Introduction
Instead of continuing with the next installment of the 2026 prospect all-star series, I’m going to shift gears this week. Instead, we’re going to talk about some prospects that I have heard quite a few people write off for various reason, or just outright dismiss.
Some of that is justified, but some of it completely misses the mark. Often it is either way too harsh or it’s just way too early to call said player a non-prospect when some of these guys are still younger than the average NCAA player.
A lot of the criticisms lacks the context of what the player has done in the past, what their season looks like relative to past performance and the league they’re in.
In a world full of negativity and the most pessimistic takes, I am proponent of finding reasons to be optimistic, even if there aren’t many Will it always work out for these players? Most likely not, but there is always just as much of chance for a well regarded prospect who’s been doing well to randomly flame out, for many different reasons.
For once I will not be excluding players who have appeared in the major leagues this season, so the players discussed today range from Low A ball all the way up to the guys on the bubble of the 26 man roster.
Jansel Luis
Bats/Throws: S/R Position: 3B/SS/(2B?) Height/Weight 6’0″ / 170
Born: March 6, 2005 in San Pedro de Macoris, DR
Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference
The jump to AA is the second hardest in professional baseball and just because you’re playing in one of the most hitter friendly ballparks in one of the most hitter friendly leagues, doesn’t mean that jump is going to be any easier. Jansel Luis learned that himself the hard way in 2026. In the past talent evaluators had pointed out the erratic nature of the switch hitting middle infielder’s approach at the plate, and combined with facing much tougher pitching, lead to a down year at the plate.
In a career high 109 games, Luis hit just 270/315/.444 with 16 hrs, in addition to successfully swiping 26 bases in 30 attempts. While that sounds like acceptable production from a 2B/SS/3B, that works out to a rather meager and below average 76 wRC+ and .335 wOBA. As a switch hitter though, that doesn’t tell the whole story about Luis’ season. As a LHB against LHP Luis hit 288/.327/.485 with an .813 OPS, but as a RHB against LHP, he hit a paltry .222/.284/.326 .with a 610 OPS.
A few interesting pieces of trivia came up in the midst of my research for this article. The first one is the fact that for some reason, Luis took a lone plate appearance against left handed pitching as a left handed batter, and in that at-bat he hit a grand slam. In addition, Luis also had three plate appearances as a right handed batter against right handed pitching, going 1 for 3 with a single. Assuming this is correct information and not a data entry error, could this suggest that Jansel Luis might be better off dropping the switch hitting and consider hitting exclusively from the left side? Clearly in a season where things weren’t going well on one side of the plate, Luis was willing to experiment and try something different.
As a 21 year old in Double-A having his first real career setback, that’s really not that bad of a seasonn all things considered. He’s likely to start the year in Double-A, but with a good spring he very well might get back on track enough to start the year in Triple-A Reno. Considering he’s still relatively young though, the Diamondbacks have no reason to rush him, so the former seems like a likely outcome in my opinion.
instead started 85 of his 109 games at third base, 19 at shortstop, and the rest at DH.
Cristofer Torin
Bats/Throws: R/R Position: SS Height/Weight 5’9″ / 155
Born: May 26, 2005 in Acarigua, Venezuela
Fangraphs| Baseball-Reference
Cristofer Torin has been linked in my mind with Jansel Luis since the beginning of their professional career, as both signed as international amateur free agents in January of 2022. Since then, they’ve played at every level together, with Torin usually at shortstop and Luis at second or third base. Both players also had impressive 2025 season, and both players struggled at the plate in 2026 playing in Amarillo. Despite the fact that Torin has never gotten quite the same level of glowing praise as Luis has as a prospect, the former has always stood out to me more, even though the latter has much louder tools.
