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MLB's 10 Most Promising Young Cores, Ranked
Not only is the entire NL Central off to a strong start to the 2026 campaign, but all five teams have young cores deep enough and promising enough to tentatively have a solid foundation for years to come.
"Young core" is a vague term, both in terms of the age of the players and the quantity of players in the core, so let's get more specific:
Young—Age-25 season or younger, meaning the player was born after June 30, 2000.
Core—Exactly four players, in honor of the New York Yankees' legendary "Core Four" of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.
Rankings are based loosely on the combined 2025-26 Baseball Reference WAR of each team's core four, but injuries, potential and career production prior to last season also factored prominently into the mix.
For most teams in the top 10, there were more than four young players worthy of consideration. In those cases, additional players may be mentioned. However, each ranking is based solely on the four players listed at the top of that team's section.
Notably, we are not including prospects who have yet to make their MLB debuts, which decimated Seattle's case for a spot in the top 10. The M's have four of MLB.com's top 35 overall prospects, including Colt Emerson, with maybe the most promise of any player who has not yet played in an MLB game. They only have two players (Julio Rodríguez and Cole Young) who meet the criteria and are worth mentioning.
Check back next year, though, Seattle fans. Boston was in a similar spot last season, with Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer still in the minors, but now the Red Sox are an easy choice for the top 10.
Honorable Mentions
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Washington Nationals: In CJ Abrams (25) and James Wood (23), the Nats have a young duo that would arguably rank top five in the majors if we were solely looking at each team's under-25 gruesome twosomes. However, forced to put some combination of Daylen Lile, Nasim Nuñez and Brady House in the Nos. 3 and 4 spots in this core four, Washington narrowly misses the cut. Maybe House and Dylan Crews eventually change the story, though.
Atlanta Braves: See, Washington Nationals. Atlanta has a pair of 25-year-old former Rookies of the Year in Michael Harris II and Drake Baldwin. But with JR Ritchie just three starts into his big-league career and none of AJ Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep or Didier Fuentes much more established than that, this is way more of a two-headed force than a core four.
Cleveland Guardians: In Chase DeLauter, Parker Messick and recent callup Travis Bazzana, Cleveland probably has more semi-viable candidates for Rookie of the Year than any other team. What the Guardians don't have, though, is a single player who is young enough for consideration while also established enough to have accumulated more than 3.0 bWAR. Every other team that has been legitimately considered has at least one such player. Still, the future is bright.
Chicago White Sox: Though he's new to MLB, Munetaka Murakami is a few months too old to qualify for this exercise. However, as they show signs of emerging on the other side of their tank job, the White Sox do have an impressive nine players age-24 or younger who already have a positive career bWAR. Most notable among them are Colson Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and the presently injured Kyle Teel. They missed this year's cut, but once a few of those youngsters make their mark, the ChiSox may well rank No. 1 on this list a year from now.
10. Pittsburgh Pirates
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Core Four: Paul Skenes (24), Konnor Griffin (20), Jared Jones (24), Bubba Chandler (23)
Putting "Skenes and the gang" at No. 10 while omitting both the Nationals and the Braves is probably going to rub some fans in the NL East the wrong way.
For starters, though, Skenes is arguably a top-five talent in all of baseball, tossing a masterful eight shutout innings Wednesday night in Arizona as a reminder. Meanwhile, the quartet of James Wood, CJ Abrams, Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II falls somewhere in the Nos. 50-100 range of current player rankings.
Though Pittsburgh's second fiddle (Griffin) is still cutting his teeth while the Braves have two ROYs and the Nationals have two All-Stars, that 20-year-old shortstop has been making quite the first impression, perhaps on his way to NL ROY, maybe even a spot in the 2026 All-Star Game, too.
Let's not forget Jared Jones, either. He was Pittsburgh's No. 3 starter to open the 2024 season and their NL ROY candidate before Skenes came up and took the world by storm. He's working his way back from UCL surgery and should be a key re-addition to the pitching staff in the not-too-distant future.
For the fourth spot in this core, Tom Harrington, Hunter Barco and Jhostynxon Garcia are each technically options, but Chandler is the one who's actually in the big leagues now, as well as the one who could be special if he's able to get his walk rate under control.
