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Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects to Stash (Redraft): Eric Cross' Rookie Rankings for Week 12

Kaelen Culpepper - Fantasy Baseball Rookie Rankings, Top 25 Prospects to Stash

Eric Cross' top 25 fantasy baseball prospects to stash in redraft for Week 12 (2026). His updated MLB rookie rankings for prospect call-ups to make 2026 impacts.

After a relatively uneventful week for prospect promotions, we saw a handful of notable promotions. We saw Braden Montgomery and Cole Carrigg get the call early in the week, along with Blaze Jordan and Cooper Pratt later in the week.

That wasn't all, either. In a couple of Arizona moves, Jordan Lawlar has returned to the Diamondbacks lineup. But on the flip side, Ryan Waldschmidt was optioned back down to Triple-A Reno.

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.

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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: Braden Montgomery (CHW), Cole Carrigg (COL), Blaze Jordan (STL), Cooper Pratt (MIL), Denzer Guzman (LAA)

Honorable Mentions (Hitters): Lazaro Montes (SEA), Harry Ford (WAS), Ryan Clifford (NYM), Jacob Melton (TBR), Michael Arroyo (SEA), Jonathon Long (CHC), Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (ATH), Zach Ehrhard (LAD)

Honorable Mentions (Pitchers): Jack Wenninger (NYM), Hunter Barco (PIT), Owen Murphy (ATL), Quinn Mathews (STL), George Klassen (LAA)

Rank Player Position Team ETA
1 Kaelen Culpepper SS Twins June
2 Joshua Baez OF Cardinals July
3 Kade Anderson SP Mariners July
4 Charlie Condon 1B Rockies July
5 River Ryan SP Dodgers June
6 Max Clark OF Tigers August
7 Ryan Waldschmidt OF Diamondbacks July
8 Walker Jenkins OF Twins August
9 James Tibbs III OF Dodgers June
10 Karson Milbrandt SP Marlins August
11 Luis Lara OF Brewers June
12 Zac Veen OF Rockies July
13 Hector Rodriguez OF Reds August
14 Yohandy Morales 1B/3B Nationals June
15 Hagen Smith SP White Sox July
16 Jett Williams SS/OF Brewers July
17 Ralphy Velazquez 1B Guardians August
18 Jonah Tong SP Mets July
19 Elmer Rodriguez SP Yankees July
20 George Lombard Jr. SS Yankees July
21 Jaxon Wiggins SP Cubs July
22 Kemp Alderman OF Marlins July
23 Abimelec Ortiz 1B Nationals July
24 Brody Hopkins SP Rays July
25 Wei-En Lin SP Athletics August

 

Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis

Cooper Pratt, Milwaukee Brewers

After landing a somewhat surprising contract extension just before the season started, Cooper Pratt is now on his way to make his Major League debut with the Brewers on Tuesday against the Guardians. And while Pratt has been regarded as a Top-100 (or higher) prospect by many over the last 12 months or so, I've generally been lower than most on him, and I'm honestly not super excited for fantasy.

That doesn't mean Pratt can't or won't provide value, or that he's not a solid prospect. He certainly is. Despite hitting .238 in Double-A last season and .241 in Triple-A this season, Pratt has consistently run above-average contact rates, including an 89.7% zone and 82.5% overall contact rate this season. He's also a solid runner who had nearly as many walks (34) as strikeouts (37) in 58 games before his promotion to Milwaukee.

But the reason why I'm not doing a Forrest Gump run to my waiver wire to add him is that Pratt's power upside isn't overly high. Pratt is far from a slap hitter, but he had a below-average 35.8% hard-hit rate, 86.7 mph AVG EV, and a 4% barrel rate in Triple-A. At this point, it's hard to project him as more than a 10-15 homer bat over a full season. I'd much rather target Montgomery or Carrigg in your leagues if they're still available.

 

Ryan Waldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks

In a surprising move, the Arizona Diamondbacks optioned top prospect Waldschmidt down to Triple-A on Sunday, a move that didn't sit well with many Diamondbacks fans on social media. Sure, Waldschmidt wasn't tearing the cover off the ball or anything, but he was holding his own with a .259 average and five steals in 122 plate appearances while playing solid outfield defense.

However, Waldschmidt is still looking for his first Major League home run and was striking out 32.8% of the time with a 66.3% overall contact rate. He was close to average in zone contact rate, though, and was only chasing at a 24.2% clip. And while Waldschmidt didn't clear the outfield fence, he had a serviceable 8.3% barrel rate and a 36.1% hard-hit rate.

For now, you can probably cut Waldschmidt outside of deeper formats, but I strongly believe we'll see him back up with Arizona this summer.

 

Kade Anderson, Seattle Mariners

Another week has gone by, which means another week of Kade Anderson's dominance in Double-A. Anderson tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings on Saturday and has now gone four straight outings without allowing an earned run.

In fact, Anderson has only allowed seven earned runs in 11 starts this season, with five of those coming in a start back on May 15. In his other 10 starts combined, Anderson has allowed just two earned runs in 51 2/3 innings. Hot damn.

At this point, the only thing holding Anderson back is Seattle's embarrassment of pitching talent and depth. Anderson is my top-ranked pitching prospect and my #2 overall prospect just behind Jesús Made, and it's quite obvious that he doesn't have much or anything left to prove in the minors. But unfortunately, the Mariners' rotation is already overflowing with six arms as it is.

You have to imagine that Anderson forces their hand at some point; it's just hard to pinpoint when that might be.

 

Charlie Condon & Zac Veen, Colorado Rockies

Both Charlie Condon and Zac Veen have been heating up for Triple-A Albuquerque lately. Condon has smacked five home runs over his last seven games and nine over his last 19 games, raising his slash line to .260/.391/.498 in the process. He's now up to 13 home runs and 13 doubles in 60 games this season with a 45.3% hard-hit rate, 10.1% barrel rate, and a 15.4% walk rate.

As for Veen, he's been hitting well all season for Albuquerque. In 60 games, Veen has racked up 31 extra-base hits, 10 home runs, 13 steals, and a .322/.414/.559 slash line.

On top of that, Veen has walked at a solid 13.5% clip, while continuing to showcase an intriguing power/speed blend. Racking up steals has always been a part of Veen's game, but he's also a decent power bat, currently sporting a 90.5 mph AVG EV and 43.7% hard-hit rate in Triple-A.

But when do we see them in Colorado? The DH spot has been a rotation between a few players, so there's one opening. As for the second opening, it might take an injury or poor performance from one of Jake McCarthy, TJ Rumfield, or Troy Johnston.

 

Additional Notes

  • Kaelen Culpepper (MIN): Culpepper was removed from Saturday night's game early, and it prompted widespread speculation that Minnesota had called him up. Unfortunately, that's not the case, as Emily Waldon reported that the Twins prospect is dealing with glute tightness and will miss 3-5 days. Culpepper should be back in action in the next few days, and he's still loudly knocking on the door to the Major Leagues.
  • Hector Rodriguez (CIN): Rodriguez has been red hot over the last week, smacking eight extra-base hits and five home runs with a .341/.400/.805 slash line. While he's not much of a runner, Rodriguez's bat would be intriguing in Great American Ball Park once he gets the call, which could be soon.
  • Walker Jenkins (MIN): After missing around a month and a half, Jenkins returned to action over the weekend, going 4-for-5 with a double and a home run in his first rehab game for Single-A Fort Myers. The offensive upside with Jenkins is massive, but so is the injury risk. As long as he can avoid another trip to the IL, I'd expect to see Jenkins up with the Twins at some point this summer.

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