Updated May 2025 Top 443 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon)

Things move fast in the Dynasty Baseball world, and that means there was tons of movement since the last update, even amongst the elite. Hello Pete Crow Armstrong and Zach Neto. Top 27 free here on the Brick Wall. Blurbs for every player. Previous rankings (April and Off-season) are in parenthesis. Here is the Updated May 2025 Top 443 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon):

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)
MAY 2025 TOP 323 PROSPECTS RANKS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: MAY MAILBAG!
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS

1) (1) (1) Shohei Ohtani LAD, RHP/DH, 30.11 – Over the off-season, Bobby Witt was kinda tempting to put over Ohtani after the shoulder surgery, but that temptation has been completely squashed. There is nobody that can touch Ohtani for this top spot, and it’s not even close

2) (2) (2) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 25.0 – 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

3) (3) (3) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 23.5 – 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

4) (5) (6) Corbin Carroll – ARI, OF, 24.8 – Carroll done messed around and turned into one of the premier power hitters in our game. His power metrics are up everywhere. Bat speed (75 MPH), EV (93.6 MPH), launch (16.1 degrees) … all of them are up considerably and into the elite range. He needed to give up some contact and speed to do it, but we’ll take that trade off all day. I could honestly pick 2 through 5 out of hat be happy with any order

5) (4) (4) Gunnar Henderson – BAL, SS, 23.11 – .902 OPS in his last 27 games. 94.6 MPH EV is a career high. It took him a second to shake the rust off from his delayed start to the season, but he’s clearly just fine

Shadow5) (6) (5) Shohei Ohtani LAD, DH only/Weekly Leagues, 30.11 – This is where I would rank Ohtani in weekly lineup leagues or as a hitter only, and I honestly wouldn’t argue with you if you wanted to put him at Shadow 1.

6) (8) (7) Kyle Tucker – CHC, OF, 28.5 – .416 xwOBA is a career high and 8th best in baseball. He’s on a career high pace for both homers and steals. The Quiet Killer ain’t going to be so quiet when we see how much he gets paid this off-season

7) (10) (8) Aaron Judge NYY, OF, 33.1 – Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are just playing a different game than everyone else. Judge has a .477 xwOBA and Ohtani has a .474 xwOBA. Judge doesn’t run as much, he doesn’t pitch, and he’s 2+ years older, so I can’t place him over Ohtani for dynasty, but if you are going for the title in 2025, Ohtani is the only person I would trade him for.

8) (6) (9) Fernando Tatis Jr. – SDP, OF, 26.5 – He’s cooled off in May but he’s still been crushing the ball so it just looks like an aberration

9) (7) (24) Oneil CruzPIT, OF/SS, 26.8 – 25.5% Barrel% leads all of baseball. 78.9 MPH swing leads all of baseball. 18 stolen bases is 3rd best behind only Luis Robert and Bobby Witt. Sure he strikes out too much, but when you are insanely elite everywhere else, I don’t care. The .256 xBA is also better than the .238 BA even with all the swing and miss

10) (11) (10) Ronald Acuna Jr. – ATL, OF, 27.5 – I did not budge very much off Acuna this off-season, and I’m happy I didn’t. It was clear that he was completely healthy as he was destroying the minors, and now he’s destroying the majors with 2 homers in 3 games. The only question is how much he’s going to run

11) (9) (5) Juan Soto – NYM, OF, 26.7 – Soto will be fine. His .428 xwOBA is 4th best in baseball. But I’m scratching my head on why he decided to stop lifting and pulling. His 19.1% Air Pull% in 2024 was well above average and a career high by far, and it resulted in the best season of his career. I assumed it was a conscious decision to aim for that short porch, but he hit more homers on the road than at home, so there was no reason to change anything going into 2025. But now it’s all the way down to 11.6% again. Is it intentional? Was 2024 just an aberration? I talked about it on the May Mailbag Podcast, but I’m scratching my head on why he decided to go back. On the plus side his 7 steals in 52 games is a career high pace

12) (13) (12) James WoodWAS, OF, 22.9 – I’m fairly certain I was the only person with the guts, the cojones, to rank James Wood over Jackson Chourio this off-season, and while I still love Chourio, it’s really more about how good Wood is. He’s a special talent with a 75.7 MPH swing, 93.7 MPH EV, and 28 fts/sec sprint. Even with a 4 degree launch, he’s the midst of a special season with a .920 OPS and .395 xwOBA. He’s an elite dynasty asset. Simple as that. Also please know when I talk some shit like this, it is done with a smile on my face and in the vein of ball busting with friends. I love the dynasty/fantasy community.

13) (17) (25) CJ AbramsWAS, SS, 24.8 – I was the high guy on Abrams this off-season. I was buying low based off his little suspension or whatever, and now it’s paying off in a major way. He’s hit the ball harder every year of his career with a 30.7% Hard Hit% in 2022, a 35.9% Hard Hit% in 2023, a 40.7% Hard Hit% in 2024 and now a 44.2% Hard Hit% in 2025. The contact, launch, and speed were already there. He’s a perennial 30/30 guy waiting to happen

14) (14) (14) Wyatt Langford – TEX, OF, 23.7 – He’s been slumping in May but all of the underlying numbers are where we want them to be. 14.5Barrel%, 91.6 MPH EV, 15.3 degree launch, 28.9 ft/sec sprint, 23.8% whiff%, 24.3% chase% … He’s going to be special

15) (33) (64) Pete Crow-Armstrong – CHC, OF, 23.2 . I ranked Pete Crow all the way up at 64th overall in the off-season Top 1,000 Rankings, starting off his blurb by writing, “Pete Crow Armstrong’s power has been underrated from the time he was drafted,” and ending with “Put some respect on this man’s name. His name is Pete Crow Armstrong, not Pete Crow Armweak.” If you’ve read my work at any point over the last 5 years, you know I have been shouting from the mountain tops to buy PCA. And I can’t even put into words how good it feels to watch this explosion. He’s 3rd overall on the Razzball Player Rater 14 homers, 14 steeals, and a .280 BA. He has a 14.0% Barrel%, 89.6 MPH EV, 23.8 degree launch and 40.9% Hard Hit%, backing up the power gains. His 26.7% whiff% is a career high. The only quibble is a 42.8% Chase%, which yea, that is bad, but I’m not going to harp on it. Mostly because I don’t know how to play the Harp 😉 … but also because everything else looks so great. This dude is made for fantasy. Sure he might regress some, which is why I have him ranked here, and not 3rd overall.

