The slow drip of Tim’s top 150 begins! We’ll give you these in chunks of 25, working our way from #150 all the way to the #1 prospect in baseball.
Rules:
This is fantasy value over real-life value
Hitters are weighted a bit heavier than pitchers, given the added injury risk
Proximity matters, but this is a dynasty-length view
All notes current as of Sunday, August 16, 2026.
126. SP Patrick Forbes (Diamondbacks) - A+
Previous Rank: 137 ETA: 2028 Comp: Luis Castillo
Prime Skills: Forbes started his college career as a shortstop before transitioning to full-time pitching in 2024 as a reliever, with 2025 being his first season as a starter, an uncommon developmental path for an arm with this much present stuff. He’s got nasty stuff topping out at 100 mph from a funky, almost side-arm, quick-action slot out of an athletically built frame. The fastball-slider combination is nasty, the sweeper is a vertically breaking 12-to-6 shape rather than a traditional horizontal sweep, and the fastball, sitting 94-96, carries a fair amount of ride. The changeup is a solid pitch that gets left-handed hitters out fairly often, while the sinker has good arm-side movement but still lacks command. He’s been in build-up all season and the Diamondbacks are being pretty conservative with his usage, but he’s been lights out with better command than I thought he would have out of the draft.
Arsenal Grades:
• FA (94-100 mph): 60/65
• ST (82-85 mph): 55/60
• FS (92-95 mph): 40/55
• FC (88-91 mph): 35/45
• CH (86-88 mph): 45/55
• Command: 40/55
Ranking Explanation: Forbes is a bit underrated if you only look at the back-of-the-baseball-card stats, it’s easy to forget that Luis Castillo also had command concerns as a prospect before figuring it out at the big league level, and I’ve been around long enough to remember exactly how that story played out. He started this year on the injured list, worth factoring into any near-term timeline, but the stuff-over-results profile is exactly the type that tends to click all at once when the command finally arrives.
127. SP Yhoiker Fajardo (Cardinals) - AA
Previous Rank: 174 ETA: 2028 Comp: A bigger Jose Berrios mashed with Kutter Crawford
Prime Skills: Fajardo is a legitimately tough arm for hitters to square up, he gave up only one homer in his entire professional career until this year and made it to AA as a 19-year-old. I was a fan back when he was with Boston last year and like him considerably better than Jurrangelo Cijntje, the other arm the Cardinals landed from Seattle in the same general trade market. He throws a dirty kick-change that pairs beautifully against both the fastball and a vertical gyro slider, while a second fastball variant, more of a true two-seamer, plays up as a legitimate weapon specifically against lefties up in the zone thanks to late fade most hitters don’t pick up in time. The gyro slider is filthy down in the zone, and he uses it as a true death pitch or spike offering against the kick-change, which fades hard in the opposite direction, distinct, deliberate shape variance rather than one breaking ball thrown at different speeds. He’s currently running a striking 18% swinging-strike rate and a 34% CSW on the year way above age-to-level, with plus command as the velocity has ticked up alongside it and the 3.79 ERA is actually high considering his .366 BABIP on the year and the 2.49 JA ERA.
Arsenal Grades:
• FA (93-97 mph): 50/55
• FA2/two-seam (92-96 mph): 50/55
• FC/SL (84-87 mph): 65/70
• CH (85-88 mph): 60/65
• Command: 55/60
Ranking Explanation: An 18% swinging-strike rate paired with command that’s trending plus as the stuff ticks up is exactly the shape of a pitcher outperforming a fringy draft profile even with the increased homer rate against this year as he is pitching far above age-to-level in an organization packed mostly with college pitchers. He has nasty breakers and the fastball plays better than the metrics suggest. This kid is super underrated, but not by me.
128. SP Briggs McKenzie (Braves) - A+
Previous Rank: null ETA: 2029 Comp: A MacKenzie Gore with a lower arm slot
Prime Skills: McKenzie is a prep pitcher who got promoted to High-A after only one start at Low-A, and with just 26 professional innings on his ledger, he hasn’t even qualified for a full fScore yet, this is pure stuff-and-projection right now, not a data-driven ranking. My buddy, Chris Blessing has said publicly he thinks McKenzie is the best pitcher in the entire Braves organization, and the pre-draft signing bonus said as much on its own. He works a low-90s fastball doing his best Chris Sale impression, slinging it from a low three-quarters, near-side-arm slot that’s probably closer to Nick Lodolo’s release in practice, the kind of low slot that should carry a distinct vertical approach angle advantage once someone tracks it. The curveball spins north of 3,000 RPM in a 10-to-5 shape and already looks like a potential double-plus pitch, and the changeup might be even nastier, a diving 12-to-6 offering that falls completely off the plate from that same low slot, tougher to pick up than the curve in the looks I’ve gotten so far. McKenzie has not pitched since June with a nerve issue in his left forearm, concerning, but only slightly long-term as we are still incredibly early in his developmental arc.
Arsenal Grades:
• FA (91-95 mph): 45/55
• CU (80-81 mph): 60/70
• CH (86-89 mph): 60/70
• Command: 40/60
Ranking Explanation: With only 26 pro innings banked, McKenzie’s fScore hasn’t caught up to how loud the raw stuff already looks, two potential double-plus pitches out of a deceptive low slot this early in a pro career is an uncommon combination. He ranks in this range purely on workload, not on any doubt about the arm, the Braves are building him up methodically rather than pushing him for results. Fajardo has reached AA at the same age and is healthy - while he doesn’t have as elite of secondaries as McKenzie, Fajardo gets the edge based on command, health, better proximity and a stronger performance record.
129. SP Caden Hunter (Orioles) - AA
Previous Rank: null ETA: Late 2027 Comp: Ranger Suárez if he sat 95-96 instead of 92-93
Prime Skills: Hunter was a sixth-round afterthought a year ago out of Oklahoma State after two JUCO stops, and he’s turned into the best swing-and-miss arm on the entire Orioles farm as a 22-year-old. His fastball has climbed from 90-93 at signing to 93-96 with a peak of 97 now, out of a three-quarters slot with a delivery that hides the ball behind his back before he comes forward, tangible deception that shows up in the results, hitters have managed just a .514 OPS against it with a single homer allowed all year. It’s an odd blend too, scouts describe it as a low-spin, heavy fastball that still carries 19.3 inches of induced vertical break, meaning it looks like it should sink and instead rides through the top of the zone. The low-80s slider is his best swing-and-miss weapon against left-handed hitters specifically, a 36% whiff rate, and the changeup has developed fastest as a pro, low-80s with 8 to 10 mph of separation, gone from a show-me pitch to a legitimate weapon finishing right-handed hitters down and away.
Arsenal Grades:
• FA (93-96 mph, T97): 60/60
• SL (80-83 mph): 50/55
• CU (77-80 mph): 45/50
• CH (82-87 mph): 40/50
• Command: 50/55
Ranking Explanation: Across two levels this year he’s running a 13.9 K/9, the best strikeout rate of any pitcher in the entire Orioles farm system, ahead of far more decorated names like Boston Bateman and Joseph Dzierwa. Whether he ends up starting or relieving long-term is still an open question given the frame, but a 6th-round afterthought forcing the organization to reckon with him is exactly the kind of helium that tends to keep climbing rankings rather than plateauing.