After revealing the players who appeared on a single ballot on Monday and six multi-ballot players yesterday, it’s time to write about the five players who fell just short from Honorable Mention Purple Row Prospect (PuRP) status in the pre-season 2026 voting.
For each player, I’ll include a link to individual stats and contract status (via Baseball-Reference), as well as notes on their 2025 season. For the sake of full disclosure, I’ll also include where I put each player on my personal ballot. All
ages are as of the day the article is posted.
Multi-Ballot Players
40. Braylen Wimmer (7.4 points, 4 ballots) — the 25-year-old righty utility player (he played six positions in 2025, with 2B/3B/RF/LF seeing about equal action) was Colorado’s eighth-round pick in 2023 out of South Carolina and received a $157k bonus. Unfortunately, Wimmer had a seizure in early November during the Arizona Fall League and needed brain surgery to remove a tumor (during which he was awake!). Wimmer is looking to be ready for spring training this year, but of course he will have to prioritize his health.
The 6’3” Wimmer has been lower on the organizational priority list (as evidenced by the utilityman treatment), but he was hard to ignore in 2025 during what was a breakout campaign. He began 2025 with High-A Spokane, where he was 1.7 years older than league average. Playing all over the field, Wimmer was tough to take out of the lineup as he hit .302/.376/.503 with 14 homers among his 38 extra-base hits along with 26 steals in 27 attempts in 386 plate appearances, good for a 131 wRC+ and a mid-July promotion to Double-A Hartford (plus a May player of the month award in the Northwest League).
At a league-average age in Hartford, Wimmer continued to hit well, posting a .284/.346/.389 batting line in 183 plate appearances with three homers and eight doubles, which is a 114 wRC+. Wimmer hit lefty pitching particularly well, posting a 1.080 OPS against them in 105 PA. In the field, Wimmer committed eight errors across his six positions in 118 games defensively — especially impressive since he’d only played one professional inning in the outfield entering this year. In the AFL after the regular season, Wimmer split time between second, short, and third base defensively with a walk-heavy .222/.328/.241 line.
Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs graded Wimmer as a 35+ FV prospect last January, ranking him 33rd in the system:
It’s fair to be skeptical of Wimmer’s 2024 Low-A performance — .285/.362/.435, 14 home runs, 34 stolen bases — both because of his age and his big school background, but his ability at shortstop is a constant that will play at every level. He has poise, grace, good hands, and plenty of arm. Expect Wimmer’s strikeouts to climb as he traverses the minors; he lacks bat control but has enough power to be dangerous against pitches down and in. It should be enough offense for Wimmer to play a bench infield role.
Wimmer is an easy player to fit onto a Major League roster given his ability to play premium defensive positions while providing some pop offensively. I’m not sure he’s a big-league regular anywhere, but he’s already succeeding offensively in Double-A, which is a good sign for the sustainability of the profile against more advanced pitching. Wimmer wasn’t on my list as a 35+ FV player, but his arrow is pointing up. I’d imagine he’ll start 2026 back in Hartford, with a big league debut possible in a utility role if he keeps this up.
39. Dyan Jorge (9.4 points, 3 ballots) — the 22-year-old Cuban shortstop was Colorado’s top international signee in 2022, receiving a team-record $2.8 million bonus as a 19-year-old. The 6’2”, 170-pounder is an athletic player and a likely up-the-middle defender with good bat speed but no power to speak of. Thus far, he’s been a slap hitter in a powerful body. Jorge played well in the DSL and in the complex league, but if there was a “welcome to full-season ball” tax, Jorge has paid it in full.
After a mediocre offensive showing in 2024 as a young player in High-A Spokane, organizational weakness up the middle and Jorge’s pedigree no doubt helped him get a bump to Double-A Hartford for 2025, where he was 1.5 years younger than league average. Jorge’s speed continued to be an asset (18 steals in 27 attempts), but he only hit two homers (one in the second game of the year) and 13 doubles in 445 plate appearances. That has limited his offensive impact to a sub-Mendoza .198/.274/.246 effort while striking out in 20% of PA (56 wRC+). In the field, Jorge split his time between shortstop and second base, committing 14 errors in 119 games.
Longenhagen of FanGraphs once ranked Jorge as high as a fringe top 100 player with a 50 FV, but he’s now dropped Jorge all the way down to a prospect of note as of last January due to the lack of power:
Jorge was a multi-million dollar signee out of Cuba with a lanky, prototypical build and one of the weirder statistical profiles in the org. He makes a lot of in-zone contact but nothing else; his swing isn’t really functional and only allows him to contact the ball in a narrow window of the zone.
Baseball Prospectus listed Jorge as a “Person of Interest” last January:
This is a precipitous fall for Jorge from the seventh spot in the system given he more or less Xeroxed his Low-A line in High-A, but we really would have hoped to see some additional ability to impact the ball in the last calendar year. We didn’t and he looks more like a second baseman than a shortstop now. Sometimes the Very High variance strikes early.