9. Baltimore Orioles
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Core Four: Gunnar Henderson (25), Jackson Holliday (22), Samuel Basallo (21), Dylan Beavers (24)
Similar to the Pirates, the Orioles' young core four is one arguably top-10 player in all of baseball (Henderson) and a trio of much less established potential—also featuring one player who has yet to make his 2026 debut due to injury.
For the O's, that player is Holliday, who is working his way back from a broken hamate bone. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft had 17 home runs and 17 stolen bases last season, starting to make an impact in his age-21 season, though still nowhere near his ceiling.
That's about where Basallo is at this year, too. He started slowly with a .533 OPS through the team's first 21 games, but he has been well above 1.000 in that department since April 20. That has him becoming a fringe early candidate for AL Rookie of the Year. He and Adley Rutschman have become quite the C/DH one-two punch.
As far as the fourth member of the core goes, Baltimore was certainly expecting more from Coby Mayo (24) by now in his third season in the majors. With Jordan Westburg nowhere near returning from his torn UCL, though, Mayo should continue to get the bulk of the reps at third base. At least Beavers is putting in some positive work as a versatile outfielder.
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8. Los Angeles Dodgers
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Core Four: Andy Pages (25), Dalton Rushing (25), Justin Wrobleski (25), Roki Sasaki (24)
By no means are these the first four names that spring to mind when you think of the two-time reigning World Series champions.
But the 2025 Dodgers would've lost the World Series if Pages hadn't made that catch in Game 7. They may not have survived the Phillies in the NLDS were it not for Sasaki's near-perfect 4.1 innings of relief in that series. They even got five shutout innings out of Wrobleski in the World Series.
On just about any other team, this quartet would be a much bigger deal—especially given how well three-fourths of it has been performing thus far in 2026.
Pages was batting north of .400 through the first three weeks of the season, while producing a three-homer game on Wednesday afternoon. All-Star voting won't begin until early June, but Pages has been the most valuable outfielder in the National League thus far.
Rushing is becoming a bit of a villain with his on-field antics. He has played sparingly because of how loaded this roster is, but he has a 1.124 OPS with seven home runs in 65 trips to the plate. It's pretty hard to argue with that production.
Wrobleski has been quite the breakout star in the starting rotation with a 1.25 ERA through his first 36 innings of work. No need to rush Blake Snell back or tinker with Shohei Ohtani's days of rest with this southpaw thriving.
Regular season Sasaki has yet to live up to the hype that preceded his arrival from Japan, but hopes are still sky high for his future.
7. Milwaukee Brewers
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Core Four: Jackson Chourio (22), Jacob Misiorowski (24), Kyle Harrison (24), Quinn Priester (25)
Before he played a single game in the big leagues, Milwaukee signed a then-20-year-old Chourio to an eight-year, $82M deal, with $25M club options for 2032 and 2033. It has already turned into one of the most team-friendly contracts in baseball, as Chourio's career began with back-to-back seasons of at least 20 HR and 20 SB.
However, the viral young star in Milwaukee is unquestionably Misiorowski, whose blistering fastball and preposterous 95 MPH slider combo make him one of the most unhittable pitchers in recent history, averaging nearly three strikeouts per hit allowed this season. We are perpetually praying he stays healthy, though, because what he can do on the mound seems inhuman.
For the other two, the Brewers have the Red Sox to thank, acquiring Harrison in the Caleb Durbin trade and Priester for a pair of prospects early on in the 2025 campaign. Those pitchers logged a combined total of 17 big-league innings with the Red Sox, who basically traded for them for the sole purpose of later trading them away. They've become key pieces of this rotation when healthy.
Let's also at least mention Brandon Sproat (25) and Jett Williams (22), since that's what the Brew Crew got in return for Freddy Peralta. The former hasn't pitched well this season and the latter has yet to make his MLB debut, but they surely view both as part of their core for the future.
6. St. Louis Cardinals
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Core Four: Jordan Walker (24), Masyn Winn (24), JJ Wetherholt (23), Michael McGreevy (25)
The big question in trying to determine where the Cardinals belong in this ranking is: How much do we believe in Walker's 2026 breakout?
