Four Darkhorse Prospects with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes

Written By Cade Lalim

Angels Prospects

May 4, 2026 - Written by Cade Lalim

From year to year the Angels are constantly labeled to have one of the worst farm systems in all of baseball. While they definitely don’t have the best group of prospects, they have some guys who deserve a little more attention from how they’ve been playing.

Baseball America currently has their farm system ranked 28th in all of MLB. They haven't been ranked higher than 25th dating back to the 2022 season. Keep in mind that Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto both spent less than a year in the minors after being drafted. Schanuel has been a solid everyday first baseman for the Angels, while Neto is turning into an All Star caliber shortstop.

The Angels currently have a ton of good-young talent sizzling in the lower levels of their organization. Seven of their Angels top-30 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, are currently playing at the rookie levels between the Dominican Summer League and the Arizona Complex League. This group includes guys like Johnny Slawinski, Joswa Lugo, and top international signee Jeyson Horton.

The current rotation with the High-A Tri City Dust Devils is gross. It consists of Tyler Bremner, Chase Shores, Chris Cortez, Nate Snead, and Peyton Olejnik. Those are all really talented arms that have a good shot of making an impact at the major league level in their future. Bremner, the Angels first round draft selection and number two overall pick from last year is currently sporting a 1.08 ERA with 25 strikeouts across 16.2 innings.

Leaning in on what we are focusing on today, are a couple of underrated prospects who are quietly having good starts with the Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. I’m gonna focus on guys who aren’t getting as much attention as guys like Lucas Ramirez, Dylan Jordan, Gabriel Davalillo, and Trey Gregory-Alford.

I selected four prospects from the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in which people should be paying more attention to. These guys might not be ranked at all, or aren't the top prospects in the system, but they have talent worth looking into. Their is a couple other candidates, but I picked what I thought were the best four.

Anyelo Marquez (SS)

‍ ‍Anyelo Marquez has definitely had the most surprising start to the 2026 campaign. He’s only 20 years old and this is already his fourth affiliated season within the Angels organization. Marquez spent his first two years with the DSL Angels before spending all of 2025 in the Arizona Complex League.

So far in his first 26 games with the Quakes, Marquez is slashing .304/.385/.598 with 14 extra-base hits including six home runs. He’s been showing off the power early to go along with an excellent .293 isolated power mark. Marquez has an impressive .400 average on balls in play and a 140 wRC+.

With power comes strikeouts. Even though Marquez is showing pop in his bat, he’s striking out at a poor 29.5% clip. At-least he’s still drawing walks at an average 8.6% rate. His strikeouts have been an issue ever since he came stateside last year. He actually had above average strikeout rates in the DSL, but that’s seen a significant jump in the complex league and now with the Quakes.

He’s not currently viewed as a top-30 prospect by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America but that could be changing soon. Marquez is showing that he can hit but he has to work on cutting his strikeouts down to where they used to be in the DSL.

Marlon Quintero (C)

‍ ‍Marlon Quintero is one of the, if not the best defensive catcher in the Angels system. He’s 19 years old and features elite arm strength, leading to throwing out an impressive 42% of base stealers in his three minor league seasons. Last year he threw out 51 of 104 stolen base attempts, good for an insane 49% rate. He’s cooled down a bit this year only throwing out 16% over 38 attempts.

It’s intriguing to see a good defensive catcher within the organization with the current defensive struggles at the major leagues. Juan Flores is very similar defensively, but his bat is currently at a much better place.

Quintero’s offensive ability is what’s weighing down his prospect status. He’s actually been able to hit for a solid .276 batting average, but has minimal power. Quintero has only accumulated 19 extra-base hits over 98 minor league games.

He’s only struck out at a 15.1% clip thus far in his pro career, but draws walks only 5.7% of the time. His walk rate has been lower than 3% since coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic.

Quintero is a defensive first catcher who has the potential to be a backup catcher at the major league level, but definitely still has time to clean up his offensive profile. He’s included on both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s top 30 lists.

Hayden Alvarez (OF)

‍ ‍Hayden Alvarez is a prospect in the Angels system who’s been gaining a lot of attention as of late. He’s 19 years old and is coming off a breakout season last year between rookie ball and Single-A. He’s a contact first hitter with above average speed and defense, but definitely has the ability to get his power game going.

Across his age 17 and 18 seasons between rookie ball and Single-A, Alvarez only hit three home runs but showed to hit for contact while drawing a good amount of walks. Last year while spending time with the ACL Angels and Inland Empire 66ers, he hit for a combined .340 average with a .865 OPS. He walked at an excellent 13.8% rate while only striking out 16.5% of the time.

While his bat to ball skills are clearly there with good vision at the plate, there is potential for him to develop some more power in his bat. One month into the 2026 season, Alvarez already has three home runs which ties his total from his first two seasons. He’s already tapping into his power potential hence his .139 isolated power this year. Even though that’s an average mark, it’s still an improvement from where he sat .090 last year and .108 in the Dominican Summer League.

He’ll have to find a happy-medium on how to hit for more power while maintaining his excellent bat to ball skills and plate discipline. Even though he's improved with hitting for power, his walk rate has dropped to 10.6% (still good) and his strikeouts have climbed to 23%; both being the worst marks of his career. His batting average has also seen a drop along with his xWOBA.

Alvarez stands 6’3” while only weighing 190 pounds, signaling that there is room to add muscle to his frame. He’s currently the Angels 11th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline and projects to be an everyday outfielder at the major-league level if he can keep developing.

Talon Haley (LHP)

‍ ‍Talon Haley is the newest prospect to the Angels organization out of the four prospects mentioned and has a great success story. He underwent Tommy John surgery before beginning high school, and later overcame cancer. He was drafted last year in the twelfth round out of Lewisburg High School.

He’s a prep left-hander with solid stuff across the board. Haley features a four pitch mix consisting of a fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. His fastball generally sits between 91-94 mph but has touched 97. Haley’s curveball is considered hit best pitch and averages upper 70’s in velocity. Both his slider and changeup sit in the low 80’s.

This year is Haley’s first pro season within the Angels organization. He’s appeared in five games thus far in Single-A, four of those being starts. He’s pitched to a 5.94 ERA and 1.44, but has struck out an impressive 12.96 batters per nine. While he’s been racking up the strikeouts, Haley has issued a good amount of walks resulting in a below average 4.32 BB/9 ratio.

Batters have had success against him when balls are put in play. Opponents are hitting .250 against Haley to go along with a .366 BABIP. Only one hit has left the yard which is good to see.

Haley might have some of the highest upside of any pitcher in the Angels farm system. He is viewed highly by both MLB Pipeline (13) and Baseball America (11) as one of the best pitching prospects the Angels have. He has the ability to be a middle-to-back end rotation arm at the major league level if he can stay healthy.

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Cade Lalim
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Angels Top 15 Prospects