At the end of the day, Jorge needs to be able to do damage at the plate if he’s going to be a big leaguer. The speed and defensive utility are positives, but they alone aren’t carrying tools. At some point, Jorge needs to be able to hit for power for him to actualize into the fringe top 100 prospect he was considered to be as recently as 2023. To me, he’s a 35 FV prospect because of the projection in his frame, but production needs to follow. Jorge will be Rule 5 eligible after the season and will probably be back at Hartford next year, maybe after some off-season strength training.
38. Kelvin Hidalgo (11.4 points, 4 ballots) — the 20-year-old shortstop and third baseman was a 2022 international free agent from the Dominican Republic, signing for a $500k bonus. To scouts, Hidalgo has plus raw power potential while playing decently well as a young for his age player at a premium defensive position with a plus arm.
After two years in the DSL (he was the DSL MVP in 2023), Hidalgo was placed in the Arizona Complex League in 2024 (and was listed as a breakout prospect that spring by MLB.com), where he was 0.8 years younger than league average. He was slightly below average offensively with the ACL team, but hit decently well in a 36 PA cup of coffee with Low-A Fresno (98 wRC+)
In 2025, the 6’1” infielder was back in Fresno, where he was 1.2 years younger than league average. In 506 plate appearances, Hidalgo hit .247/.311/.345 with five homers among his 30 extra-base hits and 43 steals in 49 attempts (third in the league), which is an 85 wRC+. He struck out in about a quarter of plate appearances while walking about 7% of the time and hitting the ball on the ground too much despite his raw power. On the field, Hidalgo played 62 games at shortstop (nine errors) and 48 games at third base (seven errors) with several games at second base for good measure.
Hidalgo is highly thought of by Longenhagen of FanGraphs, who graded him as a 40+ FV player last January and ranks him 10th in the system with the aforementioned plus future raw power and arm grades:
Hidalgo is a toolsy shortstop prospect with precocious power and potentially great defense. He had a monster 2023 season, his second in the DSL, where he slugged .574 and hit 12 homers, good for second in the league. His production was down the following year in Arizona — .288/.347/.365 — but Hidalgo was still one of just two hitters Colorado promoted from the complex to Fresno toward the end of the year (Robert Calaz was the other).
Hidalgo has all the physical talent needed for shortstop (especially the arm), but he’s currently unpolished and mistake-prone. He’s also big enough that it’s possible he’ll outgrow the position, but with that size comes exciting power projection. Hidalgo already has roughly average big league power and he’ll likely grow into more. He isn’t an especially skilled hitter — Hidalgo’s swing is long and imprecise, and isn’t anywhere near optimized to take advantage of his power. This is a risky prospect in a number of ways, but good shortstops with plus power are rare. Jose Barrero and Gabriel Arias represent outcomes with way too many strikeouts, while the Danny Espinosa and Tim Beckham window of production is more of Hidalgo’s median outcome.
MLB Pipeline ranks Hidalgo 24th in the system as a 40 FV player:
A right-handed-hitting infielder, Hidalgo showed a knack for finding the barrel in the DSL. But while he still made some loud contact in 2024, more chase showed up in his game. There’s a good amount of raw power for him to tap into, but he’ll need to tone down his approach more so he can get pitches to drive, instead of wave at soft stuff out of the zone too much.
Hidalgo is a solid runner with good instincts on the basepaths, which helps him be a threat to steal. There is some question over whether he’ll be a shortstop long term — his arm works from the left side of the infield and no one is pushing him off short for the time being, but he likely will get introduced to second base this year after he’s also received time at third at the outset of his career.
Hidalgo presents a high ceiling profile due to the power potential and defensive utility, but with a lower floor given a lower contact rate and not yet making it to High-A (he will likely start there this season). It’s important to watch players like that, because if he figures it out, Hidalgo will be a top ten player in the system. Hidalgo is a 40 FV player for me, slotting in at 21 on my PuRPs ballot.
37. Andy Perez (17.1 points, 4 ballots) — the 21-year-old lefty hitting, righty throwing shortstop was an international free agent out of Cuba, signing in 2021 for $300k. Perez is an athletic up the middle player with decent speed and good contact ability in a large frame (likely 6’4”, 210 pounds).
After two seasons in the DSL, Perez skipped the Complex League in 2023 and was assigned directly to Low-A Fresno, where he was overmatched by older pitching (63 wRC+). In 2024, Perez was returned to Fresno and his batting numbers progressed to a league-average level (100 wRC+). Perez got a late season look with High-A Spokane as well, where he was below league average in 66 PA (54 wRC+) as a 20-year-old.
In 2025, Perez started back with Spokane, where he was 1.3 years younger than league average. Perez served as the shortstop starter for Spokane, committing 17 errors in 113 games, but offensively it was a struggle again. In 483 plate appearances, Perez hit .271/.314/.389 with 19 steals in 23 attempts and hit seven homers among his 33 extra-base hits, totaling a 83 wRC+. Perez was also sent down to Fresno for two short stints in the summer (and struggled even worse there), but he righted the ship a bit with a strong August hitting .375/.409/.500 in 27 games during the month. The overall numbers aren’t super impressive, but Perez’s ability to hang in High-A in his age-21 season at a middle infield slot (while striking out in only 17% of PA) certainly is.
