Pitching Prospects Poised to Breakout in 2026: Rising Stars to Watch

One of my favorite articles to write each offseason is my breakout prospect list. Getting in on prospects early in the dynasty before their stock takes off is huge, and this is what I hope to accomplish in this article, helping you add this list of high-octane prospects to your dynasty farm system.

No matter how deep of a league you are in, we have you covered with a ton of pitching prospects that could break out in 2026. This article will be broken up into two parts. The first edition of the pitching prospect breakout article will focus on players in my top 300.

Here are last year’s results from both articles if you wanna check out the results. Pretty solid!

Let’s dive into the 12 pitching prospects I like to break out in 2026.

Could Be The Top Pitching Prospect in Baseball

Format: Name, Position, 2026 OD Age, Height/Weight, Highest Level

Jack Wenninger, RHP, New York Mets, 24, 6’4”/210, AA

Wenninger built on a good 2024 season and took a huge leap forward in 2025. He tossed an impressive 135.2 innings with a 2.92 ERA and a 26.4 percent strikeout rate and walked 7.6 percent of Double-A hitters he faced.

His fastball has continued to trend up from where it was in college, sitting 94-95 mph and touching 98 at times. Wenninger throws two variations in a four-seam and two-seam, with the four-seam having 17 inches of IVB from his high 6’5” release height. The sinker has relatively high IVB as well, but has 14 inches of arm-side run versus just ten on the four-seam.

The changeup is Wenninger’s best secondary, sitting in the low-to-mid 80s with a nice depth and fading action. The curveball is an 11-5 shape with a heavy vertical drop. It sits in the low-80s and misses bats at a high clip.

Wenninger looks the part of being an MLB Starting pitcher. The split-changeup is strong and the fastball improvements are very notable. Don’t be surprised if we see Wenninger in the majors in 2026.

Caden Scarborough, RHP, Texas Rangers, 20, 6’5”/185, A+

Scarborough has been a major up arrow prospect all season and was finally promoted to High-A after dominating with Hickory all season. A former basketball standout in high school, the Rangers nabbed Scarborough in the sixth round of the 2023 draft, giving him an over-slot bonus of $515k. There is a ton of athleticism in Scarborough’s 6’5” frame, and he added good weight this offseason.

Three starts into his High-A career with Hub City, Scarborough did not allow a run in three starts(13 innings) and has 19 strikeouts to just two walks.

Scarborough’s fastball sits 94-96 mph from a low 5’2” release height and nearly seven feet of extension. It is a two-seam shape, and it just jumps out of his hand from a deceptive release point. He works around 15 inches of horizontal movement and gets up to 18 inches at times.

The sweeper is devastating, a pitch that he used to front-door righties and back-door lefties. It worked 82-85 mph with up to 19 inches of sweeping action. Some had more depth than others, almost reaching curveball range with negative seven inches of IVB.

There is a splitter in the arsenal that Scarborough used sparingly, but it worked 84-86 mph. He throws some with late depth and nine inches of arm-side. But others were closer to four inches of fade. It could be a pitch that is further refined to give him a deeper arsenal.

Given the movement profile of Scarborough’s three pitches, I would love to see him add a cutter or a gyro-slider. Regardless, this is an impressive 20-year-old arm that has a very bright future.

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