I’d love to say that after the Trade Deadline, the MLB Pipeline crew kicked back and put their collective feet up, or took a vacation.
But nope, we wouldn’t do that now, not with full re-ranks of all our lists coming. That’s probably the most asked question now: When’s that update coming? Good news! It’s coming early next week, with a re-rank of the Top 100, Top 30 team and Top 10 position lists all getting shuffled, with the 2025 Draft class entering for the first time.
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There may be no rest for the weary, but there is still time to answer some of your questions for this week’s Inbox.
We answered this one on this week’s MLB Pipeline Podcast, so be sure to give it a listen. The top candidate remains Phillies right-hander Andrew Painter, who we believed had been brought along gradually in his first season back from Tommy John surgery so he’d have innings left to help Philadelphia down the stretch -- and they hope deep into October. He’d been throwing better of late, but gave up five runs over four innings in his most recent start.
There aren’t that many more options of prospects who looked primed for a callup from a team hoping to make the playoffs. Harry Ford is obviously blocked by Cal Raleigh behind the plate in Seattle, and he hasn’t played another position since a short experiment in the outfield last season. Moisés Ballesteros certainly is hitting like he deserves another shot in the big leagues with the Cubs, but where does he play? I thought maybe the Reds would call Sal Stewart up to help, but he’s not going to send newly acquired Ke’Bryan Hayes to the bench and while he’s played a handful of games at second this year, would they ask him to play there regularly during a playoff race?
I thought this was an interesting way to take another look at all of the prospects who changed hands over the Trade Deadline. There aren’t too many of the scores of prospects who were traded who jump off the page as Rookie of the Year contenders in 2026. The top two prospects, Leo De Vries and Eduardo Tait, are teenagers who haven’t played above High-A ball. So we need to dig a little further and find that nexus of readiness, opportunity and being on a Top 100 list (see our PPI FAQ for details on the rules).
Mick Abel and Tyler Locklear might first come to mind, but even putting aside that they might not appear on enough Top 100 rankings (2 of the 3 among MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and ESPN), they aren’t eligible because they made their big league debuts before getting traded.
De Vries, Tait and Abel were the only three on our Top 100 list to get dealt, and there aren’t really any others who look like they are ready to jump on to that list by the time we do our Top 100 list for 2026 before the season begins. If you want some deep sleepers, you could keep an eye on Kendry Rojas (MIN No. 7), the lefty the Twins got from the Blue Jays in the Louis Varland/Ty France trade. He’s been in Double-A and with health could make a jump, though making the Twins Opening Day roster seems a stretch, even if climbing on to Top 100 lists is a possibility. New A’s righty Braden Nett (ATH No. 5), who came in the Mason Miller deal, might have more of a chance to compete for a job in the A’s rotation next spring, but doesn’t feel particularly close to being a Top 100 type.
Sam didn’t really go out on a limb with his pitching prediction. Tong, No. 52 on our current Top 100, leads all full-season Minor League pitchers in ERA (1.58), xFIP (2.08), strikeouts (154), K/9 (14.3), K% (40.5), K-BB% (28.9) and batting average against (.141). He’s been pretty dominant across the board.
His organization-mate Benge, No. 68 overall, is indeed having an outstanding season. The Mets’ first-round pick in 2024 is putting up gaudy numbers in his first full season of pro ball, with a .319/.426/.532 line, 12 homers and 19 steals. He draws walks, he doesn’t strike out, he plays a solid outfield and he’s made more than one Mets fan ask if he might be called up to help out the big league lineup.
But in terms of earning our hitter of the year honors, I think there’s stiffer competition than what Tong is facing. I think that list starts with Yankees outfielder Spencer Jones. Yes, he strikes out a lot, but he leads all full-season Minor League hitters with his 193 wRC+ (Benge is second at 181). Jones’ 1.060 OPS is also the best in the Minors outside of Rookie ball (Benge’s OPS of .953 is 11th). Jones also leads everyone with 29 homers (in just 77 games) and also has 23 steals.
Other candidates could include top prospect Konnor Griffin (.331/.408/.525, 161 wRC+, 14 homers and 50 SB) or maybe the Orioles’ Dylan Beavers (.961 OPS, 158 wRC+, 18 HR, 22 SB). I’m not saying Benge isn’t in the running; I’m just saying it’s a tighter race.
If our records are correct, no organization has won both awards since we started picking them in 2013. Three teams have won them in different years: the White Sox (Dylan Cease in 2018, Luis Robert in 2019), the Orioles (Grayson Rodriguez in 2021, Gunnar Henderson in 2022) and the Yankees (Anthony Volpe in 2021, Drew Thorpe in 2023).