Mark Timmons TOP 30 Dodger Prospects

Today is an off day, so I thought it might be a good time to look at the Dodgers Farm System and, in particular, the Top 30 Dodger Prospects, before the Dodgers start the three-game series with the Friars.

Jeff Dominique is the unquestioned Minor League Genius, and I am sure he will have a list like this too, but here is mine, and I have to confess that I used a lot of AI on it. When he posts his... we can see how we compare. If I did all the necessary research without AI, it would have taken days. This took a few hours. AI is a great tool, but it also has a danger. Are we teaching kids how not to think for themselves? It's like any tool, you have to use it properly... but I digress!

Baseball America and MLB Pipeline are the two top prospect ranking sites on the web. I thought it would be interesting to compare their rankings. Here is the latest apples-to-apples look I can assemble as of September 20, 2026. Baseball America’s final in-season Dodgers Top 30 was updated after the Draft/Trade Deadline in August; MLB Pipeline also did its full post-deadline re-rank, with its current list subsequently indexed in September. Some of the stats are slightly off (as of today) because I have been working on this for a while.

Dodgers Top 30: Baseball America vs. MLB Pipeline

The Baseball America ordering above matches its August post-deadline list as reproduced immediately after BA released it, including Quintero at No. 2, Zazueta at No. 4, Root at No. 6, George at No. 9 and Tibbs at No. 11. BA’s own subsequent coverage confirms that De Paula, Quintero, Sirota, Zazueta and Morales headline the system and that the August list was its final in-season Top 30 update.

Where they really disagree

The top is remarkably similar. Both have De Paula No. 1, both have Sirota/Quintero immediately behind him, and both view Morales, Zazueta, Davalan and Root as premium prospects. Baseball America currently has seven Dodgers in its overall Top 100: De Paula No. 4, Quintero No. 16, Sirota No. 19, Zazueta No. 24, Morales No. 29, Root No. 67 and Davalan No. 89.

The fun starts farther down the board. The biggest differences among players by rank are Adam Serwinowski: Pipeline #14 vs. BA #27, and Aidan West: BA #16 vs. Pipeline #28. Pipeline is also substantially higher on James Tibbs III (#7 vs. #11), while BA is higher on Jacob Kmatz (#19 vs. #25) and Nico Perez (#18 vs. #23). Pipeline’s current list places Serwinowski at No. 14.

And there are six players on each list that the other outlet leaves out entirely:

That divergence at Nos. 18-30 tells you something about just how deep this system is. BA itself recently gave the Dodgers' 2026 farm performance an A, citing position-player depth and the development of De Paula, Quintero, Sirota, Zazueta, Morales, Tibbs, and Ehrhard.

I used the latest 2026 in-season lists. Baseball America’s August update was its final major Top 30 update of the season, while MLB Pipeline’s list was refreshed after the Trade Deadline.

For the composite, I simply average the two rankings. If a player is NR on one list, I use 31 for the calculation. That gives us one big 36-player board without pretending NR means the player is actually 31st. I thyought it would be fun to do it this way...

Just outside the consensus Top 30

What jumps out to me

De Paula is the undisputed king of the hill. Both services have him No. 1, and MLB Pipeline had him No. 6 overall in baseball when its August rankings were released.

The Dodgers then have an extraordinary six-man upper tier: De Paula, Quintero, Sirota, Zazueta, Morales and Davalan, with Root right behind them. Baseball America had seven Dodgers in its overall Top 100 in August: De Paula, Quintero, Sirota, Zazueta, Morales, Root and Davalan.

The two most interesting arguments are Adam Serwinowski and Aidan West. Pipeline is dramatically higher on Serwinowski, #14 versus BA's #27, while Baseball America is dramatically higher on West, #16 versus Pipeline's #28. Pipeline's current prospect data confirms Serwinowski at No. 14 and West at No. 28.

And James Tibbs III is sneaking into very interesting territory. Pipeline has him #7, BA #11, which makes him #9 on the consensus board. Given what he has done offensively in 2026, I think he is one of the names worth taking a much closer look at.

Here’s the Mark Timmons' LADodgerTalk Top 30 right now, as of September 20, 2026.

I’m weighting it roughly 35% long-term ceiling/scouting, 25% 2026 performance, 20% age relative to level, 10% positional value and 10% proximity/risk. This is deliberately not just an average of Baseball America and MLB Pipeline.

The top of this system is ridiculous. MLB Pipeline currently has De Paula, Sirota, Quintero, Morales, and Zazueta all among its top 36 prospects in baseball, while Baseball America has seven Dodgers in its Top 100.

Where I depart from the services

Jaron Elkins at #11 is my biggest statement. I don't think #18 adequately reflects his 2026 breakout. The official prospect data showed him hitting .336/.427/.541 with a .968 OPS, 13 HR, six triples and 38 steals across two levels at age 21, while playing center field. Pipeline itself called him the biggest riser in the entire Dodgers system. That's a prospect, not a statistical mirage I would bury in the high teens.

