The Brewers and shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt are reportedly close to terms on an eight-year extension. The deal would guarantee Pratt $50.75 million over the life of the deal, and there are also two club options worth about $15 million apiece. As it’s a major league contract, Pratt must be added to Milwaukee’s 40-man roster. A corresponding move to make the terms work has not yet been announced.

While extensions for prospects who have yet to debut are becoming more common, Pratt’s is a little unusual. These tend to either be large deals to consensus top prospects, often with the carrot of a ticket to the Opening Day roster as a sort of signing bonus, or smaller sums for enticing but flawed farmhands. The eight-year, $82 million extension Milwaukee inked with Jackson Chourio prior to the 2024 season is a good example of the former (as is the eight-year, $95 million pact the Mariners reportedly just struck with Colt Emerson), while the six-year, $25 million pacts Seattle signed with Evan White and Philadelphia with Scott Kingery cover the latter. Pratt’s deal doesn’t fit cleanly in either category. It’s a pretty good chunk of change for a player who evaluators generally don’t see as a future star, and it’s also not a pay-for-play deal, as Pratt will likely remain at Triple-A after signing.

Pratt was taken in the sixth round of the 2023 draft from Magnolia Heights High School in Mississippi. Eric ranked him 25th on the Draft Board that year, but his $1.35 signing bonus was commensurate with more of a second-round talent. As you’d expect for a prospect in consideration for this kind of contract, he’s performed well in pro ball. After a successful cameo on the complex in his draft season, Pratt notched a 132 wRC+ at Low-A as a 19-year-old, with strong contact skills and a low walk rate. He spent all of 2025 at Double-A, where he played a clean shortstop and hit .238/.343/.348, good for a 107 wRC+. He also dropped his strikeout rate to 15.2%, impressive for a 20-year-old at that level. Read the rest of this entry »

Luke Stevenson was quoted earlier this month when I wrote about how Ryan Sloan and Kade Anderson profile as Seattle Aces in the Making. My spring training conversation with the 21-year-old backstop also included what he had to say about his own skill set, which in many respects it is similar to what Cal Raleigh’s was in the minors. Stevenson’s FanGraphs scouting report, which included mention of the Mariners’ All-Star slugger, described him as “a power-hitting catcher with strong receiving skills.” Drafted 35th overall last year out of the University of North Carolina, he currently ranks as the eighth-best prospect in the Seattle system, with a 45 FV.

Brendan Gawlowski did the write-ups on our Mariners list, and he sees the potential for more from Stevenson. As Brendan put it, “If there is any jump in Stevenson’s throwing ability or bat-to-ball as he develops, he’ll climb into that [50] tier on subsequent lists.” The Raleigh comparison fits here, as well. Described as having a “power-and-OBP-over-hit profile,” Big Dumper ranked seventh in the system with a 45 FV when he reached the majors in July 2021 at age 24.

Stevenson didn’t shy away from the comp when I brought up their early-career similarities.

“I would love to get compared to him,” said the former Tar Heel, who debuted professionally with Low-A Modesto last summer and slashed .280/.460/.400 over 100 plate appearances “He’s unbelievable. Being able to work with him here in camp has been awesome, and super helpful. What he does… I mean, I definitely would like my game to resemble his.”

My mention of the power-over-hit element of his profile elicited a bit of pushback, but his response was largely a validation of Brendan’s report. Read the rest of this entry »

Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Colorado Rockies. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as my own observations. This is the sixth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.

A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.

All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »

On September 12, 2004, Eli Manning made his NFL debut. The Giants were down three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and starting quarterback Kurt Warner had taken four sacks and fumbled twice; maybe let the no. 1 overall pick take a spin.

On Manning’s very first play from scrimmage, he handed the ball to Tiki Barber, who ran for a 72-yard touchdown. Now, Manning would go on to have a very, very good career: 16 years in the league, four Pro Bowls, 366 touchdown passes, two Super Bowls, and untold hundreds of millions of dollars in career earnings. But if you look at Manning’s career through a certain lens, he peaked with that first snap.

