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2026 Prospect Breakout Teams
Plus: New Top 25, latest backfields intel, college fastball data, WS picks & more
BA Staff Pick 2026 Prospect Breakout Teams
Each year, Baseball America staffers build a team of prospects they predict will break out once games begin. The goal of the exercise is to identify players ranked outside the Top 100 Prospects who could end the year on the list.
This year, we also excluded 2025 first-round picks from consideration to make extra sure we were highlighting true breakouts. Here are the full teams:
Want even more picks to click for 2026? Check out our offseason breakout analysis for all 30 organizations.
NCAA TOP 25
New Top 25 College Baseball Rankings
College baseball showed its knack for randomness in Week 5 as conference play began across most leagues, producing a slate of upsets and series decided in their respective finales.
Four teams—LSU, TCU, Wake Forest and UTSA—dropped out of the Baseball America College Baseball Top 25 rankings. Kentucky returns to the poll for the first time since Week 2 while Arkansas State, Arizona State and Oregon join for the first time in 2026. This is Arkansas State’s first time ever in Baseball America’s Top 25.
You can find Baseball America’s latest college baseball rankings below, including the full Top 25 and a breakdown of each team’s week.
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SPRING TRAINING INTEL
Top 100 Prospects Impress On The Mound For Braves, Pirates
After highlighting Red Sox prospects to know over the weekend, Josh Norris is back with more spring training intel from his annual trip to Florida. Today, he’s checking in after recent looks at a number of top pitching prospects, including Top 100 names like Cam Caminiti and Seth Hernandez.
Click below for full scouting breakdowns and video of Caminiti, Hernandez and more.
NCAA VELOCITY DATA
Are College Teams Making A Mistake Ignoring Soft-Tossing Pitchers?
We all know velocity is king in today’s game, but there is interesting question raised: Can college pitchers who don’t throw hard still succeed at the Division I level?
To answer that, J.J. Cooper digs into data for over 5,000 college pitchers to illustrate exactly how soft-tossers are holding up in an era when everyone is getting faster.
MLB CRYSTAL BALL
MLB Preview: World Series Picks & More
With the 2026 MLB season set to begin next week, Baseball America has been busy previewing the upcoming campaign with a series of crystal ball predictions on the sport’s biggest storylines, breakout players, award races and more.
Below, you’ll find our World Series picks and award winners as well as American and National League standings projections and a rundown of more 2026 predictions:
TRENDING NOW AT BASEBALL AMERICA
🌎️ Get caught up on World Baseball Classic semifinal results.
📈 Geoff Pontes wrote about the WBC and why prospect projection matters.
🃏 A lawsuit accuses online breaking site Whatnot of illegal gambling practices.
🎙️ Our Prospect Profile series scouted every No. 1 prospect in the NL East.
⚾️ J.J. Cooper wrote about the potential for ABS to come to the WBC.
📖 Don’t forget to purchase your 2026 Prospect Handbook.
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@baseballamerica Seth Hernandez impressed on the Florida backfields 😮💨 #fyp #baseball #mlb #pirates #mlbprospects
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FROM OUR FRIENDS AT FOUL TERRITORY
Pete Alonso joins AJ Pierzynski, Erik Kratz and Scott Braun from Orioles Spring Training to discuss not being invited to Team USA for the WBC and what stood out to him during his free agency meetings with Baltimore.
