Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects to Stash (Redraft): Eric Cross' Rookie Rankings for Week 17

July 21, 2026

Eric Cross' top 25 fantasy baseball prospects to stash in redraft for Week 17 (2026). His updated MLB rookie rankings for prospect call-ups to make 2026 impacts.

With the All-Star break in the rearview mirror, we're officially entering the stretch run of the MLB season and the fantasy baseball season as well. We only have nine weeks left in the season, so that means around 5-6 weeks before the playoffs for those of you in head-to-head formats.

Every move we make becomes more and more important, so if you're going to stash a prospect, make sure you're in a position to do so. You don't want to burn a valuable bench spot at this point in the season just on the hope of catching lightning in a bottle with a potential top prospect promotion. But if you are in a position where stashing makes sense, there are still a bunch of intriguing names to consider.

These prospect rankings are for 2026 redraft value only. These are MLB prospects who could potentially make a fantasy baseball impact in 2026 redraft leagues. You can also see our top fantasy baseball dynasty prospects rankings for longer-term outlooks and our 2026 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard for all other league formats.

Top 25 Prospects to Stash in Redraft Leagues

My prospect write-ups are below the rankings. These rankings are for 2026 redraft value only, not dynasty. These are MLB prospects who could potentially make a fantasy baseball impact in 2026.

Promoted Last Week: Harry Ford (WAS)

Honorable Mentions (Hitters): Jonathon Long (CHC), James Triantos (CHC), Max Anderson (DET), Zach Ehrhard (LAD), Kemp Alderman (MIA), Ryan Clifford (NYM), Yohandy Morales (WAS), Abimelec Ortiz (WAS), Lazaro Montes (SEA), Ryan Ward (LAD)

Honorable Mentions (Pitchers): George Klassen (LAA), Jack Wenninger (NYM), Hunter Barco (PIT), Brody Hopkins (TBR), Jonah Tong (NYM), Jaxon Wiggins (CHC)

Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis

Walker Jenkins, Minnesota Twins

In a perfect world, Walker Jenkins would already be up with the Minnesota Twins and contributing to fantasy teams. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case yet as Jenkins has missed plenty of time as a professional, including some this season. But at the current moment, Jenkins is healthy, hitting well, and knocking on the door to the Majors.

Walter Jenkins leaves the yard for the Triple-A @StPaulSaints!

The @Twins' top prospect's last six hits are all for extra bases: pic.twitter.com/kZ78oWRb3k

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 18, 2026

Since returning to Triple-A St. Paul's lineup on June 23, Jenkins has slashed .308/.375/.554 in 17 games with 10 extra-base hits, two home runs, four steals, and nearly as many walks (7) as strikeouts (9). His metrics overall this season in Triple-A have been impressive as well. Jenkins is currently running a 91.2 mph AVG EV, 46.1% hard-hit rate, and an 8.6% barrel rate while making contact at a 93% clip in the zone and 82.5% overall.

Jenkins has the skills to be an impact fantasy outfielder across the board. And assuming he can avoid the IL for the remainder of the season, he should get a chance to showcase those skills in Minnesota at some point this summer.

George Lombard Jr., New York Yankees

I'm starting to wonder if we see George Lombard Jr. up with the Yankees sooner rather than later. The Yankees lineup has really missed Aaron Judge over the last several weeks, slashing just .209/.264/.370 with a league-worst 74 wRC+ over the last 30 days. When a good team like this is in an offensive funk and has an exciting hitting prospect waiting in Triple-A, oftentimes we'll see that team bring up the prospect to try and provide a spark to the lineup. That might end up being the case here.

George Lombard Jr. continues the hot hitting, ripping an opposite-field ground-rule double!!

99.1 mph off the bat for his 13th Triple-A double and his 2nd hit of the day🔥

Another good-looking swing... pic.twitter.com/HIjlccBsCa

— Cai Rogers (@cai_rogers7) July 19, 2026

I've admittedly been a bit lower than most on Lombard in my overall Top 500 prospect rankings, but I still believe he's a good prospect who could settle in as a useable fantasy shortstop. In 66 games this season, Lombard has racked up 21 doubles, 11 home runs, and 12 steals with a .270/.401/.492 slash line. And in Triple-A, he's recorded a 92.6 mph AVG EV and a 49.6% hard-hit rate with a 104.8 mph 90th percentile EV.

On the other hand, his zone and overall contact rates have been below-average, but Lombard walks at a high clip and has kept his strikeout rate under 20% this season. The longer the Yankees offense struggles, the louder the noise will get surrounding a potential callup for Lombard.

Charlie Condon, Colorado Rockies

After a torrid June, Charlie Condon has cooled off a bit here in July. After starting the month with a two-homer game, Condon has gone homerless over his last 10 games while slashing .237/.326/.263 and striking out 14 times over that span. This cold stretch isn't necessarily a detriment to his chances of debuting this season, but given how there's no clear opening for him with the Rockies, Condon is going to need to mash his way into the lineup.

Joshua Baez, St. Louis Cardinals

Another prospect high in these rankings who has been in a funk at the plate lately is Joshua Baez. For the first three and a half weeks of June, Baez was hitting home runs at a historic pace. But over the last three and a half weeks, Baez has struggled to the tune of a .108/.203/.277 slash line in 17 games. Three of his seven hits and two of his three home runs in this span came in one game back on July 2, with Baez going 3/39 in the 10 games since then.

As I mentioned with Condon, Baez was looking like he was simply going to mash his way into the Cardinals lineup and force their hand. But now, it's hard to see a promotion happening until he gets it going again at the plate. But with a player like Baez who has loud tools but some hit tool/approach concerns, these prevalent peaks and valleys will likely always follow him. So just keep that in mind.

Lazaro Montes, Seattle Mariners

For those of you hoping for a Lazaro Montes callup this season now that he's in Triple-A, I'm going to toss a bit of cold water on that. While Montes has some of the best raw power in the minor leagues and has shown that during his time in the Mariners' system, his contact and strikeout concerns haven't gone away. In fact, they've only gotten louder.

In his first 44 plate appearances in Triple-A, Montes has struck out 38.6% of the time with a 56% zone contact rate and 54.2% overall contact rate. Yikes.

Yes, that's a small sample size, but Montes had a 62% contact rate in Double-A this season and was at 63% overall last season. Even since he advanced to the upper minors last summer, Montes' contact rates have gone from "below-average but fine" to downright concerning. At this point, I don't see Montes getting the call to Seattle this season, and even if he does, his average will likely be too low to warrant going after him in redraft leagues.

More Fantasy Baseball Advice