16) (12) (11) Julio Rodriguez – SEA, OF, 24.5 – Only 6 steals in 51 games and he only stole 24 bags in 143 games last year. The ballpark (6 homers on the road vs. 3 homers at home) and launch (7.6 degrees) are preventing a true game power explosion. We know Julio is a slow starter and Julio is still a fantasy beast, but beyond the slow start stuff, there are a couple things here to nitpick

17) (16) (15) Jackson MerrillSDP, OF, 22.1 – Don’t kill me. Just reporting the facts, ma’am, but that .390 BABIP is doing a lot of the heavy lifting right now. The .394 xwOBA is elite too, but he only has 1 steal in 27 games (maybe you can blame the hamstring injury), the EV, K%, launch, whiff% and chase% are all actually down a hair. I love him and that xwOBA doesn’t lie. The surface stats are great. But just thought I would point some things out I’m seeing while also keeping in mind his sample is smaller because of the injury

18) (15) (13) Jackson ChourioMIL, OF, 21.3 – 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

19) (18) (19) Paul SkenesPIT, RHP, 23.0 – He’s not striking out as many guys as we would hope with a 26.2% K%, but you don’t want to slice and dice the numbers too much on a so clearly elite stud. You don’t slice and dice Skenes … Skenes slices and dices you

20) (37) (43) Zach Neto – LAA, SS, 24.4 – Nobody can make me happier than Pete Crow Armstrong, but Zach Neto is a close 2nd. I was the high guy on him from the get go just like PCA, ignored the shoulder surgery this off-season and didn’t budge off him, and now he’s going next level breakout with a 17.5% Barrel%, 93.7 MPH EV, 19.6 degree launch and .399 xwOBA. The 28.4/4.7 K%/BB% doesn’t look great, but the 26.7% whiff% and 25% Chase% both look much better, so I’m not concerned there at all. Neto is blossoming into an elite dynasty asset right before our eyes

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.

22) (20) (20) Bryce Harper PHI, 1B, 32.7 – .392 xwOBA is in the top 10% of baseball. And he’s on a career high stolen base pace with 8 steals. Still elite even if the surface stats don’t quite show it right now

23) (21) (22) Francisco Lindor – NYM, SS, 31.6 – Will once again be knocking on the door of 30/30 for his 3rd season in a row

24) (24) (28) Tarik SkubalDET, LHP, 28.6 – 2.7% BB% leads all qualified starters. 35.0% K% is 2nd amongst all starters, trailing only MacKenzie Gore. Velocity is up even more from his career high marks last year at 97.7 MPH. 35.8% whiff% is silly elite. Hard to say that he’s not the best starter in baseball, but Skenes still has the age edge, and pitchers are still just so much more risky than hitters

25) (41) (31) Rafael Devers BOS, 3B, 28.7 – Career high 17.2% Barrel% and 94.8 MPH EV, to go along with a .945 OPS can basically put an end to the shoulder worries. On the other hand, he’s going to lose 3B eligibility and he refuses to play 1B (for now), so being DH only will definitely be annoying for fantasy roster construction

26) (26) (29) Garrett Crochet – BOS, LHP, 25.11 – He’s not as dominant as 2024, but I’m not going to argue with a 2.04 ERA and 29.8/8.0 K%/BB% in 75 IP too much. The stuff is down a tick, the whiffs are down a tick and the walks are up a tick, but this is still a young ace

27) (27) (37) Yoshinobu Yamamoto – LAD, RHP, 26.10 – He was great in year 1 and he’s even better in year 2 with a 1.97 ERA and 30.5/8.1 K%/BB% in 64 IP. His splitter is the most valuable splitter in baseball by a decent margin

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) 
MAY 2025 TOP 323 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)

Welcome to May Dynasty Baseball Rankings Week!

It’s time for the Dynasty Rankings to get the ole’ refresher. Enjoy your Memorial Day, and then bright and early on Tuesday you will get hit with the first part of the Updated Rankings on the Patreon. I’m going over 400 deep with blurbs for every player. Top 20-ish gets posted for free here on the Brick Wall. Enjoy the day. Catch you tom …

-Halp

Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (5/19/25)

I’ll be running down everything that caught my eye in the Dynasty Baseball world on most Mondays throughout the season here on the Brick Wall. The rest of the week you can catch my Rundowns on the Patreon. Here is the Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (5/19/25):

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
APRIL 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS (4/25/25) (May Update coming next week)
MAY 2025 TOP 323 PROSPECTS RANKS
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG! (May Mailbag coming this week)

