There has been a massive influx of young talent into the NL Central already this season, including two Top 5 prospects in Konnor Griffin and JJ Wetherholt, along with a Top 25 guy in Sal Stewart. Behind that group is even more talent, as four teams in the division can claim Top 10 systems, with the Reds just outside that range. In fact, the NL Central may have the best prospect talent top-to-bottom of any division in baseball. Here is a look at the top prospects for every team in the NL Central.
Stats entering play on 8/10/2026
CHICAGO CUBS
After missing the first three months of the season following a shoulder injury, 2025 first-round pick Ethan Conrad is back and starting to gain some traction in his pro debut. The 22-year-old from Wake Forest has moved from the Complex to Class-A, where he’s batting .217 with four homers and four doubles in 25 games. Most of his damage has been done of late, though, batting .323 with a pair of homers and doubles since August 1st. Despite an attack-minded approach, Conrad is making a ton of zone contact (92%) and is starting to lift the ball more often, running a sub-40% groundball rate and getting to a pull air rate of 19%. The early EVs have been solid as well, reaching a max of around 110mph with plenty of EVs north of 90mph. As the sample continues to get larger, I expect Conrad to continue putting out plenty of power, his main carrying tool in fantasy.
The returns have not been as good for Jaxon Wiggins, the Cubs’ #1 pitching prospect, who, like Conrad, missed a good chunk of the season with elbow inflammation. Since returning from his injury, Wiggins has thrown 23 1/3 innings, yielding an ERA of 8.49 with 27 strikeouts against 21 walks. In his five most recent starts at Triple-A, it’s a 12.21 ERA, and he has yet to complete four innings. It’s worth noting that his changeup has a whiff rate of over 50% with a .140 xSLG, adding one sliver of hope to an otherwise horrific performance.
Shortstop Fernando Cruz drew plenty of attention this season at the Complex Level, mashing a league-best 13 homers with ten doubles and steals across 53 games at the level. This was technically Cruz’s second stint in the Complex, but his 2025 was cut short by injury. The 19-year-old has since been promoted to Class A, where he’s batting .235 in his first ten games. Cruz drew a $4M signing bonus in the 2024 J-15 class, which means two things: he’s talented, and the Cubs were pushing very hard to get him. With the production at the Complex, plus the pedigree here, he’s a name to watch in dynasty leagues.
CINCINNATI REDS
Hector Rodriguez has spent the last two seasons dominating at every level he’s played at, and that performance has finally led to him earning a promotion to the Majors. The 22-year-old was stellar this season for Triple-A Louisville, slashing .274/.347/.533 with 16 doubles, 27 homers, and six steals in just over 100 games. That’s now four straight seasons with double-digit homers and a batting average over .270 spanning five levels for Rodriguez. The biggest question for him at the next level is how his approach will play. Rodriguez is hyper-aggressive at the dish and expands the zone frequently, yet has always had the bat-to-ball skills to overcome it. We’ll see how MLB pitchers plan to attack.
Reds’ top prospect Alfredo Duno has recently received a promotion as well, moving from High-A up to Double-A. Duno has played 18 games for Chattanooga, batting .288 with five doubles, three homers, and almost as many walks (12) as strikeouts (13). On the year, the 20-year-old catcher is batting .266 with 19 homers across two levels. Duno is one of the best offensive catchers in the Minors, showcasing outstanding plate discipline along with high-end raw power that has consistently produced EVs north of 110mph and home runs exceeding 450 feet. It’s still a small sample, but Duno’s K-rate (16.7%) has dipped by about 10% since moving up a level.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
2025 first-round pick Andrew Fischer has continued his assault on Double-A pitchers, launching eight more home runs in July, moving his MiLB-leading total to 35 on the season. Fischer has added a .280 average, 85 runs, 82 RBI, and a 17.4% walk rate to the stat line, with one caveat. The 22-year-old is still striking out more than 33% of the time and is running a contact rate below 65% on the season. Even with his contact woes, Fischer represents a significant power upgrade over the current Brewers’ roster and has an outside chance of joining the Major League roster by the end of 2026. We’ve seen this three-true-outcome profile before at the MLB level with varying degrees of success and plenty of failure. Fischer is one of the top third base prospects in baseball and should be considered a consensus Top 100 prospect along with an easy Top 400 player in dynasty.
