With the Minor League Baseball season now fully underway for all the full-season affiliates, now is as good of a time as any to take a look at where some of the prominent alums of the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series will be beginning their 2026 campaigns.
Robby Snelling (pictured); LHP, Miami Marlins
FSS History: Snelling won a National Championship on a stacked NorCal team in 2021 that also included future top Athletics prospect Henry Bolte, but he’d been seen multiple other times prior to that, dating all the way back to an FSS combine in 2017.
2026 Outlook: Snelling begins his 2026 season at Triple-A Jacksonville, and figures to see the big leagues sooner rather than later. Taken 39th overall by the San Diego Padres in the 2022 MLB Draft and signed for a $3 million bonus to get him out of a commitment to LSU, the 22-year-old southpaw has since emerged as one of the best left-handed pitching prospects in all of baseball, albeit in a different organization than the one he started with. In 2024, the Padres traded Snelling, Graham Pauley, Adam Mazur, and Jay Beshears to the Marlins in exchange for Bryan Hoeing and Tanner Scott. Last year, his first full season in Miami’s organization, he put up a dazzling year, going 9-7 with a 2.51 ERA in 25 starts over two levels while striking out a whopping 166 batters in 136 innings of work.
So far this year, Snelling has made two starts, striking out ten batters in eight frames while holding the opposition to a .172 batting average against.
Jonah Tong; RHP, New York Mets
FSS History: We saw Tong at a Baseball Ontario Scout Day in 2021 — we’ll be back in Canada for a nearly week-long stay in May this year as well — where he was up to 91 miles per hour a year before he ended up going in the seventh round to the New York Mets out of Georgia Premier Academy.
2026 Outlook: Tong, who made his big league debut last year over five starts with the Mets, is coming off one of the most impressive MiLB seasons in recent memory, and is beginning this year in Triple-A Syracuse. Still a universal Top-100 prospect in the game, Tong posted a 10-5 record and unreal 1.43 ERA over 22 starts between mostly Double-A and Triple-A last year, with 179 strikeouts compared to just 47 walks over 113 2/3 innings of work. He also figures to factor into the Mets big-league pitching plans at some point this year, where he’d once again be reunited with fellow FSS alum Nolan McLean, who has graduated from prospect status.
Braden Montgomery; OF, Chicago White Sox
FSS History: Montgomery’s 2020 was filled with FSS appearances, culminating with a big few days at our International Week event at Fenway Park. A two-way player at the time who earned one of the starts on the mound, the future ultimately ended up at the plate for Montgomery, who attended a Pro Combine, the National Tournaments and our National Combine before going on to collegiate stardom at Texas A&M.
2026 Outlook: Another consensus Top-100 prospect in all of baseball who didn’t get to stay long with the organization that drafted him, the talented outfielder ended up going at No. 12 overall to the Boston Red Sox in 2024, but ultimately never played a game in their organization. Instead, he was dealt to the Chicago White Sox in December of that year along with Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth, and Wikelman González in exchange for Garrett Crochet. Starting his 2026 campaign at Double-A Birmingham, it’s been a impressive beginning to his year with a homer, four RBI and a stolen base thus far. At 22 years old, there would seem to be an outside shot he touches the big leagues by the end of the year, with a promotion to Triple-A Charlotte already on the radar.
Cooper Pratt; INF, Milwaukee Brewers
FSS History: Pratt’s time with the Future Stars Series has been well-documented by now, but certainly ramped up significantly in what turned out to be a huge 2022 for him; he was seen at a Regional Combine in May, played at the National Combine a month later and then went on to hit home run at the Main Event in Hartford that helped put his name on the map.
2026 Outlook: Drafted in the sixth round by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2023 — getting him out of an Ole Miss commitment that once seemed ironclad — Pratt recently signed a massive eight-year, $50.75 million extension with the team and was added to the 40-man roster afterwards. He’ll begin the year at Triple-A Nashville, where he’s already hitting .250 with an RBI and stolen base in his first four games of the his season. Just 21 years old, it would seem at minimum that he could be in line for a September call-up for his MLB debut.
Elmer Rodriguez; RHP, New York Yankees
FSS History: The artist formerly known as Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz popped for us at International Week in 2020, where he played in a big league stadium for the very first time, getting a few innings of successful work at Fenway Park.
2026 Outlook: Taken 105th overall by the Boston Red Sox a year later, that FSS appearance seemed like it might be a preview of things to come down the road. Instead, the Red Sox traded “ERC” to the New York Yankees prior to the start of the 2025 season in exchange for Carlos Narvaez. Rodriguez has opened his year in Triple-A Scranton, where he recently made his first start, allowing just one run over five innings of work.
Theo Gillen; OF, Tampa Bay Rays
FSS History: We saw Gillen multiple times, including the 2020 National Tournaments, 2020 Underclass Combine and a 2021 Regional Combine in Texas in February of that year. He ended up going to the Rays with the 18th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, but injuries have sidetracked him at times since.
2026 Outlook: After a year-plus at Low-A Charleston, Gillen has opened his season at High-A Bowling Green, and at just 20 years old, there’s certainly no reason to rush his development through the system. He’s already got an RBI and a stolen base through his first series of the year.
Michael Arroyo; INF, Seattle Mariners
FSS History: Arroyo was one of the true stars of our first ever World Combine back in the Bahamas in 2020, where he earned very high marks from our scouting staff and was identified right away as a legitimate pro prospect.
2026 Outlook: Already with quite a few games under his belt this year thanks to his strong showing with Colombia at the World Baseball Classic, the 21-year-old Arroyo has technically begun his 2026 season at Double-A Arkansas, where he’s already got a solo homer to his name in just three games.
About New Balance Future Stars Series
The New Balance Future Stars Series presented by Program 15 is a global platform for amateur baseball development and scouting, powered by a commitment to impact, integrity, and player-focused innovation. Its alumni can be found throughout professional baseball, and its events and partnerships have reshaped how talent is identified, nurtured, and celebrated.
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Since 2003, he has covered multiple World Series and has worked high-profile events ranging from the MLB All-Star Game to the World Baseball Classic. In addition to his role working for the Future Stars Series that he's held since 2017, Ashmore currently serves as the beat writer of the Double-A New York Yankees affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, as well as national hockey writer and New York Jets game day beat reporter for The Trentonian.
A regular contributor to Baseball America, Ashmore has worked eight Super Bowls, 12 Stanley Cup Finals, the 4 Nations Face-Off, the NBA Playoffs, College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Frozen Four, Daytona 500, major UFC events and much more as he approaches 3,300 games covered in his career.
An avid trading card enthusiast, he lives with his wife, Sarah, their son, future No. 1 overall draft pick in 2042, William, their beloved dog, Bailey, and occasionally well-behaved cat, Smokey.
