Our next Minor League stats overview focuses on the 2026 Florida State League season. It was a very big year for some notables in the circuit, while others had a very mixed bag.
The traditional numbers
Much like in the California League this season, a new home run record was set in the Florida State League.
Marlins infielder prospect Echedry Vargas hit 27 home runs for Jupiter, five more than Tigers outfield prospect Zach MacDonald for most in the league. Additionally, Vargas led the FSL in total hits (121). Vargas had a strong overall year after being demoted from High-A, where he did play in 2025.
It was the first time overall that a player in the FSL attained that many home runs since the league moved to Low-A classification. The last player to eclipse that mark in FSL history was in 2018, when then-Tigers prospect Ibandel Isabel hit 35 for High-A Lakeland.
Moving to other numbers, Cardinals prospect Ryan Mitchell walked 100 times this past season to lead the FSL. Marlins outfield prospect Andres Valor stole a league-high 58 bases for Jupiter.
As for pitchers, 11 had 100 or more strikeouts. Marlins prospect Dameivi Tineo led the FSL in total strikeouts (128), with Yankees pitching prospect Justin West following him with 121.
Whiff rates
Let’s move to swing-and-miss rates, shall we? We’ll start with the pitchers who had the highest Whiff% in the FSL this past year:
Elier Morillo was one of those pitchers who hit triple digits in strikeouts. Morillo, who struck out 106 over 58 innings, had the highest Whiff% in the league at 43.4%. The 21-year-old left-hander walked 53 batters, though.
The big name on this list was Henry Lalane, now of the Giants organization. The tall left-hander and native of The Bronx had a monstrous campaign with Tampa before he was promoted, as he struck out 81 over 62.1 IP with the Tarpons. You’ll see Lalane again in this overview.
Now, a look at the pitchers with the lowest swing-and-miss rates:
The Pirates placed three on this list, while the Reds had two. One of the Reds’ pitchers was Jake Brink, an 11th-round pick from the 2025 MLB Draft.
Now, let’s switch to the hitters with the lowest swing-and-miss rates in the FSL:
For anyone who followed college baseball closely in 2024 and 2025, Dylan Palmer being on this list shouldn’t be a shock. Palmer, who played for ex-Major League Frank Catalanotto at Hofstra, was one of the top contact hitters in DI during his collegiate career.
Palmer slashed .272/.362/.344 with Bradenton before he was promoted to High-A Greensboro. He was one of two Marauders on this list, alongside Edgleen Perez. Perez was acquired in 2025 from the Yankees as part of the David Bednar deal.
The top two players on this list are now both Blue Jays prospects. Ryan Sprock had a tidy 2026 campaign in Low-A and was acquired by Toronto for Tommy Nance in July. Dameury Pena, meanwhile, was one of the players sent to the Blue Jays by the Twins for reliever Jeff Hoffman at the deadline.
Jordan Yost, one of the Tigers’ first-round picks, is also here.
Lastly, a look at the FSL hitters that had the highest swing-and-miss rates:
Quentin Young had an interesting season. A second-round pick by the Twins from 2025 and a bloodline player, Young has a lot of power. You’ll see more on that later on. But Young also has a lot of swing-and-miss in his game. This past year, he struck out an FSL-high 197 times. Additionally, he easily had the highest Whiff% on sliders/sweepers:
Most patient hitters
Because there are publicly available batted-ball and strike-zone related metrics for the FSL, we’re going to do things a tiny bit differently for the next two sections. However, we will start with swing tendencies, specifically players with the highest Take%:
Carson Tinney, a second-round pick by the Twins in 2026, walked a lot at Notre Dame & Texas. And you can see why based on his tendency to take pitches and work counts. What will be interesting to watch is the swing-and-miss rate. It was high in college, and he struck out a good number of times at university.
Ryan Mitchell, who we mentioned previously, was right behind Tinney. Mitchell’s high Take% is even more impressive, given how much more he played in the FSL this season compared to Tinney.
Another notable here is Yankees prospect Dax Kilby, the club’s first-round pick from 2025.
Now, a look at the hitters with the lowest Take%:
Echedry Vargas, the FSL home run king, is on this list. Ahead of him is now-former Mets prospect Simon Juan. Juan hit just .215 in 79 games before the Mets released him in August.
Before we move on, let’s take a look at chase rates to give you a better idea of aggressiveness:
To our little shock, many of the hitters who had low take rates also expanded out of the zone a lot. But one interesting name on this list is Juan Sanchez, a Blue Jays prospect who had a lot of helium but didn’t hit much in the FSL this year. Sanchez was pushed hard, as Toronto had him skip the FCL and go straight to full-season ball.
And as one would expect, Ryan Mitchell also had the lowest Chase% among FSL hitters.
Batted-ball metrics
Let’s get into power. Here are the hitters who had the highest Barrel% in the Florida State League this season:
The top power hitters in the FSL, including Quentin Young, Jackson Lovich, and Beau Ankeney, are up on this list.
Now, a look at the hitters who had the lowest Barrel%:
Yost only had four home runs this year, so it’s not a shock to see him on this list. It’s also not a shock on the account that he put the ball in play a lot, too.
Back to Sanchez, the 19-year-old slashed .213/.296/.342 with seven home runs and 31 extra-base hits for Dunedin. It was not a great year, at least considering he posted an OPS north of 1.000 in the DSL one year earlier.
The pull-heavy hitters
Get very familiar with Elian Pena. Pena had 99 total hits with St. Lucie and slashed .274/.388/.397 as an 18-year-old in Low-A. Those were extremely impressive numbers for a player who skipped over the FCL.
Pitchers expanding the zone
Lastly, we’ll go over the pitchers who induced the highest percentage of Chase% in the FSL:
Cardinals prospect Brian Holiday leads the way here. Other notables include Henry Lalane and Twins pitcher Justin Mitrovich.
Check out more of our Minors coverage.