Pittsburgh Pirates 2026 Dynasty Baseball Team Report (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy Talk)

The 2026 off-season festivities have officially kicked off on the Brick Wall with the first Dynasty Team Report of the year. Like during the regular season, I will release a freebie here on Imaginary Brick Wall on some Mondays with the vast majority of the content over on the Patreon. Off-season content will include these Dynasty Team Reports, along with Deep Positional Rankings, Strategy articles, Target articles, 2026 Projections, Prime/Peak Projections, predicting future prospect lists, AFL/Winter League Updates, the Top 100+ FYPD rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, and Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings. Here is the Pittsburgh Pirates 2026 Dynasty Baseball Team Report (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy Talk):

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 450 DYNASTY RANKS
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 325 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: END OF SEASON MAILBAG!
SPREADSHEETS
OFF-SEASON CONTENT: Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect Lists, Position by Position Targets, 2026 & Prime/Peak Projections, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, Top 100+ FYPD Ranks + much more

Dynasty Baseball Thought/Strategy of the Day (which may or may not be related to the team I’m covering that day)

There is nothing worse than identifying targets/sleepers early in the off-season, only to watch their value skyrocket by the time your draft comes around. You just sit and pray everyday that some popular analyst doesn’t decide to name them one of their sleepers, because if they do, forget about it, all value is lost in the blink of an eye. I’ve been playing fantasy since the late 1900’s, back when you could die of dysentery while traveling by covered wagon on the Oregon Trail (okay, not the real Oregon Trail, but that awesome The Oregon Trail video game we all used to play back then), when Yahoo brought it to the internet, and I would dread every Yahoo article that would pop up right on the league homepage, because if they named a guy who I liked a sleeper, I knew it was done. Even now as a writer, that feeling is almost tenfold, because I’m only human who can get petty sometimes, “hey, that’s my target!!!” Lay off Nick, Eno, Geoff, Grey, Chris, Eric, Ross etc … hah … I’m only half joking of course. I love all of those guys. That is where meditation comes in really handy, but that is a conversation for another day 😉 … so all of that to say, I wanted to kick off the Dynasty Team Reports with some targets who I think will remain targets all off-season. Real sleepers. Pitt is starting to become standouts in pitcher development, and while their reputation has been rising, it’s not even close to the level of Tampa or LA or Seattle. So these guys aren’t going to get the org bump that so many do. They also have a very deep rotation, which will make people hesitant about going all in on their bottom of the rotation guys because some of their roles are going to be up in the air, probably through the end of March. And none of these guys ever got huge prospect hype, so the name value is in check. So with that as the backdrop, let’s dive into the Pirates Team Report …

Pitchers

Johan Oviedo – PIT, RHP, 28.1 – I don’t foresee a bunch of analysts jumping on the Oviedo bandwagon this off-season, or at least not enough to really inflate his value out of the true “sleeper” area by the time drafts come around. He returned from Tommy John surgery after missing the entire 2024 season, and unlike so many other Tommy John returnees, not only didn’t he look diminished, he came back a new man. He added 5 inches of induced vertical break to his fastball, and it turned into a dominant pitch with an elite 31.3% whiff%. It sits 95.5 MPH and it also comes with an elite 7.4 feet of extension from his 6’6”, 275 pound frame. The dude is a beast. He combines that with two good breakers in his slider (86.7 MPH EV against with a 27.6% whiff%) and curve (38.1% whiff%), while also mixing in a sinker and changeup. He was actually better vs. lefties (.560 OPS) than righties (.724 OPS) this year, so he doesn’t have major split issues either. It all led to a 3.57 ERA with a 24.7/13.5 K%/BB% in 40.1 IP. The control is below average, the K/BB doesn’t look great, and all of the ERA estimators (SIERA, xFIP) don’t love him either, but that is what makes him a true, last couple rounds of the draft sleeper. These days, everyone is looking at the same stuff, so if you want a real sleeper, you are going to have to find different avenues, and Oviedo is that avenue. I love him as a let him come to you at the end of the draft type target. – 2026 Projection: 9/3.77/1.28/164 in 160 IP

Braxton Ashcraft PIT, RHP, 26.6 – Ashcraft has been a target of mine for a few years now, so if you’ve read my work, you might already have him, but if you don’t, this off-season could be your last chance to get in at a decent price. He made his MLB debut and he proved his skills will most certainly transfer with a 2.71 ERA and 24.3/8.2 K%/BB% in 69.2 IP. He throws gas with a 97 MPH 4-seamer and a 96.6 MPH sinker that keeps the ball on the ground with a negative 9 degree launch. The slider is his most used pitch and it induces weak contact with a 83 MPH EV against and misses bats with a 32.4% whiff%. The curve is a bat missing weapon too with a 36.6% whiff% and a .214 xwOBA, The slider, curve and sinker were all plus Run Value Pitches. He also had no split issues with a .675 OPS vs. lefties. And the control has been plus to double plus for most of his career. If he were on the Mariners, we would be looking at him as the next in line of their big, fire balling, plus control righties, but with Pitt, he barely gets a whisper of hype. He pitched in a variety of roles in 2025, many of them short outings, so while there is some role risk, that is another reason his price should stay low all off-season. With injuries and ineffectiveness, I would be surprised if he didn’t rack up plenty of innings as a full time starter in 2026. Ashcraft and Oviedo are not going to be the darlings of the off-season hype machine fantasy world. These are guys you can truly get on the cheap. They ranked 360th and 362nd overall on the End of Season 2025 Top 450 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon). – 2026 Projection: 9/3.58/1.21/150 in 150 IP

Mike Burrows – PIT, RHP, 26.5 – I don’t like Burrows quite as much as I do Oviedo and Ashcraft, but he has something neither of them do, which is a dominant changeup. His change was straight elite with a +9 Run Value, 83.6 MPH EV against, and a 43.1% whiff%. It was tied for the 6th most valuable changeup in baseball, and he did it in only 96.6 IP. Having a pitch that good should not be ignored. It’s really the only thing he does well, but he has big velocity with a 95.5 MPH fastball, and his slider isn’t too bad either with a +1 Run Value. It all led to a solid 3.94 ERA and 24.1/7.7 K%/BB% in 96 IP. Pitt is becoming one of the better pitching development teams in baseball, and while none of these guys are spring chickens, we know pitching development is all over the place. Late 20 breakouts are not that rare, and all 3 of these guys have the ingredients to take steps forward. Their rotation is deep, and it’s going to be a battle for spots, but we know that these things work themselves out. All 3 of their values should be super low too, which is where the real value comes in. I’m going to be grabbing a ton of Oviedo/Ashcraft/Burrows super late in drafts/auctions. They aren’t getting nearly the hype they deserve, and my guess is that they won’t get that hype all off-season. – 2026 Projection: 8/3.88/1.27/142 in 145 IP

Hitters

Oneil CruzPIT, OF, 27.6 – Cruz might have had the most disappointing 20/38 season of all time. If you told me he was going to go 20/38 before the season started, I would have said he’s going to be a huge hit, but we all know that isn’t how it played out. The BA completely tanked, sitting directly on the Mendoza line at .200, but even more worrisome is that it was getting worse as the season went along, much worse with a .184 BA in his final 104 games. And it was even more brutal vs. lefties with a .102 BA. He was sitting a ton by the end of the season, because he’s not a good defensive player either. We are in a real pickle here, because a guy who can’t hit lefties, has major BA risk, and isn’t great on defense doesn’t sound like a good bet, but at the same time, he can legitimately go 30/40, and that isn’t even a stretch to say. The 17.9% Barrel%, 95.8 MPH EV, 78.8 MPH swing, and 56.6% Hard Hit% are all off the charts. Well, they’re on the charts, but extremely high up on the charts. The 29.2 ft/sec sprint is double plus too. And the underlying numbers say he got unlucky. The .229 xBA and the .330 xwOBA were both much better than the surface stats. He has a career .233 BA. If he hits .240 next year, he has the type of talent that can win leagues, especially with how far I’m expecting him to fall this off-season. If you own him already, there is nothing to do but hold. Selling low would be silly. And while I can’t say I’m targeting him hard, I will 100% grab him if his price falls too low. This is still a Top 100 dynasty asset for me. – 2026 Projection: 76/22/74/.228/.309/.427/33

Bullpen

Dennis Santana – PIT, Closer, 30.0 – Banking on fringy closers to remain closers throughout the entire off-season is a bet that can often come back to bite you. Even with Pitt, who don’t spend big, they can still sign some lower priced vets to come in and compete. So while I can’t be certain that Santana will hold this role all off-season, he looks like the heavy favorite. He took over for Bednar after the deadline and dominated with a 1.27 ERA, 26.9/7.7 K%/BB%, and 10 saves in his final 21.1 IP. The stuff isn’t truly monstrous like many of the other top closers in the game, but it’s big enough with a 94.7 MPH fastball, and the slider is the true moneymaker with a .248 xwOBA and 35.7% whiff%. The cutter is a good pitch too. It’s not close to true elite closer status with true elite bat missing ability, which is why there is risk Pitt can bring in other arms, so he’s just a low end closer option right now. – 2026 Projection: 4/3.61/1.19/60/24 saves in 65 IP

Pittsburgh Pirates 2026 Top 10 Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Prospects Rankings

1) Konnor Griffin – PIT, SS/OF, 19.11 – I felt the Griffin explosion in my gut last off-season. The Baseball Gods were speaking to me, and I listened, predicting he would explode into elite prospect status in my Predicting the Top 50 2026 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings last off-season, ranking him 4th overall and writing, “Griffin will have the explosion that everyone who passed on him in first year player drafts feared he would have. The hit tool concerns will be overblown as he maintains an under 25% K% at Single-A, and the power/speed combo will shine with 16 homers and 48 steals in 102 games. He’ll basically be the 2026 version of the 2025 version of Sebastian Walcott. Off the charts tools and a better than expected hit tool.” … and then he went out and surpassed even those expectations, slashing .333/.415/.527 with 21 homers, 65 steals, and a 21.7/8.9 K%/BB% in 122 games. He finished the season at Double-A where he actually put up his best wRC+ of any level with a 175 wRC+ in 21 games. Remember when everyone was making excuses for the 19 year old Walcott at Double-A all year for his mediocre slash? Well, Griffin came in and just busted that whole thing up, showing a 19 year old can most certainly dominate the level. Not only did I forsee the rise in the off-season, but I got blow back after ranking him 1st overall on the Prospect Rankings in early June before he even got the call to High-A. I then made a final plea in my August Dynasty Rankings before he got the call to Double-A, shooting him up to 29th overall and writing, “This is my final plea to you. DO NOT TRADE GRIFFIN UNDER ANY SCENARIO. I don’t even think Roman Anthony can touch his upside. Just don’t trade him, please.” And then after what he did at Double-A, there is no more room for debate. He’s lightning fast, he crushes the ball with a 91.2 MPH EV and 49% Hard Hit%, and the hit tool was better than expected. This is not only the #1 prospect in baseball, but he’s already a nearly elite dynasty asset for me. He ranked 1st overall on the End of Season 2025 Top 325 Dynasty Prospects Rankings (Patreon), and he ranked 23rd overall on the End of Season 2025 Top 450 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon). – 2026 Projection: 28/9/35/.247/.318/.433/17 Prime Projection: 118/32/111/.279/.351/.523/44

2) Edward Florentino – PIT, OF/1B, 19.5 – I don’t see Florentino getting ranked anywhere close to elite prospect range on the mainstream Top 100’s right now. In fact, he’s towards the back of those Top 100’s, so depending on how deep your league mates like to dig, there could actually be really good value on Florentino this off-season. I know there are many leagues out there that almost exclusively use those mainstream lists to value prospects, and even in leagues that use the underground sources like myself, I still think there is value to be had. This is straight up an elite dynasty prospect, and I don’t think many people are ready to really go all in like that on him, but I am. This is a 6’4”, 200 pound beast with an athletic, powerful, and smooth lefty swing that is made to hit dingers. He jacked out 10 homers in 54 games at Single-A and 16 homers in 83 games overall. The underlying numbers back it up too with a 89 MPH EV, 26 degree launch, and 38.7% Hard Hit%. He did that as just an 18 year old, so those hard hit numbers are only going up, and the best part is that he looked like a seasoned vet with excellent plate skills, putting up a 16.3% whiff% and 22.5% Chase%. This has the makings of a truly special power bat. And wildest part of all is that he’s a really good baserunner, going 35 for 41 on the bases. He’s not a burner with poor to mediocre speed grades, so maybe the steals slow down as he climbs the ladder, but Pitt also played him in CF mostly, which tells me there is very real athleticism in here. I doubt he ends up in CF, but you don’t just throw a guy into CF for funsies. It means something that they had him out there. Don’t be lulled to sleep by the low mainstream rankings, this dude is elite and deserves to be treated like it. – ETA: 2027 Prime Projection: 96/33/107/.268/.354/.509/16

