We just published our updated @ProspectTimes Top 30 Prospects list! I did all the write ups and grades for the pitchers on the list, so if there’s any questions y’all have about any arms on/not on the list, feel free to ask. Read here: theprospecttimes.com/2026-te…

Jacob Johnson finished his 2026 with a really strong performance. Johnson pitched 5 scoreless innings where he allowed 0 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 1 over 70 pitches. Johnson continues to impress whenever he’s on the mound. It’s not always perfect and in his time in Hickory this was actually his outing with the lowest strikeout total. However, he’s incredibly adept at keeping the ball on the ground which leads to nights like tonight where he puts up 5 no-hit innings. His sinker is probably the 2nd best on the farm (Teodo would be 1st), with its heavy drop and arm-side run. The Rangers want him to utilize it vs left-handed hitters more next season, and heading into 2027 I think he’ll definitely need to also either add a cutter or really make progress on his changeup. Regardless, Jacob Johnson was a debut I was greatly looking forward to heading into this season and he definitely did not disappoint when he finally did make the move to Hickory.

Seong-Jun Kim put in a solid performance in his last regular season outing in 2026 for Hickory. Kim pitched 2 scoreless innings allowing 0 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, and picked up 2 strikeouts while getting up to 40 pitches. I could nitpick about the walks and command in general, but I’d rather take this time to highlight how impressive Seong-Jun Kim’s season has been. In his first season playing stateside, at age 19, Kim hit 7 home runs with a .892 OPS, and put up a 0.61 ERA in 14.2 innings alongside 18 strikeouts. Walks are certainly what he’ll have to work on most heading into 2027. A 6.14 BB/9 is not going to play if he’s to stick as a starter long term. That aside, his mechanics are sound and he’s got a really smooth athleticism down the mound so it’s something I expect will get better as he gets stronger and has more innings under his belt. Seong-Jun Kim’s 2026 season has rocketed him up my own personal prospect rankings, and I am quite high on him heading into next season.

AJ Russell has started to figure out the High-A in his last few starts. Russell pitched a career-high 4.1 innings tonight while allowing 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and striking out 7 on 71 pitches. AJ Russell in his last 11.2 innings has now allowed 3 runs, 4 walks, and has struck out 20 batters. Russell had just been on a run prior where he was struggling a bit with both the strike zone and the long ball. It’s nothing I was ever concerned about, it just comes with the territory when reaching a new level with tougher competition. Home runs will likely always be something Russell will have to deal with, such is the life for a primarily fastball pitcher who lives in the upper third of the zone. The important part about that is making sure you’re allowing solo home runs and not allowing self inflicted errors like walks turning those home runs into something much worse. There’s been visible improvement over the past few starts for Russell that I’ve seen, and while I intend to do a deeper dive after the season, my first impression is that it’s to do with his approach. He’s been utilizing his slider much more to righties and his curveball and changeup more to lefties which has helped better protect his fastball. It’s also important to mention that after throwing 70 innings in 3 years at Tennessee, Russell has thrown 56.2 innings just this year alone. I think he’s made a lot of progress in several aspects of his game, and while there’s certainly still room for further growth, I think there’s a lot to be encouraged by with Russell’s last few starts.

Good stuff tonight from Seong-Jun Kim as he logged his second start of the season for Hickory. Kim pitched 2 innings and allowed 0 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, and struck out 2 on 26 pitches. It’s nice to get a proper camera angle this time around to help get a better look at Kim’s delivery. Kim did slightly struggle with fastball command tonight, but the flashes he shows are still so impressive. His mechanics are quite polished already at 19 years of age, and there’s a lot to love about his pitch mix. Kim cuts his fastball a bit which explains why his secondaries are as impressive as they are. Kim may throw his fastball more than 50% of the time at the moment, but I’m staking my claim right now that his splitter is going to be the best pitch he throws in the next few years. It’s almost more of a forkball shape getting huge depth at -6” of vertical break. One criticism I saw of Kim is that he struggles to carry velocity into his breaking pitches, but I have not seen anything to back up that claim. He got up to 89 on his slider last week, and I love the shape of it. He could throw his curveball a little harder, but he’s 19 and I expect that to happen as he fills out his frame. Kim’s stock as a pitcher has risen tremendously with me in just the past couple weeks. There are obviously things to clean up especially with command, but he’s so young that it feels silly to call that a concern at this time.

Really impressive and long awaited affiliate ball debut from Seong-Jun Kim this evening for Hickory. Kim pitched 2 scoreless innings while allowing 1 hit, 0 walks, and struck out 4 on 28 pitches. Seong-Jun Kim is a guy I’ve been waiting to get a look at for a while now. He’s mainly going to be fastball/slider for the time being, but he’s got a splitter and a curveball too that I’m sure will be reintroduced in the future. His mechanics are really a thing of beauty for someone this early in his career, and he even got up to 97 on his fastball today. I’m still currently of the belief that I like his profile more as a pitcher than a hitter, but this early on in his career he’ll have ample time to make his case to stay a two-way player.

The best way to combat altitude is with pitches that use gyroscopic spin, as they don’t rely on the Magnus Effect for their movement nearly as much as fastballs and changeups do. Dalton Pence demonstrated this concept masterfully over 6 strong innings in El Paso today.

