Seese's 20/20 Club

The youth movement never ends in baseball, it only reshapes.

Earlier in February, our Top 100 Prospects list dropped. The feedback has been great, and we at Prospects Live wanted to dive deeper into the list and peel back the layers of the list. 80% of our top-25 was comprised of prep or international prospects as the rotating new young crop of talent continues to rise to the top of these lists every year.

2026 Top 100 ProspectsFull scouting reports with tool grades for the top 100 prospects headed into the 2026 seasonProspects LiveProspects Live Staff

Within this layer of our onion, I wanted to look into the best of the non-college prospects 20 years or younger. MLB possesses an incredibly deep crop of young talent, so deep in fact, that the number one pick from 2025's Draft barely made the cut. Now, before we dive in, let's set some house rules. This ranking is personalized. It will loosely follow along with our Top 100 with our grades, but it will stick much more closely to my own personal Top 100 in its order. Secondly, As long as the player is still 20 years old by March 27 when the Minor League season begins, they are eligible for this list.

And that's it, so let's get rolling. We're going to begin with two prospects 20 or younger – one hitter and one pitcher – not ranked in the PLive Top 100 who I see as picks to click for 2026. We will then transition into the three prospects who just missed the cut but need to be referenced here.

PICKS TO CLICK

RHP**Joey Oakie| Cleveland Guardians | 19 → PLive Team Rank: 12 (45 OFP) Quick Talk: **Oakie flashed two traits over the final month of 2025 that, if they maintain, will make him a lock in a top 100 list: improved command and consistent, refined mechanics. Oakie's end to his season defied the previous four months of his season. Entering his final two starts, Oakie walked 33 batters (13.9%) to just 46 strikeouts (19.4%) across 49.2 innings between the ACL and Low-A.

"Throwing not pitching" was never truer, but as the Guardians often do, their continued work with shoring up his arm slot into a repeatable motion created a monster slider to pair with a fastball that boasts tremendous shape and quality VAA traits. He has two legitimate plus offerings, and if he can follow up the end to his season where he struck out 32 batters (43.2%) to just 9 walks (12.2%) across 17.2 innings in four starts, he is going to soar into T100 lists.

3B**Kale Fountain| San Diego Padres | 20 → PLive Team Rank: 11 (45 OFP) Quick Talk:** A pure A+ athlete, Fountain has the physical upside that bests anyone in the Padres' system, now it's about seeing if the entire picture at the plate can come together. At 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, Fountain is an explosive athlete who possesses real, projectable power, above average speed, and his physical traits and strong arm lend to someone that won't be landlocked (3B/1B/cOF).

There's a quality bat to be unlocked here. Right now, Fountain's mechanics at the plate are a work in progress, to say the least. His upper body is too stiff, and it creates some imbalance and too steep of a bat path which has created both launch and barrel malleability issues (49% GB rate in A-Ball), diluting his power potential. That being said, he still puts together a quality approach and doesn't expand the zone as much as you'd expect him to, and though his passivity leaves food on the plate, I expect him to find his power as the Padres continue to work on his swing mechanics. If there's a farm system I trust to get something out of a prep bat they went well over-slot for, it's Preller's maniacs.

Honorable Mentions

23. LHP**Cam Caminiti| Atlanta Braves | 19 → Acquired: 1.24 in '24 Draft (Saguaro HS, Arizona) → PLive Rank: 47 (50 OFP)**

Quick Talk: Caminiti is expected to be a potential major riser in 2026 as his arsenal continues to flesh itself out. A lower end mid-90's fastball and newly-found sweeper dominated Low-A, and his changeup generated swing and miss when he went to it, especially later in August. Caminiti will still be eligible for this list next offseason, and I imagine he slots a lot higher.

22. SS**JoJo Parker| Toronto Blue Jays | 19 → Acquired: 1.8 in '25 Draft (Purvis High, Mississippi) → PLive Rank: 43 (55 OFP)**

Quick Talk: Labeling plus hit tools on prep bats is a dangerous game, but that's exactly what JoJo Parker presents. He brings a quality hit tool to the table that he combines with above average pop. The question surrounding Parker is as to whether or not he sticks at shortstop, but while he develops as a defender, his bat should be good enough to carry him through the low minors.

21. SS**Franklin Arias| Boston Red Sox | 20 → Acquired: International FA Signing, 2023, Venezuela → PLive Rank: 53 (55 OFP)**

Quick Talk: Similar to Parker, Arias's hit tool carries him at the plate. Where Arias edges out Parker is defensively as I am fully confident in Arias's ability to stick at shortstop. Though the power took a step back and Arias still hasn't put it all together yet, he's shown power, and now he's shown the ability to make quality contact with consistency.

Now we get into the list, starting with a riser within the ever budding White Sox system (that will only grow stronger after the '26 Draft).

20. SS/3B Caleb Bonemer | Chicago White Sox | 20 → Acquired: 2.43 in '24 Draft (Okemos HS, Michigan) → PLive Rank: 28 (55 OFP)

Bonemer's bat will play. It's the number one thing we've learned about him across 476 plate appearances in his pro debut season in 2025, as he mashed 12 home runs while posting quality swing decisions and contact rates. Bonemer's swing is a bit unique as he pre-sets his weight to his back leg and strides into his swing with no real leg kick at all. The swing is smooth, compact, and impactful, slugging a dozen home runs and 30 doubles, and he's already showcased an advanced eye (15.8% BB%) and feel for getting the ball in the air to the pull side.

Though I think Bonemer's bat projects a bit better than the two players that follow him here, what dings Bonemer below the next couple shortstops is that I don't think he sticks there the closer to Chicago he gets. It's already a loaded position organizationally (that's likely to get deeper in July), and he projects physically much better at third base as a strong arm with good instincts will make for an above average glove at the hot corner.

19. SS Eli Willits | Washington Nationals | 18 → Acquired: 1.1 in '25 Draft (Fort Cobb-Broxton HS, Oklahoma) → PLive Rank: 20 (55 OFP)

Though I'm not as high on Willits as many, the upside is clear. A great athlete with good feel at shortstop who has all the tools to make a plus hit tool down the line. Willits, who didn't turn 18 until early December in 2025, put together a solid 58 plate appearances in Low-A where he showed the expected quality swing decisions, namely in the zone. Willits has a projectable but small frame, and his power development is imperative to his future success, something I'm not certain he will get to and why I'm lower than consensus overall.

That being said, as he fills out and gets stronger, his twitchiest traits will only improve. His arm will get stronger to round out a quality defensive profile at shortstop, and any added pop to combine with an advanced feel for the zone will make for one of the better young prospects in the game.

18. SS George Lombard Jr. | New York Yankees | 20 → Acquired: 1.26 in '23 Draft (Gulliver Prep, Florida) → PLive Rank: 40 (55 OFP)

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