Perez is ranked by Longenhagen of FanGraphs as the 17th best in the system at a 40 FV grade:
Perez is a slow-burning, projectable, 6-foot-3 shortstop who makes terrific rates of contact despite an over-aggressive approach. In 2024, Perez repeated Low-A and found a new gear of power as he more than tripled his career home run total with 10 bombs on the year. Perez’s combination of a lanky build and physical projection is very exciting and atypical for someone who has maintained plus contact rates as a pro (91% in the zone and 82% overall in 2024). Though Perez is often late to the contact point and his chase is scary (40%, essentially 30-grade plate discipline), he has had bat-to-ball success despite his issues for each of his four pro seasons, and he makes a plus rate of contact outside the zone. He’s a great bender for an athlete his size, and so long as he adds arm strength as his frame fills out, which might also yield more power, he has a decent shot to remain at shortstop for the long haul. Much of Perez’s profile is still magmatic, but potentially viable shortstops with this kind of size and contact feel are uncommon. Perez is a good long-term prospect of rather extreme variance, with his right tail outcomes that of a regular shortstop.
MLB.com ranks Perez 23rd in the system as a 40 FV player:
Perez is a left-handed hitter who is gradually and continually adding strength. He’s considerably bigger than his listed height and weight, with team officials thinking he’s closer to 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds now. The left-handed hitter has a strong offensive foundation built on making a ton of contact, and despite chasing too much, he rarely strikes out. There’s confidence the combination of that added strength and a little more refinement in his approach will lead to a greater power output after he took a big step forward by hitting 10 homers in 2024.
An average runner, Perez can steal a base. And even at his size, he moves very well on the dirt defensively. There is conviction internally that he can stay at short for the long term, but if the impact at the plate keeps coming, he could profile well even if he has to move to a corner.
I’m one of the four voters to put Perez on their ballot — he was 27th on my list as a 35+ FV player because big-framed shortstops who can stick at the position with both power potential and elite contact ability don’t grow on trees, even though it hasn’t come together yet for him. If that does happen, Perez would be more of an impact big leaguer than many others ahead of him on the list. Perez’s late season hot streak is a good sign, though he didn’t do enough to get protected or selected in the Rule 5 draft this off-season. I expect Perez to man shortstop for Double-A Hartford in 2026 along with Dyan Jorge as he fights for a 40-man roster spot next off-season.
36. Luichi Casilla (17.1 points, 5 ballots) — the 21-year-old lefty was a pop-up arm in 2024 for scouts after signing for $160k back in 2022 and was PuRP No. 30 in the pre-season 2025 list. When he’s right, Casilla boasts an upper-90s fastball with a potentially plus curveball (recently ranked as the best in the system by Baseball America), but he’s battled wildness and hasn’t yet seen performance matching his stuff. Unfortunately, the 6’2”, 180-pound Dominican needed Tommy John surgery in March 2025 and missed the season as a result. He may miss some time this year as well, which is his first Rule 5 evaluation year.
Casilla came stateside in 2024 to the Arizona Complex League, where he was 2.1 years younger than league average. His run prevention numbers weren’t great — he had a 7.00 ERA, 1.72 WHIP, and 7.0 BB/9 rate in 36 innings across 12 games — but he did strike out 57 hitters in those 36 innings (14.3 K/9 rate) and his 4.49 xFIP indicated some poor fortune in those results. After the surgery, the Rockies will need to wait he’s healthy this year for Casilla to make his full season debut.
Eric Longenhagen ranks Casilla as a 40 FV prospect, 32nd in the system, with plus projection on both his upper 90s fastball and curveball (the report is from before we knew Casilla would miss 2025):
A high-waisted, bubble-butted southpaw with a rectangular frame, Casilla was one of the more exciting pop-up arms of early 2024 backfield action, as the teenage lefty’s fastball was routinely in the 95-98 mph range, and he flashed a nasty two-planed breaking ball. Frustratingly hittable and wild, he posted a 32.9% K% and 16.2% BB% in 12 regular season appearances, then Casilla seemed to get hurt during Instructional League activity toward the end of September. The exact severity of the injury is unclear, but it looked pretty bad. His fastball angle and shape cause it to play beneath its velocity, his command dilutes the effectiveness of his entire repertoire, and he needs to develop a third pitch in order to start, but Casilla’s arm strength and breaking ball quality are a great starting point for a young pitcher. If his injury was bad enough to cost him a portion of 2025, it will funnel him further toward a reliever future, though he has late-inning upside in that role.
I’m still a believer in Casilla’s potential, but the injury makes it less likely he will be able to realize it. I’ll need to see the kind of pitcher Casilla is once he returns (and in what role) before ranking him on my list again (he’s a 35 FV player for me until I get more data).
Tomorrow, the Honorable Mention PuRPs will be revealed!
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