The first midseason revision to this year’s Top 100 prospect rankings, released on June 3, brought a wave of movement through the list: nearly 25 new players cracked the Top 100 and a substantial group of prospects made the jump to the big leagues. What set this update apart was the number of players who no longer qualify as prospects — 15 former Top-100 names have graduated and are being counted among their clubs’ major league rosters.
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Detroit Tigers No. 7 walks away after striking out during the first inning at Progressive Field on June 12, 2026 — a visual of a recent prospect who has graduated to the MLB in Just Baseball’s midseason Top 100 update.
Those 15 players arrive in the majors with very different early returns. Some have quickly become central pieces of their clubs’ lineups or rotations, while others continue to work through adjustment periods against major-league competition. Collectively, they span a range of positions and profiles — position players who have slashed into lineups in everyday roles, designated hitters earning plate appearances, and starting pitchers inserted into rotation slots — and their results so far have direct implications for team depth charts and the more competitive Rookie of the Year conversations unfolding around the league. All statistical references in this report were current before games on Monday, June 15.
The mix of outcomes among these graduates underscores how unpredictable the jump to the big leagues can be, even for highly ranked prospects. For clubs, the decision to carry a newly graduated player on an Opening Day roster or to promote him midseason involves weighing short-term roster needs against long-term development. For evaluators and fans, the presence of so many recent graduates shifts the calculus of prospect lists: the Top 100 is not only a snapshot of future talent but also a record of which players have crossed the threshold into meaningful major-league roles.
Among the position players who have graduated, Baltimore’s 21-year-old Samuel Basallo has emerged as a noteworthy offensive contributor despite earlier struggles in the majors. Primarily splitting time between catching and first base on his prospect report card, Basallo has seen nearly half of his appearances this season come as a designated hitter — a role that better accommodates his stick while mitigating defensive shortcomings. Over 215 plate appearances he has posted a .258/.321/.469 line, and advanced metrics put him above average in several important areas: a 70th percentile xwOBA (.345), an 87th percentile average exit velocity (91.9 mph) and an 82nd percentile hard-hit rate (47.5%). Those marks underline that the bat has been the primary source of value for Basallo this season, and he has been a significant part of his club’s offensive output as they navigate the American League wild-card picture.
Basallo’s usage as a DH for close to half of his appearances reflects a common roster solution for teams that want to keep offensive upside in the lineup while protecting a player’s development defensively. The underlying metrics cited — notably his quality of contact and exit velocity — suggest Basallo’s offensive profile is sustainable enough to merit everyday at-bats in the American League, even if his defensive work remains a secondary concern. For Baltimore, that translates into a tangible boost to lineup construction: a young bat producing above-average contact metrics can stabilize middle-of-the-order production and provide length to a lineup in tight playoff races.
New York’s Carson Benge represents a different arc among recent graduates: the 23-year-old outfielder began the year mired in a poor start but has since made a clear upward adjustment. After arriving in the majors, his initial March and April campaign produced a .189 average and a 52 wRC+ through the season’s first month. Since then, Benge’s swing has produced a marked turnaround: he recorded a 5-for-5 performance on June 7 versus San Diego and saw his May wOBA rise to .359, a .119 increase from the earlier month. Underpinning that improvement are measurable changes to his batted-ball profile — a Launch Angle “sweet spot” rate of 41.9 percent (94th percentile) paired with solid average exit velocity (90.0 mph) — trends that have manifested as more hard-contact line drives and a steadily rising rolling xwOBA across his first 100 major-league plate appearances.
Benge’s case highlights how quickly a young hitter can alter his outlook at the big-league level when swing mechanics, approach or pitch recognition click into place. The spike in launch-angle “sweet spot” contact and the notable game performance (a 5-for-5 outing) suggest that his improvements are not purely the product of a small sample but are tied to better contact quality. For a club monitoring depth in the outfield, Benge’s upward trend provides a template for integrating a recovering prospect back into regular playing time and for calibrating expectations about his role as the season progresses.
The Miami outfielder Owen Caissie has encountered a tougher transition. Acquired in January as a central piece of a trade, the 23-year-old opened the season with the big-league club but has struggled to convert his raw tools into consistent production through 61 games. His slash line stands at .212/.272/.376 with a 76 wRC+, an elevated strikeout rate of 40.3 percent (1st percentile) and defensive numbers that include minus-6 OAA (3rd percentile). A particularly revealing metric for Caissie has been Squared Up Percentage — the share of batted balls struck at at least 80 percent of the maximum possible exit velocity given the swing and pitch context — where he ranks in the 3rd percentile. Historical research cited in the prospect evaluations demonstrates a stark split in results between swings that are “squared up” and those that are not: squared-up contact has been associated with markedly higher batting average, slugging and overall run value. Caissie’s low Squared Up% helps to explain his ongoing offensive struggles even as the organization’s coaching staff works to unlock the 23-year-old’s potential.
