MLB Pipeline’s top prospect prediction is forgetting about surging Reds star

In a recent column for MLB Pipeline, Sam Dykstra and Jonathan Mayo made their predictions as to who would be each club's top prospect at the start of the 2026 season. Their selection for of pitcher Chase Burns for the Cincinnati Reds was not all that surprising, considering he was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

With no disrespect whatsoever to Burns, the flame-throwing righty out of Wake Forest, the Reds have assigned him to the Arizona Complex League, where he has yet to pitch in a pro game. While the Reds fast-tracked his predecessor, Rhett Lowder – the Wake Forest pitcher they took in the first round of the 2023 Draft – to the majors just last week, it's more realistic to expect even top pitching prospects to marinate in the minor leagues for at least two or three seasons before heading to the Show.

Burns currently sits at the top of the Cincinnati farm system rankings, and he very well may still be there in 2026. He is the Reds' shiny new toy, but he is still relatively unproven, and there is another prospect who may be more deserving of the top spot in a couple years if he continues to produce at his current pace.

MLB Pipeline’s top prospect prediction snubs surging Reds star Cam Collier

Cam Collier, the Reds' No. 5 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was Cincinnati's first-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft at No. 18 overall. He represented the Reds alongside Lowder at the MLB Futures Game in July and homered off Los Angeles Angels top prospect Caden Dana en route to earning MVP honors for the National League.

Collier is currently playing for High-A Dayton, where he has been on a tear for the last six weeks. In 30 games since July 25, he’s hit .344/.492/.667 with 28 walks, eight doubles, a triple and seven home runs – including a three-homer game against Cedar Rapids on Aug. 23.

On the season, Collier is slashing .253/.356/.453 with 20 home runs and 74 RBI for Dayton. His dominant season has led him to crack MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects for the first time in his career at No. 100, where he joins fellow Reds prospects Burns (No. 23), Lowder (No. 34), Edwin Arroyo (No. 69) and Sal Stewart (No. 81).

Oh, and Collier's only 19 years old. If he continues his upward trajectory, imagine where he could be when he's 21 (the age he'll be at the start of the 2026 season, and the age Burns is now). If the 2024 campaign is any indication, Collier could very well supplant Burns at the top of the Reds' prospect rankings in 2026.

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