Jack Leiter TEX, RHP, 25.1 – I always find it so interesting when a prospect starts to get on the radar of smart baseball fans/redraft analyst’s who don’t play dynasty and don’t dive deep into the prospect world. We prospectors and dynasty baseball fiends have been following these guys careers from probably well before they were even drafted, and we see all the ups and downs. We have the big picture, birds eye view. And we value guys accordingly. But then all of a sudden a guy will make their MLB debut, or be on the precipice of their debut, and then a whole new set of eyes will get on them. A whole new group of smart people will discover a guy for mostly the first time, and those fresh eyes bring a different perspective. Enter Jack Leiter, who prospectors rode the ups and down with in his minor league career, and by the time he made his debut in 2024, and then again this off-season, he basically fell off everyone’s Top 100. We all knew about the big stuff, but we saw the problems and inconsistency. But the people really getting a look at him for the first time were all just drooling over the big stuff and flying him up rankings. Sometimes this can reveal a prospect fatigue within the prospect/dynasty industry, and the fresh eyes are correct. But sometimes having the bigger picture wins out, and in the case of Leiter, the inconsistencies are popping back up after a strong start to the season. He went 7 IP with 3 hits, 3 ER, and a 4/2 K/BB vs. Houston yesterday, and he now has a 5.54 ERA with a 15.5/13.6 K%/BB% since returning from the IL. The huge stuff is there with upper 90’s heat but he has below average control/command and he doesn’t have a great secondary. It’s been the story of his career, and it’s again the story of this season. The hyped kick change this off-season has been bad. The slider looked good early, but it’s dropped back off since returning. The tantalizing talent is in there. It’s what got him drafted 2nd overall, but he just hasn’t put it together. This blurb wasn’t meant as a diss at all to anyone. I love it when smart, fresh eyes get a look at a prospect that the same people have been evaluating for years. It’s interesting and it usually does reveal some biases of the prospect community. And as for Leiter, you never want to bet against a guy with this level of stuff eventually figuring it out. I want to buy in. I bought in too much after his hot start. But in the end, it was just flashes. The inconsistency is back unfortunately.

Mick Abel – PHI, RHP, 23.9 – Now after patting the prospect community on the back for Jack Leiter, it deserves to be admonished for Mick Abel. We gave up on this man after his horrific 2024, and now he’s making us regret it in 2025. After massively improving his control and putting up a good season at Triple-A with a 2.53 ERA and 26.6/9.9 K%/B% in 46.1 IP, he made his MLB debut and showed out, going 6 IP with 5 hits, 0 ER, and a 9/0 K/BB vs. PIT. The fastball sat 97.3 MPH and dominated with a 32% whiff%. The curve was untouchable with 8 of 11 whiffs. He also mixed in a slider, sinker and changeup, leading to a 38% whiff% overall. He straight up outdueled Paul Skenes in this one. He’s not actually this good, I don’t think, as he wasn’t even this good at Triple-A, but what an exclamation point to make that his improvement is for real. This is when betting on the stuff and not worrying about the inconsistency pays off … although we do have a track record of up and down performance. So maybe we should keep a little bit of that bird’s eye view and have some caution. But after yesterday, I want to fly him up rankings too.

Jackson Jobe – DET, RHP, 22.8 – Speaking of being patient with huge stuff, ain’t nobody was going off Jackson Jobe, and I’m liking what I’m seeing of late, especially after yesterday, He went 6 IP with 6 hits, 2 ER, and a 5/2 K/BB vs. TOR, and what I’m liking the most is the 31% whiff%. He had a high whiff rate vs. Boston in his last outing too. Seeing the swing and miss is huge, and to me it is a sign that he is starting to figure it out. The season line still isn’t very good with a 18.5/12.5 K%/BB% in 39.1 IP, but the changeup is starting to look like an elite pitch with a 71% whiff% in this one, the 96.6 MPH fastball is missing more bats with a 25% whiff%, and the slider is inducing weak contact with a 82.3 MPH EV. The ingredients are in here, and he’s starting to put it together.

Chase Dollander COL, RHP, 23.6 – 4.2 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 6/2 K/BB at Arizona. Every time Dollander pitches on the road, it’s just a little bit of torture. Just a taste of what his career could have looked like if he didn’t get drafted into Coors. He has a 4.29 ERA, 1.095 WHIP, and a 26.7% K% in 21 IP on the road vs. a 8.66 ERA, 1.811 WHIP and 17.4% K% in 17.2 IP at home. I mean, it just isn’t fair. Life isn’t fair. The 97.5 MPH fastball dominated with a 30% whiff%, and so did the curve with a 39% whiff%. Can they just not use him at home? Let some other scrub get bombed there.

Heliot Ramos SFG, OF, 25.8 – He got another one at home! This one crushed at 111.2 MPH. The first one he hit at home was like 112+ MPH. That’s all he has to do. Just crush them at 110+ MPH at home and you will be fine. He now has a .968 OPS on the road vs. a .725 OPS at home. He’s like the hitting version of Dollander.

Dylan Crews WAS, OF, 23.1 – 2 for 4 with a 106 MPH homer off Eflin. Crews is one of my favorite buy lows right now. He has 6 homers and 11 steals in 44 games, which everyone would be crazy over if he just had normal BABIP luck. His .255 xBA and .233 BABIP are screaming that the .191 BA is unlucky. There is absolutely nothing in his profile which would show that he is a low BABIP player. It’s actually the opposite. With normal luck, he would be absolutely flying up the rankings, but right now his value is pretty damn low. I sense people wanting to give up, but now is not the time. It’s actually time to pounce if his current owner is getting tired of him.

Josue De Paula LAD, OF, 19.11, A+ – The game power breakout has so clearly arrived for De Paula after he unloaded for his 7th homer in 38 games at High-A. Just watch that beautiful and powerful lefty swing, which he combines with an elite plate approach (16.7/17.9 K%/BB%) and athleticism (10 steals). Sure he can’t play a lick of defense, but with a bat like this, I don’t care. I already ranked him 7th overall in the Updated May Top 323 Dynasty Prospects Rankings (Patreon), so I can’t possibly be any higher than I am already, but he just keeps on locking in the gains.

