Introduction
Over the last few weeks, I’ve broken down the Dbacks top ten hitting prospects and a few honorable mentions. Originally, I had planned to break down the top ten pitching prospects this week, but I decided to instead focus on a few of the lesser known and unheralded prospects in the system who have gotten off to a hot start. Note- All Stats are as of 4/16/26
AAA Level Reno Aces
While top D’Back prospects Ryan Waldschmidt (333/455/571, 161 wRC+) and LuJames Groover (343/438 /433, 128 wRC+) have justifiably gotten the most attention thanks to their prospects rankings and scorching hot bats, they’re not the only Aces batters who have gotten off to a scorching hot start. Twenty-four year old middle infielder Jean Walters, who signed as an international amateur free agent out of Cuba in February of 2020, has been an able to keep pace with Groover, a much more highly regarded prospect. In his first 13 games, he’s hitting .318/.412/.477 with a 128 wRC+. He’s shown some progress with his plate discipline, raising his BB% percentage from 9.3% last season to 12.8% this season, while his 21.3% strikeout% is a slight improvement from the 21.8% he had last season. He’s also hitting the ball a lot hard, as evidenced by the highest isolated slugging percentage of his career. I would expect Walters to regress sooner rather than later, as his .400 BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) is a red flag.
Anderdson Rojas has been of the best hitters for the Aces in 2026, with only the recently called up Aramis Garcia having a hotter bar. I absolutely would not expect this to last, though I do think this may be an actual hitter breakout. In his twelve games, Rojas is hitting ..400/514/433 with a 157 wRC+ with an insane .409 BABIP, and that’s after making the jump from the A+ Level Hillsboro Hops all the way to AAA, skipping Amarillo entirely. Rojas is already falling back to earth, but he may just have proven to be a better hitter than anyone thought.
AA Level Amarillo Sod Poodles
Back in December, the Diamondbacks selected 3B Danny Serretti in the AAA phase of the Rule 5 Draft, out of the Detroit Tigers farm system. Serretti has been easily the best hitter for the Sod Poodles through the first few weeks of the season. Through his first nine games, Serretti is hitting .345/.513/.690 with a 200 wRC+. With as many extra base hits (3 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR) as singles (5), and more walks (9) than strikeouts (7), the only knock on Serretti’s season is getting caught stealing once in his two attempts.
Junior Franco hasn’t been quite as good as Serretti, but his triple slash batting line of 333/389/606 and 158 wRC+ are still impressive. A late bloomer who signed as an 18 year old out of the Domincan Republic back in July of 2019, Franco has an interesting speed/power combination.
After an uninspiring 2025 in AA, 2B Manuel Pena is back in Amarillo once again,. In his first nine game he’s hitting .250/.250/.725 with a 149 wRC+. What makes a weird stat line even weirder is the .190 BAPIP, which indicates some really bad luck. The nonexistent walk% and absurd strikeout% of 32.5% is alarming to say the least, but at this point he has my attention.
A+ Level Hillsboro Hops
The first of the two Hops players we’re talking about was actually mentioned in the honorable mentions section of my first prospect article, but there really aren’t any other alternatives on the Hops for me to tallk about, so we’re doing it anyway. That player is Avery Owusu-Asiedu, who was acquired in a trade in exchange for relief pitcher Kyle Backhus, has only continued his hot start since I first talked about him. In his first nine games, he’s hitting .231/.302/.513 with a 109 wRC+. He’s shown off that intriguing mix of power and speed I talked about, swiping three bases and swatting a pair of homeruns, while legging out three doubles and a triple.
The other player on the Hops whom I’ll be talking about is Catcher Alberto Barriga. Barriga may not be the D’Backs top catching prospect, but he might just be the most intriguing catcher in the Dbacks Farm system. In his first six games Barriga is hitting .263/.364/.526 with 136 wRC+. He’s already one of the best defensive catchers in the Dbacks system, who’s especially good at shutting down the running game. He actually reminds me of a former Dback catcher and current Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho. Unlike Varsho, I do think Barriga has the tools to stick at catcher defensively, but he is similarly undersized so it’s unlikely he’ll be able to hold up over the course of a full season as a primary catcher. The Dbacks did try him out at second base a few years ago but they must not have liked what they saw since he’s only played at catcher or designated hitter since then.
A Level Visalia Rawhide
Acquired in the Blaze Alexander trade from Baltimore, José Mejía is the lone standout on the Rawhide roster. Through his first ten games, he’s hitting .406/.513/.594 with 188 wRC+. Mejia adds yet another quality 2B prospect to a position that is already stacked in the Dbacks Farm System
Final Thoughts
Considering the super small sample sizes here, I wouldn’t take any of these hot starts too seriously. Next week we’ll examine the pitching in the Dbacks Farm system.
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