3) Bubba Chandler PIT, RHP, 23.6 – Triple-A is fucking hard. Like really fucking hard. The Majors is easier. That was a running joke I had in the Dynasty Rundowns all season, but it wasn’t really a joke at all. So many pitchers struggled hard at Triple-A, and then looked much better in the majors. Maybe it was the ABS Challenge system (which is coming to the Majors in 2026), maybe it was the ballparks, maybe they were pissed they weren’t in the majors already, maybe they were working on stuff, or maybe it was a combination of many things, but too many pitchers looked so much better once they got to the majors to write it off, especially their walk rates. And Chandler most certainly got the Majors is easier bump once he got there, putting up a 4.02 ERA with a 25.0/3.2 K%/BB% in 31.1 IP. He had a 5.96 ERA with a 21.2/13.1 K%/BB% in his last 51.1 IP at Triple-A before getting the call. The turnaround is just wild. The 98.9 MPH fastball got hit hard with a 93.9 MPH EV, but it was a whiff machine with a 30.8% whiff%, and that is more important to see right now. The famed changeup also dominated with a .155 xwOBA and 39.6% whiff%. And his worst pitch of the three, the slider, actually had the best Run Value of them all (+5), on the back of weak contact (85.6 MPH EV against), although it didn’t miss many bats with a 22.5% whiff%. It was a very positive MLB debut, and the bloom that was coming off the rose at Triple-A was fully put back on in the majors. He’s an elite pitching prospect, and possibly the #1 pitching prospect in baseball, although he has some competition for that crown, most notably from Chase Burns, Thomas White and Nolan McLean. – 2026 Projection: 10/3.56/1.27/178 in 170 IP Prime Projection: 15/3.29/1.10/225 in 195 IP

4) Seth Hernandez – PIT, RHP, 19.9 – Selected 6th overall in the 2025 MLB Draft, Hernandez has the highest pure upside of any arm in the class. He’s a great athlete with prototypical size at 6’4”, 195 pounds, and the stuff is filthy with a mid to upper 90’s fastball and a double plus changeup. The breakers (slider, curve) aren’t quite as impressive, and can be inconsistent, but they definitely have the potential to get to plus at peak. And his control/command is really strong for a high school starter with this level of stuff, generally throwing all of his pitches around the plate. I would be lying if I didn’t mention that I see at least some shades of Brock Porter, who had a very similar profile as a 19 year old starter with upper 90’s heat, an elite change, and inconsistent breakers. That also underscores how risky high school righties have traditionally been in the draft. Noble Meyer and Dylan Lesko can attest to that. Even Jackson Jobe and Andrew Painter, who have risen to elite prospect status, needed Tommy John and have had their struggles of late. But Hunter Greene exists too. There is an argument to let someone else draft Hernandez, and then buy low on him after he gets Tommy John surgery. But the top of the rotation upside is undeniable, and that upside is worth the risk. He ranked 8th overall on my Updated Top 60 2026 Dynasty Baseball First Year Player Draft Rankings (Patreon). – ETA: 2028 Prime Projection: 14/3.45/1.13/200 in 180 IP

5) Hunter Barco PIT, LHP, 25.4 – Most people have Barco pegged as a back end arm, and I mean, they very well might end up correct. It’s probably the smart bet to make, but I think there is more in there than that, and because he doesn’t really get very much love in the prospect world (both mainstream and underground), that puts him into the pitching prospect aisle I love to shop in. For one, he has that funky lefty delivery that I am an absolute sucker for, and that deception helps his entire arsenal play up. He only had a 3 inning cup of coffee at the end of the year, but in those 3 innings he proved the stuff will translate to the majors with a 33.3% whiff% on the 94 MPH sinker, a 42.9% whiff% on the splitter, and a 33.3% whiff% on the slider. That gives him weapons to get both lefties and righties out. And we all know the low velo, plus changeup lefty was all the rage this year. Barco has that profile, and maybe even a supercharged version of it. He didn’t give up a single earned run in 25.2 IP at Double-A to start the year, and then he held his own in the Triple-A is fucking hard league with a 3.79 ERA and 25.4/13.0 K%/BB% in 73.2 IP. I mean, it’s arguably better than what Chandler did at the level. Just saying. The biggest problem is that he might be 7th on the depth chart right now, but in dynasty, it’s less of a problem. Barco is one of my favorite low cost, close to the majors pitching prospects. – 2026 Projection: 4/3.98/1.29/78 in 80 IP Prime Projection: 11/3.69/1.22/167 in 160 IP

6) Termarr Johnson – PIT, 2B, 21.10 – Johnson hasn’t had the rise we hoped for when he was the 4th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, but it’s been far from a disaster, and that Pitt 2B job is still sitting wide open for him. Based off where they drafted him, I have to think he is going to get every chance to lock down that long term job, and not even taking draft slot into account, I still think he’s the best man for the job. The biggest issue is that the supposedly elite hit tool hasn’t even been close to elite in pro ball, but it finally started to show some signs of improvement in the 2nd half of this season. He hit .325 with a 18.3/13.3 K%/BB% in his final 42 games at Double-A as a barely turned 21 year old. That is what we were expecting from the get go, but better late than never. We obviously can’t just say he’s an elite hit tool guy again, but it gives a lot more confidence that he can fulfill the solid across the board projection I’ve been giving him for the past few years. The 119 wRC+ is also pretty damn good for his age. He hit only 9 homers with a 46.7% GB% in 119 games, and he’s also not a great base stealer, going 20 for 32, so this isn’t the upside we were hoping for at all, and I don’t think he’s a Top 100 prospect anymore, but I still believe he will be a fantasy relevant player, possibly for many years to come. – 2026 Projection: 38/6/29/.242/.306/.387/8 Prime Projection: 79/16/72/.265/.338/.423/18

7) Esmerlyn Valdez – PIT, 1B/OF, 22.6 – Pitt’s offense is atrocious. They scored the least amount of runs in the league, and while they have some good bats in the farm system, it’s not like they are stacked there either. Point being, a prospect like Valdez is in the perfect organization to bet on for fantasy. They need some big bats, and I don’t see why Pitt wouldn’t give Valdez a major chance to be one of those big bats. He obliterated High-A with 20 homers and a 176 wRC+ in 72 games as a 21 year old, and while he got off to a slow start at Double-A, he finished strong with 6 homers and a 145 wRC+ in his final 42 games. The dude can flat out mash with a powerful righty swing at 6’2” and plenty of lift and pull. There is hit tool risk with a 24.6% K%, and he doesn’t have much defensive value, but like I said, beggars can’t be choosers. Pitt needs some big bats, and I think Valdez is going to get his shot at some point, if not in 2026, then in 2027 and beyond. – ETA: 2027 Prime Projection: 70/26/81/.243/.318/.462/4

8) Wyatt Sanford – PIT, SS, 20.4 – Sanford is the type of prospect who just slowly rises up prospect rankings with a high floor profile. He’s got a good middle infield glove, he’s got a solid feel to hit, he’s got speed and he’s got some projectability at 6’1”. This is going to be a MLB ballplayer, the only question is how good, and that will likely be dictated by how much stronger he can get. He held his own at Single-A with a 104 wRC+, 4 homers, 21 steals, and a 20.1/9.8 K%/BB% in 44 games. The 85.3 MPH EV and 30.3% Hard Hit% aren’t great, but he was only 19 years old, and like I said, there is definitely room for him to tack on more mass. Those numbers are only going up. He’s not the flashiest of prospects, but he’s probably on the underrated side right now with a high floor and not bad upside at all. I like him. – ETA: 2028 Prime Projection: 76/14/67/.262/.323/.417/26

9) Rafael Flores – PIT, C/1B, 25.5 – Pitt targeted Flores in the David Bednar deal for a reason, and that reason is that they are desperate for close to the majors power bats, and Flores most certainly fits that bill at 6’4”, 232 pounds. He mashed 22 homers in 133 games in the upper minors. The reason I don’t have him ranked higher though, is because I was a little disappointed with the hard hit numbers once he got to Triple-A, putting up a 87.9 MPH EV and 36.4% Hard Hit% in 46 games. He’s also already 25 years old and has major hit tool risk with a 34% whiff% at Triple-A and a 41.2% K% in his small cup of coffee in the majors in 17 PA (albeit while crushing the ball with a 94.8 MPH in 8 batted balls). It’s also questionable if he can stick at catcher, making defense another area of risk. Pitt is sure to get his bat in the lineup somewhere (1B/DH/C) to see if he can be the big power bat they need, so he’s not a bad flier at all. If he stinks, you can drop him quickly, but maybe that power shows up. – 2026 Projection: 24/9/31/.226/.297/.415/2 Prime Projection: 45/16/57/.241/.318/.438/5

10) Antwone Kelly – PIT, RHP, 22.6 – As I’ve been harping on for most of this Team Report, Pitt has become a pitching development factory, and Kelly is yet another big hit for them in 2025. His velocity took a big jump this year, now sitting upper 90’s and hitting over 100 MPH, and it resulted in a 3.02 ERA with a 27.2/7.7 K%/BB% in 107.1 IP split between High-A and Double-A. He wasn’t quite as good at Double-A (23.5/8.2 K%/BB% in 48 IP), but he was reaching a career high IP, and he still put up a 3.00 ERA at the level. He’s not tall at 5’10”, but he doesn’t look small out there all all. He’s thick in the right spots, and the delivery is both explosive and pretty athletic. The secondaries aren’t as good as the fastball, but he throws a variety of them (slider, change, cutter, sinker), and hopefully there is more improvement coming down the line as he was only 21 years old this year. I’ll take a foundation of upper 90’s heat and strong upper minors production all day. He also has the fallback of being a possible future closer candidate. – ETA: 2027 Prime Projection: 10/3.82/1.26/156 in 155 IP

11) Tony Blacno Jr. – PIT, 1B/DH, 20.10 – I remember when Blanco was a fun international prospect sleeper as a giant of a man at 6’7”, 243 pounds, but like many giant men find, getting the bat on the ball is just really hard to do at that height. And Blanco certainly struggles with that with a 35.1% K% in 30 games this season, but he doesn’t struggle hitting bombs with 7 homers and a 135 wRC+ at Single-A. It came with a 93.1 MPH EV and 53.8% Hard Hit%. He’s basically been a DH only with a few games 1B mixed in, so it’s all bat and nothing but the bat, but the dude will hit bombs at any level clearly. – ETA: 2028 Prime Projection: 62/25/73/.220/.311/.478/0

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 450 DYNASTY RANKS
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 325 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: END OF SEASON MAILBAG!
SPREADSHEETS
OFF-SEASON CONTENT: Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect Lists, Position by Position Targets, 2026 & Prime/Peak Projections, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, Top 100+ FYPD Ranks + much more

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)

End of Season 2025 Top 400+ Dynasty Baseball Rankings

We’ve made it to the final in-season Dynasty Baseball Rankings of 2025! We finish strong here at the Brick Wall, and I can’t imagine a stronger finish than going over 400 deep with blurbs for every player to get you prepared for early off-season trades and early off-season dynasty drafts. I love this shit. The Top 25 is free here on the Brick Wall, and the rest of the rankings will be on the Patreon. Of course, the content keeps flowing into the off-season with Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect lists, Position by Position Targets, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Ranks, Top 500+ Prospect Ranks, and Top 100+ FYPD Ranks. But we aren’t there yet. Previous rankings (August, Mid-Season, May, April, Off-Season) are in parenthesis. Here is the End of Season 2025 Top 400+ Dynasty Baseball Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 325 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: END OF SEASON MAILBAG!
SPREADSHEETS
OFF-SEASON CONTENT: Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect Lists, Position by Position Targets, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, Top 100+ FYPD Ranks + much more

1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) Shohei Ohtani LAD, RHP/DH, 31.2 – Only Ohtani can come back from major elbow surgery and actually put up a career best 4.8% BB% in 41 IP. So many of these other Tommy John/internal brace returnees are fighting for their lives to just survive, but not Ohtani, who is coolly putting up a 3.29 ERA with a 32.7/4.8 K%/BB%. He came back from shoulder surgery too, and that too had zero impact on his offense, jacking out 53 homers with 19 steals and a 1.015 OPS. The man is the greatest to ever do it. He started the year #1 overall, and he’ll finish the year #1 overall.

2) (4) (5) (11) (9) (5) Juan Soto – NYM, OF, 26.11 – Where the fuck did 35 steals come from? He actually got slower this year. Like, a lot slower with a 25.7 ft/sec sprint (26.8 in 2024). There is no way he is just going to stop running again, right? Maybe not to this level, but I’m assuming he’s got 20+ in him. And he hit a career high 42 homers. Legend. He steals this 2nd spot from Witt.

3) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 25.3 – He went .292 with 23 homers and 37 steals in a down year. The 93.4 MPH EV and 48.7% Hard Hit% leaves zero doubt that it was just a down power year. Expect 30+ in 2026

4) (5) (4) (10) (11) (10) Ronald Acuna Jr. – ATL, OF, 27.9 – Acuna did everything we could have asked of him coming off his 2nd ACL surgery with a .923 OPS and .404 xwOBA. He even ran enough with 8 steals to give hope that part of his game isn’t done yet. With a full off-season to get even further away from that knee surgery, it sure seems like Acuna is set up for a huge 2026

5) (6) (6) (4) (5) (6) Corbin Carroll – ARI, OF, 25.0 – Notched the first 30/30 season of his career by massively increasing his power with career highs by far in EV, Max EV, Launch, Barrel% and Hard Hit%. He was already an elite dynasty asset, and he now looks setup for some monster man muscle seasons in his mid to late 20’s

Shadow5) (4) (5) (5) (6) (5) Shohei Ohtani LAD, DH only/Weekly Leagues, 31.2 – This is where I would rank Ohtani in weekly lineup leagues or as a hitter only

6) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 23.8 – .585 OPS with 1 homer, 7 steals, and a 29.6/7.5 K%/BB% in his last 45 games. The man fell apart in the 2nd half. It looks like he might have just worn down. But he still showed continued hit tool improvement this year, which is huge to see, and going 20/36 ain’t too shabby. I still think his best is yet to come

7) (8) (10) (7) (10) (8) Aaron Judge NYY, OF, 33.4 – Only a 199 wRC+. Not even 200. Come on man, we expect better from you 😉 … his .467 xwOBA leads of all baseball and it’s not even close (Soto’s .443 is 2nd) … age be damned, he’s an elite dynasty asset

8) (9) (11) (8) (6) (9) Fernando Tatis Jr. – SDP, OF, 26.8 – Like Gunnar, it could be time for Tatis to attempt to unlock more lift and pull this off-season. What he’s doing now is just fine with 23 homers, 32 steals, and a .267 BA, but if he ever wants his surface stats (.350 wOBA) to match his underlying Statcast numbers (.380 xwOBA), he’s going to need to lift and pull more. Or Statcast is going to have to change their formula to take lift and pull into account more, bringing the underlying numbers down to his surface stats. Or maybe both should happen

9) (14) (19) (16) (12) (11) Julio Rodriguez – SEA, OF, 24.8 – Slashing .306/.352/.615 with 20 homers and 13 steals in his last 62 games. You can set your watch to it. When he once again struggles in the 1st half of 2026, don’t even bother bringing it up. We all know it’s coming, and we all know the monster 2nd half is coming too

10) (7) (9) (5) (4) (4) Gunnar Henderson – BAL, SS, 24.2 – 16 homers in 148 games is super lackluster no matter how you sugarcoat it. That isn’t a season an elite power hitter should ever have really. Obviously a lot of has to do with poor HR/FB luck, but it seems to me it might be a catalyst for him to try to unlock some more lift and pull this off-season. And on the flip side, he stole a career high 27 bats. Make no mistake, this is still an elite dynasty asset even if he doesn’t try to unlock more lift and pull, but I think it’s time to give it a shot

11) (17) (45) (71) (74) (159) Nick Kurtz OAK, 1B, 22.5 – I gave Kurtz the Jim Thome comp this off-season, and then he went out and hit almost exactly like Thome, slashing .291/.384/.613 with 33 homers and a 31.0/12.9 K%/BB% in only 111 games. Remember when everyone was calling the 2024 Draft class weak last year? Well, we already have an elite power hitter out of it, and much more is coming. You want to see a weak class? Look at the 2025 class unfortunately

12) (18) (24) (58) (39) (46) Junior CamineroTBR, 3B, 22.2 – 44 homers in 144 games. I mean, what else is there to say? The man is an elite young power hitter

13) (13) (18) (18) (15) (13) Jackson ChourioMIL, OF, 21.6 – Slashing .302/.347/.522 with 13 homers and 9 steals in his last 71 games. He’s pretty much cementing that he is a slow starter with a slow start for the 3rd year in a row. Also keep in mind he’s still just 21 years old. These are the type of numbers he’s putting up in his baby years, when most guys are still in the minors. We haven’t even seen prime Chourio yet. Not even close

14) (10) (8) (6) (8) (7) Kyle Tucker – CHC, OF, 28.8 – Tucker looked to be on his way to having a career year in his contract year, but it all fell apart. Maybe some of it was due to a hairline fracture to his hand he suffered in June. And now he’s battling a calf injury. He has a .718 OPS in his last 51 games. Was that like a 200 million dollar slump? He still had a really good season overall with a 139 wRC+. He has a career 139 wRC+ too. He’s going to get paid a ton. And he still deserves to have massive dynasty value. But talk about bad timing

15) (25) (50) (43) (57) (66) Roman Anthony – BOS, OF, 21.3 – 6 homers in his last 21 games before hitting the IL with an oblique injury. There was little doubt he was cementing near elite dynasty asset status before the homer binge, but that left no doubt. The man is launch proof with a 60.3% Hard Hit%. He did have a 33.7% K% over those last 21 games, and he’s not running a ton with 4 steals in 71 games overall, but that is just nitpicking. The expectations were high for him in his MLB debut, and he blew past all of them. He’s an elite dynasty asset

16) (19) (25) (20) (37) (43) Zach Neto – LAA, SS, 24.7 – He went 26/26 in only 128 games coming off shoulder surgery this off-season. Imagine what he could with a full off-season to really get healthy and prepared … okay, he can probably just do the same thing he did this year, but in a 150+ games. The raw power exploded with career highs by far in EV, Barrel%, Launch, and Hard Hit%. I still get the sense that Neto doesn’t get the respect he deserves. I’ve named him a target from before he got drafted, and I’ll still be the high guy on him 4 years later

17) (11) (13) (15) (33) (64) Pete Crow-Armstrong – CHC, OF, 23.6 – Ending the season in a slump is by far the most fun thing that could have happened for dynasty debates this off-season. He has a .480 OPS in his last 43 games. But if you know me at all, you already know what side of the aisle I’m going to be on, and that is the side of The Crow. I’ve been calling him a target since before he was drafted, and he had the monster breakout season I knew was in there. The extreme chase makes him streaky, zero doubt about that, but I’m betting on it improving as he matures. And his elite CF glove is going to keep him on the field through the slumps. This was just the start

18) (21) (21) (26) (26) (29) Garrett Crochet – BOS, LHP, 26.2 – I think it’s high time Crochet gets moved into the true elite of the elite of the elite pitcher tier with Skenes and Skubal, and taking into account all dynasty angles, I think he sneaks into the #1 spot. He has the win edge over Skenes like Skubal does too, but Crochet has 17 wins vs. Skubal’s 13 vs. Skenes’ 10 (I talk more about wins in the Skenes blurb). The 31.6/5.8 K%/BB% nestles right in between Skubal and Skenes. His age nestles right in between them. And his 197.1 IP and 249 strikeouts lead both of them. The WHIP and ERA trails both by a bit though. I can pick any of these 3 names out of hat and be fine with it, but I’m officially crowning a new #1 dynasty pitcher, and his name is Garrett Crochet.

19) (15) (14) (19) (18) (19) Paul SkenesPIT, RHP, 23.3 – If you want to dock him for lack of wins, I get it, but wins can be fickle, and Skubal still has only 3 more wins than Skenes. Also, you might play in a QS league, which is what I play in mostly, in which case wins don’t matter at all. I’m giving the edge to Skenes over Skubal for the 5 year age difference, and even though I don’t take age into account nearly as much for pitchers as I do hitters, I do still think it is a consideration

20) (16) (15) (24) (24) (28) Tarik SkubalDET, LHP, 28.9 – He’s better than both Skenes and Crochet, but he’s the oldest of the 3. Maybe I’m being too stubborn to not put him into the top spot. But again, I could pick any of the 3 out of a hat and be good with it

21) (20) (20) (21) (19) (18) Jose Ramirez – CLE, 3B, 32.10 – Just another quiet 30/40 season. He’s the quietest superstar in the league. Kyle Tucker used to be the Quiet Killer, but his trade, free agency, and recent slump has put all kinds of eyes on him. Jose Ramirez is the new Quiet Killer.

22) (24) (17) (14) (14) (14) Wyatt Langford – TEX, OF, 23.10 – .897 OPS with 6 homers and 6 steals in his last 34 games. I’ve been preaching patience on Langford all season, and he’s closing out the season with a bang. There is some 2nd half warrior in him, but in general, I think it is a sign of what is to come. Now is not the the time to give up on the big breakout. The foundation has been laid.

23) (29) (64) (83) (182) (161) Konnor Griffin – PIT, OF, 19.4 – Here is what I wrote in the August Update, ranking him 29th overall, “This is my final plea to you. DO NOT TRADE GRIFFIN UNDER ANY SCENARIO. I don’t even think Roman Anthony can touch his upside. Just don’t trade him, please” … and then he got called up to Double-A and is slashing .337/.418/.542 with 5 homers, 6 steals, and a 23.5/7.1 K%/BB% in 21 games. I don’t even think I need to make a plea anymore. It’s super obvious he’s almost an elite dynasty asset already. Even this ranking might be too low

24) (33) (23) (46) (93) (135) Cal Raleigh – SEA, C, 28.9 – 58 homers in 153 games as a 28 year old has career year written all over it. Hard to argue this is now his true talent, but he obviously doesn’t need to do this every year to be a fantasy beast. The monster power was always there, and he even stole 14 bags too. He is so easily the top dynasty catcher in the game

25) (12) (7) (12) (13) (12) James WoodWAS, OF, 23.0 – .607 OPS with a 40.9% K% in his last 59 games. That is scary. No silver lining. He was also only 3 for 6 on the bases over that time. But that is secondary to the super scary hit tool risk popping up it’s ugly head with a vengeance. He’s a beast, and I’m 100% still betting on him long term, but it scared me enough to drop him a bit

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 325 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: END OF SEASON MAILBAG!
SPREADSHEETS
OFF-SEASON CONTENT: Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect Lists, Position by Position Targets, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, Top 100+ FYPD Ranks + much more

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)

Welcome to End of Season Dynasty Baseball Rankings Week! (Patreon)

We’ve made it to the final in-season Dynasty Baseball Rankings of 2025! We finish strong here at the Brick Wall, and I can’t imagine a stronger finish than going over 400 deep with blurbs for every player to get you prepared for early off-season trades and early off-season dynasty drafts. I love this shit. Top 25-ish gets posted free here on the Brick Wall, and the rest of the rankings will be on the Patreon. Of course, the content keeps flowing into the off-season with Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect lists, Position by Position Targets, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Ranks, Top 500+ Prospect Ranks, and Top 100+ FYPD Ranks. But we aren’t there yet. Catch you with the first post of the End of Season Dynasty Ranks tomorrow …

-Halp

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 325 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: END OF SEASON MAILBAG!
SPREADSHEETS
OFF-SEASON CONTENT: Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect Lists, Position by Position Targets, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, Top 100+ FYPD Ranks + much more

August 2025 Top 400+ Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon)

It’s that time again to update the ole’ trusty Dynasty Baseball Rankings for August over on the Patreon. Or as I’m calling it, the Kyle Stowers update. Gotta fly him up the rankings right before he hits .198 in the last month and a half 😉 As usual, I’m going over 400 deep with blurbs for every player. Top 29 free here on the Brick Wall. Here is the August 2025 Top 400+ Dynasty Baseball Rankings (1-100):

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
AUGUST 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
JULY 2025 TOP 349 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: TRADE DEADLINE & JULY MAILBAG!
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

1) (1) (1) (1) (1) Shohei Ohtani LAD, RHP/DH, 31.1 – Ohtani’s ramping up on the mound, and his last start left little doubt that this man might be the best pitcher in baseball too. He went 4 IP with 2 hits, 1 ER and a 8/0 K/BB. The fastball sat 98.9 MPH and put up a 44% whiff%. The sweeper notched a 50% whiff%, slider a 67% whiff%, and sinker 100% whiff%. He now has a 2.37 ERA with a 32.5/6.5 K%/BB% in 19 IP. He also homered in that game. It’s insane. Remember when everyone was worried about the shoulder this off-season? It weighed on me a bit in my rankings, but the conclusion I came to is that there is zero chance I’m betting against the GOAT. I didn’t budge off at #1, and I’m happy I didn’t

2) (2) (2) (2) (2) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 25.2 – It doesn’t even feel like that great of a season for Witt and he’s still going to go like 25/40 with a .280+ BA. The slight power dip is zero to be worried about as he has 12 homers in his last 59 games, and the 93.3 MPH EV is a career high

3) (3) (3) (3) (3) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 23.7 – Pretty wild that my #1, #2, and #3 are all exactly the same as the off-season. Or maybe it’s not that wild. I don’t know. But either way, all 3 have proven worthy of their spots, including Elly who continues to stabilize his hit tool with a career best 25.3% K% and .275 BA.

4) (5) (11) (9) (5) Juan Soto – NYM, OF, 26.9 – Here is what I wrote about Soto after he broke up the Gavin Williams no no, “Gavin Williams took a no hitter into the 9th inning with 1 out and Juan Soto up at the dish, and just check out Soto smiling as he steps into the batter’s box. That is the look of a man who absolutely relishes being in a situation like that. That is how we should all handle pressure. Like this is what it’s all about. This is what we live for. And then of course he smashed a homer to end the no hit bid.” … He’s also a career high 18 for 19 on bases this year. Usually guys don’t run as much after getting the big contract, but not Soto. His .440 xwOBA is 2nd to only Aaron Judge. If we could really count on him running this much in future years, he would likely be #2 overall, but with a 25.8 ft/sec sprint, it’s hard to really count on that.

Shadow4) (5) (5) (6) (5) Shohei Ohtani LAD, DH only/Weekly Leagues, 31.1 – This is where I would rank Ohtani in weekly lineup leagues or as a hitter only

5) (4) (10) (11) (10) Ronald Acuna Jr. – ATL, OF, 27.8 – This wasn’t like the last time where Acuna put up a measly 115 wRC+ in his return from the first ACL surgery. He went right back to elite Acuna this time with a 1.006 OPS in 55 games. But he wasn’t running much at all with only 4 steals, and the 30.3% whiff% was a career worst. He then hit the IL with another leg injury, this time a minor calf injury, but still. I don’t want to put this on him, but this feels a bit Mike Trouty. Constant injuries, doesn’t run as much, and a whiff rate that starts creeping up there. Obviously I’m not budging off Acuna, but you can’t deny it does feel a bit Trouty

6) (6) (4) (5) (6) Corbin Carroll – ARI, OF, 24.11 – Returned from a chip fracture in his left wrist after just 2 weeks, which is wild. And the even wilder thing is that it doesn’t seem to be impacting his power much at all with 6 homers, a 91.6 MPH EV and a 12.2% Barrel% in 30 games.

7) (9) (5) (4) (4) Gunnar Henderson – BAL, SS, 24.1 – Here is what I wrote about Gunnar in the last update: “I’m seeing people getting frustrated with Gunnar, but there is no way I’m budging off him very far. The 93.2 MPH EV is a career high and so is the 17.2% Air Pull%. He’s just playing to the low end of his ability right now, and the low end of his ability is still a 125 wRC+ with a 20/20 pace” … and then he went out and slashed .330/.402/.564 with 4 homers, 6 steals, and a 15.0/10.3 K%/BB% in 28 games. Sure a few more homers would be nice, but with a 52.2% Hard Hit%, I’m not too worried about it

8) (10) (7) (10) (8) Aaron Judge NYY, OF, 33.3 – .449 xwOBA leads all baseball by a healthy margin. He’s 33 years old, but there are zero signs of slowing down. Is he going to be the best hitter on the planet when he’s 35? Or when he’s 37? Win now mode you aren’t trading him, but these are the decisions that make dynasty so fun. When do you cash on in Judge? Do you just ride him into the ground? I’m inclined to keep pushing it

9) (11) (8) (6) (9) Fernando Tatis Jr. – SDP, OF, 26.7 – He had a .771 OPS in 2023, a .832 OPS in 2024 and now a .801 OPS in 2025. I mean, I get why people are starting to feel a tad underwhelmed by Tatis. Really good numbers there, but not quite great. He has career bests in K%, BB%, Whiff%, and Chase%, but he had to give up some launch and Air Pull% to do it. Having said all that, I’m still buying hard on a 26 year old with a .385 xwOBA, a 52.1% Hard hit%, and 24 steals

10) (8) (6) (8) (7) Kyle Tucker – CHC, OF, 28.7 – .632 OPS in his last 32 games. Damn, what did that slump cost him? Like a hundred mil? But yes, it’s likely just a slump

11) (13) (15) (33) (64) Pete Crow-Armstrong – CHC, OF, 23.5 – .524 OPS with a 19/2 K/BB in his last 15 games … uh oh, is this where the drop off comes? Is this what the Crow doubters have been waiting all season for? You know I’m not budging, but the off-season arguments over PCA will be quite fun if he closes the season in a slump

12) (7) (12) (13) (12) James WoodWAS, OF, 22.11 – The hit tool risk is popping up it’s ugly head with a 44.2% K% and .507 OPS in his last 25 games. He’s 6’7” with a 32% whiff% and 30% K%, so that hit tool risk will likely always be a part of his game. The good news is that he’s coming out of the slump already, going 6 for 14 with a homer in his last 3 games, but in those 3 games he struck out 6 times. I can’t lie, it’s a bit concerning, but obvious you can’t run at the first sign of struggle for such an elite young player. I’m definitely holding through the slump, but I don’t think you can just hand wave it way completely

13) (18) (18) (15) (13) Jackson ChourioMIL, OF, 21.5 – Chourio is the new Julio Rodriguez for better or worse with much better 2nd halves than 1st halves for the last 3 seasons. He was in the midst of that monster 2nd half with a 1.065 OPS before going down with a hamstring strain

14) (19) (16) (12) (11) Julio Rodriguez – SEA, OF, 24.7 – The old Julio Rodriguez is in the midst of a huge 2nd half, like clockwork, with a 1.011 OPS in his last 26 games

15) (14) (19) (18) (19) Paul SkenesPIT, RHP, 23.2 – 1.42 ERA with a 34.2/3.3 K%/BB% in 38 IP since the last update. Skubal has a 2.97 ERA with a 35.0/5.0 K%/BB% in 36.1 IP since the last update. You gotta knock the champ out. And Skubal can’t quite knock out Skenes. Your reigning, defending, undisputed #1 Dynasty Baseball Pitcher in the world, Paul Skenes, ladies and gentlemen

16) (15) (24) (24) (28) Tarik SkubalDET, LHP, 28.8 – See above. Sooooo close, but Skenes is 5 years younger and pitching just as well if not better of late

17) (45) (71) (74) (159) Nick Kurtz OAK, 1B, 22.4 – Caminero vs. Kurtz is a fun one. Kurtz has the 3rd fastest gun, er, bat this side of the Mississippi at 77.5 MPH (Jordan Walker and Jo Adell are #1 and #2 west of the Mississippi). He lifts more than Caminero with a 15 degree launch, but Caminero beats him on Air Pull% (15.4% vs. 21.4%). And the thing that has me leaning Kurtz by a hair, is that over his last 29 games, Kurtz has brought the K% down to 24.2%, while destorying Caminero on Chase% (22.2% vs. 33.8%). So while Kurtz’ 30.4% K% and 33% whiff% is much worse than Caminero’s 20.6% K% and 24.3% whiff%, we’ve seen improvement there with Kurtz of late. It’s coin flip, but my gut says Kurtz

18) (24) (58) (39) (46) Junior CamineroTBR, 3B, 22.1 – Ain’t no shame in finishing one behind Kurtz. It was already clear that Caminero was an elite young power bat in the last update, but if you weren’t convinced, he jacked out 12 more homers in 28 games since then. He’s got the fastest gun, er, bat south of the Mason Dixon Line (Cruz owns North of the Mason Dixon Line). And yes, I classify all my leaderboards based on east/west of the Mississippi and north/south of the Mason Dixon Line. Caminero vs. Kurtz is a coin flip

19) (25) (20) (37) (43) Zach Neto – LAA, SS, 24.6 – 8 for 10 on the bases in his last 34 games. Love to see that because I was getting a tad concerned about how much he was getting caught. He’s also hit 7 homers with a .288 BA over that time. He’s cementing that my lofty rankings of him since the off-season were warranted

20) (20) (21) (19) (18) Jose Ramirez – CLE, 3B, 32.9 – In the midst of another elite season. My rule for elite studs like Ramirez is that you ride them until their age 33 year old season. Only then do you start to consider selling, but even that is based on your team.

21) (21) (26) (26) (29) Garrett Crochet – BOS, LHP, 26.1 – He’s so close to the true elite Skenes/Skubal tier, but he’s not quite there. The main thing holding him back is the 1.10 WHIP. Skenes has a 0.93 WHIP and Skubal a 0.86 WHIP. Can’t put him in there quite yet

22) (27) (29) (23) (17) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – TOR, 1B, 25.9 – The much awaited homer binge has arrived with 7 homers in his last 21 games. Caminero and Kurtz are younger and hitting more homers, but they can’t tough Vlad’s hit tool. He’s not the cool new kid on the block anymore, but he’s still banging

23) (12) (13) (17) (25) CJ AbramsWAS, SS, 24.10 – .614 OPS with a 35.1% Hard Hit% in 32 games since the last update. He isn’t sustaining that power uptick like I really wanted to see, but he’s still about to go 20/30 for the 2nd straight season as a 24 year old, and the contact rates remained strong even during the slump with a 16% K%. I still think there is another level of raw power in here in his mid 20’s. I’m still buying hard

24) (17) (14) (14) (14) Wyatt Langford – TEX, OF, 23.9 – .683 OPS with 3 homers and a 30.7% K% in his last 36 games. The monster breakout doesn’t look like it’s coming this year, but I’m still betting on it coming in the future. Everything looks too good under the hood. Power, speed, plate skills, launch … everything is still right there to be a fantasy beast. So while he deserves a drop, I would be careful about giving up too soon here

25) (50) (43) (57) (66) Roman Anthony – BOS, OF, 21.2 – The 3 homers and 2 steals in 51 games does show the things I nitpicked this off-season were warranted, but the 94.3 MPH EV, 74.6 MPH swing, 19.1% Chase%, 28.4% whiff%, .827 OPS and .373 xwOBA as a barely 21 year old in the majors is screaming special bat. No matter how you slice it, it sure looks like Anthony will be a beast

26) (35) (40) (44) (61) Kyle SchwarberPHI, OF, 32.5 – .425 xwOBA is tied for 3rd best in baseball with Ohtani. 10 steals are tied for a career high. It’s obviously a career year, but even in regular years he’s a beast

27) (32) (22) (20) (20) Bryce Harper PHI, 1B, 32.9 – .918 OPS in 32 games since returning from the wrist injury. I’m betting on Harper raking deep into his 30’s

28) (29) (32) (48) (52) Ketel Marte – ARI, 2B, 31.10 – He’s one of the best hitters in baseball with a .410 xwOBA that is 6th best overall. He’s just kinda slowly gotten better in a pretty linear way (other than the 2019 super happy fun ball year) with his 14.8% Barrel% being a career high

29) (64) (83) (182) (161) Konnor Griffin – PIT, OF, 19.3 – This is my final plea to you. DO NOT TRADE GRIFFIN UNDER ANY SCENARIO. I don’t even think Roman Anthony can touch his upside. Just don’t trade him, please

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
AUGUST 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
JULY 2025 TOP 349 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: TRADE DEADLINE & JULY MAILBAG!
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)

Welcome to August Dynasty Baseball Rankings Week!!! (Patreon)

It’s that time again to update the ole’ trusty Dynasty Baseball Rankings for August over on the Patreon. Or as I’m calling it, the Kyle Stowers update. Gotta fly him up the rankings right before he hits .198 in the last month and a half 😉 As usual, I’m going over 400 deep with blurbs for every player. Top 25-ish will be free here on the Brick Wall. First post dropping tomorrow. Catch you then …

-Halp

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
AUGUST 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
JULY 2025 TOP 349 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: TRADE DEADLINE & JULY MAILBAG!
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

July 2026 Top 300+ Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings (Patreon

I think we can just call this the Edward Florentino and Joshua Baez update, because I’m all in on both of these guys. But there are over 298 other guys to rank as I’m going over 300 deep with blurbs for every player. Top 24 free here on the Brick Wall. Non debuted prospects only are eligible for this list. You can see where already debuted guys rank in my Mid-Season Top 437 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon). Here is the Top 300+ July 2026 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings (1-100):

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
MID-SEASON 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS
JULY 2025 TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: JUNE MAILBAG! (July Mailbag coming next week)
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

1) (1) (21) (35) Konnor Griffin – PIT, OF, 19.2 – What really pushed it over the edge for me to put Konnor Griffin #1 overall back in June before he even got to High-A, was that the plate skills were massively improving at the end of his stay there, and now he’s fully carrying that over into High-A, slashing .297/.405/.475 with 4 homers, 15 steals, and a 19.8/12.4 K%/BB% in 27 games. He’s even more locked into the #1 spot now. I’ve seen a lot of people in win now mode asking me about trades where they give up Griffin for some 30+ bat or 30+ pitcher, and my plea is that you don’t trade this man no matter what. Sure, flags fly forever, but so will your regret for trading Griffin. Find another way.

2) (10) (13) (13) Samuel Basallo – BAL, C/1B, 20.10 – He’s a 20 year old at Triple-A with 19 homers, a 21.7/15.4 K%/BB%, a 94 MPH EV and a 152 wRC+ in 62 games. Caminero better be enjoying his stay at the top of the young power hitter rankings, because Basallo just might steal that crown one day soon … that’s if Nick Kurtz doesn’t steal it from both of them.

3) (2) (4) (15) Sebastian Walcott – TEX, SS, 19.4 – 10 homers, 23 steals, and a 21.6/12.0 K%/BB% in 81 games at Double-A as a 19 year old is admittingly more impressive than the .248/.344/.400 triple-slash. Walcott, De Vries, Made … I can’t lie, a lot of their elite prospect status is riding on their age. Being so young and playing well at higher levels is impressive for sure. Their talent is no joke. I’m in. Don’t get me wrong. But also, how about the good old days when elite prospects actually ripped shit up no matter the level?

4) (8) (5) (9) Walker Jenkins MIN, OF, 20.4 – This guy hurt his ankle and I feel like everyone just kinda forgot about him. I don’t hear even a snippet of hype about this man. But he’s a 20 year old at Double-A and is performing like a mature vet, slashing .293/.413/.424 with 2 homers, 7 steals, and a 17.4/15.7 K%/BB% in 26 games. That’s good for a 138 wRC+. Sure we want the big power breakout, but at 6’3”, 210 pounds, I’m really not too concerned about it. Can we put some respect back on this man’s name?

5) (3) (7) (18) Josue De Paula – LAD, OF, 20.1 – De Paula showed off that game power improvement in the Futures Game with a 108.5 MPH 3 run bomb. And I’m not 100% sure where I heard it, it might have been Longenhagen, but now I can’t get Ken Griffey Jr. out of my head when watching his swing. He ain’t Ken Griffey Jr., but damn is that a smooth and powerful lefty swing. I’ve been all in on Josue since he was a completely unknown prospect in the DSL, and I’m still all in on him.

6) (12) (17) (17) JJ Wetherholt STL, 2B, 22.10 – Are we all taking Wetherholt for granted? We all knew he would be good, and we all knew what the profile is, but he’s really smashing through all expectations. He obliterated Double-A with a 151 wRC+, and now he’s doing the same to Triple-A with a 400/.500/.800 slash with 1 homer and a 4/4 K/BB in 6 games. He smashes the ball (92.8 MPH EV at Triple-A right now), he doesn’t have any major groundball issues with a 40.6% GB%, the plate skills are elite (14.7/16.1 K%/BB%) and he runs (14 for 16 on the bases). Is this just who Jesus Made and Luis Pena will be 4 years from now? Maybe they have more runway for a huge game power breakout, but why not just get the guy who is already there?

7) (15) (40) (54) Kevin McGonigle – DET, SS/2B, 20.10 – Called up to Double-A and has a 8.3/16.7 K%/BB% with a 159 wRC+ in 6 games. I called McGonigle the souped up version of Steven Kwan this off-season, and that might be understatement with what he is doing this year. Also, soup isn’t even really that great of a food. Why is the expression “souped up?” … looks it up … “it likely stems from a 19th-century horse racing slang term where a “soup” was a substance injected into horses to enhance their speed” … okay, actually, that is kinda cool. I guess baseball changed the term to “juiced up.”

8) (4) (41) (252) Luis Pena – MIL, SS/3B/SS, 18.7 – Finally a young for the level prospect who also has an impressive triple-slash with a .316/.383/.485 line in 62 games at Single-A. It comes with 6 homers and 38 steals. He also hasn’t been quite as good as his hot start to the season though with 1 homer and a .749 OPS in his last 30 games.

9) (14) (22) (19) Max Clark – DET, OF, 20.6 – Called up to Double-A and in only 6 games he’s already shown off the electric profile. How about this for power? A 106 MPH homer on Friday that hit off whatever the hell that building is in right field. And how about this for speed? A triple he had to truly leg out with the classic helmet half falling his off head. That gives him 2 homers, 1 steal and a 141 wRC+ in 6 games. It might have been the Made, Pena, De Vries show early in the year, but things have gotten shaken up at the top in my opinion as we get deeper into the year.

10) (9) (8) (32) Jesus Made MIL, SS, 18.2 – I alluded to it in the Walcott blurb, but Made isn’t exactly ripping up Single-A with 4 homers and a 273/.382/.399 triple slash in 74 games. He has a .726 OPS in his last 57 games. Do I still love him? Yes. Do I still love the hit/power/speed/age combo? Yes. But I feel like we all cemented his status after the first month, and it hasn’t been as good since.

11) (7) (3) (8) Leodalis De Vries – SDP, SS, 18.9 – After having done nothing for 2 straight months, De Vries has finally started to come out of hibernation after cracking his 7th homer in 74 games at High-A on Sunday. And how can you not stay all in through the slump after watching a swing like that. He has a .925 OPS in his last 19 games. But, like I wrote in the Walcott blurb, 7 homers, 6 steals in 12 attempts and a .248/.359/.414 triple-slash isn’t exactly jumping off the screen. Being 18 and looking the part is doing a lot of the heavy lifting right now for better or worse

12) (13) (16) (16) Travis Bazzana – CLE, 2B, 22.10 – He very recently returned from an oblique injury that kept him out for 2 months. The 25% K% is definitely a bit higher than optimal, but everything else is basically where we want it with lift and pull, walks, and speed. He has a 135 wRC+ in 35 games at Double-A. I’m going to hold steady on his ranking even if it hasn’t been the smoothest season.

13) (22) (50) (71) Josue Briceno DET, C/1B, 20.8 – Our little baby’s all growns up and he’s all growns up. After an MVP performance in the AFL, followed up by an MVP performance at High-A, our boy Briceno got the call to Double-A. I remember when he was just a wee 18 year old getting not a speck of hype, and now look at him. Blowing up everywhere

14) (29) (38) (48) Lazaro Montes – SEA, OF, 20.8 – Profile is completely transferring to Double-A as a 20 year old with 6 homers and a 27.5/16.3 K%/BB% in 18 games. Even Seattle won’t be able to contain this man

15) (25) (37) (24) Bryce Eldridge – SFG, 1B, 20.8 – Hit tool is getting exposed at Triple-A with a .214 BA and a 32.1/7.7 K%/BB% in 18 games, but it also comes with 3 homers and a 95.4 MPH EV. And he’s also only 20 years old. I’m apt to not get too hung on the hit tool risk, because even in San Francisco, Eldridge can be one of the premier power hitters in baseball for a long time.

16) (16) (20) (43) Zyhir Hope – LAD, OF, 20.5 – I gave Hope a statistical comp of Randy Arozarena this off-season, and I feel like that is exactly what he’s doing at High-A with high K rates (26.9% K%), high OBP (.390 OBP), power (9 homers) and speed despite getting caught a lot (13 steals in 19 attempts) in 83 games. That is the exact Arozarena profile.

17) (17) (23) (104) Bryce Rainer – DET, SS, 19.11 – I’ve been taking about it for most of the season, but shoulder surgery doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal for hitters anymore. Neto, Ohtani and Varsho all returned this season ripping dingers, arguably stronger than they’ve ever looked before. So I’m not fading Rainer at all due to the shoulder surgery. I closed out Rainer’s Top 1,000 blurb by writing, “Riley Greene might actually be the perfect comp here, and Detroit has done a great job developing Greene. Detroit got their SS version of Greene” … and he basically performed right to that comp. He’s a buy low off the surgery if you can

18) (19) (107) (103) Eduardo Quintero – LAD, OF, 19.10 – Been ripping up Single-A all year. I think it’s time for High-A

19) (5) (6) (20) Bubba Chandler PIT, RHP, 22.10 – Call me crazy, but I like my elite pitching prospects to not have a 4.18 ERA with a 25.3/13.5 K%/BB% in his last 51.2 IP at Triple-A. Chandler pitched well for the first month of the season, and then that is it. He also doesn’t really have a great breaking pitch with his slider and curve putting up a pretty lowly 25% and 27.5% whiff%, respectively. The changeup has a good 32% whiff%, but I mean, that isn’t exactly off the charts. The upper 90’s fastball is elite with a 34.8% whiff%, so don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I don’t like him anymore, but there are enough weaknesses here to drop him down the rankings a bit.

20) (11) (11) (10) Andrew Painter PHI, RHP, 22.3 – 5.01 ERA with a 24.3/8.2 K%/BB% and 24.9% whiff% in 55.2 IP at Triple-A. Back in my day, elite pitching prospects, I don’t know, they actually pitched like elite pitching prospects. I feel like I was the only one questioning Jackson Jobe even a little this off-season based off his mediocre K/BB rates. Painter has a semi excuse in that he’s coming off Tommy John. And we know it’s often the 2nd year back that guys truly round into form, so I don’t want to get too worried here. But he’s a long way off from the truly perfect pitching prospect he was before going down with the injury.

21) (38) (18) (7) Carson Williams – TBR, SS, 21.5 – He’s been back to himself since June 1st with 11 homers, 8 steals, a 1.011 OPS and 29.1/12.8 K%/BB% in his last 35 games. It’s still major hit tool risk, but it’s nice to see him make adjustments as a 21 year old at Triple-A

22) (177) (UR) (408) Edward Florentino – PIT, OF, 18.6 – Here is how I closed out Florentino’s blurb in June before he got to Single-A, “He certainly looks in the next wave of Top 100 sluggers. Maybe by this time next year” … and then he got to Single-A and is going nuclear, slashing .299/.434/.558 with 4 homers, 16 steals in 17 attempts, and a 22.0/18/0 K%/BB% in 23 games. He mostly certainly looks the part of a stud at 6’4”, 200 pounds with a sweet and powerful lefty swing, and considering how good of a base stealer he is, I have a sneaking suspicion his speed might be underrated too. Pitt has him playing mostly in CF, which tells me his athleticism is definitely underrated. I gotta say, this looks like an elite lower minors prospect. I’m all in

23) (162) (UR) (UR) Joshua Baez – STL, OF, 22.1 – Here is what I wrote about Baez in my Top 9 Mid-Season Dynasty Baseball Targets (Patreon), and I’m putting my money where my mouth is with this ranking. I’m all in: “This guy just has Lawrence Butler 2.0 written all over him. I know his hype has been rising, but I still think even a super savvy dynasty owner might be looking at him as a perfect sell high opportunity. Popped up “out of nowhere,” there is hit tool risk, they just might be thinking they are the one getting one over on you, but it’s going to be the other way around. Play possum on this one. Dummy up. Because what Baez is doing is exactly what Butler did. He’s an absolute specimen at 6’3”, 220 pounds, he crushes the ball, he has 34 steals in 39 attempts in 69 games total, and he now has a 25.8/16.4 K%/BB% in 31 games at Double-A. He’s proving his hit tool gains are real. And the insane, true elite talent is there. Pretend you’re the fool buying in too hard, and then don’t gloat when in a year or two their former owner realizes the mistake they make. You just got lucky ;)”

24) (FYPD-1) (NA) (NA) Ethan Holliday – COL, SS, 18.5 – Why does taking Ethan Holliday 1st overall in FYPD’s feel like falling into a trap? (You can check out my full Top 60 FYPD Rankings on the Patreon) Why does this feel more like Druw Jones 2.0 than Jackson Holliday 2.0? Why does getting drafted into Coors (4th overall in the Draft), the best hitter’s park in baseball, make this feel like falling even more into a trap? I’m thankful that all of my leagues hold their FYPD/available prospects draft in the off-season, after these hitters debut in pro ball and we can start to get some real data and looks on them against pro competition, because right now, I don’t feel strongly about this top pick at all. I’ve tried to put a pitcher in this top spot, but every instinct I’ve ever developed in Dynasty Baseball just wouldn’t let me do it. I’ve considered some other bats for this top spot too, but the bottom line is that there doesn’t seem to be a single player who has the talent, size, upside, bloodlines, and now ballpark to top Ethan Holliday’s potential dynasty value. He’s 6’4”, 200 pounds with a picturesque lefty swing that is smooth and explosive. It has easy double plus power potential written all over it. The dream is that he becomes a middle of the order masher hitting in Coors with power, patience and a solid hit tool. The problem is that he’s shown some swing and miss risk in his amateur career, he still likely needs to make adjustments to fully tap into his raw power, and he’s also not expected to be a big base stealer. So while it’s super easy to talk yourself out of him, there really isn’t anyone slam dunk enough to move me off him right now. For now, he’s my top dog. – ETA: 2028 Prime Projection: 94/32/103/.266/.352/.508/10

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
MID-SEASON 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS
JULY 2025 TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: JUNE MAILBAG! (July Mailbag coming next week)
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)

Welcome to July Prospects Rankings Week!

I was going to do Prospects Rankings Week next week, but I’m too excited to get the FYPD guys in the Rankings and also see where some of the biggest movers will slot in like Florentino and Baez. So this week it is. As usual, I’m going over 300 deep with blurbs for every player on the Patreon. Top 20-ish gets posted for free here on the Brick Wall. First post will drop tom. Catch you then …

-Halp

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
MID-SEASON 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS
JULY 2025 TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS (coming this week)
-TOP 60 2026 FYPD RANKS w/ Analysis & Prime Projections for every player
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: JUNE MAILBAG! (July Mailbag coming next week)
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

2026 Top 50 First Year Player Draft Rankings (Patreon)

When everyone was shitting on last year’s MLB Draft Class around this time last year, I wrote about how much I actually loved it. In this very article, I wrote, “Do not be scared off to trade into this FYPD class because of the rhetoric you hear from mainstream sources. In fact, you can try to use that to get a discount.” And we are already seeing how exciting that class was for fantasy purposes. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about this year’s class. If you want to trade for 2026 FYPD picks, don’t pay up for early picks. Grab later ones on the cheap, because like all draft classes, there is still fun talent throughout the rankings. I’ll be going about 50 deep with analysis, prime projections, and where they would rank on the the Top 300 Prospect Rankings for every player. Top 6 free here on the Brick Wall. Here is the 2026 Top 50 First Year Player Draft Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
MID-SEASON 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS
-TOP 50 2026 FYPD RANKS
JUNE 2025 TOP 302 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: JUNE MAILBAG! (July Mailbag coming next week)
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

1) Ethan Holliday – COL, SS, 18.5 – Why does taking Ethan Holliday 1st overall feel like falling into a trap? Why does this feel more like Druw Jones 2.0 than Jackson Holliday 2.0? Why does getting drafted into Coors (4th overall in the Draft), the best hitter’s park in baseball, make this feel like falling even more into a trap? I’m thankful that all of my leagues hold their FYPD/available prospects draft in the off-season, after these hitters debut in pro ball and we can start to get some real data and looks on them against pro competition, because right now, I don’t feel strongly about this top pick at all. I’ve tried to put a pitcher in this top spot, but every instinct I’ve ever developed in Dynasty Baseball just wouldn’t let me do it. I’ve considered some other bats for this top spot too, but the bottom line is that there doesn’t seem to be a single player who has the talent, size, upside, bloodlines, and now ballpark to top Ethan Holliday’s potential dynasty value. He’s 6’4”, 200 pounds with a picturesque lefty swing that is smooth and explosive. It has easy double plus power potential written all over it. The dream is that he becomes a middle of the order masher hitting in Coors with power, patience and a solid hit tool. The problem is that he’s shown some swing and miss risk in his amateur career, he still likely needs to make adjustments to fully tap into his raw power, and he’s also not expected to be a big base stealer. So while it’s super easy to talk yourself out of him, there really isn’t anyone slam dunk enough to move me off him right now. For now, he’s my top dog. ETA: 2028 Prime Projection: 94/32/103/.266/.352/.508/10 Where he would rank in the Upcoming Top 300 Prospects Rankings: #25 – ranked around Lazaro Montes and Bryce Eldridge

2) Liam Doyle – STL, LHP, 21.1 – I really wanted to put Doyle 1st overall, but I just envisioned Doyle going down with TJ/internal brace while Holliday is ripping up the lower minors and flying up to elite prospect status in the blink of an eye, and I just couldn’t do it. But the reason I wanted to put him first overall, is because Doyle has the type of overpowering, high strikeout stuff that has the potential to simply bulldoze through the minors in the blink of an eye, a la Chase Burns. He’s not as good as Chase Burns, but he’s the closest thing this draft has to him. His main weapon is a mid to upper 90’s fastball with an elite movement profile that is elite at missing bats. The pitch is double plus to legitimately elite, and he throws it often. The secondaries aren’t quite as good, but I think they get undersold. The splitter dominated college hitters with elite whiff rates, the slider has above average potential with bat missing ability, and he’s working on a cutter too. His 42.6% K% led all of D1, and the 8.3 BB% shows the control isn’t in the true danger zone. I also think it says something that the Cardinals drafted him 5th overall. This isn’t the usual Cardinals type of pitcher. They lean floor over upside. But quite clearly they fell in love with Doyle’s upside, which I’m also falling in love with. Kade Anderson is the safer choice and he landed in the perfect situation in Seattle, but I lean pure explosion, and Doyle has more of that explosion than Anderson has right now. Doyle is my top pitcher in FYPD’s. ETA: 2026 Prime Projection: 14/3.33/1.07/216 in 183 IP Where he would rank in the Upcoming Top 300 Prospects Rankings: #30 – ranked around Jonah Tong, Noah Schultz, and Thomas White

3) Eli Willits – WSH, SS, 17.7 – Willits was the semi surprise 1st pick in the draft, but considering there wasn’t a truly slam dunk #1 overall pick, I don’t think it was much of a surprise at all. It seems that he will sign for an under slot deal, which surely factored into Washington’s decision, but even taking money out of it, Willits has a real case to be the top player in this class. He has one of the best hit tools in the high school class with top of the scale contact. He’s a switch hitter and his swing from both sides of the plate are super simple, easy, and very quick. He has plus speed, he’s an aggressive base runner, and he has a plus SS glove. There isn’t much present power, but he’s one of the youngest players in the class at 17 years old, and he’s 6’1”, 175 pounds, so the power should tick up naturally over time. That gives Willits one of the safest floors in the draft with hit, defense and speed, and there is enough power projection here for him to have real upside too. He was worthy of that top pick in this draft class. ETA: 2028 Prime Projection: 93/18/77/.283/.348/.438/31 Where he would rank in the Upcoming Top 300 Prospects Rankings: #35 – ranked around Justin Crawford, Colt Emerson, Angel Genoa and Franklin Arias

4) Kade Anderson – SEA, LHP, 21.0 – Anderson couldn’t have asked for a better landing spot than Seattle (3rd overall). Even after falling in love with Doyle’s explosiveness and pure nastiness, pitching in Seattle almost gives Anderson that extra upside nudge to match Doyle’s. And even if Anderson doesn’t have the pure stuff of Doyle, he beats Doyle on pitchability. He’s a 6’2”, 175 pound lefty with an above average to plus 4 pitch mix. The 93 MPH fastball misses tons of bats with a great movement profile, the plus slider is his main breaker, but he throws a plus curve too, and the changeup is a plus weapon vs. righties. He knows how to pitch, he throws the ball over the plate, and there is definitely some projection left on his frame, meaning there is a chance the fastball can sit mid 90’s at peak. It all led to a 3.18 ERA with a 37.4/7.3 K%/BB% in 119 IP in the SEC. It does seem more #2/3 than true top of the rotation at the moment, but again, Seattle give him a bump, and the fastball could tick up in the future. He’s the safer choice over Doyle, and it’s not like he doesn’t have upside himself. ETA: 2026 Prime Projection: 14/3.41/1.05/205 in 189 IP Where he would rank in the Upcoming Top 300 Prospects Rankings: #40 – ranked around Luis Morales, Logan Henderson, Hunter Barco, Gage Jump and Trey Yesavage

5) Aiva Arquette – MIA, SS, 21.9 – Selected 7th overall, Arquette was the first college bat off the board, and another one wasn’t selected until 13th overall, so he’s clearly the consensus top college bat in the draft by a good margin. The reasons aren’t hard to see. He’s 6’5”, 220 pounds with super smooth athleticism and a viciously quick and powerful righty swing. He slashed .354/.461/.654 with 19 homers, 7 steals, and a 16.5/12.6 K%/BB% in 65 games at Oregon State. He’s not expected to steal many bases, and some hit tool risk could emerge against better competition, so this is a bet on his big righty power bat. He could be a perennial 25+ homer mashing 3B at peak. Do I secretly think Ethan Conrad is the best fantasy college bat in the class? Yes. But trade value matters, and getting the best value out of your draft targets matter too. As of now, you shouldn’t have to go this high to grab Conrad, so I still think Arquette is the smarter play for top college hitter off the board. ETA: 2026 Prime Projection: 85/26/92/.263/.329/.471/8 Where he would rank in the Upcoming Top 300 Prospects Rankings: #50 – ranked around CJ Kayfus, Ryan Waldschmidt, and Mike Sirota

6) Ethan Conrad – CHC, OF, 21.0 – If there is one guy in this FYPD class that really makes me tingle. The guy who I would hate to leave the draft without. The guy I want to say is my guy, it’s Ethan Conrad. He can so easily become the best fantasy player in this draft, and that isn’t even close to a stretch. He’s 6’3”, 220 pounds, and I’m in love with his lefty swing. It’s loose, athletic, upright, and then he absolutely unfurls on the baseball like a big cat striking it’s prey. He was in the midst of a junior year power explosion with 7 homers in 21 games in the ACC before hurting shoulder diving for a ball which required surgery to repair. But you know I’ve been loving the shoulder surgery discount with so many hitters coming back completely fine, and obviously the Cubs thought the same thing stealing him at 17th overall in the Draft. Not only is the power no joke, but he’s fast and he loves to run with 77 steals in 88 attempts in 200 amateur games. He’s also hit extremely well everywhere he’s been since his freshman year. He had a .813 OPS in 200 PA his freshman year in the MAAC, he topped that his sophomore year in the MAC with a 1.171 OPS in 259 PA, he then went to the Cape and put up a .920 OPS in 120 PA, and then he transferred into the ACC and dropped a 1.238 OPS in 21 games. He’s literally never not hit, and his contact rates have always been pretty damn good too with a 14.4% K% this year, a 15% K% in the Cape and a 12.4% K% his sophomore year in the MAAC. He’s had some chase issues throughout this career, he’s yet to really face super tough competition as he was just getting into the meat of his ACC schedule before getting hurt, and I guess there is some risk coming off the shoulder surgery, but all of that just looks like it opens up a giant buying opportunity to me. Conrad is the guy I’m really targeting in this draft. ETA: 2027 Prime Projection: 83/24/88/.262/.324/.461/21  Where he would rank in the Upcoming Top 300 Prospects Rankings: #60 – ranked around Jhostynxon Garcia, Xavier Isaac and Dylan Beavers

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
MID-SEASON 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS
-TOP 50 2026 FYPD RANKS
JUNE 2025 TOP 302 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TOP 9 MID-SEASON 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL TARGETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: JUNE MAILBAG! (July Mailbag coming next week)
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
SPREADSHEETS

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)

Mid-Season 2025 Top 437 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon)

We are at the midway point of the season, and that means it’s time for the Mid-Season Dynasty Baseball Rankings! As usual, I’m going over 400 deep with blurbs for every player. Top 24 free here on the Brick Wall. Previous rankings (May, April, and Off-season) are in parenthesis. Here is the Mid-Season 2025 Top 437 Dynasty Baseball Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
JUNE 2025 TOP 302 PROSPECTS RANKS
MID-SEASON 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
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1) (1) (1) (1) Shohei Ohtani LAD, RHP/DH, 31.0 – Finally made his triumphant return to the mound and I would say throwing a career high 98.7 MPH says he’s pretty healthy. He hasn’t given up a single barrel in 4 IP. The Dodgers are majorly slow playing him with super short outings, and I’m sure there is going to be some rust that pops up (the 22.2% whiff%), but it sure looks like he is going to be get back to being an ace. He also has career highs in Barrel% and Hard Hit%, which is just insane. Nobody is taking this top spot from him

2) (2) (2) (2) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 25.1 – Here is what I wrote for Witt in the last update, “Only 5 homers in 54 games, but poor HR/FB luck is the only problem. He’ll go on a homer binge shortly for sure” … and the homer binge came with 6 homers in his last 27 games.

3) (3) (3) (3) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 23.5 – Here is what I wrote for Elly in the last update, “He’s 12th on the Razzball Player Rater and it doesn’t even feel like he’s been playing that well. K% and Whiff% are both down a hair, which locks in that the hit tool isn’t all of a sudden going to tank him. I’m scared to see where he ends up when he actually gets hot” … and then he got hot, slashing .345/.422/.689 with 10 homers, 6 steals, and a 19.3/11.9 K%/BB% in his last 32 games. Elly with an under 20% K rate is downright scary, and it’s down to 25.2% on the season. He’s 5th on that player rater now

4) (10) (11) (10) Ronald Acuna Jr. – ATL, OF, 27.6 – Two torn up knees? No problem. Acuna is back to being straight elite with 9 homers and a .426 xwOBA in 34 games. He’s also started running again with 4 steals in his last 16 games. He’s fully back. Just stop tearing your knees, please

5) (11) (9) (5) Juan Soto – NYM, OF, 26.8 – Soto went from a .745 OPS on May 28th to a .900 OPS today. That was quick, and the underlying numbers never doubted him for a second. The only one even close to Judge’s league leading .462 xwOBA is Juan Soto at .458. Maybe it was me reminding him to get back to pulling the ball in the air like he did in 2024, because his Air Pull% rose from 11.6% at the time of the last update to 14.6% right now. And he’s going shatter his career high in steals as the cherry on top with 9 already (12 is his career high)

Shadow5) (5) (6) (5) Shohei Ohtani LAD, DH only/Weekly Leagues, 31.0 – This is where I would rank Ohtani in weekly lineup leagues or as a hitter only

6) (4) (5) (6) Corbin Carroll – ARI, OF, 24.10 – Out since June 18th with a chip fracture in his left wrist, but it doesn’t seem very serious and he’s hoping to return in mid July. He was in the midst of a power explosion with career highs by far in bat speed, EV, Max EV and Hard Hit%, leading to a 40+ homer pace. I’m not docking him at all because of the injury

7) (12) (13) (12) James WoodWAS, OF, 22.10 – I already had Wood as an elite dynasty asset this off-season at 12th overall, and the nuclear explosion I saw coming is here in all it’s glory with a 40/20 pace. His bat speed, EV and Hard Hit are up even more from last year into the true elite range, and he’s been much better on the bases too. I remember when this dude was dropping in FYPD rankings for supposed work ethic concerns, which I ignored and named him a major target. I’ve been naming him a major target every year since, and it’s awesome to see him fully blossom

8) (6) (8) (7) Kyle Tucker – CHC, OF, 28.6 – Epic contract year performance and you know he has it on the mind when he’s racking up steals more than he ever has with 20 steals in 83 games. He’s also on pace to shatter his career high in homers with 17. This is how you do a contract year

9) (5) (4) (4) Gunnar Henderson – BAL, SS, 24.0 – I’m seeing people getting frustrated with Gunnar, but there is no way I’m budging off him very far. The 93.2 MPH EV is a career high and so is the 17.2% Air Pull%. He’s just playing to the low end of his ability right now, and the low end of his ability is still a 125 wRC+ with a 20/20 pace

10) (7) (10) (8) Aaron Judge NYY, OF, 33.2 – 35.7% K% in June and the man (if we can even call him a mere man) has a .975 OPS anyway. The only reason I have Judge 10th is because of age, because if you are win now mode, you clearly aren’t trading this man

11) (8) (6) (9) Fernando Tatis Jr. – SDP, OF, 26.6 – It’s his 2nd mediocre month in a row, and while the .384 xwOBA is much higher than the .347 wOBA, he has a history of underperforming his underlying numbers. He’s still on a nearly 30/30 pace and he’s crushing the ball with a 93.1 MPH EV, so I still love him, but you gotta nitpick a bit at the top of these rankings

12) (13) (17) (25) CJ AbramsWAS, SS, 24.9 – Just continues to lock himself into elite to near elite dynasty asset territory, slashing .354/.424/.598 with 4 homers, 6 steals, and a 14.1/8.7 K%/BB% in his last 19 games. The power is leveling up, but it’s been the hit tool taking the biggest jump. And while he’s still not a good SS, he’s been better there than last year too. This is just a young kid improving in every aspect of the game. He took his punishment at the end of last year like a man and came back better than ever, like I thought he would.

13) (15) (33) (64) Pete Crow-Armstrong – CHC, OF, 23.4 – I’ve victory lapped Pete Crow so hard and so often I’m passed out from exhaustion on the side of the road. Are victory laps only supposed to be metaphorical? Am I the only one actually doing them for real? Is the 44.4% Chase% still a tad concerning? Sure. So there is still real regression risk here, but even with regression, the power/speed combo isn’t going anywhere

14) (19) (18) (19) Paul SkenesPIT, RHP, 23.1 – 2.12 ERA with a 26.9/7.2 K%/BB% in 106 IP. The only nitpick is that the K% is on the low side, but his 29.6% whiff% is actually higher than last year. There is an argument for Skubal to take the top spot, but Skenes hasn’t done anything to lose his #1 spot, and while I’m not as concerned with age for pitchers as I am hitters, he has 5 years on Skubal too. It’s scary for me to rank any pitcher this high, but the young bats after this are showing enough risk themselves to push Skenes over them

15) (24) (24) (28) Tarik SkubalDET, LHP, 28.7 – He’s better than Skenes. His 33.4/3.4 K%/BB% in 109 IP blow Skenes out of the water. But Skenes has 5 years on him, and that has to count for something on a dynasty list. Skenes is also the reigning champ, and he’s done nothing to get knocked off that top spot. It’s a coin slip, but that’s why I’m sticking with Skenes at #1

16) (9) (7) (24) Oneil CruzPIT, OF/SS, 26.9 – The hit tool got him. He has a .167 BA with a 36.5% K% over his last 27 games. But he still has 4 homers and 9 steals over that time. He’s still on pace for like 30/50. And his .238 xBA and career .241 BA in 1,330 PA still gives me the confidence to stay patient through the struggles. His 22.8% Barrel% is 2nd to only Aaron Judge. His 96.3 MPH EV leads all of baseball. I ain’t running scurred after a slump.

17) (14) (14) (14) Wyatt Langford – TEX, OF, 23.8 – The May slump has extended into June and then he hit the IL with an oblique strain. The underlying numbers aren’t saying he’s going full explosion or anything, but they aren’t showing anything wrong either. The hit tool and plate approach haven’t been quite as good as last year, but not in a range to be concerned. I just think this is a young kid going through the ups and downs of a career. Maybe some growing pains. Overall, I still see an across the board beast at peak, so don’t get discouraged here. Stay patient.

18) (18) (15) (13) Jackson ChourioMIL, OF, 21.4 – Here is what I wrote for Chourio in the last update, “Julio Rodriguez is the slow starter King, but Chourio may be coming for that crown with a slow start for his 3rd year in row (2023 came in the minors). I’m not gonna lie, the underlying numbers don’t look pretty either with a .289 xwOBA, 87.2 MPH EV, and 40.5% Chase%, but the bottom line is that you can’t sell low. You can’t panic. My bet is still being placed on a monster 2nd half” … and while he wasn’t exploded yet, we are seeing signs of the come up. He has a .805 OPS over his last 30 games and that xwOBA has risen to a better .301. Even with him not really getting hot yet, he still has 13 homers, 15 steals, and a .254 BA in 83 games. And he’s still just 21 years old It’s a long season, and I’m still betting on the 2nd half heater

19) (16) (12) (11) Julio Rodriguez – SEA, OF, 24.6 – 2022 – .814 OPS pre break vs. .937 OPS post break. 2023 – .721 OPS pre break vs. 941 OPS post. 2024 – .690 OPS pre vs. .818 OPS post. 2025 – .726 OPS pre vs. ??? post … call me crazy, but I’ll keep betting on the post break explosion until it doesn’t happen.

20) (21) (19) (18) Jose Ramirez – CLE, 3B, 32.8 – In the midst of another elite season. My rule for elite studs like Ramirez is that you ride them until their age 33 year old season. Only then do you start to consider selling, but even that is based on your team.

21) (26) (26) (29) Garrett Crochet – BOS, LHP, 26.0 – I wasn’t budging off Crochet even there were some slight signs of regression, and then he went out and put up a 2.68 ERA with a 35.7/5.4 K%/BB% in his last 47 IP. I was going on and on about Skenes vs. Skubal, but Crochet has a case for #1 overall himself

22) (41) (60) (108) Hunter Brown – HOU, RHP, 26.10 – Here is what I wrote about Brown in the Rundowns after his latest start, “7 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 9/0 K/BB vs. PHI. All 6 of his pitches were working, leading to a 79.5 MPH EV against with a 39% whiff%. He now has a 1.74 ERA with a 32.1/7.6 K%/BB% in 98 IP. I ranked Brown 41st overall in the latest update and closed out his blurb by writing, “He’s a no doubt ace, just not ready to put him into that Skenes, Skubal, Gilbert, Crochet, Yamamoto tier … yet” … and I think “yet,” has quite clearly come. At the time of that update, the whiff% was sitting at 26.6%, and now it raised to 28.8%. Brown is in the elite of the elite tier.”

