Introduction
Instead of talking about the named and better known prospect in the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system, today I thought I’d take a quick look at three lesser known prospects.
Jose Mejia 2B/3B
Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference
The Baltimore Orioles signed the then 17 year old Jose Mejia as international amateur free agent back in 2023, who then proceed to clobber the Dominican Summer League for 54 games across his 2023 and 2024 season with a triple slash of .307/.425/.409, a 136 wRC+ while walking (14.2 BB%) more than he was
striking out (9.0%). In 2025, the Orioles had him play stateside in the complex league, where he’d play in 47 games and put up a triple slash of .274/.418/.411 with a .416 wOBA and a 132 wRC+. More importantly, he’d improve his walk percentage (16.5 BB%) while his strikeout percentage (10k%) saw only a slightly uptick. Mejia would then get a two game cup of coffee in A ball, where he’d go 1 for 5 with a pair of stolen bases thanks to the walk and hit by pitch.
The Dbacks would acquire Mejia (along with two pitchers) from the Orioles in the Blaze Alexander trade, the 20 year old Mejia was assigned to the Visalia Rawhide to begin the 2026 season. In 33 games for Visalia, Mejia hit .299/.449/.486 with a 144 wRC+, a .434 wOBA. His walk percentage an improvement to 19.9%, but he did also see his strikeout percentage jump up to 15 4%. Regardless his hot hitting earned him a promotion to Hillsboro on May 15th. In his seven games in Hillsboro, Mejia is 3 for 25 with 5 walks and two stolen bases, though he has struck out eight times and been caught stealing twice. Considering the lowest wRC+ Mejia has posted prior to his promotion to Hillsboro is a 121 wRC+, I’d expect his current 29 wRC+ not to last very long.
Unless Mejia goes on another month long hot streak, I would expect him to finish his year out at the High A level, though if he’s successful enough the Dbacks could promote him once again to the AA level Amarillo Sod Poodles finish out the last few games of the season. The Diamondbacks are absolutely stacked at second base, so Mejia will likely have to settle on another position for an easier path to the majors
Alberto Barriga C
Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference
The Diamondbacks signed Barriga as a 17 year old amateur free agent out of Mexico back in january of 2022. Barriga would put up impressive numbers in his pro debut in the DSL in 2022 (253/.342/.361, 120 wRC+) and even more eye popping numbers in the complex in 2023 (.414/.457/.586, 158 WRC+) and above average numbers in 2024 (276/.362/.432 105 wRC+), but he’d struggle after being promoted to A ball to end his 2024. In 2025, Barriga returned to A ball and put up the worst numbers of his career, hitting .199/.326/.296 with a well below average 83 wRC+ and insane 28.8 SO%. The one bright spot by far was his above average 12.9 BB%, the highest of his career since his debut.
Barriga was promoted to A+ Level Hillsboro for 2026, where he’s completely rebounded offensively, and arguably has been the team’s best hitter. Through his first 28 games, the 21 year old catcher is hitting .296/.391/.541 with a 144 wRC+. He’s improved upon his BB% to 13%, while he’s cut the strikout percent back down to an acceptable 22.6%.
The player I like to compare Barriga to is Daulton Varsho, or at least who he was as a prospect. Barriga isn’t quite as undersized as Varsho was, but they’re both undersized surprisingly nimble catchers, though Barriga in my opinion is much more likely to stick at catcher.
Manuel Pena 1B/2B/3B/LF
Fangraphs | Baseball-Reference
Manuel Pena was signed as an international amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic by the Diamondbacks all the way back in January of 2021. He has a solid enough debut as a 17 year old in 57 games played in the Dominican Summer League, putting up a 253/.342/.361 with a .349wOBA and a 105 wRC+, with a solid 11.7 BB% and acceptable 20.7 K%. The following year, he’d come stateside and play in 32 games in the Complex, hitting 284/336/.466 with .364 wOBA and 120 wRC+, though his BB% fell to 7.8% while his K% jumped to 23.4%. Pena would spend the remaining 36 games of his 2022 season in A ball, which began a stretch of four season in a row where he’d fail to put up above average numbers as a hitter. We’ll skip ahead a few seasons, as Pena was okay enough that he did work his way up to AA by the 2025 season. In 143 games last year in Amarillo, Pena hit .288/.326/.460 with a 99 wRC+, a .356 wOBA, 5.1 BB% and 22.3 K%.
In his second go around, Pena is hitting much better. In 43 games this year Pena has 18 homeruns, compared to the 14 he hit the entire season the previous year. He’s hitting .284/.328/.634 with 123 wRc+ and a .406 wOBA. Although his 23.2 K% is a tick higher than the year before, his 6.6 BB% is as well. Interestingly, Pena has the lowest BABIP of his career at .281, which is much lower than next lowest at .310. Pena is still only 22 years old despite being in the system for so long.
