
The Arizona Diamondbacks are considering calling up top prospects from their AAA affiliate, the Reno Aces, as the MLB team struggles. Key players include Ryan Waldschmidt, Tommy Troy, and LuJames 'Gino' Groover III, all performing well in the minors.
While it is still early in the season, I canât help but notice that while the team is struggling at the MLB level, thereâs several of the Dbacks top prospects playing very well for the DâBacks AAA level affiliate, the Reno Aces. There are also a couple veteran relief pitchers that have been pitching very well, who merit discussion, but who I wonât be discussing in this article. (NOTE: *Weâre just just under a full month into the Minor League Baseball season, so small samples abound, especially with the relief pitchers. Just a few good/bad outings and games can turn these numbers upside down, so this is just a fun exercise. Itâll be another month before any Minor League stats should be taken seriously. All stats in this article through 28th April, 2026.*)
Top 100 overall prospect Ryan Waldschmidt (Fangraphs |B-Ref player pages) has unsurprisingly been one of the Reno Aces best hitters. The 23 year old right handed hitting outfielder has played mostly center field in the 2026, but is capable of playing all three outfield positions competently. Through his first 131 plate appearences, heâs hit .303/.400/.505 with a 122 wRC+ and a .408 wOBA. Tommy Troy ( |), the 12th overall pick in the 2023, in his first 122 plate appearences is hitting .317/.405/.481 with a 120 WRC+ and .404 wOBA. Troy has seen the majority (60%) of his starts at second base, but surprisingly has spent a good chunk of time in left field and couple games worth of innings in center. LuJames âGinoâ Groover III ( |) through his first 127 plate appearances is hitting .340/.440/.427, with a 123 wRC+ and a .410 wOBA. Heâs spent slightly more than half his time in the field this season at third base with the rest spent across the diamond at first. âs ( | ) history has been discussed so much that Iâm not going to discuss it here other than the very short version. Once a top prospect, legal issues that came as a result of cannabis induced psychiatric episode along with pandemic kept him away from baseball for three years. Robinson is probably not the star outfielder we thought he was, but he is a perfectly servicable outfielder with an intriguing mix of power and speed. In his first 110 plate appearences in 2026, Robinson is hitting .286/.400/.484 with a 119 wRC+ and a .402 wOBA. Robinson is capable of playing all three outfield position as well, with a better throwing arm than any of the other outfielder on the MLB roster. The biggest reason to not call up any of these four players is finding regular playing time, along with service time and roster considerations. Ryan Waldschmidt and Kristian Robinson are (arguably) an across the board upgrade over current Dback OFer , but if theyâre only on the roster as the fourth outfielder, they wonât get as much playing time as needed to further develop as hitters. With his .524 OPS and 46 wRC+, has been a below average hitter in 2026, so bad that heâs been worth -0.3 WAR. Lourdes Gurriel may only have recently been activated of the Injury List, but heâs already matched Tawa in negative WAR despite having played in 10 fewer games. The aforementioned Barrosaâs job is arguably pretty safe, despite the 79 wRC+, heâs an above average outfielder whoâs put up .2 WAR thanks to his defense. In a similar vein, the defensively gifted is once again struggling offensively, and while he still is putting up positive value, his defense isnât **that** much of an upgrade over Waldschmidtâs to make his job safe either. Theoretically Waldschmidt and Robinson could replace Barrosa and Thomas , and while there would almost certainly be a drop off defensively, the potential for a massive offensive upgrade could might very well be worth it. Tommy Troy, who has the most defensive versatility thanks to his ability to play both infield and outfield, is an obvious choice to replace Tim Tawa on the roster. As long as the Ildemaro Vargas/Nolan Arenado experiment continues to be successful, and Jose Fernandez continues to rake, I canât imagine weâll see Groover anytime soon, unless just completely fails to provide any offense at DH. Which is unfortunate, as Groover statistically has been the best hitter on the Aces, while also having the exit velocity and batted ball data that legitimizes his production as more than a PCL induced fluke.
The top prospects include Ryan Waldschmidt, Tommy Troy, and LuJames 'Gino' Groover III, all showing impressive performance in the Reno Aces.
Ryan Waldschmidt is hitting .303/.400/.505 with a 122 wRC+ and a .408 wOBA through 131 plate appearances.
The team may hesitate due to concerns about regular playing time, service time, and roster considerations for the prospects.
Tommy Troy is hitting .317/.405/.481 with a 120 wRC+ and .404 wOBA in 122 plate appearances.


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Amongst the actual ranked pitching prospects on the Aces, Mitch Bratt (Fangraphs|B-Ref) has been the most effective of the starting pitchers in the Aces rotation so far. In his first five starts, heâs put up a 2.84 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, with a 50 ERA-. His 4.35 FIP and 4.64 xFIP arenât exactly inspiring but overall those are very solid numbers for a starting pitcher in hitters haven that is the Pacific Coast League. Yilber Diaz (Fangraphs|B-Ref) and Brandyn Garcia (Fangraphs|B-Ref) have combined to form a very effective relief duo. In his 10 relief appearances, heâs put up 13 â IP while striking out 20 batters (a 34% SO%) and walking just five batters (9.3BB%) His 1.32 ERA and 24 ERA- are absolutely stellar, though his 3.11 FIP and 2.90 xFIP do suggest his ERA wonât stay that low forever. Brandynn Garcia has also appeared in 10 games, putting up 12â IP with 18 strikeouts and 10 walks. His 2.19 ERA works out to a 39 ERA-, though his stats do seem like theyâre do for some regression, as indicated by the 4.58 FIP and 4.35 xFIP. Itâs almost certainly a matter of when, not if Yilber Diaz and Brandyn Garcia get called up in 2026, and there are already candidates in the bullpen for them to replace. The most obvious would be Paul Sewald, but arguements could be made for Ryan Thompson as well. Originally I was going to mention Andrew Hoffman, but the latter was sent down for Philip Abner whilst writing this article. Itâs actually somewhat fitting that the most obvious candidate in the starting rotation that Mitch Bratt could potentially replace is the pitcher the Dbacks traded away last summer to acquire him (along with Hagaman and Kohl Drake), Merrill Kelly. To be as blunt as possible, Merrill Kelly has not been good at all so far this season, and his performance so far has been troubling. In his first start back in a 4-3 win against the baltimore Orioles, Kelly pitched 5 â innings, allowing a pair of earned runs on five hits and four walks. It doesnât sound that bad, but it was a messy outing saved thanks to Ildemaro Vargas and Jose Fernandezâs offense, though he does deserve some extra credit for a successful pickoff throw of a runner on third. Kellyâs 2nd outing was a disaster: 4â innings, 8 earned runs allowed on 10 hits ans 3 walks. Of those ten hits, half of them went for extra base hits, three of which were homeruns. His most recent outing wasnât any better. He pitched 5 â innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits and five walks, with another homerun allowed. All that adds up to a 9.20 ERA with 8.78 FIP, which has cost the Diamondbacks -0.5/-0.6 fWAR/bWAR. Itâs still early and he can turn it around, but if his season continues like this, then I would think that eventually a move will have to be made. Alternatively, Ryne Nelson and his 7.71 ERA or Brandon Pfaadt and his 5.54 ERA arenât exactly lighting the world on fire either.
Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen has quite a few options in AAA that could potentially bolster the Major League roster. Which of these players do you think is most likely to be able to contribute to an MLB roster right now? Is there a prospect on the AAA or even AA roster that you feel is more deserving of a call up?Which player on the MLB roster do you think will be the next to go after Andrew Hoffman? Who do you expect to be called up first? Let me know in the comments down below! Next Week: We wrap up the Top Prospect series by finally ranking the Dbacks top pitching prospects.