Luis Pena – MIL, SS/3B/SS, 18.5, A – Pena’s homered in back to back games, ripping a liner out yesterday that just kept on carrying over the fence, which puts the final exclamation point on his truly elite prospect blow up to start his stateside career. There can be no doubts now with him slashing .327/.400/.505 with 3 homers, 21 steals, and a 8.7/9.6 K%/BB% in 25 games at Single-A. He was a named Target for me this off-season, writing in his Target 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.” He’s proving my eyes were not deceiving me as he’s using that explosive swing to rocket the ball all over the field. The contact is elite, the base stealing is elite, and now we are seeing the power uptick right before our eyes. He’s elite.

JJ Wetherholt STL, 2B, 22.8, AA – Speaking of elite contact with real power and speed, Wetherholt went lefty and lefty for his 3rd homer in 27 games at Double-A, and he did it with some swagger, watching it leave the park. He’s now slashing .296/.383/.449 with 3 homers, 4 steals, and a 11.3/10.4 K%/BB% in 27 games. He’s in the mold of a Jung Hoo Lee. Maybe the power/speed numbers won’t be off the charts, but the hit tool can make up for it, and he can hit the ball damn hard.

Colt Emerson SEA, SS, 19.9, A+ – Emerson has officially snapped out of his early season slump, slicing an opposite field homer on a 4 for 8 with 2 steal day. He now has a 1.054 OPS with 4 homers, 2 steals, and a 5/7 K/BB in his last 13 games at High-A. The wRC+ is up to a respectable 115 on the season. He’s in that same mold that Wetherholt is in with a bit more swing and miss and a bit more ultimate power potential at peak. The 54.8% GB% is high and he’s only 2 for 5 on the bases, but he hits the ball hard, and the hit tool is plus. He’s also only 19 years old, so the hope is that he can really unleash plus game power at peak too.

Zebby Matthews MIN, RHP, 24.11 – Zebby made his MLB season debut, and just like last year, he was not able to carry over the success from the minors into the majors, going 3 IP with 5 hits, 4 ER, and a 5/3 K/BB at MIL. The good news is that the increased velocity is sticking with a 96.5 MPH heater. the slider missed bats with a 75% whiff%, and the 81.7 MPH EV against overall shows that he clearly got unlucky in this one. It’s not the outing we wanted to see coming off his destruction of Triple-A, but I’m not budging off Zebby. I’m still buying.

Chen-Wei Lin – STL, RHP, 23.5, A+ – 3 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 6/1 K/BB at High-A. Do not miss the boat on Lin. I have been ringing his Target bell since this off-season, and he now has a 1.17 ERA with a 43.3/6.7 K%/BB% in 7.2 IP this season. He got a late start to the season and he’s just ramping up, so let this be your last opportunity to buy in before his value he explodes. He’s 6’7” with upper 90’s gas and multiple bat missing secondaries. You don’t hear a peep about this guy, but one day, he will be a hype machine.

Sawyer Gipson-Long – DET, RHP, 27.4, A+ – 2.2 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 3/0 K/BB at High-A. This is getting close to your last call to jump on Sawyer Gipson Long as well. He’s looked good in his return from Tommy John with a 1.29 ERA and 25.0/3.6 K%/BB% in 7 IP. He’s most certainly letting it rip on the mound, showing no signs of favoring that arm, and that K/BB is what he did his entire career. Here is what I wrote about him in my 19 Dynasty Baseball Thoughts/Strategies for 2025: “Not so much a strategy or thought here, but the more I think about it, the more I’m kinda digging Sawyer Gipson Long. He very well might be freely available in many leagues, and you might be able to use an IL spot on him too depending on your league setup. Or just as a free stash in your minors. His MLB debut was no joke. That type of swing and miss is quite rare, even in 20 IP. His 28.5/6.1 K%/BB% in 341 minor league IP is really damn impressive too. He never got the respect he deserved, even from me, and even after that strong debut. I think a lot of people have more or less moved on from him, making it a perfect time to acquire him for nothing or probably almost nothing. If fully healthy, which is obviously a risk, it could be an extremely small gamble for a pretty big payoff.”

Jack Perkins – OAK, RHP, 25.3, AAA – 4.2 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 7/1 K/BB at Triple-A. Perkins wasn’t a target for me this off-season, but he was getting some hype, and it’s looking like he deserved that hype with the strong start to his season. He has a 4.08 ERA with a 31.9/6.9 K%/BB% in 17.2 IP. The slider dominated with a 43% whiff, which he combines with 3 different fastballs (mid 90’s 4-seamer, mid 90’s sinker, low 90’s cutter) and a lesser used changeup. I had him in the reliever bucket this off-season, which is still possible, but Oakland doesn’t have much of a reason to not give him every shot in the rotation, and he may end up getting that shot sooner rather than later. Not a bad stash candidate right now.

CJ Abrams WAS, SS, 24.6 – 3 for 5 with 2 homers at 105.2 MPH and 98.5 MPH. I think we are at the point where I’m not even going to mention Abrams anymore. That is how much of a locked in elite player he is with 8 homers, 9 steals, and a .385 xwOBA in 35 games. I’ve been telling you he’s elite since this off-season, naming him a target, ranking him 25th overall, and then I doubled down in the Updated April Top 437 Dynasty Rankings on Patreon (May update coming next week), ranking him 17th overall. He’s gotten stronger every season and it’s hit a crescendo this year with a 91.3 MPH EV. Way too late to get in now.

Zach Neto LAA, SS, 24.3 – 2 for 4 with a 109.2 MPH homer. The same thing I wrote about Abrams, I can write about Neto. We are at the point where he is getting locked in as a near elite dynasty player with 7 homers, 7 steals, and a .406 xwOBA in 27 games. I’ve been high on Neto since before he was drafted, placing him 3rd overall in his FYPD class, and then ranking him 43rd overall this off-season in the Top 1,000. I wrote in the Rundowns last week that shoulder surgeries for hitters are starting to look like not that big of a deal with what Ohtani, Neto and also what Varsho is doing right now. I don’t think I’m going to drop hitters much for shoulder surgeries anymore if this is any indication.