After a hot start to his Triple-A career, right-hander Tyson Hardin has been struggling at his new level. Over his last four starts, he’s got an ERA of 10.57, allowing 18 earned runs in just 15 1/3 innings. The adjustment period is hard at any level, especially for a guy who was never considered an elite prospect arm. Hardin still shows outstanding command and control with the ability to miss plenty of bats. The metrics look pretty good, allowing a barrel rate of just 4% with not much hard contact, but right now the results aren’t matching the underlying numbers.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
24-year-old Connor Wietgrefe first caught my attention in June after finishing the month with a 1.86 ERA and 32 strikeouts over 29 innings, which actually included a clunker (6 IP, 5 ER) in his Triple-A debut to close out the month. Wietgrefe has since adjusted to the level and has been utterly dominant. In seven starts since July 1st, he has thrown a total of 42 1/3 innings with a 1.91 ERA and 31 strikeouts against just 11 walks. Command is his calling card as a pitcher, rarely beating himself by giving away free passes and using a six-pitch mix to keep hitters off balance. Wietgrefe is not a big strikeout guy, but gets a lot of chase and induces plenty of weak contact. He has the depth of arsenal and the craftiness from the left side to stick as a fifth starter, or bulk reliever, if he reaches the Majors.
One of the hottest hitters on the planet right now is Pirates’ outfield prospect Lonnie White. The 23-year-old earned a promotion to Double-A earlier this season and has been a one-man wrecking crew over the last month. Over his last 20 games, White has a .408 average with eight homers, 16 RBI, and a 1.286 OPS. His season totals are now a .300 average with 23 homers and 18 steals. White draws a good amount of walks, but there is a good bit of swing-and-miss in his game. If the contact can become serviceable, White is a guy with 30+ homer upside.
Pitching prospects continue to pour out of the Pirates’ system, and the latest breakout is 19-year-old Levi Sterling, the 37th overall pick from the 2024 draft class. Sterling had an uninspiring debut in the Complex in 2025 as he battled significant command issues en route to a 6.09 ERA over 34 innings. His 2026 campaign has been a complete 180. Sterling has thrown 90 innings at Class A Bradenton, posting an 18% K-BB rate and averaging over 10Ks per nine. Like Wietgrefe, it’s a six-pitch mix for Sterling, headlined by a pair of breaking pitches (slider and curve) with whiff rates well over 30%.
ST LOUIS CARDINALS
Outfielder Joshua Baez is just days from getting the call to the Major Leagues, and he’s more than showing he’s ready. Since June 1st, Baez has tallied 17 HR, 48 RBI, and 7 steals, posting a .910 OPS across fewer than 200 at-bats. For 2026, he’s now up to 33 homers and 18 steals at Triple-A Memphis. There are notable flaws with his plate discipline and a sub-70% overall contact rate, but Baez’s offensive impact can be massive. Among qualified Triple-A hitters, he ranks first in barrel rate and home runs, second in RBI, and sixth in hard-hit %, while also falling inside the Top 10 in several other categories, mostly surrounding his quality of contact. When he gets the call, Baez should be a priority add in all redraft leagues and should already be owned in all dynasty/keeper formats.
The journey to the Majors has been a roller coaster ride for lefty Quinn Mathews, but the 6’5″ southpaw finally made his MLB debut earlier this month. Starting against Toronto on August 1st, the 25-year-old went five innings, allowing two runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. It was a solid outing for Mathews, who threw 65 of his 97 pitches for strikes, attacking the zone over 50% of the time, and getting 12 whiffs on 47 swings. Each of his two fastball variations averaged over 94 mph, and his four-seamer was very good, getting 15 called strikes plus whiffs on 40 pitches. Mathews has since been optioned back to Triple-A, where he’ll rejoin the Memphis rotation, but I’d expect to see him resurface in the Majors again this season and break camp with the team next spring.
