NEW: The 2026 preseason Top 100 Prospects list is live!

Could a golden era of shortstops be dawning?

Konnor Griffin (Pirates) has the best tools in the Minors and is MLB Pipeline's reigning Hitting Prospect of the Year. Kevin McGonigle (Tigers) is the best pure hitting prospect in the game, with JJ Wetherholt (Cardinals) right behind. Jesús Made (Brewers) and Leo De Vries (Athletics) are tooled up and bashed their way to Double-A as 18-year-olds.

Griffin and Co. are also the first five players on our new Top 100 Prospects list, with several other shortstops close behind. Other up-and-comers include slugging Sebastian Walcott (Rangers), sweet-swinging Colt Emerson (Mariners) and two of the first four picks in the 2025 Draft, Eli Willits (Nationals) and Ethan Holliday (Rockies).

All told, 28 shortstops cracked our the Top 100, a record for our preseason list. Position players hogged 68 of the spots, though the 32 pitchers are the most since 39 made our pre-2021 Top 100.

Let's take a closer look at the 2026 list:

The Top 10

1. Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, Pirates
2. Kevin McGonigle, SS, Tigers
3. Jesús Made, SS/2B, Brewers
4. Leo De Vries, SS, Athletics
5. JJ Wetherholt, INF, Cardinals
6. Nolan McLean, RHP, Mets
7. Sebastian Walcott, SS/3B, Rangers
8. Samuel Basallo, C/1B, Orioles
9. Colt Emerson, SS, Mariners
10. Max Clark, OF, Tigers
Complete Top 100 »

Griffin became the first Pirate ever to ascend to No. 1 in MLB Pipeline's rankings last August in the midst of a .333/.415/.527 pro debut with 21 homers and 65 steals that took him to Double-A at age 19. For the second straight year, the Tigers boast the highest-ranked pair of prospects with McGonigle (No. 2) and Max Clark (No. 10) following Jackson Jobe (No. 5) and Clark (No. 6) from 2025.

Biggest rises

The new Top 100 includes 36 players who didn't make last year's preseason list, not counting the 14 players from the 2025 Draft who were in college or high school at the time. Mets right-hander Nolan McLean made the largest jump, going from unranked all the way to No. 6 after a spectacular year that concluded with a 2.06 ERA in eight big league starts. Other prominent newcomers: Mets outfielder Carson Benge (No. 16), Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle (No. 19), Brewers infielder Luis Peña (No. 26), Dodgers outfielder Eduardo Quintero (No. 30) and Yankees infielder George Lombard Jr. (No. 32).

Several players on the pre-2025 Top 100 also made big moves, none bigger than Blue Jays right-hander Trey Yesavage, who climbed from No. 88 to No. 12 after capping his pro debut by starring in MLB's postseason. Four other prospects jumped up at least 50 spots: Royals catcher Carter Jensen (No. 86 to No. 18), Reds infielder Sal Stewart (No. 84 to No. 22), Tigers catcher/first baseman Josue Briceño (No. 95 to No. 40) and Made (No. 56 to No. 3).

Furthest falls

Padres catcher Ethan Salas ranked No. 33 a year ago but became the highest-rated prospect to drop all the way off the Top 100, playing just 10 games because of a stress fracture in his back after slashing .206/.288/.311 at High-A the year before. Other highly touted players who disappeared from the list include Cardinals left-hander Quinn Mathews (No. 45 a year ago), Brewers catcher Jeferson Quero (No. 47), Rangers right-hander Alejandro Rosario (No. 50) and Rays first baseman Xavier Isaac (No. 51).

Rays shortstop Carson Williams and Brewers right-hander Brandon Sproat maintained their Top 100 status but both slid 54 spots from a year ago. Williams (No. 9 to No. 63) remains a gifted defender with power but comes with swing-and-miss concerns, while Sproat (No. 46 to No. 100) was less dominant and consistent at Triple-A and the Majors compared to lower levels. Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder (No. 35 to No. 86) and Rockies first baseman/outfielder Charlie Condon (No. 29 to No. 70) also took falls of more than 40 spots.

Demographics

Behind the 28 shortstops, outfielders (21) were the most represented position, followed by right-handers (18), left-handers (14) and catchers (12). There were just four first basemen and two second basemen, while third basemen became the first position to be completely shut out since MLB.com expanded from a Top 50 list to a Top 100 in 2012.

Seventy-seven of the Top 100 prospects turned pro via the Draft, including 43 first-round choices and 10 supplemental first-rounders. They run the gamut from the last two No. 1 overall selections in Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana and Willits to Orioles outfielder Nate George, a 16th-rounder in 2024. The other 23 arrived via the international market, with bonuses ranging from $4.2 million for De Vries to $10,000 for Yankees right-hander Carlos Lagrange.

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Twelve members of the Top 100 already have changed organizations in trades, with De Vries the most prominent. The Padres included him as the headliner in a package to acquire Mason Miller from the Athletics last July.

Seventy-three Top 100 prospects were born in the United States, 11 in the Dominican Republic, five in Venezuela and two each in Canada and Panama. Australia, The Bahamas, Colombia, Cuba, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico and Spain can claim one guy apiece.

Farm reports

The Mariners lead all organizations with seven Top 100 prospects: Emerson (No. 9), left-hander Kade Anderson (No. 21), right-hander Ryan Sloan (No. 33), outfielder Lazaro Montes (No. 43), second baseman Michael Arroyo (No. 67), outfielder Johnny Farmelo (No. 78) and switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje (No. 91). The Guardians have six while the Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Marlins, Pirates and White Sox each feature five.

A fast, if not exactly precise, manner of gauging the strength of talent in a farm system is to calculate what we refer to as Prospect Points: 100 for the No. 1 prospect, 99 for No. 2 and so on. The Mariners also have the most Prospect Points with 365, and the Pirates (318) and Tigers (317) are the only other organizations with more than 300.

The top 10 organizations in terms of prospect points, with their best prospect in parentheses:

Mariners, 365 (Colt Emerson, SS, No. 9)
Pirates, 318 (Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, No. 1)
Tigers, 317 (Kevin McGonigle, SS, No. 2)
Marlins, 298 (Thomas White, LHP, No. 17)
Dodgers, 281 (Josue De Paula, OF, No. 15)
Brewers, 261 (Jesús Made, SS/2B, No. 3)
Cardinals, 244 (JJ Wetherholt, INF, No. 5)
Mets, 237 (Nolan McLean, RHP, No. 6)
Red Sox, 214 (Payton Tolle, LHP, No. 19)
White Sox, 214 (Braden Montgomery, OF, No. 36)