Checking in on Minor League statistical leaders

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The 2026 Minor League season is in the homestretch -- the A-level leagues wrap up regular season play over Labor Day Weekend -- and we’ve started the early work of who we think are at least worthy of consideration for end-of-year awards.

My brain was already going in that direction, so I started to do some early research on players who lead the Minors in a variety of informative statistical categories. While these should all be considered when looking at best performances in the Minors, I’m mostly staying away from the main counting stats like homers (Andrew Fischer, 38) or RBIs (Emil Morales, 111) for hitters or strikeouts (Jonathan Santucci, Brady Parker, 138). I’m putting standard stats aside like batting average and ERA, as well.

This isn’t a definitive list of who should be on the short list for our awards, but it’s an interesting snapshot of which players are having particularly strong seasons. I’m starting with the hitters -- pitchers are below -- and it should be noted that while this isn’t a list of just ranked prospects, I did limit it to players who are currently in full-season ball to limit the scope somewhat.

wRC+

Boston Smith, C/OF, CWS/SEA: 173
Mike Sirota, OF, LAD: 168
Brandon Compton, OF, MIA: 164
Sean Keys, 1B/3B, TOR: 164
Cooper Ingle, C/OF, CLE: 158

For the uninitiated, wRC+ is a measure of overall offensive value -- runs created per plate appearance -- that takes things like ballpark or league offensive environments into account. League average is 100, so Smith’s 173 means he’s 73 percent above average. He’s already been traded twice but has 30 homers in his first full season and has posted an OPS over 1.100 since joining the Mariners. All five of these guys are on Top 30s, with Sirota in our Top 100.

OPS

Boston Smith: 1.067
Cristian Arguelles, OF, COL: 1.055
Easton Shelton, 1B/3B, LAD: 1.038
Zac Veen, OF, COL: 1.038
Brandon Compton: 1.025

I’m “cheating” by including Arguelles, because his first 57 games this year were in the Arizona Complex League, but he’s still posting an OPS of .832 with Single-A Fresno as someone who turned 19 at the end of June. Shelton is an interesting one because he shows up all over a bunch of statistical categories but isn’t on a Top 30 list. His 33.5 percent strikeout rate makes you pause, but 35 homers and 106 RBIs in your first year of full-season ball is impressive, no matter how you do it.

BB/K

Caden Bodine, C, TB: 1.61
Émilien Pitre, 2B, TB/NYM: 1.57
Kane Kepley, OF, CHC: 1.51
Zach Daudet, SS/3B, HOU: 1.44
Matthew Wood, C, MIL: 1.40

Bodine, who was sent from the Orioles to the Rays in the Shane Baz deal, has had as much upward mobility prospect-ranking wise as just about any catcher in the game, playing across three levels to Double-A before being promoted to Triple-A today. He’s now in the middle of our Top 100 and has 45 walks vs. just 28 K’s this year. Pitre also started the year with the Rays, then went to the Mets in the Freddy Peralta deal, and he's hit his way to Triple-A this year.

TB

Josue De Paula, OF, LAD: 252
Manuel Pena, 1B/3B, OF, ARI: 251
Easton Shelton: 250
Zac Veen: 249
Mairo Martinus, UTIL, LAD: 246
James Tibbs III, 1B/OF, LAD: 246

De Paula is the highest-ranked player on any of these leaderboards at No. 6 overall, and he’s turned in a 25-25 season at age 21 with Double-A Tulsa, slashing .312/.412/.564. There’s Shelton again, and De Paula is joined by organization-mate Tibbs, who has a .986 OPS in Triple-A this year and has been on our Top 100 in the past.

XBH

Zac Veen: 65
Enddy Azocar, OF, BOS/BAL: 62
Hunter Fitz-Gerald, 1B, SEA: 62
Easton Shelton: 62
Lazaro Montes, OF, SEA: 61

It’s been quite the bounce-back year for Veen, who hit 24 homers with 33 doubles and eight triples in Triple-A and is still raking back up in the big leagues, showing that it can take some guys a little longer to figure things out. Azocar was a bit of a surprise here, though obviously the Orioles liked him enough to have him included in the Adley Rutschman Deadline deal. He’s hit for three teams across both levels of A ball, and has posted a 1.024 OPS with High-A Frederick post-trade.

Pitching Leaders

Looking at pitchers who have thrown at least 80 innings in the Minors, it’s the Kade Anderson show. He tops all arms in everything from batting average against (.174), ERA (1.06), WHIP (0.64) and all three of the categories below:

xFIP

Kade Anderson, LHP, SEA: 2.59
Ryan Sloan, RHP, SEA: 2.90
Anthony Eyanson, RHP, BOS/BAL: 2.97
Gage Wood, RHP, PHI: 3.18
Caden Hunter, LHP, BAL: 3.20

K-BB%

Kade Anderson: 36.6%
Christian Zazueta, RHP, LAD: 31.6
Ryan Sloan: 27.6
Anthony Eyanson: 26.9
Gage Wood: 26.5

K/BB

Kade Anderson: 10.38
Ryan Sloan: 7.93
Colton Shaw, RHP, SEA: 7.27
Christian Zazueta: 7.11
Ryan Magdic, LHP, ATH: 6.23

This is a good snapshot of why Anderson is the top pitching prospect and is now in the big leagues. Sloan, Eyanson, Wood, Hunter and Zazueta are all in our Top 100. Magdic, a pitchability lefty now in Triple-A with the A’s, is the only one on any of these lists not on a Top 30.