The Hitter Edition of the Stash List is back for the 2026 season.
This Stash List highlights the 10 best-hitting prospects likely to make an impact during the 2026 season.
Prospects are often thought of as only holding value in dynasty formats. However, redraft leagues, especially those that are keeper leagues, can benefit from finding the right hitter to stash at the right time on the waiver wire. Several have a 2026 ETA, and getting ahead of the curve on rostering these prospects is a key part of roster management. So let’s break down the Top 10 prospects to start off the 2026 season.
Ground Rules
- The Stash List is for your redraft leagues and does not consider impact beyond 2026.
- Only current minor league players who are expected to make an impact this season are included.
- Upside, proximity, health, and opportunity are all weighed for each player.
- The focus is on 12-team leagues with standard categories.
- Rankings will be updated weekly.
- Stats will be updated weekly for all players through Saturday’s games.
The Stash List
Graduates/Call Ups
The 2026 minor league season is still very young, so no names have graduated off the list, nor have any top prospects on previous lists seen their name called up to the majors.
As it has been over the previous weeks, the names are being reshuffled in terms of upside, health, and how likely they could be reaching the majors, or they’re being highlighted since they weren’t included in previous lists.
Top 10 Hitting Prospects to Stash
1. Cooper Ingle, C – Cleveland Guardians
2026 MiLB numbers
The walk and strikeout rates are not a typo. Cleveland Guardians catching prospect Cooper Ingle is on a tear to start the 2026 season, drawing 20 walks and striking out only nine times. He’s only played in 15 games with 54 plate appearances on the season, but what he’s done in that small sample size is eye-catching at any level of the game.
Ingle owns a .394/.630/.788 slash line, four home runs, 16 RBI, a .450 BABIP, .394 ISO, and 266 WRC+ to start the season. Bo Naylor has the bulk of the catching duties for the Guardians, with the .186 career hitter Austin Hedges backing him up. Despite not being much of a hitter, Hedges is still in the majors for a reason with his strong defense and great clubhouse personality. However, if Naylor or Hedges are to go down for any period, Ingle has made his case to be added into the Guardians lineup and get some reps in the majors, which makes him the top catcher to stash in any league.
2. Travis Bazzana, 2B – Cleveland Guardians
2026 MiLB numbers
It was a slow start out of the gate for Travis Bazzana this season, but this past week, he’s been on fire at the plate, going 7-for-17 and tagging his first two home runs of the season. It’s an encouraging turn around from the man who comes from the Land Down Under, who now owns a .297/.429/.527 slash line, has 18 runs scored, and eight stolen bases in 10 attempts.
Bazzana will still need to produce at this hot rate for a chance to earn the call-up to the majors before Memorial Day, but with so many hitters cooling off after hitting hot right out of the gate to start the year. Bazzana will be a good hitter to stash if he isn’t already on any roster in your league.
3. Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF – Minnesota Twins
2026 MiLB numbers
Don’t let the numbers deceive you. The time is now to have Emmanuel Rodriguez stashed on your fantasy roster. Why? The Twins’ outfield depth at Triple-A will be short a man over the next month as Alan Roden is down with a labrum tear after an awkward slide into home plate. This moves Rodriguez up as the next man on the 40-man roster from Triple-A St. Paul, even if he is having an up-and-down start to the season.
Rodriguez has a .250/.416/.471 slash line with four home runs, 14 RBI, and a .406 wOBA over 89 plate appearances. He also has one of the hardest hit home runs at any level of the game at 117.2 mph last Saturday, April 18th. The Twins’ outfield depth in the majors has some upside from Trevor Larnach and Austin Martin platooning left field together, but Matt Wallner is off to a cold start, and James Outman has only two hits on the year. The Twins like to ride out their depth as long as they can with every player, but if Rodriguez gets back on a hot streak in the coming weeks. He could easily be in the Twins lineup by Memorial Day at the latest.
4. Jesús Made, SS – Milwaukee Brewers
2026 MiLB numbers
5. Charlie Condon, 1B/OF – Colorado Rockies
2026 MiLB numbers
The hits haven’t quite been there for Condon this past week, as he’s gone 2-for-14, but the good thing is his walk and strikeout rates are beginning to even out as he has four walks and five strikeouts in over those 19 plate appearances. With Condon’s game at the plate being all about his power, it’s all the more encouraging when his strikeout rate remains at or below the 20% threshold.
For many of the players on this week’s list who are not already on their team’s 40-man roster, Condon still has one of the easier, if not the easiest, paths to crack onto the Rockies’ 40-man roster. The Rockies are in the toughest division in baseball and are still looking to be basement dwellers coming off a 43-119 season in 2025. There’s nothing to lose if they promote Condon to the majors sometime in May, and it’ll help draw hope for the future of their fan base that a Rocktober renaissance can happen down the road.