A quarterback’s job is to advance the ball down the field and score. And while Barber did most of the work, a one-play, 72-yard touchdown drive is about as good as a debut gets. Manning’s career productivity would never be better than it was after that first play. So it proved, and quickly; on the very next possession, Manning coughed up a fumble of his own on a nightmarish three-way hit. Welcome to The Show, kid. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve concluded my spring journey through the backfields and Breakout Games, which makes this a good time to drop a few more notes. As with last time, I’ve got a mix of updates on top prospects and some off-the-radar names who have played well. I’m again mostly limiting these notes to players and systems we’ve already covered; I have thoughts on Brody Brecht and will share all of them and more on our Rockies list, which is next up in the prospect list queue.

Ethan Holliday, SS, Rockies
Holliday enters the year as one of baseball’s most volatile prospects. Big, All-Star-caliber tools run into a long swing with a lot of moving parts, and the collision is producing hard-hit balls and tardy cuts in equal measure. He tends to be behind good velocity, or even average fastballs if they’re up in the zone. Conversely, he bruised a couple baseballs in his wheelhouse down and in, including a ringing hit on a pretty good cutter in the Breakout. Physically, he looks great, and while I still think he’ll need to make an adjustment to cut down on the length of his swing at some point, I’d give him all the time in the world to figure it out.

The pleasant surprise here is that Holliday’s glove has looked significantly better at short this week than it did in Fresno last August. His reactions off the bat are quick and accurate, he charges smartly, and he picked everything in his orbit. This wasn’t a long enough look to change course entirely on his defensive projection, as he’s already big and likely still growing, but for me his odds of staying at short went up this week.

Patrick Forbes, RHP, Diamondbacks
I tend to think that good spring performances are more meaningful than bad ones. For the latter, sometimes guys are just working on a pitch, battling through the dead arm period, trying a new stance, going through the motions, or otherwise focused more on “preparing” than “competing.” In that spirit, I’m not alarmed by Forbes’ outing in Arizona’s Breakout, though I do think it’s fair to note that he didn’t look great. Forbes was the first pick in the first compensation round of last year’s draft, and when he was in college, his velocity sat 94-97 mph and touched 99. On Saturday, though, he barely scraped 95 mph, sitting 92-94. He was scattered with both his heater and his slider, and while he missed several bats, he never got in a rhythm. He had trouble aligning his upper and lower halves, and in this outing he tended to pull the ball with him as he fell off the mound. Hopefully, this is just a blip, and he’s back to his high-octane self during the regular season.

Nate Snead, RHP, Angels
In last week’s notes, I covered how one Angels source highlighted Snead as a player who belongs on the main section of the club’s top prospects list. Good scouting on his part, as Snead looked sharp in their Breakout, where he struck out two (with two walks) in two innings of work. In the system overview, I wrote that Snead “regularly touches triple digits,” which is still part of his game. But I also wrote that “he needs a sharper breaking ball,” and on this look, it was evident that he’s got a very good one, a hard slider that flashes plus. That offering is substantially ahead of his curve, which looks fringy, but as a likely reliever, upper-90s and one plus breaker is all you really need. While he’s not the most deceptive guy in the world, I came away pleasantly surprised with his ability to hit a region and move the ball to both sides of the plate. Snead will jump toward the top of the 40 FVs or bottom of the 40+ FVs when I next update the Angels list, which should be soon.

Wellington Aracena, RHP, Diamondbacks
Speaking of pitchers who need to be added to a list. Aracena was the main return for the Diamondbacks when they shipped Blaze Alexander to the Orioles. He’s a big guy with elite velocity and two very hard secondaries. While he regularly touches triple digits, it’s his 97 mph cutter and 92-93 mph slider that are most impressive on the radar gun. He’s long thrown hard, but this is another step up from when we last covered him in June. Overall, the 21-year-old struck out three in his three innings of work, with no free passes. While not wild, there’s some effort in Aracena’s delivery, as he generates his velocity in part with big shoulder and hip torque as he drives toward the plate. He poses an interesting dilemma for Arizona: He has the length and stuff to continue developing as a starter, but he projects as a late-inning reliever in short stints and could be a shot in the arm for the thin bullpen. He also has the outwardly competitive disposition and attitude teams tend to like in that kind of role. It’s a good problem to have.

Sandro Santana, LHP, Diamondbacks
Of the thousand pitches Santana fired last year, only 15 were changeups — so few that I didn’t catch any in my several looks at him in 2025. I omitted the pitch in my report on him last December, as I assumed he’d either mothballed it or would soon. Looks like we’ll need to update that report, too. Santana didn’t just throw a few cambios, but he also missed a couple bats with them. He has a low slot and generates the kind of fade and tumble that that release tends to produce, with good arm speed to boot. I don’t know what my best accomplishment was this winter, but I’m sure it pales in comparison to finding an above-average changeup.

