MiLB Top 10 Prospects - Week 14
Tim Kanak brings MLB DW members 15 prospects to watch from all of the minor league action in Week Fourteen
Hi friends, welcome to my weekly prospect report, now only found with an MLB Data Warehouse subscription! The goal of this column is to give you the most fantasy relevant prospect information throughout the last week all in one place. The format of this weekly prospect report will be a run-though of my top 15 prospects of the week.
I will try my best to highlight new prospects every week, rather than repeat names, unless the repeat is so warranted I just can’t help myself.
This should not be seen as a weekly stash rankings, but as a ranking of top performers each week through all levels. My updated top 150 rankings can currently be found on MLB Data Warehouse and thanks to Jon, we will now have regularly updated fScores throughout the year.
Please subscribe to the Fantasy Aceball podcast and MLB Data Warehouse podcast feeds or on YouTube (@TheTimkanak) and also follow me on X (@fantasyaceball) for more fantasy goodness!
NOTE: Rookie status is determined by 130 ABs, or 50 IPs at the Major League level.
NOTE: All stats from Sunday, June 28th - Saturday, July 4th 2026
T-10 Prospects
1. SS Sammy Stafura (Pirates) - A+
ETA: 2028
Comp: Matt McLain light
Prime Skills: Stafura was the Reds second round pick in 2024 and looks like a future highly volatile big leaguer that would probably be best utilized in a super utility role. He has quick hands and good bat speed, but lackluster EVs and he’s super aggressive in the zone leading to better batting averages than the contact rates would suggest. I’ve seen him quite a bit live in the Florida State League, he’s in good physical shape and despite a higher K rate due to his aggression has a decent feel for the zone as he only has a 25% chase rate on the year and has a near plus Z-O score. Stafura hits to good line drive angles and puts up solid barrel rates that help him sustain higher BABIPs than most players. The average EVs are higher than the max / raw EV as he has tapped out at 107.6 this season. Stafura is a good base runner and finished this week with 7 extra base hits, 4 homers and 2 steals while hitting .536.
Hitter Tool Grades:
Hit: 35/40
Plate Approach: 50/55
Power: 40/50
Speed: 60/60
Prospect Rank: Top 400
2. OF Josue De Paula (Dodgers) - AA
ETA: Mid/Late 2027
Comp: Lefty Jordan Walker
Prime Skills: Big kid has a body that power can grow into with a solid hit tool as he already produces above average contact rates and plus angles. De Paula has a great eye that has not diminished this year as he has ramped up his aggressiveness at the plate. The power should develop further as he grows into his big 6’ 3” frame, he’s only maxed out at a recorded 108.5 EV (Future’s Game homer), but has a 105.8 90th percentile EV, which is very good. I mentioned in the pre-season that “De Paula needs to swing more to maximize his tools though as his conservative swing approach only led to 29 extra base hits in 102 games in 2025,” and he has done exactly that this year swinging 5% more and getting into more power with 16 extra base hits already in 40 games (a much better rate of XBH / AB). He has the body for more power though and is not near his ceiling. De Paula had a killer week with 6 extra base hits, 2 bombs and 4 steals as he has really started coming into his power thanks to finding more aggression in his approach that is taking him to the next level.
Hitter Tool Grades:
Hit: 55/60
Plate Approach: 60/65
Power: 45/65
Speed: 55/55
Prospect Rank: 14
3. SP Colton Shaw (Mariners) - A+
ETA: 2029
Comp: Clay Holmes and Justin Lawrence mash
Prime Skills: I love Mariners pitchers and Colton Shaw was a 7th rounder out of Yale who is a groundball getting, command first pitcher that lacks velocity, but makes it up in pitchability. He throws from a near side-arm low release point with a primary two-seamer that has some nice arm-side to it from the weird release against a late breaking sweeper that cuts to the exact opposite movement as the sinker. Pitching Ninja would have a fun time tunneling those two pitches. Due to his ability to get groundball outs and avoid walks, he’s an innings eater that consistently gets through 6 innings in about 80 pitches per outing. He’s racked up over 50% groundball rates and the sweeper is a major strikeout pitch, while the change up is used more aggressively second time through the order to catch guys looking for the sinker. He may end up a reliever just because of the glut of pitchers the Mariners have and his ability to get groundballs, but he has the command of a really nice back-end starter. Shaw had 11 strikeouts and 0 walks, only giving up one hit in 6 innings this week. FYI the camera angles at Everett are terrible.
Arsenal Grades:
SI (90-96 mph): 50/60
ST (84-88 mph): 60/60
CH (82-84 mph): 40/50
Command: 55/60
Prospect Rank: N/A
4. 2B/3B Leanders Matos (Brewers) - DSL
ETA: 2030
Comp: Maikel Garcia Light
Prime Skills: Matos just turned 17-years-old and signed with the Brewers for $300,000 this year and to date has shown off a nice 78% contact rate with a very nice air-pull profile in 23 games in the DSL. The dude is crushing with a 13% walk rate and 15% K rate, 15 extra base hits in only 23 games is pretty crazy, as is the 8.5% swinging strike rate where you usually see tons of chase and 20% swinging strike rates in the DSL. Since he’s in the DSL we don’t have any exit velocity data, so my grades here are a lot of guesswork based on some video and production. He has a huge stride in his swing and will have to clean that up at full-season ball, but he has good rotation and a nice ability to get to optimal pull angles for power. Matos had five bombs with 6 extra base hits, a steal and hit .529 this week.
Hitter Tool Grades:
Hit: 35/55
Plate Approach: 40/50
Power: 40/55
Speed: 55/60
Prospect Rank: N/A
5. SP Henry LaLane (Yankees) - A
ETA: 2029
Comp: AJ Puk
Prime Skills: LaLane is a big lefty who (of course… Yankees prospect) had a ton of hype back in 2024 after a killer 2023 complex showing and failed to live up to it, however since May 23rd, he has been a completely different pitcher with 50 strikeouts and 10 walks in 35 innings, only giving up 14 hits and 5 runs. LaLane has an above average fastball from both a velocity and a movement perspective, but he has subpar command of it and the big turn has been an increase in slider usage from 19% (third use) prior to 5/23 to 26% after May 23rd and over his last two starts the slider has become his primary pitch at 31% usage. The slider is more of a slow sweeper with a lot of horizontal movement and has a ridiculous 49.7% CSW on the year 24% SwStr% and is his best pitch from a command perspective. The sinker is a sub-par pitch that has good velocity, but he was throwing it way too much… the command is not great and it does not generate many groundballs. The change up is nasty and the more he throws the slider / sweeper, the better the change up performs as it keeps hitters off balance. He has good command of the change up and the biggest factor on continuing growth will be fastball command and the potential to develop a gyro slider. I hate putting a guy on the T-10 more than twice a year and doing it in back to back weeks is crazy, but LaLane did it again and deserves this… another stellar performance with 11 strikeouts and 0 walks in 7 shutout innings only giving up three hits. He didn’t even throw the sinker this week, he must be listening to me. In his last two starts he now has 23 strikeouts and 0 walks and allowed only 4 hits in 14 innings.
Arsenal Grades:
FA (94-99 mph): 50/60
SL (78-82 mph): 60/70
CH (83-85 mph): 60/65
SI (93-95 mph): 30/40
Command: 35/45
Prospect Rank: Top 400