Jackson Holliday BAL, 2B, 21.4 – 2 for 4 with a 103.3 MPH homer for his 6th in 40 games, and I think we can now officially say that keeping the faith on Holliday was the right call. He’s bouncing back from that terrible rookie year with improvements across the board. The whiff% is all the way down to 21.8% (34.1% in 2024), the chase is down to 20.5% (27.2% in 2024), and the EV is up to 90.8 MPH (89.3 MPH in 2024). It’s resulted in a .351 xwOBA. The only thing he isn’t doing well is stealing bases, with 2 steals in 6 attempts. He wasn’t that great of a base stealer in the minor leagues as well, although he went a perfect 4 for 4 in the bigs last year, so I don’t think this is his true talent level. The 8.8 degree launch also isn’t conducive to huge homer totals, but we already knew this about Holliday. It wasn’t some monster power/speed combo that made him an elite prospect, it was hit hit tool, and he’s now living up to our expectations of him. And keep in mind he’s still only 21 years old. I’m just happy to see him shaking off that rough rookie year, and this is just the start.

Will Benson -CIN, OF, 26.11 – I wrote up Benson last week in the Rundowns as someone to keep an eye on, and he’s just kept on mashing dingers non stop, going 3 for 4 with 2 bombs at 106.6 MPH and 102.4 MPH. He also tacked on a 106.7 MPH single. He now has 5 homers with a 94.8 MPH EV in just 9 games. You only have to look at a guy like Kyle Stowers to know that when guys have huge talent, sometimes it can take into their mid to late 20’s before they figure out the hit tool enough, but like Stowers, there is still big hit tool risk here. The 31.3% whiff and 27.3% K% is still high, and it’s only a small sample, so it could go higher as he continues to play. I love betting on big men with this type of talent, so like I said last week he’s definitely worth a flier, but you can’t go too crazy over it quite yet. It’s also only going to be in a platoon role at best.

Miguel Vargas CHW, 3B/OF, 25.5 – Vargas has risen from the dead for about a month now, and he kept it going yesterday, going 2 for 3 with a 102.1 MPH homer. He now has 6 homers with a 1.055 OPS in his last 22 games. The EV is way up to 89.6 MPH (86.2 MPH in 2024) and the K% is down 6.9 percentage points to 17.2%. He’s always been a lift machine with a 22.6 degree launch, so the increased power and contact are all he needed to breakout. He’s not running with only 1 steal, and he’s still not exactly crushing the ball with a 7% Barrel%, so he’s still not quite the guy we hoped for when he was an elite fantasy prospect, but he’s quite clearly getting comfortable vs. MLB pitching and leveling up.

Cody Bellinger NYY, OF/1B, 29.10 – 3 for 3 with a 102.3 MPH homer as Bellinger is putting his slow start to the season way behind him. He now has 5 homers with a 1.059 OPS in his last 20 games, and he can actually be on the precipice of a true explosion. The power from the beginning of his career has mysteriously come back with his 11.3% Barrel%, 90.1 MPH EV, and 41.9% Hard Hit% all way up from where they were sitting the last few seasons. His bat speed is also up 1.4 MPH to a more respectable 70.4 MPH. And he’s still making tons of contact (19.7% K%), lifting (21.1 degree launch) and running (28 ft/sec sprint). I mean, this is starting to resemble the true beast he was earlier in his career. And he’s taking advantage of Yankee Stadium with 5 homers and a .891 OPS at home. Bellinger might end up putting together some season this year when it’s all said and done.

Mike Sirota – LAD, OF, 21.11, A+ – Single-A was no issue for Sirota with a 194 wRC+ in 24 games, and now High-A is even less of an issue with a 412 wRC+ in 3 games. He cracked his 2nd homer at the level yesterday, giving him 9 homers in 27 games on the season. The only thing he isn’t doing is running with only 1 steal, but when all you do is hit homers, I guess you don’t have that much opportunity to steal bases. He already cracked my Top 100, and he might just mess around and be a Top 50 prospect by the next update.

Joseph Sullivan – HOU, OF, 22.10, A+ – Sullivan is a player I’ve been sleeping hard on, but that stops today after he drilled 2 bombs yesterday. He’s now slashing .233/.451/.534 with 10 homers, 17 steals, and a 30.9/22.8 K%/BB% in 36 games at High-A. The power/speed is wild, and he’s lifting the ball a lot more than he did when he hit 0 homers in 20 games at Single-A last year, but he always hit the ball hard, and now he’s turning it into game power. Obviously the hit tool is still a big risk as an almost 23 year old in the lower minors with a 30%+ K rate, but I’ve been giving him absolutely zero love, and that was a clear miss for me. He’s a fun prospect.

Noah Schultz CHW, LHP, 21.8, AA, – 3.1 IP, 3 hits, 5 ER, 6/4 K/BB at Double-A. Schultz has just not looked as crisp this season with a 4.50 ERA and 23.6/13.9 K%/BB% in 36 IP. The command is off and the stuff is down a tick. He dropped from 11th to 25th overall in the Updated Prospects Rankings, so I’m certainly not ignoring it, but by no means would I want to sell low here. He’s been going deeper into games for the first time in his career prior to this outing, so there is likely an adjustment period happening there. And I still see Baby Johnson out there when I watch him. We know pitching development can be all over the place. I’m buying low here if there is an opportunity.

