The Arizona Diamondbacks’ No. 1 prospect, outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt, is reportedly set to make his return to the big leagues.
Waldschmidt, MLB Pipeline‘s No. 28 overall prospect for 2026, is expected to be recalled by the Diamondbacks on Friday, according to MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. Arizona will reportedly designate first baseman Pavin Smith for assignment to make room for the 23-year-old on the active roster. Smith had a .141 batting average (11-for-78) with one home run in 28 games for the Diamondbacks this year.
Arizona called Waldschmidt up for his MLB debut earlier this year, but he was sent back down to Triple-A after just over a month. Now, however, it seems like the Diamondbacks are once again giving the 2024 first-round draft pick the chance to earn regular playing time in the big leagues.
In his first 33 games with the Diamondbacks, Waldschmidt posted a .259 batting average, a .314 on-base percentage, and a .671 OPS with no homers, eight RBIs, and five stolen bases. This year in Triple-A, though, the 23-year-old has a .288 batting average, a .405 on-base percentage, and an .897 OPS with six home runs, 29 RBIs, and six stolen bases in 51 games.
In his first full season as a pro last year, Waldschmidt hit .289 with 18 homers, 78 RBIs, and 29 stolen bases in 134 games across two minor league levels. So, even though he’s yet to launch a long ball in the big leagues, the power potential is undoubtedly there. And once the top prospect gets his first MLB homer out of the way, that could open the floodgates to more success at the plate in the majors.
It’s unclear at this time how exactly the Diamondbacks plan to use Waldschmidt during his second stint in the big leagues. From an outside perspective, though, Arizona probably wouldn’t recall the former first-round pick if he was only going to play sparingly. If the righty-swinging outfielder is in the Diamondbacks’ starting lineup on Friday, he’ll get to face off against Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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