MLB Pipeline will reveal its 2026 Prime 100 Prospects listing at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 23, with a one-hour present on MLB Community and MLB.com. Main as much as the discharge of the Prime 100, we’ll study baseball’s prime 10 prospects at every place.
Left-handed pitching is all the time in excessive demand, however typically brief provide. Because the 2026 season approaches, there are a couple of groups that, whereas maybe not flush with southpaw prospect expertise, can boast a number of high-end arms.
A 12 months in the past at the moment, the White Sox had the highest two lefties on the Prime 10 left-handed pitchers listing. Certainly one of them nonetheless landed on this 12 months’s prime 10, however three different organizations have stepped in to double up. The Marlins lead the listing with Thomas White, but in addition have Robby Snelling at No. 5, whereas the Pink Sox have a duo (Payton Tolle and Connelly Early) who’ve already reached the massive leagues. The A’s are the third workforce with two prime lefties, with Gage Leap becoming a member of Jamie Arnold, who got here courtesy of the 2025 Draft.
Prime 10 prospects by place:• RHP | LHP | C (Wed.) | 1B (Fri.) | 2B (Jan. 19)• 3B (Jan. 20) | SS (Jan. 21) | OF (Jan. 22) | Prime 100 (Jan. 23)
Talking of that draft class, it offers three left-handers on this listing: Arnold, Kade Anderson and Liam Doyle. That trio additionally tilts the highschool vs. faculty scale for the primary time shortly. There at the moment are six faculty merchandise on the listing, breaking a streak of 4 years through which prepsters had been the bulk.
The Prime 10 (ETA)1. Thomas White, Marlins (2026)2. Payton Tolle, Pink 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, Pink Sox (2026)9. Gage Leap, A’s (2026)10. Cam Caminiti, Braves (2027)Full listing »
Fastball: Tolle, Doyle (70)Tolle’s heater received probably the most votes for greatest fastball in our not too long ago accomplished MLB Pipeline Executives survey. It averaged just below 96 mph and touched 101 final 12 months throughout all ranges whereas producing a 39 % miss fee because of elite extension and low launch top. Final 12 months at Tennessee, Doyle’s fastball gained a couple of ticks in comparison with his sophomore marketing campaign and sat within the mid-90s, topping out at 100 mph. Coming from a excessive launch level and erupting on the prime of the zone, it completed 105 strikeouts, main all Division I pitchers.
Curve: Anderson, Leap (55)Anderson’s curve isn’t even his favourite breaking pitch as he threw his slider way more often at LSU final 12 months. Even so, he nonetheless used his upper-70s curveball with good downward motion to overlook bats at a 35 % clip, in accordance with Synergy. Equally, Leap favored his slider over his curve, however the slower upper-70s downer was nonetheless efficient.
Slider: White, Schultz (70)White’s change from a slower curve to his low-80s slider has been a great one. An enormous motive for his uptick in strikeout fee (11.3 Ok/9 in 2024, 14.6 in 2025) is as a result of that slider elicited a powerful 50 % miss fee throughout all ranges. It wasn’t fairly as nasty because it was in 2024, however Schultz nonetheless did use his low-80s slider that touches 88 mph to overlook bats on the higher ranges to a 32 % clip. He throws it with a ton of horizontal motion, made harder to choose up because of his 6-foot-10 body and low three-quarters slot.
Changeup: White, Anderson, Early (60)White’s mid-80s changeup had all the time been stable, but it surely took one other step ahead final 12 months. The fading offspeed providing produced a 44 % miss fee to associate with a 51 % ground-ball fee final 12 months. Anderson turned increasingly snug throwing his mid-80s cambio at LSU final 12 months. It has good fade and sink to it, and he produced a 48 % miss fee with it in 2025. Early’s low-80s changeup performs properly off his fastball as a result of it has comparable motion and he will get loads of swings-and-misses with it (33 % miss fee throughout all ranges final 12 months) whereas additionally getting a ton of ground-ball contact (56 % ground-ball fee) with it.
Management: Tolle, Anderson, Snelling, Arnold, Leap (55)Really feel for pitching and left-handers are sometimes synonymous and this quintet of southpaws all replenish the zone very properly. The stroll charges converse volumes: Tolle (2.3 BB/9 in his one season of the Minors); Anderson (2.6 BB/9 at LSU final 12 months); Snelling (2.6 BB/9 throughout Double-A and Triple-A in 2025); Arnold (2.5 BB/9 mixed in 2024-25 at Florida State) and Leap (2.4 at LSU in 2024, 2.7 in his first season of professional ball final 12 months).
Highest ceiling: WhiteDrafted out of the New England highschool ranks, White entered professional ball with a perceived enormous ceiling due to his measurement, pure stuff and relative lack of mileage on his arm. Now that he’s on the higher ranges of the Marlins’ system, it’s wanting like these early projections had been proper. The stuff is frontline-starter caliber, and he used it to strike out 14.6 per 9 final 12 months. The one impediment to him main a rotation sometime is his command/management (5.1 BB/9 in 2025).
Rookie of the 12 months candidate: Tolle/EarlySix of the ten on this listing ought to affect the massive leagues this coming season, however the Pink Sox teammates have already performed that. Each received votes within the executives survey for AL Rookie of the 12 months and each even received to check their mettle within the postseason. It was Early who drew a beginning nod and had extra preliminary success whereas Tolle went to the playoff ‘pen, however search for these two southpaws to push one another all 12 months.
Highest riser & humblest starting: EarlyEarly spent his first two faculty seasons at Military, then transferred to Virginia and whereas he put up superb numbers there forward of the 2023 Draft, he largely stayed off the radar with a fastball that sat within the 89-91 mph vary. The Pink Sox took him as a school performer within the fifth spherical that summer season and have helped him discover extra velocity with a heater that averaged 93.6 mph and touched 97 final 12 months. He wasn’t even on the workforce’s Prime 30 Prospects listing to start out the 2024 season, then jumped to No. 10 forward of the 2025 marketing campaign earlier than transferring into Prime 100 standing for 2026.
Most to show: SchultzThe White Sox first-round decide in 2023 out of the Illinois highschool ranks, Schultz really topped this listing firstly of the 2025 season following a wholesome 2024 through which he earned Southern League Pitcher of the 12 months accolades after posting a 1.48 ERA and a 73/17 Ok/BB ratio in 61 innings. Although he did attain Triple-A earlier than his twenty second birthday in his follow-up, he wasn’t as dominant, lacking fewer bats and strolling extra hitters, with proper patellar tendinitis clearly enjoying a component. There’s nonetheless loads of time for him to proper the ship and attain his frontline starter potential.
Regulate: SchoolcraftKruz Schoolcraft reclassified to be part of the 2025 Draft class and the Oregon highschool product landed within the first spherical after rebounding from a slower begin to his senior season. He’s enormous (6-foot-8) with a fastball as much as 97 mph to associate with a slider and changeup which might be at the least above-average. He was a legit two-way man, so there might be appreciable ceiling right here for the Padres now that he’s specializing in pitching solely on the professional facet.
