Picks to Click: Who I Expect to Make the 2026 Top 100

It’s common for readers to ask which of the players who aren’t on this year’s Top 100 might grace next year’s edition. Who has a chance to really break out? This is the piece for those readers, my “Picks to Click,” the gut-feel guys I think can make the 2026 Top 100.

This is the eighth year we’ve conducted this exercise at FanGraphs, and there are some rules. First, none of the players you see below will have ever been graded as a 50 FV or better prospect in any of our write-ups or rankings. Second, I can’t pick players who I’ve picked in prior years, though I can take players who other writers selected and I didn’t. For instance, I picked Jackson Baumeister last year, but he didn’t make the Top 100. I can’t select him again, but I would if I could. Brailer Guerrero made the Top 100 in the middle of last season, and then hurt his shoulder for the second time in two years and fell off. I can’t put him on here, no matter how much I like him.

A few years ago, we decided to make this somewhat competitive to see which of us ends up being right about the most players. Below is a brief rundown of how my colleagues and I have done since this piece became a part of Prospect Week; you can click the year in the “Year” column to access that year’s list. Our initials began appearing next to our picks in 2021. In the event that multiple writers picked the same prospect, I have that number in parentheses between the individual amounts, kind of like a Venn Diagram. I didn’t count “click echoes” toward our totals, guys who enter the 50 FV tier multiple years after they were Picks to Click. However, I did count “click meteors,” players who pass through the Top 100 during the season but then graduate, like Michael Harris II did a couple of years ago:

Last year wasn’t quite as bad as the 18% hit rate looks on its face because so many of the players featured in last year’s article could reasonably be on a Top 100, they just didn’t make mine. Still, here’s to rebounding this year.

I’ve separated the players into groups or “types” to make the list a little more digestible, and to give you some idea of the demographics I think pop-up guys come from. Each of these players now has a record over on The Board, where you can go see tool grades and more detailed scouting reports for them. Below, I have at least a brief snippet on everyone who is a “click” this year.

Projectable Young Pitchers
Felix Arronde, SP, Kansas City Royals
Chen-Wei Lin, SP, St. Louis Cardinals
Ryan Sloan, SP, Seattle Mariners
Cam Caminiti, SP, Atlanta Braves
Brady Smith, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Arronde, 21, is a projectable 6-foot-3 righty who threw a ton of strikes across 110.1 A-ball innings last year. He has a good looking delivery, a nasty splitter, and the “click” here would be him getting stronger and throwing both his fastball and breaking ball harder. Lin, 23, is a 6-foot-7 Taiwanese righty who overwhelmed A-ball last year with upper-90s velocity. He clicks if his release becomes consistent enough for him to throw more strikes. Sloan was one of the more exciting high school pitching prospects in the 2024 Draft, ranking 28th in the class on draft day. He is a powerful righty, albeit a more physically mature one, with a gorgeous, strong delivery and a great breaking ball. He was up to 98 during his senior spring after sitting 91-93. Caminiti was generally considered one of the best high school pitching prospects in the 2024 draft for his entire scouting timeline. He’s a lanky 6-foot-2 lefty who’ll touch 97, has a power curveball, and added a slider during his senior year. Smith was a favorite of mine from the 2023 Draft Combine, an athletic but somewhat undersized righty with plus fastball ride and advanced secondary pitches. The Dodgers got a deal done with him for $700,000, and Smith had Tommy John during the 2023-24 offseason. This is the kind of pitcher who clicks if the rehab process leads to strength gains and added velocity.

This Is What They Look Like
Bryce Rainer, SS, Detroit Tigers
Konnor Griffin, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
Boston Baro, 3B, New York Mets
PJ Morlando, OF, Miami Marlins
Abdias De La Cruz, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Braden Montgomery, OF, Chicago White Sox

Rainer was the 11th overall pick in the 2024 draft, a lefty-hitting shortstop with a swing geared for power and huge arm strength. Rainer didn’t play after the draft, and will click if he shows he’s going to make a viable amount of contact against pro pitching. The same is true for Griffin, a 6-foot-4, 225 pound toolshed who Pittsburgh drafted ninth overall. The speed with which Griffin can go zero to 60 at his size is incredible. He takes huge, powerful strides and motors around the bases with a rooster tail of dirt kicking up from his spikes. His reads and routes in the outfield aren’t great even though Griffin has the speed for center field, which is why he was mostly relegated to right field on Team USA. Griffin’s bat-to-ball track record was very good across multiple years on the showcase circuit, but long levers often make him late on fastballs, and whether he adjusts in pro ball will dictate whether or not he clicks. Baro, a $700,000 signee from the 2023 draft, is a good defensive third baseman and contact hitter who clicks if he has grown into meaningful strength during the offseason. He was promoted to High-A Brooklyn at the end of last year.

Morlando, Miami’s 2024 first rounder, is a 6-foot-3 power-hitting outfield prospect who could break out with a swing change. He feet are so unnaturally stationary during his swing that it robs it of rhythm and athleticism. Anything that can help him stay on time could unlock dormant 30-homer power here. De La Cruz, who turned 20 in November, has a wide receiver’s build at a lanky 6-foot-3, he’s selective, and his swing is geared to pull. He hasn’t tapped into much game power yet, but he has all the visual markers of a hitter who will as he matures. Montgomery was the 12th pick in the 2024 draft and probably would have gone higher if he hadn’t fractured his right ankle sliding into home during the college postseason. A toolsy former two-way player, Montgomery had serious strikeout issues as an underclassman at Stanford, but then showed a new ability to cover high pitches as a junior at A&M after a slight mechanical change. His injury meant we couldn’t see how that played in pro ball, and also creates uncertainty around Montgomery’s defensive ability and speed. If he comes out the gates hot in 2025, he’ll rocket into the Top 100.

Sneaky Pitchers
Ethan Pecko, SP, Houston Astros
Trey Yesavage, SP, Toronto Blue Jays
Austin Peterson, SP, Cleveland Guardians
Matt Wilkinson, SP, Cleveland Guardians
Hunter Dobbins, SP, Boston Red Sox
Connor Prielipp, SP, Minnesota Twins

Since entering pro ball, the Astros have augmented Pecko’s delivery, most obviously his stride direction, and his fastball has become lethal. It has huge riding action and uphill angle that makes it a potential plus-plus offering even though it sits just 92-94 mph. Toronto’s 2024 first rounder, Yesavage’s mid-90s fastball has plus carry and misses bats in spite of its plane. He has a fastball/slider attack versus righties, with more splitters and slower breakers versus lefties. Yesavage’s splitter command isn’t as good as that of his fastball/slider, but the pitch has enough sink and velo separation to sometimes stay out of trouble when it isn’t located well. Yesavage is a polished, quick-moving no. 4 starter type. A 6-foot-6 strike-throwing Leviathan, Peterson has the lowest walk rate (4.3%) among qualified minor league starters since 2022. He sits 90 mph. The Guardians have been able to take older, strike-throwing starters and help them throw harder past when one might expect pitchers to start doing so, with Tanner Bibee a prominent recent example. Peterson’s size and bodily fluidity make it seem feasible that this could happen for him.

Nicknamed “Tugboat,” Wilkinson is a 270-pound lefty who is incredibly athletic for an athlete of his build. His drop-and-drive delivery gets him so low to the ground that his left shin is almost scraping across the top of the mound. His fastball only sits about 90 mph, but it still played like a dominant pitch in 2024 because of its rising action and Wilkinson’s ability to command it to effective locations. If his changuep takes a step forward, or if Wilkinson starts throwing harder and ends up with an elite fastball, he’ll project as a convention-breaking mid-rotation starter. Dobbins was hidden as an underclassman at Texas Tech because he was a reliever as a freshman, his sophomore year was wiped out due to COVID, and he blew out and needed TJ as a junior. He ended his 2024 season at Triple-A Worcester and his innings count has climbed to the point where he could feasibly handle a big league starter’s workload as soon as next season. Dobbins doesn’t have an exciting athletic look or delivery, but he still throws hard, up to 98. His curveball is his repertoire’s bat-misser, and late in the season, Dobbins’ splinker became more identifiable. The emergence of that pitch is the key to Dobbins getting a grade bump here. Prielipp has been hurt a ton and worked 23.1 innings in 2024 after returning from TJ. He has a nasty mid-80s slider with elite spin, and sat 94-95 in 2024. Clicking for Prielipp means sustaining that velo across more innings in 2024.

Power-Hitting Catchers
Blake Mitchell, C, Kansas City Royals
Eduardo Tait, C, Philadelphia Phillies
Omar Alfonzo, C, Pittsburgh Pirates

Mitchell is a power-hitting 20-year-old with poor plate discipline and unpolished defense. He catches from a such a low one-knee’d crouch that it looks like he’s trying to win a roller skating limbo, and his hands and technique picking balls in the dirt improved a ton throughout 2024. Next for Mitchell is getting his arm to play closer to his talent level; he was into the mid-90s as a high school pitcher, but hosed just 15% of runner last year. Tait is very similar to Mitchell (huge lefty power, expands the zone too much, needs to improve on defense), except he’s 18 and has average big league raw power already. Alfonzo is a 21-year-old lefty-hitting catcher with power who had a 53% hard-hit rate in 2024. He also has a plus arm, but otherwise has a lot of improving to do as a defender.

Might Need a Dev Tweak
Austin Charles, 3B, Kansas City Royals
Justin Crawford, OF, Philadelphia Phillies
Denzel Clarke, OF, Athletics
Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Jhostynxon Garcia, OF, Boston Red Sox

Charles was the Royals’ last pick in 2022 and signed at the 11th hour after visiting the team’s facility. He’s a physical outlier at a yoked 6-foot-5, and he is an absurdly coordinated defensive player for someone his size. His swing is a little awkward looking, but Charles was still able to post an above-average wRC+ at Low-A in 2024 at age 20. He’s so geared to pull that he swings inside a ton of sliders; if he can quell this tendency, he’ll click enough to merit upside-driven Top 100 inclusion a year from now. Crawford has a couple of underlying issues that, if resolved, could lead to a true breakout. He’s probably going to have a huge 2025 line just because of the hitting environment in Reading, but under the hood, if he stops chasing so much (he chased at a 36% clip at mostly High-A in 2024; the big league average is 27%), or if he’s lifting the ball more (1 degree launch on average in 2024; Jacob Young set the qualified major league low at 4 degrees), or if his feel for center field improves, then we can start to talk about him as a Top 100 guy. He’s already worked hard to get stronger compared to 2023, but one of these things needs to be his next area of growth.

Clarke is an incredible outfield defender with a super long swing. He’ll click if he can shorten up enough to have even one above-average offensive tool. Waldschmidt had one of the more well-rounded statistical cases of any college hitter in the 2024 draft and performed well in several key statistical categories at Kentucky, including plate discipline, contact, and measurable power. His swing is hellacious but atypical; it’s all hands and torso, and requires a ton of effort. This isn’t a guy who needs an adjustment to click, I just want to see it work against pro stuff since we’re talking about a left fielder. “The Password” is listed at just 163 pounds on his official minor league player page, but he’s about 60 pounds heavier than that, and has dynamic power and speed. He’s chase prone (50% chase with two strikes) and will click if that gets toned down.

Small, but Mighty
Keyner Benitez, SP, Miami Marlins
Slade Caldwell, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Santiago Suarez, SP, Tampa Bay Rays

Benitez is an athletic lefty with a potential plus-plus changeup. He pitched well in Low-A last year, and won’t turn 19 until the end of May. Caldwell is a muscular 5-foot-9 outfielder built in the Jasson Domínguez/Jett Williams mold. He has the skills of a traditional leadoff hitter. Suarez came to Tampa by way of the Xavier Edwards trade with the Marlins. He’s a Doogie Howser type, a very young surgeon with walk rates in the 3-5% range at each level so far.

Prove That It’s Real
Demetrio Crisantes, 2B, Arizona Diamondbacks
Theo Gillen, 2B/CF, Tampa Bay Rays
Josuar De Jesus Gonzalez, SS/CF, San Francisco Giants
Zyhir Hope, LF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Aroon Escobar, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies

Cristanes is a 20-year-old infielder who performed on the complex and in the Cal League last year. He has terrific underlying contact data. If he can be on time to pull fastballs more often in 2025, I’ll buy that this underlying data is legit. For now, I’m apprehensive about how much contact he’s sending to right field, especially considering he’s a 2B/1B defender. Gillen had one of the best contact/power combinations in the 2024 draft even though he was a high schooler, but a shoulder injury made it tough for him to throw, and it’s still unclear what position(s) he can play. If he can prove to be a fit at second base or in center field in 2025, it will be easier to project him as a foundational everyday player. De Jesus Gonzalez was my top ranked 2025 international player, a dynamic athlete with good power for his size. Some international scouts saw him at shortstop, some in center field. If it becomes clear that he can play either or both of those in 2025, he has a good shot to be included at the back of next year’s hondo.

I don’t think the small A-ball data sample Hope produced in 2024 is especially reliable and, based on my Fall League look, I think there’s more swing-and-miss happening here that was evident at Rancho. Even if I’m right about that, if Hope can play center field (he was really fast in high school, but he’s filled out so much already, was hurt for a while, and looked rusty playing left field in 2024), he’ll have enough power to profile there despite lots of strikeouts. He might also just prove my contact skepticism wrong. Escobar is a physical middle infielder and a good looking hitter who raked in 104 Complex League plate appearances last year, a season cut short by shin splints. He clicks if he can stay healthy and produce in a similar fashion at Low-A Clearwater this year across a bigger sample.

A new section I’m debuting this year is the “Two-Year Darts,” where I pick 10 players who I think will take two seasons to really pop. These guys will count for the review that takes place in 2027. I’m just mentioning names from here on out.

Two-Year Darts
Eriandys Ramon, 3B, Chicago Cubs
Josh Knoth, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Anderson Brito, SP, Houston Astros
Tyson Lewis, SS, Cincinatti Reds
David Matoma, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates
Hyun-Seok Jang, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Yohanfer Santana, SP, Miami Marlins
Sheng-En Lin, SP, Cincinnati Reds
Asbel Gonzalez, OF, Kansas City Royals
Humberto Cruz, SP, San Diego Padres

As I’ve done in years past, here is a list of high-leverage relievers who could be up during the year. They often don’t have the kind of impact on a team to justify inclusion on the Top 100, but they’re still relevant names to know:

Yordin Chalas, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks
Royber Salinas, RHP, Atlanta Braves
Payton Tolle, LHP, Boston Red Sox
Andrew Walters, RHP, Cleveland Guardians
Zach Agnos, RHP, Colorado Rockies
Zach Maxwell, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Sean Burke, RHP, Chicago Whie Sox
Luis Mey, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Luis Peralta, LHP, Colorado Rockies
Samy Natera Jr., LHP, Los Angeles Angels
Eric Reyzelman, RHP, New York Yankees
Alex McFarlane, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
Hunter Cranton, RHP, Seattle Mariners
Mason Montgomery, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Marc Church, RHP, Texas Rangers
T.J. Brock, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
Orlando Ribalta, RHP, Washington Nationals
Bradgley Rodriguez, RHP, San Diego Padres

Last year, we debuted a section at the bottom of this piece where I share names my sources consider Picks to Click (their hit rate was amusingly horrible). Here are this year’s nominees:

Eduardo Quintero, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers (2 votes)
Brady Smith, RHP, Los Angeles Dodger
Emil Morales, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers
Hyun-Seok Jang, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Braden Nett, RHP, San Diego Padres
Humberto Cruz, RHP, San Diego Padres (2 votes)
Demetrio Crisantes, INF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Yassel Soler, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks
Jansel Luis, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks
Gary Gill Hill, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Jackson Baumeister, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Jose Urbina, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Aidan Smith, OF, Tampa Bay Rays (2 votes)
Caleb Bonemer, 3B, Chicago White Sox
Blake Mitchell, C, Kansas City Royals
Cole Carrigg, OF, Colorado Rockies
Kyle Karros, 3B, Colorado Rockies (2 votes)
Zach Agnos, RHP, Colorado Rockies
Nolan McLean, RHP, New York Mets (2 votes)
Izack Tiger, RHP, Detroit Tigers
Bryce Rainer, SS, Detroit Tigers
Owen Hall, RHP Detroit Tigers
Mike Burrows, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
Yolfran Castillo, SS, Texas Rangers
Tyson Lewis, SS, Cincinnati Reds
Adam Serwinowski, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Ramon Ramirez, C, Kansas City Royals
Michael Arroyo, 2B, Seattle Mariners
Lazaro Montes, OF, Seattle Mariners
Yairo Padilla, SS, St. Louis Cardinals
Cole Mathis, 1B, Chicago Cubs
A.J. Blubaugh, RHP, Houston Astros
K.C. Hunt, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers