jump in professional ball from AAA to the majors? Let's remember that Bryce Eldridge is just 21 years old so let's be patient and give him time to make the adjustments he needs. The power is legit and this could be a 40 HR bat.

Ryan Sloan (14)
Ryan Sloan is going to be a stud. He's big, he's physical, he's got 3 plus pitches (fastball, slider, and splitter), and he'll be playing half his games in Seattle. While he can touch 99, he's comfortable sitting 94-97. He aggressively attacks the zone. He does everything you would want and he's looking more like the Mariners next great Starter. While I'm probably being over aggressive with Sloan in my rankings, I'm trying to acquire him in dynasty leagues while I still can at a reasonable price.

Noah Schultz (35)
I wrote a much longer deep dive into examining Noah Schultz's injury ended 2025 here. The TLDR version is that I believe his injury concerns are extremely overblown and that now is the time to buy back in on him before his price tag rises.

Jordan Lawlar (72)
I'm out on Jordan Lawlar. I know that I'm exercising patience with a small sample size with Bryce Eldridge, but I feel differently about Jordan Lawlar. Yes, he has struggled in his small sample size in the majors, but Arizona has had many opportunities to call him up and play him everyday, but they've chosen not to. This is a major red flag for me because it signals that a team doesn't trust him to handle the everyday job. Maybe putting Lawlar in CF will work in 2026, but why are they trying this now? I might be very wrong on my ranking of Lawlar, but I'm too spooked out by this and I simply would rather take chances on other prospects.

Caden Scarborough (77)
I play in a fantasy league with some Rangers fans and the two prospects that they are attached to are him and Walcott, and it's not hard to see why. While his professional baseball debut started out rough debut in 2024, he spent the following offseason working on creating a more repeatable and efficient delivery that has helped him throw strikes consistently. The 33.2% K rate and 6.1% walk rate he posted throughout low A and high A were a direct reflection of these changes.

At 6-foot-5, Scarborough already has 2 plus pitches with a fastball that can reach 97 with riding life and a sweeping slider that averaged 7+ inches of horizontal movement as a true swing and miss offering. The changeup remains the question here for Caden Scarborough's future. Currently it's a 45-grade pitch. If he can develop it into a league average pitch he could become a SP 3 or 4 with upside for fantasy baseball purposes. If he cannot develop it he'll still have a very nice fastball-slider combination that could give him closer-caliber stuff in the bullpen. While he does have a smaller track record of success, with a very pitcher friendly ballpark and a Rangers team that could be quite good in 2027 or 2028, this is a profile that I am investing in for fantasy baseball purposes before his hype takes off by everyone.