If he is going to be a legitimate, All-Star-caliber player for years to come, St. Louis probably should be No. 1 or No. 2. If he reverts to 2024-25 levels of sub-replacement-level production and we need Nathan Church or Victor Scott II in that spot to round out the quartet, that's a much different story. (With this placement at No. 6, we're assuming Walker will be fine.)
We already know that Winn is special, though, at least with his defense and baserunning. He won a Gold Glove at shortstop last year. It was surprising that he didn't receive any votes for NL Rookie of the Year in 2024.
He and Wetherholt have already become one of the best middle-infield duos in the game today. The second baseman made his MLB debut on Opening Day, homering in his second trip to the plate. He now has seven home runs, four stolen bases and one of the highest-rated gloves in all of baseball.
In what amounts to roughly a full season of work, McGreevy has a 3.59 ERA and 1.10 WHIP through 158.0 innings pitched. The 2021 first-round pick is beginning to really assert himself as an arm the Cards can hopefully depend on for the next five years.
5. Chicago Cubs
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Core Four: Pete Crow-Armstrong (24), Moisés Ballesteros (22), Matt Shaw (24), Cade Horton (24)
It is most unfortunate that the fourth member of this quartet suffered a UCL injury and will miss not only the rest of 2026 but likely a significant chunk of 2027, as well. Horton almost won the NL Rookie of the Year last season. He has a 2.66 ERA through his first 125.1 IP. Here's hoping he is able to return good as new.
(By the end of this campaign, though, it might be reasonable to put Kevin Alcántara in Horton's spot. The 23-year-old outfielder has had a couple of samplings of big-league life over the past two seasons and presently has a .950 OPS with a dozen home runs at Triple-A.)
On the not-injured side of things here, PCA started slow at the plate but has come around in a big way over the past few weeks—while remaining maybe the most valuable defensive asset in the sport today.
Ballesteros, on the other hand, ended April with an OPS north of 1.000, picking up Crow-Armstrong's slack while becoming a near-everyday fixture in the lineup. He now has an .869 OPS 54 games into his career, which is better than the .861 mark Anthony Rizzo had for his 10 seasons in the Windy City.
Though Matt Shaw has gone from "primary third baseman" in 2025 to "put me in coach, I'm ready to play" in 2026, he has been a better hitter in his second season. With both Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki slated for free agency this winter, Shaw figures to become a primary corner outfielder in 2027. In the meantime, he has been that super-utilityman that seemingly every contender needs these days.
4. Boston Red Sox
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Core Four: Roman Anthony (22), Ceddanne Rafaela (25), Connelly Early (24), Marcelo Mayer (23)
Were we not limited to four players, southpaw Payton Tolle (23) and infielder Kristian Campbell (24) would have been in the mix here, too. (Campbell's first foray into the majors last season was brutal, but they've already signed him through 2032.)
As is, though, it's hard to argue with this quartet.
Anthony is the obvious headliner as the former top prospect in all of baseball. It's a real bummer that he just landed on the IL with a wrist sprain. Hopefully, he's only out for the minimum 10 days, and when he returns, he starts hitting as he did over his final 50 games of last season (.326/.428/.513).
Mayer's arrival in the majors was also preceded by years' worth of hype. After going fourth overall in the 2021 draft, he entered each of the next four seasons as a fixture in the top 20 of prospect rankings. The recent stretch of 15 hits in 41 ABs (.366 AVG) may have been the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the fans at Fenway.
Early has also made a positive early impression with a 3.27 ERA through his first 55 innings pitched. He even started their do-or-die Game 3 of the wild card series against the Yankees last October. While it didn't go particularly well, it spoke volumes to their confidence in his future. (Granted, it more so spoke volumes to the state of their rotation at that time.)
Lastly, the veteran of the bunch, Rafaela is in his third season as a staple of the lineup. He used to bounce around between center field and middle infield out of necessity, but now that Mayer has arrived, the Red Sox have been able to cement Rafaela's Gold Glove in center—where he should predominantly remain until his contract expires in either 2031 or 2032.
3. Athletics
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Core Four: Nick Kurtz (23), Jacob Wilson (24), Tyler Soderstrom (24), Lawrence Butler (25)
What's especially fun about this core four is that it actually is the franchise's core for the foreseeable future.