Matt Shaw CHC, 3B/2B/SS, 23.5 – It’s Take 2 time for Shaw as he just got recalled to the majors! He blasted Triple-A with 6 homers, a 10.0/15.5 K%/BB% and 150 wRC+ in 24 games. That is what we wanted to see. I’m betting on him being much better the 2nd time around …

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

Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (5/12/25)

I’ll be running down everything that caught my eye in the Dynasty Baseball world on most Mondays throughout the season here on the Brick Wall. The rest of the week you can catch my Rundowns on the Patreon. Here is the Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (5/12/25):

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Pete Crow-Armstrong – CHC, OF, 23.1 – Make it double digits for Pete Crow as he destroyed his 10th homer of the year into the upper deck at Citi Field. I’ve been pounding the table for Pete Crow Armstrong for so long now that I don’t have a table in my house that isn’t cracked and broken. I have to eat dinner standing up now. The Crow now has a 13.8% Barrel%, 90 MPH EV, and 22.1 degree launch in 41 games and is on pace for almost 40 dingers with 50 steals. I ranked him all the way up at 64th overall in the off-season Top 1,000 Rankings, starting off his blurb by writing, “Pete Crow Armstrong’s power has been underrated from the time he was drafted,” and ending with “Put some respect on this man’s name. His name is Pete Crow Armstrong, not Pete Crow Armweak.” Well, I think now people know. He moved all the way up to 33rd overall on the recently updated April Top 423 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon), and I’m not even sure that was high enough. I would value PCA as a Top 20 dynasty asset at the very least right now. Damn he’s fun.

Luis Morales – OAK, RHP, 22.7 – 7 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 11/1 K/BB at Double-A. The Bubba Chandler 2.0 glow up at Double-A just keeps on cementing. He was pumping upper 90’s heat for whiffs all day, which he would then follow up with vicious sliders. He utterly demoralized the competition. After his 7th strikeout vs. Logan Cerny, I’ve never seen someone walk away from the plate so dejected. He just dropped his bat and hung his head in shame as he walked back to the dugout. I saw the writing on the wall this off-season, starting Morales’ Top 1,000 blurb by writing, “This isn’t a comp, but Morales reminds me a lot of where Bubba Chandler was sitting last off-season. Like Chandler, Morales is a huge talent ($3 million signing bonus in 2023), with a scouts dream build at 6’3”, 190 pounds (although Chandler was more built up and wider), super obvious humongous stuff, below average control, and mediocre results at High-A. Morales put up a 4.22 ERA with a 24.9/10.7 K%/BB% in 81 IP at the level while Chandler put up a 4.75 ERA with a 25.6/10.9 K%/BB% in 106 IP at the level.” … and now just like Chandler, Morales is blowing up at Double-A with a 2.97 ERA and 31.5/9.8 K%/BB% in 36.1 IP. He already rose all the way up to 33rd overall on my Updated Top 323 May Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings that just dropped on the Patreon last week, and it still seems like there is time to get in. He’s still underrated.

Addison Barger – TOR, 3B/OF, 25.5 – It’s time to target Barger everywhere. He went 2 for 4 with a 107.2 MPH homer and 103.5 MPH single yesterday. I wanted to make him a major target this off-season, but the only thing holding me back was his defense, and right now, he actually has a positive 2.6 defensive value, which is getting me pumped, because his bat is no joke. He has an elite 76.3 MPH swing with a 13.6% Barrel%, 96.1 MPH EV. 13.5 degree launch, and .362 xwOBA in 59 PA. The plate skills are taking a big jump forward too with his K% all the way down to 16.9% (26.7% in 2024) and his Chase all the way down to 20.2% (31.5% in 2024). He’s still in a scrum for playing time, and it might be a platoon role, but I’m sorry, you can not keep this bat off the field. Barger is a major target right now. Go after him.

Caleb Durbin – MIL, 2B/3B, 25.1 – 0 for 3 and now has a .581 OPS with 0 barrels, an 83.7 MPH EV, and a negative 1.4 defensive value in 22 games. I like Durbin. I’m rooting for the little cutie at 5’7”, and he makes a ton of contact with a 5% K%, but 3B is for power hitting beasts, and Milwaukee just so happens to have one of those behemoths ripping up the minors right now …

Brock Wilken – MIL, 3B, 22.11 – and that man’s name is Brock Wilken. I held strong on Wilken’s value this off-season, putting him in my Top 100 at #87, and he’s rewarding that patience with a big year at Double-A. He went 3 for 4 with a dinger yesterday and he now has 8 homers with a 26.2/23.4 K%/BB% and 176 wRC+ in 33 games. He had a down year in 2024, but that was due to getting rocked in the face with a pitch on April 11th, sustaining multiple facial fractures. He talked about how hard it was to come back from that mentally this off-season. He’s over it now though. And he’s coming for that 3B job sooner rather than later.

Rafael Devers BOS, 3B, 28.6 – 2 for 3 with a 110.4 MPH homer off Seth Lugo. First off, it’s great to see the shoulder problems seem to be behind Devers. His 18.8% Barrel%, 95.6 MPH EV and 61.6% Hard Hit% are all career bests. It sure seems like he’s taking to DH quite well … possibly too well, because now he refuses to move off the position. And I mean, I get it. I played 3B and 2B in my career through high school, and I also hated when they made me play 1B. I felt like a fish out of water. I wasn’t good at it. It was hard to learn. I get it … but … unlike Devers, I didn’t refuse to play it hah. I did the best I could and I did what was best for the team. So even though I relate to Devers, hopefully he comes around eventually.