6. Leo De Vries, SS – Oakland Athletics
2026 MiLB numbers
Along with Made, Leo De Vries has made himself one of the two standout teenagers at Double-A that fantasy owners should be following along all season. De Vries has been on a hot streak the past two weeks, putting up a .333/.408/.524 slash line, with two home runs and seven RBI over 50 plate appearances.
The 26.4% strikeout rate for De Vries may be of concern to some with De Vries’ approach at the plate, especially this early in the year. But keep in mind, he is still five years younger than the average pitcher age of 24.2 in the Texas League. So the fact he’s holding a batting average over .300, and an .845 OPS over 87 plate appearances is nothing to bat at. Holding Made and De Vries on your stash spot for the roster is playing the long game, but the A’s have plenty of reason to bring this teenager to the big leagues this season if he can hold his own against the competition.
7. Max Clark, OF – Detroit Tigers
2026 MiLB numbers
After a blazing hot start to the season, Max Clark’s bat has met its match and cooled off, having gotten only one hit and two walks in his last 21 plate appearances, while striking out eight times. The bad week for Clark has finally seen his strikeout rate go above his walk rate, which had not been the case all season before this week of games between the Toledo Mud Hens and Omaha Storm Chasers went underway.
Although the slump may be of some concern for some fantasy owners, it could add up to be just one bad week at the plate for Clark. While the Tigers’ outfield depth in the majors is holding together right now, it’s for the better that he is staying at Triple-A a little longer and having the slump there, rather than being rushed to the majors and having a 1-for-20 slump up there. Which is why fantasy owners shouldn’t give up the roster spot they have to keep Clark stashed in their leagues.
8. Bryce Eldridge, 1B – San Fransico Giants
2026 MiLB numbers
It’s been a bad week for Bryce Eldridge as he’s only garnered one hit and one walk over his last 21 plate appearances while striking out 10 times. But his overall numbers haven’t plummeted below the Mendoza Line just yet, which is why fantasy owners shouldn’t balk at him remaining on their stash list for the foreseeable future.
Eldridge is one of only three players on this list already on his team’s 40-man roster. Despite the awful slump in Triple-A Sacramento, he’s still going to be a bat to reckon with in the Giants’ lineup this season, which is why one bad week isn’t something that should have him dropped from the roster when his opportunity could come a-knockin’ in the next few weeks.
9. Jimmy Crooks, C – St. Louis Cardinals
2026 MiLB numbers
Jimmy Crooks didn’t have much to show in the majors at the end of 2025, as he went 6-for-45 in 15 games, but at least had his first Big League home run to hang his cap on. He’s started off 2026 showing there isn’t too much left for him to prove in Triple-A Memphis, as he owns the second-best OPS in the International League among qualified hitters, sitting at 1.048 through 84 plate appearances.
Crooks is also tied for the most home runs in the International League so far this year with eight, tied with Cubs outfield prospect Kevin Alcantara. With a lot of power for Crooks, there’s also been plenty of strikeouts to accompany them as he has 30 through his 84 plate appearances, but he also has 12 walks alongside it. Crooks numbers are nowhere near as high as Ingle’s, but his .286/.405/.643 slash line is great for any catcher in Triple-A, making him one to follow for the coming weeks and keep stashed on your fantasy roster.
10. Ryan Waldschmidt, OF – Arizona Diamondbacks
2026 MiLB numbers
It can’t be counted out that members of the Diamondbacks’ active roster may be coming back from the high elevation of Mexico City with some elevation sickness as they fly to Milwaukee for their next series. As always, Ryan Waldschmidt has kept his bat hot in Triple-A Reno’s lineup, putting up a .313/.422/.510 slash line with two home runs, 15 RBI, and four stolen bases over his first 25 games this season. The one thing he still needs to improve upon is his strikeout rate, with Waldschmidt swinging and missing just over a fourth of the time he’s coming to the plate.
The Diamondbacks outfield core of Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Alek Thomas has remained relatively healthy all season, but their shortstop, Geraldo Perdomo, left Saturday night’s game against the Padres in Mexico City with a sprained left ankle. It could prove to be an opportunity for the Diamondbacks to finally add Waldschmidt to their 40-man roster and call him up to the majors. Fantasy owners looking for extra outfield depth from the minors should follow Perdomo’s health closely in the coming days and see if it gives way to Waldschmidt finally getting his call-up to the majors to bolster the D-Backs lineup.
On The Bubble
Here are the next five hitters considered for inclusion on this week’s list in no particular order.
Kaelen Culpepper, SS – MIN
Spencer Jones, OF – NYY
Jasson Domínguez OF – NYY
Jett Williams, 3B/SS – MIL
Tommy Troy, SS – ARI
Stash List