Both Wilson and Soderstrom have already signed extensions that run through at least 2032 with club options for 2033, while Butler is locked in through 2031 with a 2032 CO. While they've thus far been unable to get a similar deal done with Kurtz, he won't reach free agency until after the 2030 campaign.
Whenever this franchise does re-relocate from West Sacramento to Las Vegas, these guys (and Brent Rooker, possibly to a lesser extent) are going to be the faces of said franchise.
Kurtz was the unanimous AL Rookie of the Year in 2025, crushing 36 home runs in just 117 games played. From May 4 onward, he was one of three players with an OPS north of 1.000. The others were Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Decent company, yes?
Wilson was the first runner-up to Kurtz, a rare All-Star starter as a rookie and the pretty clear favorite for AL ROY prior to missing four weeks of the summer with a broken arm. (A four-week stretch in which Kurtz hit .395, including his four-HR extravaganza, no less.)
Soderstrom also broke out in 2025, hitting 25 home runs while making the transition from first base to left field.
Butler is the wild card of the bunch, who went from an .807 OPS in 2024 to a .710 mark last year and a sub-.600 showing thus far in 2026. He had a combined 43 home runs and 40 stolen bases over the past two seasons and is roughly on track for another 20/20 campaign. But if he was a little more reliable at the dish—or if there was any young pitching worth getting excited about here—the A's core four would've made a fantastic case for No. 1.
Just wait until Leo De Vries arrives, though. The switch-hitting 19-year-old infielder was the crown jewel of the Mason Miller trade and one of the top prospects in all of baseball.
2. Detroit Tigers
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Core Four: Kevin McGonigle (21), Riley Greene (25), Colt Keith (24), Keider Montero (25)
On the whole, Detroit has been a considerable disappointment en route to its 18-20 start to the season.
This 25-and-under club has been pretty swell, though.
McGonigle, in particular, has been sensational, the slight early frontrunner for AL Rookie of the Year, even with Munetaka Murakami already clubbing 14 home runs for the White Sox. McGonigle wasted no time in making his mark in the majors, going 4-for-5 on Opening Day and already amassing 10 multi-hit performances. His defense at SS/3B needs a fair amount of work, but he is a great hitter and an elite baserunner.
Greene has been an All-Star in each of the past two seasons and currently has what would be a career-best OPS (.854). He is already into his arbitration-eligible years, but the Tigers still have two years of control to keep him in their core.
Keith has yet to find his home run swing this season, but he is batting .327 and spending a lot of time in the heart of the order.
And how about Montero's early breakout? The righty had a 5.05 FIP through his first two seasons in the big leagues, but he has drastically reduced his walk rate while dialing in what has been one of the most valuable changeups in the game today. Lefties crushed him last year, but now he's the one doing the crushing with that offspeed pitch. If that continues, maybe Detroit can tread water without Tarik Skubal for a few months.
1. Cincinnati Reds
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Core Four: Elly De La Cruz (24), Sal Stewart (22), Chase Burns (23), Rhett Lowder (24)
Everyone already knew about De La Cruz prior to this season. It's hard to believe this is already his fourth season in the big leagues, but he entered 2026 with 60 home runs and 139 stolen bases while blossoming into one of the game's most electric stars.
While EDLC has maintained his stardom in 2026—ending April on pace for 52 home runs and 42 stolen bases—Stewart and Burns have joined him in a big way.
The former has been the other half of Cincinnati's one-two punch of offense with 10 home runs and seven stolen bases of his own. Stewart also hit five home runs in just 58 trips to the plate last fall, but now he is an everyday staple in the infield and an early favorite for NL Rookie of the Year.
The latter has made seven starts this season with a 2.20 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 10.1 K/9, which is Cy Young-caliber stuff. Burns was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 draft, earning that status by striking out 191 of 391 batters faced in his final season in college. While he hasn't been that lethal in the bigs, he throws his four-seamer almost 100 MPH. He might have the best slider among pitchers not named Mason Miller.
Lastly, Lowder was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2023 draft and a budding sensation late in the 2024 campaign, making six starts with a 1.17 ERA. Unfortunately, his 2025 was injury-riddled. His two most recent starts have been brutal (4.1 IP, 11 ER, 8 BB, 2 K). But he had a 3.18 ERA and 2.93 FIP through the end of April and should be a key piece of the puzzle for years to come.
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