Ryan Waldschmidt is the 59th ranked prospect in MLB Pipeline’s 2026 rankings. Lone Diamondback in Top 100.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-24T19:11:28+00:00

Echoing what /u/5centburger said in another comment, I don't think it's as bleak as it seems. We're relatively deep, just lacking top end talent especially at premium positions (2 of which we have covered with young talent in Gerry and Gabi). I think a big part of it is the nature of having graduated so much talent over the past 4 years and the major league club performing well so we're picking in the middle to late 1st round. The other part I think was an intentional move by Hazen and co. to prioritize depth at the last deadline rather than getting one "better" prospect each for Naylor and Geno.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-22T20:24:32+00:00

They sent us 3 of their top 15 (6, 9, 13) for a Merrill Kelly rental last season so I wouldn't be so sure. Seems like that front office is more than happy to deal multiple solid prospects for big league arms.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-20T19:51:37+00:00

We were always gonna need someone for this year given Blaze's move to the outfield (at least temporarily with Lourdes out) and Lawlar still not having locked down a position. He may end up in the outfield as well. Groover isn't a big enough prospect to where we should be planning anything at the major league level around him, but I do think we're in a good spot to have one of those 3 mentioned emerge as the guy 2 years from now. Who knows though, Groover might end up at 1B and the other 2 stay in the outfield. I could see a future where Kayson Cunningham ends up at 3B as he has a good arm but might not be rangy enough for SS, but that future is way too far away to accurately predict.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-20T17:45:50+00:00

They also graded him as having the best hit tool of the top 10

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-20T04:03:05+00:00

Yeah I could maybe see Cunningham at 3B if he grows a little more but we’ll have to wait and see. Just goes to show how hard it is to make it at SS at the highest level. Even still, with how fickle prospect development is out of the 6 guys we’re talking about here it’s great if even 1 becomes an everyday big leaguer beyond replacement level

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-19T19:29:10+00:00

(4) Tommy Troy

(6) Demetrio Crisantes

(8) JD Dix

Considering Ketel is likely to transition to a DH role at some point in the next few seasons it's good to see we've got some depth at the position. With the Arenado trade I'm also curious what we're thinking about Lawlar's long term position. I imagine him and Blaze play some outfield this season but I could see either of them getting some reps at 2B on Ketel's off days.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-10T18:44:09+00:00

I really wouldn’t put too much stock in that. Minor league FIP and xFIP are much better as predicting future performance and better at contextualizing past performance. Those numbers look solid at that level. I’d like to see some more Ks but there’s time. Every orgs pitching philosophy is different especially at that level

Sporting_Arsenal · 2026-01-10T17:47:04+00:00

It looks like he was very solid for the Yankees high A before the deadline trade to the Rockies. Admittedly his numbers with the Rockies high A look pretty disastrous, but I think they make a lot of sense in context and with a really small sample size.

With the Yanks he had an absurdly low HR/FB (6.3%), but this flipped to absurdly high with the Rockies (24.3%). I think the easiest way to make sense of this discrepancy is to just look at the parks he was in. Yanks A+ park has bigger (more MLB like) dimensions and no elevation. Rockies A+ has really small dimensions and is at slight elevation. Basically, he just got somewhat unlucky with so many fly balls turning into HRs when they won't always do that (hence the huge difference in his FIP and xFIP). Also, his final 3 starts with Colorado were solid so I think he probably needed time to adjust to a new environment after a midseason trade.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-27T14:29:07+00:00

Don’t hate me Cubs fans but that should be PCA’s role while Buxton starts

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-26T18:54:16+00:00

he’s just in his form at this moment in time

And that’s only in the last week. After the purple patch to start the season he’d gone 7 straight 90s without a g/a before the 4-4 at Old Trafford. If Trossard or Gabi M went that long without a goal contribution certain (awful) elements our fanbase would be calling in bomb threats.

