Dax Kilby is one of the many shortstops in the New York Yankees‘ system, and he’ll start the 2026 season painfully close to top-100 status from The Athletic MLB prospect reporter Keith Law.
Kilby was left off Law’s top-100 prospects list, landing as the No. 101 overall prospect on the highly thought-of prospect reporter’s list.
Kilby, still just 19, was the Yankees’ first-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of high school. He played only 18 games with Tampa of the Florida State League and slashed .353/.457/.441 in 81 plate appearances.
Still, Kilby is one of two Yankees shortstops to achieve near-top-100 status, since George Lombard Jr. also has been highly touted on prospect list. He landed No. 20 on ESPN’s list and was No. 24 on Law’s list.
Law unveiled the list of 12 prospects who fell just short of his top-100 on Wednesday. Kilby was the lone Yankees player on it but was one of three — along with Lombard and pitcher Carlos Lagrange — to land on the top-101.
‘No Player Boosted His Standing Since Turning Pro More Than Dax Kilby’
Though Yankees fans could take issue with Law leaving Kilby out of the top-100, The Athletic reporter had high praise for the Newnan, Georgia-born teenager.
“No player from the most recent draft boosted his standing in the industry since turning pro more than Kilby,” Law wrote. “The Georgia high school shortstop went to Low A for 18 games and hit .353/.457/.441 in his pro debut, walking more than he struck out. That’s high school to full-season ball in about 90 days, going from metal bats to wood, Georgia prep pitchers to professionals, and Kilby didn’t miss a beat.”
Kilby did not homer in Low A and posted four extra-base hits for Tampa last season. But as he matures and gets stronger, Law believes more power will come, and his strike-zone awareness will make him a good-to-above-average hitter in the majors, whenever he gets there.
“His swing is short and direct, and it looks like he has a lot more present power than it appeared (to me, at least) before the draft,” Law wrote. “He made extremely hard contact, too, averaging 91.9 mph and peaking at 108.9, while his chase rate of 11.1 percent was … well, Juan Soto had the lowest chase rate in the majors last year, and his was 18.1 percent.
“Kilby saw 106 pitches that were well out of the zone, meaning they were more than one baseball width away from the strike zone, and swung at seven.”
Dax Kilby Projects To Be A Second Baseman For The Yankees
Lombard is already blocked, for now, by 2023 AL Gold Glove winner Anthony Volpe, who is still two months from his 25th birthday. So Kilby is clearly behind them both as well.
Fortunately, Kilby projects as a second baseman, at least according to Law, due to his subpar shortstop arm.
“He’s a fringe-average runner and his arm probably moves him off shortstop regardless, with second base the obvious spot for him,” Law wrote.
But at 6-2 and 190 pounds, Kilby has a major-league frame to play anywhere, particularly if he continues to hit and see the ball the way he did in Tampa.
“If this small pro sample is any indication, he can play any position he likes and still be an above-average big leaguer,” Law wrote.
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