MLB Pipeline will reveal its 2026 Top 100 Prospects list at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 23, with a one-hour show on MLB Network and MLB.com. Leading up to the release of the Top 100, we'll examine baseball's top 10 prospects at each position.
Left-handed pitching is always in high demand, but often short supply. As the 2026 season approaches, there are a few teams that, while perhaps not flush with southpaw prospect talent, can boast multiple high-end arms.
A year ago at this time, the White Sox had the top two lefties on the Top 10 left-handed pitchers list. One of them still landed on this year's top 10, but three other organizations have stepped in to double up. The Marlins lead the list with Thomas White, but also have Robby Snelling at No. 5, while the Red Sox have a duo (Payton Tolle and Connelly Early) who have already reached the big leagues. The A’s are the third team with two top lefties, with Gage Jump joining Jamie Arnold, who came courtesy of the 2025 Draft.
Speaking of that draft class, it provides three left-handers on this list: Arnold, Kade Anderson and Liam Doyle. That trio also tilts the high school vs. college scale for the first time in a while. There are now six college products on the list, breaking a streak of four years in which prepsters were the majority.
The Top 10 (ETA)
1. Thomas White, Marlins (2026)
2. Payton Tolle, Red Sox (2026)
3. Kade Anderson, Mariners (2027)
4. Liam Doyle, Cardinals (2027)
5. Robby Snelling, Marlins (2026)
6. Jamie Arnold, A’s (2027)
7. Noah Schultz, White Sox (2026)
8. Connelly Early, Red Sox (2026)
9. Gage Jump, A’s (2026)
10. Cam Caminiti, Braves (2027)
Complete list »
Top tools
Fastball: Tolle, Doyle (70)
Tolle’s heater got the most votes for best fastball in our recently completed MLB Pipeline Executives survey. It averaged just under 96 mph and touched 101 last year across all levels while producing a 39 percent miss rate thanks to elite extension and low release height. Last year at Tennessee, Doyle’s fastball gained a few ticks compared to his sophomore campaign and sat in the mid-90s, topping out at 100 mph. Coming from a high release point and erupting at the top of the zone, it finished 105 strikeouts, leading all Division I pitchers.
Curve: Anderson, Jump (55)
Anderson’s curve isn’t even his favorite breaking pitch as he threw his slider much more frequently at LSU last year. Even so, he still used his upper-70s curveball with good downward action to miss bats at a 35 percent clip, according to Synergy. Similarly, Jump favored his slider over his curve, but the slower upper-70s downer was still effective.
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Slider: White, Schultz (70)
White’s switch from a slower curve to his low-80s slider has been a good one. A big reason for his uptick in strikeout rate (11.3 K/9 in 2024, 14.6 in 2025) is because that slider elicited an impressive 50 percent miss rate across all levels. It wasn’t quite as nasty as it was in 2024, but Schultz still did use his low-80s slider that touches 88 mph to miss bats at the upper levels to a 32 percent clip. He throws it with a ton of horizontal action, made tougher to pick up thanks to his 6-foot-10 frame and low three-quarters slot.
Changeup: White, Anderson, Early (60)
White’s mid-80s changeup had always been solid, but it took another step forward last year. The fading offspeed offering produced a 44 percent miss rate to go along with a 51 percent ground-ball rate last year. Anderson became more and more comfortable throwing his mid-80s cambio at LSU last year. It has good fade and sink to it, and he produced a 48 percent miss rate with it in 2025. Early’s low-80s changeup plays well off his fastball because it has similar action and he gets plenty of swings-and-misses with it (33 percent miss rate across all levels last year) while also getting a ton of ground-ball contact (56 percent ground-ball rate) with it.
Control: Tolle, Anderson, Snelling, Arnold, Jump (55)
Feel for pitching and left-handers are often synonymous and this quintet of southpaws all fill up the zone very well. The walk rates speak volumes: Tolle (2.3 BB/9 in his one season of the Minors); Anderson (2.6 BB/9 at LSU last year); Snelling (2.6 BB/9 across Double-A and Triple-A in 2025); Arnold (2.5 BB/9 combined in 2024-25 at Florida State) and Jump (2.4 at LSU in 2024, 2.7 in his first season of pro ball last year).
Superlatives
Highest ceiling: White
Drafted out of the New England high school ranks, White entered pro ball with a perceived huge ceiling because of his size, pure stuff and relative lack of mileage on his arm. Now that he’s at the upper levels of the Marlins’ system, it’s looking like those early projections were right. The stuff is frontline-starter caliber, and he used it to strike out 14.6 per nine last year. The only obstacle to him leading a rotation someday is his command/control (5.1 BB/9 in 2025).
Rookie of the Year candidate: Tolle/Early
Six of the 10 on this list should impact the big leagues this coming season, but the Red Sox teammates have already done that. Both got votes in the executives survey for AL Rookie of the Year and both even got to test their mettle in the postseason. It was Early who drew a starting nod and had more initial success while Tolle went to the playoff 'pen, but look for these two southpaws to push each other all year.
Highest riser & humblest beginning: Early
Early spent his first two college seasons at Army, then transferred to Virginia and while he put up very good numbers there ahead of the 2023 Draft, he largely stayed off the radar with a fastball that sat in the 89-91 mph range. The Red Sox took him as a college performer in the fifth round that summer and have helped him find more velocity with a heater that averaged 93.6 mph and touched 97 last year. He wasn’t even on the team’s Top 30 Prospects list to start the 2024 season, then jumped to No. 10 ahead of the 2025 campaign before moving into Top 100 status for 2026.
Most to prove: Schultz
The White Sox first-round pick in 2023 out of the Illinois high school ranks, Schultz actually topped this list at the start of the 2025 season following a healthy 2024 in which he earned Southern League Pitcher of the Year accolades after posting a 1.48 ERA and a 73/17 K/BB ratio in 61 innings. Though he did reach Triple-A before his 22nd birthday in his follow-up, he wasn’t as dominant, missing fewer bats and walking more hitters, with right patellar tendinitis clearly playing a part. There’s still plenty of time for him to right the ship and reach his frontline starter potential.
Keep an eye on: Schoolcraft
Kruz Schoolcraft reclassified to be a part of the 2025 Draft class and the Oregon high school product landed in the first round after rebounding from a slower start to his senior season. He’s huge (6-foot-8) with a fastball up to 97 mph to go along with a slider and changeup that are at least above-average. He was a legit two-way guy, so there could be considerable ceiling here for the Padres now that he’s focusing on pitching only on the pro side.