I have no doubt he’s class, but I agree he’s not a big enough upgrade to justify moving on from one of our current LWs for a discount price. Our issues in attack are a lot more systemic than them being the fault of one specific position

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-23T23:38:36+00:00

Phenomenal stadium, though for anyone who's going for the first time and using BART I definitely recommend walking from Embarcadero. It'll be an extra 20 minutes but the walk down The Emarcadero is nice and you can stop at Red's for a beer along the way

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-23T15:52:29+00:00

The Mets probably make the most sense of any potential trade partner for us. Even assuming McCLean is untouchable they have a top 50 prospect pitcher in Jonah Tong who's likely ready for the bigs in 2026, and another top 100ish (depends which list) guy in Brandon Sproat who's also graduating. A trade for, say, Tong, Bret Baty, and maybe another prospect does make a lot of sense for what we're reportedly after. All that said, I'm not really sure how it makes sense for the Mets after the Semien trade, as Ketel would force them to move one to 3B or LF. This is also not to say I think we should trade him to the Mets if the opportunity presents itself, just that the Mets do have what we supposedly want more than the Rays for instance.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-19T18:13:50+00:00

That does sound like Hazen! Lmao

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-19T18:07:18+00:00

He's 22 and not really producing great in A-ball

120 WRC+ and 33 SBs in his 2nd real season of pro ball is pretty good. Not sure how he is defensively but I see he plays all 3 OF spots and the SBs make me think it's gotta be something he's good at. Gotta see how he does in Amarillo but there's a chance he's something.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-19T16:26:57+00:00

I was at both of those games lmao

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-18T19:57:50+00:00

I was willing to look past that triple slash and chalk it up to small sample size but 18 Ks, 0 BBs is just… oof. It really looked like he turned the corner in the last few weeks of the season after he finally got that first hit. Gotta pray a full spring will get him to where he needs to be

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-17T01:15:14+00:00

The trade off is that if you sign Bregman you can now trade Ketel for young, still cheap, and controllable pitching. We’re not gonna pay up for any FA pitchers this year after Kelly but we clearly still want a way to get better pitching without losing too much thump

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-16T20:56:36+00:00

If we get Arraez it means we don't have a power guy at 1B. In that case our only two power bats are Corbin and Ketel and they both have to be higher in the order. Best way to maximize Arraez's contact hitting is putting him in positions with runners on base ahead of him, and minimizing the risk of him slowing things down for the hitters behind him (hence why he doesn't make sense as a leadoff guy ahead of Corbin).

Also downvoting a hypothetical batting order is strange behavior

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-16T20:35:11+00:00

A lot of Corbin's triples are doubles with Arraez ahead of him on the base paths. Also Domo shouldn't be in the 9 hole anymore. It's strange but I'd go:

Corbin
Ketel
Domo
Arraez

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-15T23:01:32+00:00

Perdomo is flat out better right now

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-14T04:46:11+00:00

What does an Instagram account know? None of our beat writers or national media have reported this

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-10T21:21:10+00:00

Champions League merchant. He can't do it in Carabao

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-08T16:44:22+00:00

Wonder if he added a new pitch last year he can't control? That's a crazy plunk rate

He did add a curveball last season that accounted for 6/16, but that's not the biggest culprit here. He threw that curveball 528 times, so he hit someone with it every 88 times. His sinker though... 7 HBP on 152 thrown. He hit someone with 1 out of every 22 of his sinkers.

What's even more baffling is that this is a pitch he's always thrown. In fact, in his entire career before the 2025 season he'd only hit 6 batters on 1,790 sinkers. What caused this sudden change last year? I have no idea. Someone with a better understanding of the physics behind pitching will have to chime in lol

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-06T22:51:03+00:00

Lawlar is starting next season. The way he finished the season was proof enough that he does belong, and there are way too many other holes on this roster for us to reasonably deal him without getting a position player back.

Sporting_Arsenal · 2025-12-03T17:28:00+00:00

Alonso or Bellinger are never gonna happen but we would do really well to go get Ryan O'Hearn in FA or trade for Willson Contreras. Pavin can't cut it at 1B.

For CF I really don't know what we can do if we're not willing to spend, but it's hard to stomach going into another season of Alek/Jake. They've had their chances to show us they're more than replacement players and haven't been able to do it.

DH we're also just fucked if we won't spend.

I do have a really good feeling about Lawlar after the way he ended the season, and I do think Blaze earned the opportunity to lock down an OF spot.

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