James Tibbs is #7 and knocking on the door of #6. The reason is simple: he has now reached 30 home runs at Triple-A, and earlier official data had him at .304/.422/.566 with a .988 OPS. At 23, he's essentially standing outside Dodger Stadium rattling the doorknob. His corner-only defensive profile keeps me from putting him with the elite five-tool guys.

Ferris is back up to #13 for me. His season numbers were ugly enough to justify the rankings drop, but what he's doing now changes the equation. On September 16, he retired the first 19 hitters and threw 7⅔ innings of one-hit ball with 13 strikeouts, while his fastball velocity had climbed back into the mid-90s. That's much more like the Jackson Ferris who once looked like a future mid-rotation or better starter.

Kmatz jumps to #17. His prospect line showed 84 strikeouts against only 11 walks in 60⅔ innings, a 2.52 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. Pipeline grades his slider as a 70. Even accounting for relief work, those numbers are screaming for attention.

Serwinowski drops to #20. The arm talent is why Pipeline can put him at #14, but production matters to me. He had 61 walks in 109⅔ innings with a 5.33 ERA and 1.45 WHIP, and Baseball America specifically listed him among the Dodgers' 2026 disappointments. The ceiling remains considerable, but the probability of reaching it has to enter the equation.

The three I have a hard time separating

Quintero vs. Sirota is almost a coin flip. Sirota's 2026 performance has been spectacular, including roughly a .315/.468/.551 line in the official prospect data, and he just reached Triple-A after moving through three levels this season.

I still put Quintero #2 because he's three years younger, is a legitimate center fielder, and posted roughly .310/.444/.493 with 42 steals at age 20 before reaching Double-A. The combination of age, athleticism, defense, plate discipline, and developing power gives him the slightly higher ceiling in my book.

And Morales vs. Zazueta is another beauty. Morales produced 24 HR and a .932 OPS at age 19, while Zazueta finished with a 3.65 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 103⅔ innings, reaching Double-A at 21. Zazueta allowed no more than two runs in 14 of his final 16 starts.

Six guys who just miss

My next group would be Sterling Patick, Marlon Nieves, Ryan Ward (I'm sure he's gone next year), Easton Shelton, Patrick Copen and Brendan Tunink. In particular, I'm much lower on Ward than Pipeline's #20 because he's already 28 years old. A .833 minor-league OPS at that age doesn't carry remotely the same prospect weight as Elkins doing what he's doing at 21.

One final caveat: De Paula is now a Major Leaguer. The Dodgers called him up September 11, so once he exhausts rookie eligibility, this entire list slides upward and Quintero becomes my No. 1 Dodgers prospect.

My favorite sleeper on the whole board? Jaron Elkins. He has the ingredients that often produce a sudden leap onto national Top 100 lists: center-field defense, speed, power, on-base ability and performance at an appropriate age. He'd be the guy I'd circle in red ink heading into 2027.

All-Time Favorite Movies

I was too busy to comment yesterday, but the discussion about movies and actors was very interesting. Of course, it is all subjective. I admit that I liked John Wayne's character, but it was almost always the same. I have seen parts of all his movies, but never watched one from beginning to end. That's just me. I do have some favorite movies, and my wife loves, loves, loves good movies.

My favorites:

1. The Shawshank Redemption

2. The Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis)

3. Legends of the Fall

4. The Mule

5. (Tie) Tombstone, 3:10 to Yuma (2007), The Quick and the Dead, Bone Tomahawk, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

OKC Comets 2 – El Paso Chihuahuas (San Diego) 1 

In a “Do we really have to play this game” game, OKC pulled out a 2-1 victory.  OKC won 18 of their last 21 games and appear ready to go into the playoffs.  

DH Zach Ehrhard drew a leadoff BB and moved to 3rd on a single from CF Alek Thomas.  Ehrhard scored groundout hit by 3B Ryan Fitzgerald.   

RHSP Ryder Ryan pitched a scoreless 1st.  In the 2nd, he gave up a single to open the inning.  The runner moved to 2nd on a groundout and scored on a game-tying single. 

Ryan pitched to the minimum over the next two innings.  RHRP Bobby Miller relieved Ryan in the 5th.  He pitched a scoreless 5th with a BB and 2 K.  Miller got the first two outs in the 6th but gave up a single.  LHRP Ronan Kopp relieved Miller and got the 3rd out.  

The score remained 1-1 into the OKC 8th inning.  Ehrhard hit a one out double, his 30th double of the season.  Ehrhard scored his 2nd run when Thomas hit the go-ahead triple (5). 

LHRP Garrett McDaniels, RHRP Jonathan Hernández, and RHRP Jerming Rosario pitched the final three innings on no runs, no hits, 2 BB, and 2 K.  Rosario got his 4th save.  

·      Alek Thomas - 2-4, 1 RBI, triple (5)

·      Zach Ehrhard – 1-3, 1 BB, 2 runs, double (30) 

Next game, Tuesday in Las Vegas vs the Aviators (A’s) at 7:05 PM.  Will RHSP Christian Zazueta join them in the desert?  Just me spit balling.   And maybe a little hoping.  

Looking forward to this: 

Box Score