3 Dodgers prospects who should be traded at 2026 deadline, 2 who should be untouchable

In Jonathan Mayo's annual MLB Pipeline executive poll, industry officials named the Dodgers the best at developing both hitters and pitchers — and it isn't close. Six of their top 10 prospects are outfielders. The system is so deep that rivals don't just envy it; they resent it.

That depth is only valuable when you know what to do with it. The Dodgers are two-time defending champions with a third in clear view, a rotation that is managing injuries, and a front office that has never hesitated to push its chips to the middle of the table when the moment demands it. The question ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline isn't whether they should be buyers — it's which assets they utilize as trade pieces and which ones they ensure they hold onto.

2 Dodgers prospects who should be untouchable at the 2026 trade deadline

Josué De Paula, OF

For the past few years when we talk about elite Dodger prospects, one of the most common denominator's has always been De Paula. He's 21, 6-foot-3 with a frame still growing into its power, and drawing Yordan Álvarez comparisons from evaluators. That's a specific comp — rooted in the same left-handed power projection, the same big body making contact at every level, the same sense that the best is still years away. He posted a 132 wRC+ with 12 homers and 32 stolen bases at High-A last year, won MVP of the 2025 All-Star Futures Game, and is now at Double-A doing all the same things. He's ranked top-15 to top-21 across every major national outlet, and rightfully so.

You don't trade Yordan Álvarez at 21, you keep that asset until he's wearing Dodger blue.

Emil Morales, SS

Morales is the only shortstop among the Dodgers' top 10 prospects. At 19 he's already at High-A, is a career .307/.398/.942 hitter in leagues where has always been one of the youngest, and possesses a ceiling of a young Alex Rodriguez. His one flaw is real, however. His swing-and-miss on off-speed pitches is glaring, but it's the standard developmental question for any teenager as the levels increase. He may shift to third base as his 6-foot-3 frame continues to fill out, and in that scenario we can see him comparable to Junior Caminero. A 25-30 homer right-handed bat at third base is a franchise piece, and if he can stick at shortstop then he might be a cornerstone.

The Dodgers have six outfield prospects in their top 10. They have one Emil Morales — the youngest player in this entire conversation and the only one at a premium positional scarcity. That combination should make him untouchable, at least for another year.

3 Dodgers prospects who should be traded at 2026 deadline

James Tibbs III, OF

The timing here is almost too perfect. Tibbs came to the Dodgers from Boston in the Dustin May trade last year (after the Rafael Devers trade with the Giants in June), and he's spent much of his prospect career carrying legitimate questions — evaluators were mixed on the hit tool, uncertain whether the power would develop. None of that matters right now.

In 2026 he's mashing: 20 homers, and 148 wRC+ in 70+ games at Triple-A Oklahoma City, good for one of the best lines in the upper minors this year. He's 24, and he has nowhere to go — Tucker, Pages and Teoscar own the big-league outfield. Tibbs is blocked, his value is at its all-time high, and a rebuilding team would give up real major-league pieces for him right now. The Dodgers should convert before the market catches up to his age and any of the shine fades.

Mike Sirota, OF

This is the deadline leverage play front offices dream about. Sirota was hitting .333/.452/.616 across two A-ball levels last year when a right knee injury in July ended his season. That kind of injury on a player whose value depends on plus speed and center-field defense follows him through evaluations. The risk is real, and any acquiring team absorbs it.

But in 2026 he has come back fully. A 1.080 OPS in 35 games at High-A, a promotion to Double-A Tulsa where his numbers eerily mirror High-A, and a 60-plus game on-base streak. The bounce-back is real and the market is buying it. The Dodgers have full access to his medical picture and the long-term risk of that knee. They can sell the comeback narrative at its most compelling, with a system deep enough behind him that his absence doesn't create a hole.

River Ryan, RHP

The outfield surplus is the primary instrument in any package the Dodgers build. But there are scenarios where it may make sense to move some other pieces.

River Ryan is at Triple-A Oklahoma City, and his story is unlike anyone else in this system. The Padres drafted him in 2021 as a position player — a shortstop at Division II UNC Pembroke who hit .343/.417/.509 while also going 7-1 on the mound. He chose to hit in his pro debut. The Dodgers saw the athlete and the arm, acquired him for Matt Beaty, and converted him full-time to pitching. What followed was a development arc as fast as any in the minor leagues: a fastball that climbed to 95-98 and touches 100, a plus slider, a cutter, a curveball, a changeup — five pitches built in three years by a player who was taking at-bats two seasons prior.

His MLB debut in July 2024 was everything the Dodgers believed: 1.33 ERA across four starts, 18 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings, the kind of showing that makes a front office believe it has something real. Then came Tommy John surgery in August, and all of 2025 was lost. The good news is that he came back this spring 30 pounds heavier and has 43 Ks in 36 1/3 innings at Triple-A.

That's the sell-high moment. Twenty dominant MLB innings, solid Triple-A numbers post-Tommy John, a five-pitch mix with a 70-grade fastball. The rotation in Los Angeles is already stacked with Yamamoto, Ohtani, Glasnow, Sheehan, Sasaki, Snell and Wrobleski that leaves Ryan no clear path to a starting role. His value right now, on the strength of those 20 innings and this comeback, may be as high as it ever gets. If attaching Ryan to an outfield-heavy package brings back a piece like Tarik Skubal — a back-to-back Cy Young winner in his prime — that's the calculation that changes everything.

Going All In

In my opinion, you protect De Paula. You protect Morales. Deal Tibbs at his peak, Sirota while the comeback is hot, and River Ryan's 20-inning audition and his Triple-A resurrection while they are the most compelling sell-high stories in the system.

Two-time champions don't stay champions by sitting on their assets. They know when to hold, when to deal, and when to get more aggressive than their competitors.

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