Every year, a handful of players ranked outside the top 10 in their respective farm systems take meaningful steps forward to improve their stock and vault up prospect rankings. Part of the fun is trying to identify those breakouts before it happens. So today, we’re identifying Rockies prospects who have the potential to make a jump in 2026.

To qualify, a player must rank outside the organization’s preseason Top 10 prospects. All scouting reports are from Baseball America’s 2026 Prospect handbook, which you can purchase here.

You can find Top 30 prospect rankings for all teams here and all breakout candidates here.

Breakout Prospects

JB Middleton, RHP

BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
Adjusted Grade: 30

Track Record: Middleton primarily pitched out of Southern Mississippi’s bullpen for two seasons before stepping into a starting role in 2025. He immediately broke out with a 2.31 ERA across 16 starts and 105.1 innings, pitching to a 29.4% strikeout rate compared to a 6% walk rate. His control took a big step forward and he ranked second among Division I pitchers with a 0.85 WHIP. Middleton became the highest-drafted pitcher in school history when the Rockies selected him 45th overall. He did not make his pro debut, instead remaining at the team’s complex in Scottsdale.

Scouting Report: Middleton once struggled to crack the upper 80s as a high schooler. Now, the compact righthander works from a high three-quarters slot with lightning-quick arm speed, producing a 93-95 mph fastball that can touch 97. Despite his size, he maintains his velocity deep into outings. Against righthanders, Middleton primarily leans on his fastball-slider combination, while his upper-80s changeup becomes a key weapon against lefties. The slider features tight, upper-80s spin with a gyro-like rotation, occasionally resembling a cutter when it touches 90 mph, and grades as an above-average pitch. Middleton’s changeup, with roughly 10 inches of vertical drop relative to his fastball, is a true swing-and-miss pitch, generating a 54% whiff rate in 2025.

The Future: Middleton’s polish and repertoire point toward a solid back-of-the-rotation starter. He should begin 2026 with High-A Spokane.

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 50

Wilder Dalis, 3B 

BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
Adjusted Grade: 30

Track Record: Dalis was a bit of a late-bloomer who flew under the radar when the Rockies signed him out of Venezuela in 2023, and he turned in an inauspicious pro debut that year with a .616 OPS in 27 Dominican Summer League games. He made up for it by being one of the best hitters on the 2024 Rockies DSL team and carried that momentum into his stateside debut in 2025, hitting .352 in the Arizona Complex League before finishing the season in Low-A Fresno.

Scouting Report: Dalis strikes a notable presence when he steps into the batter’s box with a strong, well-built lower half and room on his frame to keep adding physicality as he matures. That provides a solid foundation for future power development. Dalis also has advanced feel for the barrel for his age. He posted above-average overall contact rates and borderline plus in-zone contact rates in 2025 to go along with solid exit velocities for his age. There’s some length to his swing that might get exposed against better breaking balls, and some of those struggles surfaced in his time in Fresno. Defensively, he looks most natural at third base and has the arm strength to stick there, but he also mixed in at shortstop and second base.

The Future: Dalis will head back to Low-A Fresno to begin 2026, where he’ll need to prove he can read spin better.

Scouting Grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 55 | Field: 50 | Arm: 50

Yujanyer Herrera, RHP

BA Grade/Risk: 45/Extreme
Adjusted Grade: 25

Track Record: Herrera signed with the Brewers in 2019 and his production took a significant step forward during the first half of 2024 while with High-A Wisconsin, where he posted a 3.18 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 17 walks over 51 innings. Milwaukee traded him that July to the Rockies in a deal for Nick Mears. Herrera made six starts for High-A Spokane before an elbow injury sidelined him in September and required Tommy John surgery after the season. He missed all of 2025 but returned to pitch during the Rockies’ instructional league to promising results.

Scouting Report: When Herrera returned to the mound in early September, both his fastball and sinker sat comfortably in the 94-96 mph range. He steadily increased his workload throughout the fall, often throwing multiple innings per outing as he rebuilds toward full pre-injury form. Herrera leans primarily on a fastball-slider combination but also mixes in a curveball and an above-average changeup, rounding out a four-pitch arsenal. His go-to secondary, a mid-80s gyro slider with tight, bullet-like spin, generated an elite 26.1% swinging-strike rate in 2024. Herrera’s diverse pitch mix keeps hitters off balance. Next up is for Herrera is refining his command, pitch sequencing and overall execution.

The Future: Herrera has the ingredients to develop into a back-end starter with a fallback as a high-leverage reliever. Assuming he’s fully healthy, he should begin 2026 with High-A Spokane.

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 50 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 55 | Cutter: 50 | Control: 55