23) (46) (93) (135) Cal Raleigh – SEA, C, 28.7 – Dude is putting up double digit homers every damn month with 10 in April, 12 in May and now 11 in June. He’s not slowing down

24) (58) (39) (46) Junior CamineroTBR, 3B, 22.0 – Here is what I wrote about Caminero in the Rundowns after he hit his 20th bomb, and he just hit his 21st last night, “ Make it #20 for Caminero with a 106 MPH bomb on a 85.1 MPH swing. That puts him on pace for over 40 dingers. The 8.9 degree launch is low, but when he does lift it, he makes it count with a 21.7% Air Pull% and a 96.4 MPH FB/LD EV. The 20.2% whiff% is down 11.5 percentage points from last year. He might just be ascending to the #1 hit/power combo dynasty asset in the game. Bye bye, Vlad. Bye, bye Rafael. Where have you been, Yordan? There is a new Sheriff in town, and his name is Junior Alberto Caminero.”

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
JUNE 2025 TOP 302 PROSPECTS RANKS
MID-SEASON 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
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SPREADSHEETS

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)

 

Top 302 June 2025 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings (Patreon)

This list is for non debuted prospects only. I want all fresh faces, and I want everyone being evaluated on an even playing field with no MLB sample tainting the analysis. As usual, I go over 300 deep with blurbs for every player. Top 25 free here on the Brick Wall. Previous Rankings (Off-season and May) are in parenthesis. Here is the Top 302 June 2025 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
MAY 2025 TOP 443 DYNASTY RANKS (5/30/25)
JUNE 2025 TOP 302 PROSPECTS RANKS
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-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
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1) (21) (35) Konnor Griffin – PIT, OF, 19.1 – Roman Anthony finally got the call, and how fun is it to finally crown a new #1 non debuted prospect in baseball. And there is no funner (yes, I know that isn’t a word) prospect than Konnor Griffin. There is also no prospect with higher upside than Griffin. I was high on Griffin this off-season, but the Baseball Gods were telling me I wasn’t even high enough, writing in his FYPD Tier One Target blurb, “If one player in this group kinda pings my gut and heart every time I pass his name in the rankings, it’s Griffin. It’s like I’m getting a signal that he is the guy to truly go after. All of the college bats are good, but not great, and Griffin has the potential to be great. If you have the guts that I didn’t have in these rankings, maybe it’s Griffin that is the true top pick after Sasaki. Especially in a shallow league, it could be fun to roll the dice on him.” … and that dice roll is coming up 7’s if you took him first (I was able to nab him 11th overall in my 18 teamer). He conquered Single-A with 9 homers, 26 steals and a 156 wRC+ in 50 games, and his only weakness, plate skills, was improving massively by the end of his stint there with a 12.5/12.5 K%/BB% in his last 16 games. It earned him the challenge of High-A, and it’s gonna be fun seeing what he can do. He’s my #1 non debuted prospect in baseball.

2) (4) (15) Sebastian Walcott – TEX, SS, 19.3 – The game power is coming with 8 homers in 53 games at Double-A, and the plate skills are actually improving at the tougher level with a 21.2/12.4 K%/BB%. He’s not dominating, but he’s doing everything you wanted to see him do this year. I wouldn’t argue with you if you wanted to put Walcott first.

3) (7) (18) Josue De Paula – LAD, OF, 20.0 – I’ve been all in on Josue since he was a complete unknown in the DSL, and I’m not slowing down now, especially with the last piece of the puzzle coming together, and that is the game power. He has 8 homers in 56 games at High-A, the plate approach is still elite, and he keeps on racking up steals with 16 in 19 attempts. He is the complete offensive package, and even though he’s bad on defense, this is the type of bat to not care too much about that for fantasy.

4) (41) (252) Luis Pena – MIL, SS/3B/SS, 18.6 – I named Pena a Target this off-season in a DSL tier with Joswa Lugo, Yolfran Castillo, Yairo Padilla, Elvin Garcia and Jhonny Level, writing in his blurb, “Pena was a hit/speed breakout whose swing looks damn dangerous to me, and he’s not super small or anything at 5’11”. This could be the group where we find the next blow up. Take a lotto ticket or two here.” … and we did find the next blowup in this group, and that man’s name is Luis Pena. That explosive swing I couldn’t get out of my head has led to a power explosion with 5 homers in 35 games, and it comes with elite contact (11.5%) and speed (24 steals). He hits the ball hard, he doesn’t have any groundball issues, he pulls it … he’s the total package.

5) (6) (20) Bubba Chandler PIT, RHP, 22.9 – The fact that Chandler hasn’t been called up already is just robbing baseball fans. Slow playing hitters is one thing, but pitchers with upper 90’s gas get hurt all the time. We don’t know how many bullets are in the tank. To let this man rot at Triple-A is baseball malpractice.

6) (10) (23) Chase Burns – CIN, RHP, 22.5 – Double-A was a complete joke for Burns with a 1.29 ERA and 36.4/2.6 K%/BB% in 42 IP, and while Triple-A has been slowing down tons of pitchers these days, I think Burns is ready for the challenge. We could see him in the majors by the 2nd half of the season. Chandler and Burns are in a tier of their own right now.

7) (3) (8) Leodalis De Vries – SDP, SS, 18.8 – He cooled off majorly with a .571 OPS in his last 26 games at High-A, but keep in mind that the Midwest League is a very tough league for hitters. His home park is one of the best places to hit in the league, and he has a .972 OPS there. On the road in tougher parks he has a .613 OPS. I’m not budging off Leo … well, I guess I am budging, but I’m not budging too far

8) (5) (9) Walker Jenkins MIN, OF, 20.3 – Ain’t no way I can let an ankle injury impact Jenkins’ ranking. He just returned from the injury and after looking good in the lower minors, he’s back at Double-A for the last 2 games

9) (8) (32) Jesus Made MIL, SS, 18.1 – I mean, he’s no Luis Pena 😉 … The .280/.389/.423 isn’t exactly a dominating triple-slash, but keep in mind he was still 17 years old for the first month of the season, and everything we loved about him in the DSL is transferring

10) (13) (13) Samuel Basallo – BAL, C/1B, 20.9 – 93.4 MPH EV with a 33.7% whiff% in 39 games at Triple-A really says it all. There is huge power, but don’t completely discount the hit tool risk. Having said that, he’s 20 years old, so I would bet on that improving as he gains more experience

11) (11) (10) Andrew Painter PHI, RHP, 22.2 – I’ve hinted more than a few times that Painter doesn’t really look all the way back to where he was pre-injury, and with what we’ve seen from tons of Tommy John/internal brace returnees, that is really par for the course. The 3.86 ERA with a 26.9/11.8 K%/BB% in 21 IP at Triple-A is just not the bulletproof, basically perfect pitching prospect he was before the injury. The control hasn’t been as crisp and he’s not missing as many bats. I’m betting on him continuing to improve, but there is no guarantee

12) (17) (17) JJ Wetherholt STL, 2B, 22.9 – Everything is transferring to Double-A. He’s exactly who we thought he was

13) (16) (16) Travis Bazzana – CLE, 2B, 22.9 – He’s almost exactly who we thought he was. That 26.2% K% in 33 games at Double-A is a tad higher than hoped. But he’s lifting and pulling and he’s running, so it’s a fantasy friendly profile. He’s currently out with an oblique strain since May 15th that is expected to keep him out for 8-10 weeks

14) (22) (19) Max Clark – DET, OF, 20.5 – The only thing missing from his great start to the season was the power/speed combo, so he added that back in with 3 homers and 7 steals in his last 25 games.

15) (40) (54) Kevin McGonigle – DET, SS/2B, 20.9 – Here is what I wrote about McGonigle in the latest Dynasty Rundown and my thoughts remain the same now, “I’ve underestimated McGonigle his entire career, and I’m ashamed of myself. Hit tool first high school prospects are not my favorite bucket to shop in FYPD’s, so he wasn’t an FYPD target for me, and that was a mistake. He doesn’t jump off the screen at 5’10”, 187 pounds, and that led me to underrated him after his excellent pro performance too. The little man discount took me out, and I pride myself on the little man discount. But all the underrating from me stops now, as he cracked a true power hitter’s bomb into the parking lot for his 2nd homer in 11 games at High-A. The plate skills are silly elite with a 7.7/21.2 K%/BB%, he hits the ball hard, he can lift and pull, and while he’s yet to steal a base this year, we know he has that too with 22 steals in 24 attempts in 74 games in 2024. He’s awesome and I’ve never given him the respect he deserves.”

16) (20) (43) Zyhir Hope – LAD, OF, 20.4 – He’s 1 for 3 on the bases in his last 50 games. That is just 1 steal since April 10th. That could be a bit of an upside capper for fantasy, especially with some hit tool risk here too

17) (23) (104) Bryce Rainer – DET, SS, 19.11 – I’ve been talking about it for most of the season, but shoulder surgery doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal for hitters anymore. Neto, Ohtani and Varsho all returned this season ripping dingers, arguably stronger than they’ve ever looked before. So I’m not fading Rainer at all due to the shoulder surgery. I closed out Rainer’s Top 1,000 blurb by writing, “Riley Greene might actually be the perfect comp here, and Detroit has done a great job developing Greene. Detroit got their SS version of Greene” … and he basically performed right to that comp. He’s a buy low off the surgery if you can

18) (49) (31) Aidan Miller PHI, SS, 21.0 – The hit tool is getting a bit exposed at Double-A with a 27.2% K% and .234 BA, but he just turned 21, and he’s been better of late with a .264 BA in his last 28 games. The 6 homers and 22 steals are also damn exciting for fantasy

19) (107) (103) Eduardo Quintero – LAD, OF, 19.9 – Utterly obliterating Single-A with true across the board destruction, and the only nitpick from early in the year, the high K%, has been coming down of late too with a 19.6% K% in his last 21 games. He has zero groundball issues. Kid is a stud

20) (66) (181) Caleb Bonemer CHW, SS, 19.8 – The high school talent in the 2025 FYPD class is popping all over the place, and Bonemer is leading the 2nd round charge, slashing .278/.419/.473 with 5 homers, 17 steals, and a 22.5/18.5 K%/BB% in 49 games at Single-A. He has the talent and power/speed combo to back up the numbers, He’s lifting and pulling. I’m all in on Bonemer

21) (135) (106) Theo Gillen – TBR, SS, 19.9 – Dominating Single-A, slashing .283/.438/.453 with 4 homers, 17 steals, and a 23.7/19.4 K%/BB% in 31 games. He was one of my favorite targets after the consensus top tier was off the board, so he most certainly has the talent to back up the numbers. There still might be a buy window here before his value explodes

22) (50) (71) Josue Briceno DET, C/1B, 20.8 – Going bonkos at High-A with 8 homers in his last 14 games. That gives him 13 homers with a 173 wRC+ and 19.0/7.9 K%/BB% in 40 games on the season. This is the elite, middle of the order blowup that I warned you about this off-season when I named him a major target. And I’ve been naming him a target from before he got even a whisper of hype. I love this dude.

23) (32) (93) Arjun Nimmala – TOR, SS, 19.8 – One of the most visually dangerous righty swings in the game, and he’s backing it up with 9 homers and a 19.9/11.0 K%/BB% in 51 games at High-A. Age to level production, power, athleticism … there is nothing not to like

24) (43) (70) Jacob Misiorowski – MIL, RHP, 23.2 – We aren’t quite out of the woods yet with his control problems with 11 walks in his last 11 IP, which is definitely a bit scary, but a 12.3% BB% is still a career best, and I just can’t bring myself to fade his monster stuff with elite bat missing ability. Plus he’s in a great organization

25) (37) (24) Bryce Eldridge – SFG, 1B, 20.7 – 8 homers with a 27.2/10.5 K%/BB% in 39 games in the upper minors. We know who Eldridge is, and while the power is good enough to conquer San Francisco, I do think it shaves some upside off the top

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
MAY 2025 TOP 443 DYNASTY RANKS (5/30/25)
JUNE 2025 TOP 302 PROSPECTS RANKS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: MAY MAILBAG!
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)