I\u2019m taking a break from looking at players on the 40-man roster, because there is one man outside it, who increasingly appears to be a candidate to make the Opening Day 2026 squad for the Diamondbacks. Ryan Waldschmidt was selected in the draft barely eighteen months ago, being picked by Arizona in the 1st round (31st overall) of the 2024 event. We largely have Corbin Carroll to thank for Waldschmidt\u2019s presence, because that was the pick the team gained for Carroll\u2019s Rookie of the Year win. Ryan signed on July 23rd, getting the full slot value for a #31 pick, of just over $2.9 million.<\/p>\n
He had a brief stay in A-ball Visalia after getting signed, playing just fourteen games for the Rawhide. The following spring, he was put in High-A Hillsboro, and found that not much of a challenge. His .862 OPS was the best on the team, Waldschmidt batting .268 with almost as many walks (51) as strikeouts (53). In late June, Ryan was promoted to Double-A Amarillo. As we previously discussed<\/a>, that\u2019s the most hitter-friendly park in the minors, but even allowing for that, Waldschmidt\u2019s numbers impressed. He had a line for the Sod Poodles across 66 games of .309\/.423\/.498 for a .921 OPS – the team average was almost 150 points less, at .777 – and a K:BB of 53:45.<\/p>\n There, for the moment, his progression rests. Ryan has already been named the team\u2019s top prospect by both Fangraphs<\/a> and Prospects 1500<\/a> this winter: I fully expect MLB Pipeline to follow suit when they publish their list. He was also recently the only D-back to be listed in the top hundred prospects list by Kiley McDaniel<\/a> (ESPN) and Keith Law<\/a> (The Athletic). Worth quoting the blurb from some of them in more depth:<\/p>\n Fangraphs: \u201cWhile he lacks a signature plus-plus tool, the 23-year-old does just about everything you want at the plate and he looks the part of a bat-first future regular in the box\u2026 The bat should carry Waldschmidt to a productive career, and he projects as a middle-of-the-order hitter. It\u2019s a power-and-OBP-over-hit skill set, but Waldschmidt\u2019s median outcome is as a regular, and there\u2019s 30-homer upside if everything clicks.\u201dMcDaniel: \u201cI still think Waldschmidt is a long-term left fielder, but now he looks pretty good out there defensively. He looks like he\u2019ll hit 20 to 25 homers with a roughly average on-base percentage and some value on the bases.\u201dLaw: \u201cHe has excellent feel for the strike zone, chasing pitches well out of the zone just 12% of the time, although Double-A pitchers showed that he needs to work on picking up spin.. He looks like a solid regular with above-average defense in an outfield corner who could get to All-Star level in years when he gets to 20-plus homers.\u201d<\/p>\n Going into his age 23 season, and with less than 150 games in his professional career, the general expectation would be to have Ryan advance to Triple-A, and if he does well, perhaps look to have him make his debut as a September call-up. However, the team\u2019s needs suggest that timeline could end up being brought forward. Because after the trade of Jake McCarthy to Colorado, the D-backs have only four outfielders on the 40-man roster – and that includes Lourdes Gurriell Jr, who is currently rehabbing from surgery to repair a torn ACL. It also includes Jorge Barrosa, who hit barely a buck forty across 33 appearances last season.<\/p>\n The D-backs have certainly seen young outfielders become everyday players before, and experience good results there. Obviously, Corbin Carroll was 22 when he made 645 PA during his rookie season. And he was positively geriatric, compared to Justin Upton, who debuted while still a teenager, and was an All-Star in his age 21 campaign. Chris Young was, like Waldschmidt is going to be this season, 23 when he came fourth in Rookie of the Year in 2007. Other outfielders that age or younger, to have trod the field at Chase with some success, include Ender Inciarte, Brandon Drury and Alek Thomas.<\/p>\n Nor is it unprecedented for an Arizona prospect to skip (or almost skip) Triple-A on his way to the majors. The first to come to mind is Mark Reynolds, who not only skipped AAA, he only made 67 appearances in AA ball, before reaching the big leagues at age 23. In 2011, Ryan\u2019s neo-namesake Paul Goldschmidt also went straight from Double-A to the show. Carroll made just 33 appearances for Reno, before never enduring bus travel again. Outside of the D-backs, Manny Machado and Juan Soto also bypassed Triple-A. Indeed, the latter almost skipped Double-A and High-A too, with just eight and fifteen games respectively at those levels.<\/p>\n