Josh Jung TEX, 3B, 27.3 – 2 for 4 with a 107.4 MPH homer for his 4th in 32 games. Jung hasn’t exactly been blowing up with a .732 OPS, but I’m extremely encouraged by his start. He got hit by a pitch and broke his wrist just 4 games into the 2024 season, and he didn’t look the same when he returned later that year. We’ve seen wrist injuries linger and even end player’s careers (Alex Kirilloff), so I love the see that Jung has a 13.2% Barrel% with a 95.5 MPH FB/LD EV on the season. He’s back to hitting the ball very hard, and he’s doing it with career bests in K% (21.1%), whiff% (23.7%) and Chase% (30.7%). He’s starting to look like the special hitter trajectory he was on after his rookie year in 2023. Buy now while the surface stats still look mediocre.

Lars Nootbaar – STL, OF, 27.6 – I’ve been ringing the buy bell on Nootbaar all season with his launch all the way up to 17.7 degrees, and unsurprisingly, the dingers keep on coming with him cracking a 108.1 MPH homer off Mackenzie Gore for his 6th in 40 games. He’s always hit the ball really hard with an elite plate approach, and seeing neither of those strengths in his game drop off even a smidge with the added launch is damn impressive. In fact, he’s never hit the ball harder with a career high 50.8% Hard Hit%, or swung the bat faster with a 74.5 MPH swing (up almost 2 MPH from 2024). He’s also on a career high stolen base pace with 4 steals. This is a full on blow up and I’m buying hard here.

Wilyer AbreuBOS, OF, 25.10 – 3 for 4 with a 107.9 MPH homer, 107.4 MPH single, and 106.9 MPH single. Abreu jumped up to #161 overall on the Updated Top 437 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon), and here is what I wrote for him, “I’m ashamed of myself for not being higher on Abreu. He was one of my favorite target hits ever, and I let him down this off-season. He has double plus bat speed, he hit the ball hard, he lifts it, and the plate skills are taking a big step forward this year. One the flip side, he’s not hitting lefties well and he’s not playing against them very often either. And the biggest concern, which scared me this off-season, was Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer on the way. It’s a lot of mouths to feed.” … He’s still not playing vs. lefties very much, but the damage he is doing vs. righties more than makes up for it. His .411 xwOBA is in the top 6% of baseball. He’s also an above average defensive player. Treat this man like the young star he is. His value continues to rise.

Heliot Ramos SFG, OF, 25.8 – 2 for 2 with a 105.4 MPH homer off Pablo Lopez at Minnesota. He now has 6 homers with a .968 OPS on the road vs. 1 homer with a .611 OPS at home. This dude could be a superstar hitting almost anywhere else other than San Francisco, but even dealing with that handicap, he’s so damn good he’s still powering through with a strong year. He has a 14.2% Barrel% with a 91.2 MPH EV and .365 xwOBA in 40 games. The hit tool is taking steps forward too with career bests in K% (23.5%) and whiff% (23.8K%). I was all in on Ramos this off-season, naming him a target due to his short and quick swing, and he’s one of many that is proving betting on the bat speed data standouts was not for naught. So many of my targets are paying off. Ramos would have paid off more if not for San Francisco, but nothing we can do about that.

Hunter Goodman – COL, C/OF, 25.6 – Speaking of bat speed breakouts, Goodman’s double plus swing made him a fun target once it was clear Colorado was serious about letting him loose at catcher, and he’s using that powerful swing to keep on hitting dingers, going 3 for 5 with a 108.7 MPH homer and a 116.2 MPH double!!!! He now has 6 homers with a .835 OPS in 25 games, and while he’s likely getting lucky as the .310 xwOBA and 32% whiff% aren’t quite as impressive as the surface stats, it’s clear he has an impact fantasy bat for a catcher at the least.

Brooks Lee – MIN, SS/3B/2B, 24.2 – I rang the 5 alarm target bell on Lee last week in the Rundowns, and he went off yesterday, going 3 for 5 with a 100.9 MPH homer, 100.7 MPH single and 100.3 MPH single. What got me so excited is that this is a high contact player who was seeing big gains in his power. The 11% Barrel%, 89.2 MPH EV and 41.1% Hard Hit% are all career highs by far. His righty swing is almost 3 MPH faster at 73 MPH and his lefty swing is up 1.2 MPH to 70.3 MPH. The fantasy upside is capped by how damn slow he is though. You can time him with a sundial, as my high school baseball coach used to love to yell at me. His 25.9 ft/sec sprint is in the bottom 20% of the league. So you are getting very few steals and it hurts him in runs too, but we are seeing a very real power uptick, and that is worth buying.

Ben Rice – NYY, 1B, 26.7 – For the people waiting on Ben Rice to all of a sudden spot hitting, you can keep on waiting, because Rice isn’t going anywhere. He went 1 for 2 with a 111.2 MPH bomb off Mitch Spence for his 9th in 36 games. You already know Rice was a major target for me this off-season. Here is what I wrote about him in my off-season 19 Dynasty Baseball Strategies/Thoughts for 2025 (A Collection from the 2025 Dynasty Baseball Team Reports), “4) For even the most iron willed dynasty owner, it is a major gut punch when a prospect you love gets the call to the majors, struggles hard, and then gets sent back down to the minors. When it happens to an elite or near elite universally hyped prospect, it’s much easier to stay level headed and hold strong, but when it happens to a good, but not necessarily great prospect it can be much tougher to hold on. Trade value plummets for the non elite guys, and you start to question if their team truly believes in them, thinking they might not get another chance so soon. But let us use Lawrence Butler (and Parker Meadows too) as a lesson to not let a demotion rattle us if we still believe in a player’s skillset. Even elite prospects can struggle in their first taste or two of the majors, so certainly we need to give some grace for non elite ones as well. How to apply that for this season? Well, Ben Rice is staring us right in the face. Rice is not an elite prospect, but he is a relatively well liked one, and he took almost the exact same Butler path in the majors with great underlying numbers (15.6% Barrel%) and poor surface stats (.613 OPS in 173 PA). Admit it, you are questioning how much the Yanks really believe in him and if he will get another chance. I get it, because I am too, but I’m going to use Butler and Meadows as my pillars of strength to not be so quick to give up on Rice. I still like him long term, even with the Goldy signing.”