In 2026, Cristofer Torin played in 118 games, all with Amarillo in the Double-A level Texas League. In those 118 games, Torin put up a triple slash line of .281/.344/.440 with a .350 wOBA and an 85 wRC+. His 16 home runs actually matches his career total entering 2026, though his 12 successful stolen bases in 18 attempts is a career low, as was his 8.1% walk percentage. His 11.2% strikeout percentage is the third lowest of his career, and the lowest since 2023. Torin also put up the second lowest batting average on balls in play of his career (.291 BABIP) which was significantly lower than his career average, which suggests to me that a lot of Torin’s ‘down’ season was the result of bad luck. Torin’s defense is some of the best of any player in the D’backs farm system, so much so that I wouldn’t even really call this a bad season. An 85 wRC+ from a shortstop with plus plus defense is still going to provide positive Wins Above Replacement, so I am not all that worried about Torin’s future, and I expect him to be able to make the adjustments he needs to return to offensive form next season.
LuJames Groover
Bats/Throws: R/R Position: 3B/1B/DH Height/Weight 6’2″ / 215 Born: April 16, 2002 in East Point, GA, USA
Fangraphs|Baseball-Reference
LuJames Groover spent 15 games in the major leagues in 2026, largely playing out of position at first base instead of third where he had spent the majority of his professional career, and never really looked like he had the chance to get comfortable at the plate or in the field. Is it really a surprise then that he hit just .167/.259/.271 with a very anemic looking 245 wOBA, 286 xwOBA, and a 51 wRC+? Groover was perfectly fine in AAA, putting up a .305/.389/.436 triple slash with a 102 wRC+. The real cause for concern in Groover’s future is the lack of power and expected SLG % that is 100 points lower than it was in reality, which brings his xwOBA down to .304 from his .375 wOBA.
Groover is going to need to make some somewhat significant changes this winter and spring to both his swing and his approach at the plate, to unlock a lot more power. If he’s going to be shifted down the defensive spectrum to first or DH, he just doesn’t have the power to be an average hitter at either position. He’s significantly improved his defense at third base, and I do think he can stick there, but his time in MLB in 2026 shows he just not ready yet. Calling him a bust after only fifteen games is absolutely ridiculous though, and he thinks we’ll need a full season worth of games to get a fair read on Groover as a prospect
Druw Jones
Bats/Throws: R/R Position: CF Height/Weight 6’2″ / 180lbs Born: November 28, 2003 in Atlanta, GA
Fangraphs| Baseball-Reference
This is going to be the most controversial inclusion in this article, because I know the vast majority of D’Backs fans reading this have already labled Jones a bust and think he has absolutely no chance at a future in the big leagues. While I agree that he hasn’t lived up to the lofty expectations set by being the son of a Hall of famer, on top of being the second overall draft pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, I think Jones might still have a future in the big leagues and I wouldn’t label him a total bust just yet.
You might wonder why I exactly I would say that, but there’s a few reasons why. The first and foremost reason is that as one of the best defensive outfield prospect I’ve ever seen, Jones really doesn’t need to hit much to land a gig in the major leagues as a late defensive replacement and fourth outfielder. The fact that he’s a plus runner and a credible stolen base threat, stealing a career high 38 bases in 49 attempts, gives him an opportunity to also be pinch runner. Yeah that’s not exactly exciting, but tell that to Terrence Gore, who had two world series rings in spite of only 74 career regular season at bats.
Now getting to my main point, while Jones 2026 season wasn’t great, and there are still some major red flags, he looked significantly better in the second half of the season, putting up a triple slash of .288/.341/.407 compared to the .252/.380/.338 he put up in the first half. He also had some really hot stretches, especially in June when he put up a .368/.489/.500 triple slash in 21 games that month, as well as in September when he hit .356/.408/.533 in 12 games. Jones’ worth month by far was in May, when he hit .200/.333/.240 in 22 games. The .573 OPS he put up in may is quite a bit lower than the .640 OPS he put up in August, his next worst month. I think his season would look a lot better if May was more in line with the rest of the year.
Conclusion
That’s it for today! Do you agree or disagree with my evaluations? Which player that I didn’t write about do you think we shouldn’t be giving up on just yet? Which players do you think we should be giving up on after 2026? Let me know in the comments below!
