These 5 prospects are impressing at Spring Training

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Next week is a massive one here at MLB Pipeline. Beginning on Monday with the two East divisions, we’re going to roll out our team Top 30 Prospects lists, followed by the Central on Tuesday and the West on Wednesday. So by the end of March 4, we’ll have all 30 rankings out for you to enjoy and dive into as part of your 2026 season previews.

In the meantime, Cactus and Grapefruit League play has begun in Arizona and Florida, respectively, and that always excites me, not just for the return of baseball but also for fresh information and data on players. So many of our reports are based on what we saw in 2025 and what we’ve heard could happen in 2026 based on offseason adjustments and preparation. But getting to see these guys on the field again is a different beast entirely and can be telling, even in just a weekend’s worth of games. Who’s coming out firing? Who’s working on something new? Who’s raising eyebrows with improved tools?

Yes, all the small-sample caveats apply here, and I don’t want anyone to overreact to early results. The return of ball comes with its own adrenaline spikes, and players are working out to be productive into August, September and even October -- not February and March. But here are a few prospects who are already catching my eye and should be worth keeping tabs on as the Spring Training sample expands:

Michael Arroyo, 2B, Mariners (MLB No. 67): This was already going to be a big spring for the 21-year-old since he’ll be one of the most prominent hitters for Colombia at next month’s World Baseball Classic. Maybe with that in mind, he came firing out of the gate. Arroyo homered in his first Cactus League at-bat on Friday with a 406-foot blast to right-center off Padres lefty Jagger Haynes. The dinger actually came on an 0-2 count, but Arroyo read Haynes’ changeup well before crushing it the other way. Toss in his game Sunday against the Reds, and Arroyo now has three barrels in just five plate appearances. That’s the most by any hitter in Spring Training, beating out Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso, who have two homers each. For what it’s worth, there’s been talk of moving Arroyo to the outfield, but he’s been second base-only through the week.

Carlos Lagrange, RHP, Yankees (MLB No. 79): The 6-foot-7 right-hander was generating headlines even before Grapefruit League play began when he struck out Judge on a 102.6 mph fastball in a live BP setting. Lagrange hasn’t shown an issue carrying that velo into game action. He has the two fastest pitches thrown of Spring Training so far at 102.4 and 101.8, and four of the eight fastest (the other four belong to Mason Miller). Lagrange touched triple digits on seven of his 19 four-seamers in his spring debut on Saturday against the Tigers. He also got whiffs on his low-90s changeup and upper-80s cutter and showed off his low-80s sweeper. It was far from a perfect outing (2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and showed why the 22-year-old will have plenty to work on when he heads to Triple-A for the first time, namely having enough command to be a starter. But a lot of folks in pinstripes should be dreaming about how Lagrange’s stuff would play in the Bronx after this beginning to 2026.

Bishop Letson, RHP, Brewers: The 2023 11th-rounder was sitting 91-95 mph last season with his four-seamer while working around a shoulder injury that held him out for three months at High-A. He threw four fastballs Sunday against the Royals, and the range on those was 95-97.7 mph with up to 2,653 rpm of spin. What’s more, Letson continued to show his trademark extension of around 7 1/2 feet that already puts him right on top of hitters. Added velocity makes the fastball an even bigger weapon. He struck out two of the three Kansas City batters he faced (both on the four-seamer) in a perfect frame to boot. You don’t want to shoot someone up the rankings on one start alone, and Letson will need to show this velo over longer stretches and into the season before we get overly excited. His career high for innings is still just 63 1/3 after all. But he’s one of the best arms in a deep Milwaukee system and someone capable of jumping into the Top 100 quickly with the right level of stuff improvements and results. For one afternoon, he checked both boxes.

Josh Kasevich, INF, Blue Jays: Many across the game expected Kasevich to be a part of Toronto’s World Series contender last year after he hit .325 with an .815 OPS in 41 Triple-A games back in 2024. But a stress reaction in his back delayed his season debut and a wrist issue during his rehab set him back further; by the time he did return, he slugged only .184 in 29 games with Buffalo and didn’t pick up an extra-base hit in 74 Arizona Fall League plate appearances, making his power a major question mark heading into his age-25 season. So what did Kasevich do Sunday in the first at-bat of his second Grapefruit game? Go yard, of course, with a 103 mph drive out to left-center on a 2-2 fastball from fellow righty Devin Sweet. It was a barrel that landed atop JetBlue Park’s Green Monster; that is to say, it was no cheapie. Even in his recovery, Kasevich showed the quality swing decisions and bat-to-ball skills that make him an interesting Jays prospect but lacked the impact. If that’s back, he could factor into Toronto’s infield in the first half.

Logan Henderson, RHP, Brewers: It was just one pitch. Henderson flipped in a 77.4 mph curveball against Kyle Teel -- the first lefty hitter he’d faced in Cactus League play -- for a first-pitch strike in his start Sunday against the White Sox in Glendale. What was notable was that Henderson didn’t throw a single curve in Triple-A or the Majors last year. In fact, 88.8 percent of his pitches in the bigs were either fastballs or changeups. That lack of diversity in his pitch mix -- though he does have a subpar cutter and slider too -- kept him out of our Top 100 this round, along with his injury history. Spring Training is a time for experimentation, and it’s possible Henderson is giving this curveball a shot before pocketing it again if the feel isn’t right for the big time. But for now, he’s 1-for-1 on landing it in the zone, and increased confidence/usage would make him less predictable in his battle to win the Crew’s fifth rotation spot out of spring.