Good work out of Dalton Pence today in what is a difficult pitching environment in El Paso. Pence pitched 6 innings allowing 5 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, and struck out 6 on 76 pitches. Pence allowed 2 solo home runs to the first 2 batters of the game before then making the proper adjustments for the rest of his outing. El Paso’s stadium is 3,750 feet above sea level, which for a pronator like Pence, is going to have a massive impact on his fastball shape. It wouldn’t be fair of me to say the home runs are a result of the altitude, however. Both were hit hard and at ideal launch angles, but they were both hit on fastballs and that’s where my point lies. Pence is a natural pronator which means he really gets behind the ball at release, which is what causes it to have elite vertical movement. The Magnus Effect is what helps enable four-seam fastballs to fight off gravity with backspin. The more behind the ball at release you are, the more pure backspin you’re going to get, which then helps with vertical movement. Air density lowers with high elevation, which in turn causes fastballs to lose vertical break due to there being a reduced Magnus Effect to help the fastball fight against gravity. What stood out to me today was the way Dalton Pence was able to adjust his approach around that. Coming into today, Pence had a fastball usage rate of 44.4% in his 2 AAA appearances, but today that number was down to 21.1%. The best way you can combat elevation is to rely on any pitch that uses gyro spin, since those are the pitches that are least affected at elevation. That was also the case today as in his first 2 AAA appearances, Pence had a usage rate of 27% on his cutter/slider and 9% on his curveball. Today those were his two most used pitches at 35.5% and 26.3% respectively. It’s not easy pitching at altitude, which is why it’s all the more impressive that Dalton Pence showed the same level of dominance that he has shown all season long.

Aidan Curry has long been a player that I sincerely hoped would figure it out simply due to the tantalizing stuff profile. Well, he’s certainly figured something out in 2026 and his rise has been incredible to see. He’s got a loud and diverse arsenal, and is must-see when he’s on

Very solid AAA debut from Aidan Curry tonight. Curry pitched 5 innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and struck out 3 on 83 pitches. It took a little bit for him to settle in, but it was a really impressive gritty performance. First things first, the stuff grades are a bit down across the board for Curry, and that’s mainly due to him being a little below where he usually sits velocity-wise. He usually sits 95 on his fastball and 89 on his cutter, so I think there’s more in the tank for Curry as he settles into Round Rock. It was a bit of a slow start for Curry, as it looked like it took him a minute to settle into the game. Funnily enough, after allowing a solo home run in the 2nd inning was the point for me where he really was then able to lock in. The fact he then retired his next 12 batters is evidence of that. Pretty much the only issue Curry ran into tonight from my perspective was the first pitch strikes. Being able to get first pitch strikes has been one of the main catalysts in my eyes for Curry this year when it comes to the strides he’s made from a command perspective. Curry was 4/18 on first pitch strikes tonight, and that honestly just won’t be sustainable at this level. It’s something he’s done well this season though, so it’s something I don’t expect to be an issue for him long term it’s just the main thing I’m sure he’ll work on for next week. Overall I would deem it a successful debut for Curry. At no point did he appear out of his depth, he battled when he needed to, and he got outs and put up zeroes. Definitely things to work on, but that’s always going to be the case. Despite that, I still feel like the best is yet to come with Aidan Curry which just goes to show how high he’s raised the standards of his own performances; it’s not a bad problem to have.

Jack Leiter had all of his secondaries working tonight in his return, and showed similar flashes to how he looked in the beginning of the season prior to getting hurt. He picked up 3 K’s in 2.2 innings including this dispatching of Joey Loperfido.

Jack Leiter is back! His evening is done in Round Rock after 2.2 scoreless innings of work. Jack allowed 1 hit, 1 walk, and struck out 3 on 48 pitches. It was really great to see him healthy again and back on the mound. There were a few things I was looking for tonight when watching Jack. First things first, his fastball velocity. Before going on the injured list there was a seemingly steady decline in Jack’s fastball velocity. He went from averaging 97 early in the season to around 95 in June. It was great to see him back averaging 97 and topping out at 98.4. Another thing I was looking for, the changeup. In contrast to 2025 where it felt like Jack’s feel with the changeup got better with each outing, it felt like after injuring his ankle against the Pirates his changeup feel just started going away more and more with each start. I loved what I saw out of the changeup tonight. The shape was consistent and he was locked in with it down in the zone. There was only really one that I didn’t like and it was his walk in the 3rd inning, but I mainly chalk that one up to running out of gas. I really liked what I saw out of his other pitch shapes as well. The cutter looked great from the first one he threw warming up, and I really liked the glove-side break it had tonight. He did a great job limiting soft contact as a whole with the only hit he allowed being on a cutter down and in that was pulled just down the line. I thought his command in the first 2 innings was fantastic in keeping his fastball up and keeping his secondaries down in the zone. I will say Jack definitely looked like someone who hasn’t pitched in a game since mid-June. He looked great early on, but started to run out of gas in the 3rd inning. He just started leaving everything arm-side and not really getting through his delivery, nothing that’s cause for concern however. I would assume Jack was on a pitch count in the 45-50 range for this start and I imagine that will be built up in the next few weeks before he makes his return to Arlington. I loved what I saw tonight and it makes me optimistic for the end of his season.

Some clips of getting warm