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The 2026 season has been a new experience for Arizona Diamondbacks No.
2 prospect and infielder Kayson Cunningham.
The 20-year-old, whom the Diamondbacks drafted 18th overall in 2025, is playing his first full season of professional baseball, and he's already made the jump from Low-A to High-A.
He'll serve as Arizona's representation in the 2026 All-Star Futures game in Philadelphia this season.
Pro ball is a challenging journey for high school prospects, who immediately face the longest season of their baseball lives by a wide margin.
You'd never know it, looking at Cunningham's pre-promotion .381/.471/.506 slash through 43 games in Visalia; that segment of the season alone is lengthier than any high school campaign he's faced.
"The toll [the long season] takes on your body recovery is huge," Cunningham said.
"Knowing that I [still] have 60 more to play, it's a little eye-opening, and just realizing how much I've got to take care of my body.
"Obviously, the competition's a little bit better [in High-A]," he said.
"Pitching's a little different, speed of the game.
At the end of the day, I think it's baseball.
..
It's the most baseball I've ever played.
But it's been a lot of fun, a lot of learning experience, a lot of new faces." That said, the jump from Visalia to Hillsboro offers Cunningham a challenge beyond the wear and tear of the season.
Diamondbacks' Kayson Cunningham adjusting to High-A The Northwest League tends to lean pitcher-friendly, and Cunningham, who is nearly three years younger than the average NWL hitter, is hitting just .212/.270/.318 in his first 17 High-A games.
"The league and the pitching is a little different than the California league.
Pitchers can locate spots a little better," he said.
"I think [the adjustments are] more internal than external.
I'm going to get with..
our hitting coach and kind of see what's been some things that I could work on, or some things minor I could maybe tweak and get that bat going a little bit." Still, Cunningham said he's seen "huge improvements" in his game recently parts of his game he said he's "never really even seen before." "I remember there was a swing I had in Everett, my [first High-A] home run, that I hit.
98 mile-an-hour sinker in.
I stuck to my approach and hit a missile over right center field.
I've never had a swing like that before.
"If you told me I hit a pull-side home run off a 98 mile-an-hour fastball probably two years ago, I would have been like, wow, that's crazy.
But now that I'm doing it, actually doing it in pro ball, it's pretty cool to see.
"Plays I've made on defense, swings I've taken, that I've never really seen before since I'm playing so much baseball.
To see the stuff I've been doing this year, it's really just a eye-opener of what I can do in this game and in my career later on, because it's just the beginning." And hopefully it is just that, the beginning.
Coming out of high school, Cunningham was considered one of the best pure hitters in the MLB draft, with a high offensive ceiling.
It didn't take the 20-year-old long to find his rhythm in Low-A, and it would not be a surprise to see him fill up the stat sheets in High-A sooner than later.
"My whole life, I've always had, I felt like, a target on my back, knowing that there's always work to be done.
Someone's always coming for your spot," he said.
"Either it's someone younger than you or me wanting to strive to be one of the best players in this game.
I think that urge and that need for success in this game has always raised my level up." An Arizona native, Alex D'Agostino is the Publisher and credentialed reporter for Arizona Diamondbacks On SI.
He previously served as Deputy Editor for Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals On SI and covered both teams for FanSided.
Alex also writes for PHNX Sports.
Follow Alex on X/Twitter @AlexDagAZ.
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