Caissie’s profile is a reminder that translation from prospecting tools to everyday production is not automatic. High strikeout rates and low rates of truly squared-up contact are concrete, measurable barriers to run creation, and they are the kinds of things coaching staffs try to adjust through approach changes, pitch-recognition work and swing-path tweaks. Because he was a prominent piece in a trade, the pressure to accelerate his development is heightened; the organization will need to weigh short-term playing time against longer-term refinements to help him harness the raw tools that made him a top prospect.
On the pitching side, Pittsburgh’s right-hander Bubba Chandler has been a regular member of his club’s rotation since his promotion last August, but his 2026 performance points to persistent command issues. Through 68 innings Chandler carries a 4.76 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP while issuing free passes at a 13.6 percent rate (7th percentile), and he has yielded 1.06 home runs per nine innings. Those factors contribute to a 4.87 xFIP that suggests underlying results may be less favorable than surface numbers alone indicate. At the same time, Chandler has limited hard contact — a 36 percent hard-hit rate (69th percentile) and an opponent expected batting average (.224, 72nd percentile) — signaling that when he lands pitches in the zone they can be effective. The evaluation notes, however, that the right-hander’s pitch collection has below-average movement profiles across five of his offerings and that his inability to generate ample whiffs outside the zone has allowed hitters to sit on pitches breaking out of the strike zone. Improving both command and the movement profile of his arsenal figures to be the developmental priorities for the Pirates’ staff.
Chandler’s situation exemplifies a common developmental crossroad for young starters: the ability to induce weak contact when throwing strikes is a foundation to build on, but without improved command and sharper movement, those limited-contact results can be offset by walks and long balls. The 13.6 percent walk rate and an elevated HR/9 inflate his run prevention metrics despite an otherwise solid contact profile, so the practical work for Pittsburgh is twofold — refine pitch shape and sequencing to generate more chase and misses, and tighten the command window so that walks and homer vulnerability decline.
Oakland Athletics pitcher in mid-delivery on the mound, representing the arms among the prospects discussed in Just Baseball’s Top 100 midseason update.
Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter arrived with pedigree and made his major-league debut during the postseason last year; he was on the Guardians’ Opening Day roster in 2026 and has settled into a regular role through his first 66 games. The 24-year-old left-handed outfielder has compiled a .263/.337/.408 slash and a 110 wRC+. DeLauter’s profile is built around limiting swing-and-miss — he ranks at or above the 88th percentile in metrics such as strikeout rate, whiff rate and chase rate — and he has shown the ability to square the ball, with a Squared Up% of 33.4 percent (92nd percentile). He also posts a notable share of pull-side fly balls (18 percent), a batted-ball tendency that fits a power profile when contact is made. After a torrid April, his production has cooled somewhat, yet he still projects as an above-average major-league outfielder based on his early-season results and batted-ball profile.
DeLauter’s blend of contact quality and a low propensity to swing-and-miss is precisely what organizations covet from corner outfield types who are expected to supply steady offense. High Squared Up% and efficient plate discipline tend to translate to consistent offensive contributions, even when the power numbers fluctuate month to month. For Cleveland, DeLauter’s profile gives the club a reliable option in the outfield whose approach should age well as he accumulates more major-league at-bats.
The Boston Red Sox placed Connelly Early on their Opening Day roster following a promising late-season audition in 2025, and the 24-year-old right-hander has accumulated 75.2 innings this year while recording 72 strikeouts and a 3.81 ERA. Beneath the surface, however, presentational results and predictive metrics diverge: Early’s xERA is 4.52 and his xFIP is 4.33. He has allowed barrels at an 11.4 percent clip (12th percentile) and has seen hard-hit contact at a 42.3 percent rate. Early’s strikeout rate this season sits at 22 percent, a decline of roughly eight points compared to his prior professional seasons, and his whiff rate has fallen in concert with a decrease in groundball production. Those trends raise questions about what adjustments are necessary for him to sustain success at the major-league level, matters that fall to the Red Sox coaching staff to evaluate and address.
Early’s profile demonstrates how surface-level ERA can mask underlying susceptibility. Predictive metrics like xFIP and xERA suggest regression risk if the underlying contact and strikeout trends persist. For Boston, the task will be to diagnose whether Early’s drop in strikeouts is driven by pitch-usage changes, decreased movement, or hitters better matching up with his repertoire — and then to implement the targeted corrections that can restore swing-and-miss and keep the hard contact in check.
These profiles represent only a portion of the 15 former Top-100 prospects who have ceased to qualify as such after the midseason update because they now occupy regular roles in the majors. Their experiences so far — ranging from Basallo’s offensive contributions and Benge’s recovery from a cold start to Caissie’s contact issues and the control-and-movement concerns surrounding Chandler and Early — highlight the wide variety of developmental paths players take once they cross the threshold into big-league competition. For front offices and coaching staffs, the task remains the same: identify what is working, diagnose what is not, and make adjustments that allow each player to maximize his value at the major-league level. All statistics cited here were current prior to the start of play on June 15.
Just Baseball's related update on players who just missed the Top 100 reflects the significant turnover, with ESPN noting that preseason No. 1 Konnor Griffin along with Kevin McGonigle and JJ Wetherholt have also graduated and debuted, clearing the way for a new wave of elite prospects to rise in the rankings.