The rest of Santana’s game looked sharp, as well. In two innings, he didn’t allow a baserunner and struck out two. He touched 96 mph, and his slider was again above average, long with good spin, and lefties looked very uncomfortable against it, flinching or waving weakly at it several times.

Yilver De Paula, SS, Angels
De Paula stood out in this winter’s deep dive through the Angels’ DSL club, even though he only played a handful of games. I got only a quick look at him live. (Disappointingly, he didn’t appear in their Breakout even though he was on the roster.) In person, he looked athletic with clean actions at short and an arm that could be plus at maturity. At the plate, he’s quick to the ball and made hard contact a couple of times against older pitchers. He’s not the biggest guy, and there’s a chance he’s neither quick enough to be an elite defensive shortstop, nor strong enough to hit for enough power to be a lineup regular. Were I scouting for a club, though, with the caveat that I’d need to see him a little more to have adequate conviction, I’d be leaning toward a high-variance everyday grade.

Lucas Ramirez, OF, Angels
Manny’s son was a late scratch on my Angels list because I didn’t love his swing or how jumpy he looked in the box. He’s such a twitchy guy, though, and he belongs on the list in some capacity. His hands are fast and he roped a double in a backfield game 111 mph off the bat — three ticks higher than his max output a year ago. His power looks like a potential carrying tool, and while I still have reservations about his swing and approach — particularly with respect to how he identifies and attacks spin, which has eaten him alive as a pro — this is the kind of athlete to stay on even if he struggles early in his career.

Dauri Fernandez, MI, Guardians
Fernandez, while still a lean middle infielder, looks like he’s bulked up in a positive way this spring. It’s the kind of physical projection we were hoping to see, and while he’ll need to continue getting stronger, it’s fair to mentally lump him in with the tier of guys like Robert Arias, Juneiker Caceres, and Gabriel Rodriguez, young Guardos with hit tools and everyday upside.

Cam Day, RHP, Dodgers:
Day was an honorable mention on our Dodgers list this winter due to middling production and a history of wildness. His stuff is diabolical, though, and this spring he’s been sitting 97-99 mph (up from 93-97 last season). That extra velo has burnished both of his breaking balls, and the curve in particular looks like a 70. Day’s delivery is still high maintenance with some excess movement and a wobbly back leg, and he’s probably never going to be a great strike thrower. His arm speed and stroke look a tick faster and quicker this spring. Is that a meaningful change for him? Am I just seeing things, dizzy from the triple-digit heat coming from the sky and radar gun? Let’s check back soon.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been bouncing around spring training camps for a little more than a week now, which makes this a good time to drop a few notes. I’ve mostly kept to the backfields, but I’ve taken in a couple big league games as well, and these observations draw from both sources. I’ve got a mix of updates on top prospects, some off-the-radar names who have played well, and a few thoughts on a notable recent graduate.

Roki Sasaki, RHP, Dodgers
I caught Sasaki on Tuesday night, where he looked similar to how he did last season. His splitter is absolutely devastating, perhaps the best split I’ve ever seen live, but it’s also the only reliable pitch for him right now, and even that didn’t generate the same kind of chase his second time through the order. Meanwhile, he still doesn’t command his fastball well, and it got hit hard when he left it out over the plate. Sasaki looked great at times in a relief role last year, and with his arm strength and split, he could be a monster closer. I wouldn’t be shocked if he winds up in relief sooner rather than later.

Carson Whisenhunt, LHP, Giants
Whisenhunt was a late cut from our Top 100 list, as we ultimately determined that his lack of a breaking ball was leading to deep counts, predictable pitch selections, and ultimately too much traffic on the bases for him to project as a mid-rotation starter despite a monster changeup. His quest for a better third pitch led him to a cutter this spring, a low-90s offering that to my eye flashed average, but lacked the late bite or tight velo separation from the fastball to change the calculus for him much. The rest of the package looked as it has for a while. He had his good velo back, up to 96, and generated swings and misses up in the zone. His change, as ever, looked excellent. Read the rest of this entry »

Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Houston Astros. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as my own observations. This is the sixth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.

A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.

All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the New York Yankees. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as our own observations. This is the sixth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.

A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here.

All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »