A while back I wrote about some Diamondbacks prospects that could potentially contribute in 2026, with some glaring omissions that I may, or may not address in this article either.
Kristian Robinson (Baseball-Reference,
Fangraphs player pages)
Kristian Robinson’s tumultuous career with the Diamondbacks organization is likely nearing the end of the road, in spite of the fact that he doesn’t even turn 25 until December 11th. Entering 2025, things looked even more dour for the Bahamian outfielder than they did returning to pro baseball after a three year layoff that I won’t go into here. After doing everything possible and moving up four levels of minor league ball, Robinson followed with the worst season of his professional career, one in which he hit .214/.337/.350 with a 85 wRC+ in 110 games for the AA level Amarillo Sod Poddles, wll known for having very hitter friendly ballpark in a hitter friendly Texas League. I guess the only real bright spot was getting double digits in homeruns (11) and stolen bases (10). Returning to Amarillo for third time, Robinson hit .250/.359/.436 with same amount of doubles (13) and homeruns (11) that he hit in 2024, but in 35 less games. Additionally, he tripled the amount of triples and stolen bases, while also increasing his success rate on the base paths from 60% to 75%. That offensive output amounts to a 108 wRC+, which earned him a promotion to AAA Reno. In 41 games there Robinson hit .262/.393/.469 with 6 more homeruns, a pair of triples, and swipe ten more bases (without being caught stealing!). All those improvements at the plate adds up to a 110 wRC+ in Reno. Probably more important than any of that is that he cut his strikeout percentage from a concerning 30.2% to a much more acceptable 24.2%, while raising his walk percentage from 13.8% to 17.4%.
I expect the D’Backs to move at least one of the outfielders ahead of him on the depth chart this offseason. Assuming that K-Rob is still in the organization come spring, I expect him to get a call up at some point in 2026.
Ivan Melendez (Baseball-Reference, Fangraphs)
Melendez is another prospect who has lost his luster, though he was never ranked as highly as Robinson. Like Robinson, entering 2025 Melendez is coming off a bad 2024 season. In his third year in Amarillo .292/ 347/.483, 115 wRC+. More importantly, he cut his strikeout percentage down from an insane 35.3% in ’23 to 30.1% in ’24, to 24.5% in ’25. At the same time Melendez increased his walk percentage from 5.9% in ’23 to 7.7% in ’24, and then brought up further to decent 9.9%.
Melendez wasnt quite as good in the 25 games he played in Reno after being promoted, but he wasn’t anywhere near as awful as he had been during last struggles. .292/.347/.483 and a 95 wRC+. It’s interesting to note that his walk percentage only slightly dipped down to 7.1% while his strikeout percentage stayed the exact same 24.5%. It remains to be seen what kind of moves GM Mike Hazen will do to address first base this offseason, but if I had to guess, he’ll stick with a Pavin Smith/Tyler Locklear platoon. If Locklear struggles or is injured, while Melendez continues to have success and improves upon his 2025 season, it is possible we see the latter called up to be the right handed half of a platoon woth Pavin Smith. Despite being listed as 3B/1B, Melendez did not play an inning at third at all in 2025, and that’s after getting melendez saw twice as many starts at third than at first.
Mitch Bratt (Baseball-Reference, Fangraphs), Kohl Drake (Baseball-Reference, Fangraphs)
I’m lumping in the two left handed pitching prospect together as they were both acquired from Texas at the trade deadline for Merrill Kelly. According to most talent evaluators, Kohl Drake is the more likely of the two to actually be ready to make an impact next season, assuming there are no lingering issues with the injury he had at the end of the season. After dominated AA yo start the year, Drake hit the wall that every pitcher hits after being promoted to the AAA level Pacific Coast league.. The move from around Round Rock to Reno didn’t do him any favors either, with his 5.19 ERA looking not so bad after it ballooned to a 9.18 ERA in Reno.
Mitch Bratt is technically further away than Drake, but has twice the innings pitched at the AA level versus half that for Drake, and is three years younger. I actually don’t see much of a good reason to have any pitching prospect of note play in Reno, especially if you want them to further develop their breaking pitchers. Both Drake and Bratt do need to build up their workload if they are to remain as starting pitchers, but there doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot left for either to prove in the minors. I would
