With 2026 in the books from a baseball standpoint, it’s time to do some review. Last year, we did statistical overviews for all full-season Minor League levels. We’re doing it again for 2026, starting with the statistical standouts from the Carolina League.
The traditional numbers
Given that the Carolina League is A) a Low-A league and B) not anywhere close to being as hitter-friendly as the Carolina League, one would expect more muted home run numbers.
Only two players (Jose Anderson and Alex Lodise) had at least 20 home runs. Anderson, a Brewers prospect, hit a league-high 23 home runs, while Lodise hit 21 for Augusta in the Braves organization.
Former second-round pick Cooper Flemming was the hits leader at 133, five ahead of Rangers prospect Yolfran Castillo (more on him in a bit) for the league lead. Brady Ebel, the Brewers’ first-round pick from 2025, was the league walks leader at 96. Ebel was two ahead of White Sox prospect Jaden Fauske.
The aforementioned Castillo had 55 stolen bases for Hickory, leading the Carolina League.
As for the pitchers, 11 hurlers had 100 or more strikeouts. Leading the charge was Royals prospect Michael Lombardi, who had 124 over 88 innings for Columbia. White Sox prospect Truman Pauley was right behind him with 120 for Kannapolis.
Whiff rates
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s move on to some advanced numbers. Our first stop is looking at the best swing-and-miss pitchers in the circuit:
As expected, most of the pitchers in this top 10 are relievers. The top pitcher is 23-year-old lefty Yereny Teus, who struck out 80 batters in 54 innings. It was Teus’ first season in full-season ball, after the club had him in rookie ball from 2023 through 2025.
Other relievers listed above include Leomar Rosario, J.D. McReynolds, and Keegan Zinn. The one real notable starter from this list is Ryan Prager, the former Texas A&M hurler. Prager split the year between the rotation and bullpen, striking out 89 over 67 innings.
Now, for the pitchers that had the lowest Whiff% in the Carolina League:
This list includes a couple of notables, including former Coastal Carolina pitcher Riley Eikhoff, Jose Bello (acquired in the Rafael Devers trade in 2025), and Kendry Chourio.
Yes, Chourio, who is arguably the best starting pitcher in the Royals’ system, is here. It’s interesting when one thinks about it — but there’s a reason why Chourio is such a good prospect, even though he didn’t miss a ton of bats in Low-A.
The 19-year-old didn’t walk many batters, showed impressive stuff at such a young age, and is the type of pitcher who can live and thrive in other ways.
Now, let’s flip things around. Here are the hitters with the lowest Whiff% in 2026:
Yolfran Castillo had a big year. Castillo was part of a strong Hickory team that also had Paulino Santana. The 19-year-old Santana had a great year, with 15 home runs and 45 extra-base hits with the Crawdads. But Castillo was more of a statistical outlier, as he walked (70) almost as many times as he struck out (71). He’s going to be a pain for pitchers.
Brendan Summerhill was one of the Rays’ top picks from 2025. He only batted .237 but he also got on base a lot.
Then, there were Juneiker Caceres and Jaiden Lo Re, two of the big breakout players from the Carolina League this season.
Caceres shone as a teenager, hitting for power and making lots of contact for Low-A Hill City. Before he was moved up, Caceres slashed .320/.418/.538 in Low-A with 10 home runs and 22 extra-base hits in 52 contests.
As for Lo Re, he had a fantastic year in Delmarva. He batted .325/.439/.443 before moving up to High-A Frederick. Impressive bat-to-ball skills, which helped him strike out just 22 times in 56 contests. Lo Re walked 41 times for the Shorebirds.
Most patient hitters
Next up is a look at the most patient hitters in the Carolina League, in terms of Take%:
It should be noted that we did just a lower minimum here, mainly because this is a lower level of the Minor Leagues. This list doesn’t include Jaden Fauske, who had a Take% well over 60% and would be on here had the threshold been set higher.
Still, the list includes some very notable names. Xavier Neyens walked 79 times for Fayetteville, tied for seventh in the Carolina League, before he was moved up to High-A. Also here is Braves prospect Conor Essenburg, who posted a .991 OPS for Augusta.
And on the opposite end:
Daniel Pierce didn’t play much in 2026. Thanks to injury, the former first-rounder suited up in just 34 games for Charleston this season. He did walk 11 times but, overall, was highly aggressive when it comes to his swing tendency.
Jordan Sanchez and Luis Guanipa, two hitters who had good seasons in Low-A, are also here among the bottom 10 in Take%.
The pull-heavy hitters
It’s always fun to see which hitters are pulling the ball a lot, especially when it comes to Pull FB%. While it’s not a 1:1 indicator of future home run potential whatsoever, pull hitters still have plenty of value for obvious reasons.
This list includes some older college players, including former SEC standouts Hunter Hines and Cooper McMurray. Plus, league home run leader Jose Anderson.
But two players who are interesting names here are Waner Luciano and Louis Andujar.
Luciano, at the age of 21, had a quietly good year with Fayetteville. The third baseman knocked 27 extra-base hits (nine home runs) and walked 48 times, compared to 51 times, over 70 games.
As for Andujar, he’s a player we covered at multiple points in 2026. He’s one of those sleeper prospects in the Red Sox system. Andujar batted over .400 in a brief stint in the FCL, before he racked up 22 extra-base hits in 63 games as a teenager with Salem.
Groundball machines
Lastly, let’s take a look at the pitchers who kept the ball on the ground at the highest clip:
The aforementioned Bello is on this list. So is Braves prospect Davis Polo, who had a nice breakout season for the club this year.
Check out more of our Minors coverage.