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.
Earlier this month, I looked at Franklin Arias of the Red Sox and how he’s already surpassed his previous career highs, and now it’s Pedro Ramirez doing the same thing. The 22-year-old already has a career-best nine homers in just 150 at-bats, adding ten doubles and 14 steals. Even better, he’s batting .308 with a near-10% walk rate and sub-17% K-rate. Beyond the obvious, hitting the ball much harder, Ramirez is taking to the air more often, lowering his groundball rate by over 6%. There’s not a clear path to the Majors for him, but with the Cubs desperately in need of pitching, he could serve as their primary trade chip as the deadline approaches.
The entire Iowa Cubs lineup is mashing right now, and we’re seeing flashes again from Kevin Alcantara. Through 33 games, the 6’6″ slugger already has 13 homers and a 12.4% walk rate, but that comes with the same pitfalls as before. Alcantara has a strikeout rate of over 34% and continues to swing-and-miss at a very high clip, even in the zone. His overall contact rate is below 70% once again, and even with the upside of his power and speed, there’s no guarantee that he can make enough contact in the Majors ever to reach that ceiling.
2025 sixth-rounder Josiah Hartshorn is drawing plenty of early attention, showing a nice blend of contact and power en route to a 145 wRC+ over his first 28 games as a pro. Hartshorn was red hot early on but has cooled off of late. He’s still batting .269 with four homers and four steals, walking 5% more often than he’s striking out. Patience and plate discipline are quite strong, although a 36% swing rate will need to increase as he climbs to the upper levels.
A torn UCL in his thumb kept Cam Collier out of the lineup for over six weeks in 2025, and upon his return, the plus raw power we saw in his previous season was completely sapped. While the early surface stats aren’t eye-popping, Collier has five early homers, more than he did in 2025 and in 250 fewer at-bats. This year, he’s batting .236 at Double-A, but has trimmed his strikeout rate slightly while showing more power and, most importantly, staying healthy.
Héctor Rodríguez, a late-2024 breakout, reached Triple-A at the end of last season, playing in 53 games and performing well. The 22-year-old has returned to the level in 2026, batting .269 with six homers and six doubles, plus three steals. His walk rate is 10.9%, the highest of his career, while striking out just 16.8% of the time. The batted-ball data has improved year over year, and he’s already got 55 hard-hit balls in 132 events (41.2%). That’s an excellent start for Rodriguez, who should factor into the Reds’ outfield plans at some point in 2026.
The start of this season has been a mixed bag for 2025 first-rounder Andrew Fischer. Through 28 games, he’s batting .274 with nine homers and a 139 wRC+. He’s walking at an 11% clip, but the strikeouts are certainly piling up. Fischer has already K’d 46 times this season, good for a 36.5% rate. The number is a little skewed by a passive approach and taking a lot of called strikes, but he also has a contact rate of just over 63%. Despite the whiffs, there’s a level of excitement from the power display we’re seeing from Fischer. Unfortunately, his profile mirrors the past struggles of guys like Brock Wilken and Eric Bitonti, two power-hitting corner infielders with huge power and high strikeout rates.
All of the early-season buzz for Cooper Pratt was not performance-related, but rather a $50.75M extension the Brewers gave him before he reached Triple-A. Since the extension, Pratt has struggled a bit in his first go at AAA. He’s batting just .205 with a pair of homers and 11 steals. His contact rates are pretty solid, and he’s walking more than he’s striking out. The biggest issue for the 21-year-old right now is a high groundball rate and subpar batted-ball data. I expect that to change in time, but it’s worth monitoring as Joey Ortiz continues to struggle at the MLB level, and the Brew Crew could use a SS.
It’s hard to overlook what outfielder Luis Lara is doing at Triple-A Nashville. Lara, who entered 2025 with 12 career home runs over five seasons, is looking like a young Barry Lamar Bonds. Through 37 games, Lara has seven homers and four doubles, slugging over .390 (.511 in ’26) for the first time in his career. Lara has always shown above-average bat-to-ball skills throughout his career, but now the power is ticking up. He’s got a 42.9% hard-hit rate this season and is averaging nearly 89mph with his EV, while reaching a max of 109mph. The seven homers are even more impressive when you consider he’s running a 52% ground ball rate.
Let’s talk about Pirates’ top prospect, Seth Hernandez. This kid is only 20 and probably the pitching prospect in the game despite throwing just 28 innings as a pro. Hernandez is 6’4” and just under 200 lbs with four pitches that grade out as a 60 or higher, including three that are 70-grade already. So far at Class A, he’s got a swinging strike rate of over 26% and a whiff rate of 51%. That’s not one pitch; that’s over his entire arsenal. The least successful of his pitches so far is the fastball, which averages over 97mph with 17+ inches of iVB. Hernandez was promoted to Double-A on May 10th after an 0.96 ERA and 0.71 WHIP at High-A Bradenton.
2025 breakout Edward Florentino started the year on the IL with an ankle injury, but has already come out mashing this season and was recently promoted to High-A. Over his first 16 games, the 19-year-old has a .305/.411/.661 slash line, which includes six homers, three steals, and a walk rate of just over 16%. The level of bat-to-ball skills and raw power he possesses at his age is uncanny, and Florentino is already translating that into not only batting average but over-the-fence power. The scariest part is that it feels like he hasn’t reached his peak yet, giving him a clear path to becoming a Top 5 overall prospect.
The Cardinals are loaded with catching talent in their system, including a consensus Top 25 prospect in Rainiel Rodriguez, along with Leo Bernal and a red-hot Jimmy Crooks. Crooks has always been known as an excellent defensive player who would occasionally provide a little thump. That hasn’t been the case this season as the 24-year-old is on a tear at Triple-A. Over 30 games, he’s homered 12 times with a .269 average and above-average counting stats. His walk rate is incredibly high, sitting at a career-best 17.9%, nearly six percent higher than his previous high. On the surface, it looks like Crooks is selling out for power. The groundball rate is down six percent in favor of fly balls, and the contact rates are way down, sitting under 70%. While it’s not ideal that he’s striking out so much, there is added value in the newfound offensive production, so long as the glove remains excellent.
The days at High-A are numbered for prospect Rainiel Rodriguez, who is off to a .311 start with four homers and eight doubles. This is not a surprise after Rodriguez hit .276 last season, including .294 in a very brief 4-game stretch at High-A to end 2025. With Double-A in sight, the 19-year-old projects to sniff the Majors at some point in 2027, causing a bit of a logjam at the position with Crooks and Bernal at Triple-A and Pages and Herrera in the Majors.
Update: Rodriguez was promoted to Double-A on 5/11/2026
It’s been a roller coaster-esque first month for left-hander Liam Doyle in his first full season as a pro. Doyle got knocked around in the Spring Breakout game, and that set the tone for some early struggles. The 22-year-old ended April with an ERA over 10.00 but has dropped it to 6.43 through six starts, which have spanned 21 innings. His walk rate is only 7.6%, which is encouraging; however, Doyle is allowing a .294 average against, and opposing hitters are averaging nearly 11 hits per nine. It’s worth noting that Doyle is pitching at Double-A, so the rough start is almost expected. Plus, he pitches in the Texas League, which has some spots that can be very hitter-friendly. Either way, he’s looked better of late, and I think Doyle will be just fine moving forward.