Mark VientosNYM, 3B, 25.4 – 2 for 4 with a 101.4 MPH homer off Mathew Boyd for his 5th in 37 games. It hasn’t been the best start for Vientos, but I would 100% stay the course here. He’s brought his K rate all the way down from 29.7% in 2024 to 20.4% in 2025, which is huge to see, and it’s backed up by a 4.6 percentage point drop in whiff% and a 3.9 percentage point drop in chase%. He’s improving in the areas we wanted to see improvement, and we know the monster power is in there with a 90.5/94.6 MPH AVG/FB EV. He’s an easy hold, and a buy low if you can.

Mike Burrows – PIT, RHP, 25.5 – 4.2 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 11/2 K/BB at Triple-A. The fastball sat 94.7 MPH and put up a 39% whiff% while the changeup put up a 86%!!! whiff%. The slider missed some bats too, leading to a 45% whiff% overall. He now has a 2.63 ERA with a 32.7/9.1 K%/BB% in 27.1 IP. I’ve always felt Burrows was too underrated, giving him a solid ranking at #273 this off-season, and with his dominance in Triple-A, he rose into the Top 200 in the latest update. The Pirates Triple-A rotation is probably better than some MLB rotations right now with Burrows, Chandler, Ashcraft, Harrington and Barco all knocking on the door. I have no idea how they fit all of these guys into the rotation, but these things usually work themselves out.

Chen-Wei Lin – STL, RHP, 23.5 – Lin didn’t pitch especially well yesterday, going 2.2 IP with 5 hits, 1 ER (4 unearned) and a 3/0 K/BB at High-A, but this is just your reminder that he’s back on the mound after getting a late start to the season, and it’s also your reminder to get in now before his value starts to explode. He’s 6’7” with upper 90’s heat and bat missing secondaries. It’s only a matter of time before everyone realizes how good this kid is.

Drew Beam – KCR, RHP, 22.1 – 4 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, and a 7/1 K/BB at High-A. Beam’s skills are officially transferring to pro ball with a 2.55 ERA and 24.8/5.7 K%/BB% in 35.1 IP at High-A. He’s 6’4”, 208 pounds with average to above average stuff (two 94 MPH fastballs, a curve and a changeup) that plays up due to the plus control. Kansas City’s ballpark will be perfect for this type of profile too. He might not have huge upside, but especially in KC, he can be a solid mid rotation starter. He’s a solid pitching prospect.

Braden Nett – SDP, RHP, 22.11 – 5 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 5/1 K/BB at Double-A. I’ve been sleeping on Nett, but that ends now, as he looked quite impressive yesterday. His fastball got up to 98 MPH and he was just straight blowing it by guys. He combines the heat with a couple of bat missing breakers, and it’s resulted in a 4.20 ERA and 27.4/9.6 K%/BB% in 30 IP. There is still major bullpen risk with major control problems throughout his career, but the walk rate is taking a big step forward this year, and the big stuff is worth betting on.

Cole Carrigg COL, OF, 22.10 – I was waiting to see if Carrigg could keep up the great lower minors production in the upper minors, and he’s answered that question quite easily in 2025 after blasting off for 2 more homers yesterday. He’s now slashing .288/.388/.563 with 7 homers, 9 steals, and a 27.3/11.6 K%/BB% in 28 games at Double-A. The K% is a tad too high, but it’s been coming down of late, and the fantasy upside is shining through. I would value him a Top 100 fantasy prospect right now.

Mike Sirota – LAD, OF, 21.11 – Speaking of newly minted Top 100 fantasy prospects, Sirota just cracked my Top 100, and then he cracked 2 more bombs at Single-A. He’s making a mockery of the level, slashing .354/.443/.687 with 7 homers, 1 steal, and a 21.7/13.0 K%/BB% in 24 games. I would like to see him run a bit more, and would also obviously like to see him keep this up at higher levels, but this was a potential Top 10 draft pick coming into the 2024 season, and now he has the production to match the talent. The Dodgers done did it again.

Jefferson Rojas CHC, SS, 20.0 – Rojas joined the 2 homer parade yesterday, going 3 for 4 with 2 homers at High-A, and he’s now slashing .300/.387/.513 with 4 homers, 5 steals, and a 14.0/10.8 K%/BB% in 21 games. He’s never been my favorite prospect, but it sure looks like the power is ticking up this year, which he combines with his already strong across the board profile. His value is on the rise.

Jacob Reimer – NYM, 3B, 21.2 – Say hello to the best qualified hitter at High-A. Jacob Reimer leads all hitters at High-A with a 198 wRC+, and he tacked onto his lead yesterday with his 6th homer in 30 games. He was once upon a time a deep FYPD target for me in a tier with Alex Freeland, Luke Adams, and Nacho Alvarez. None of them has done anything in the majors yet, but from their non existent hype at the time, all of them have seen big value rises, and now it’s Reimer’s turn to take centerstage. He’s got real power at 6’0”, 205 pounds, the plate approach is solid (20.0/11.1 K%/BB%) and now he’s lifting and pulling a ton more with a 36% GB% and 46.7% Pull%. He just moved into my Top 300, and he might be pushing Top 200 value right now.

Brailer Guerrero – TBR, OF, 18.10 – The Brailer Guerrero breakout continues to quietly lurk just under the radar, but it got a bit louder yesterday with him blasting his first homer of the season at Single-A. He’s now slashing .308/.438/.487 with 1 homer, 4 steals, and a 29.2/18.8 K%/BB% in 11 games at Single-A as an 18 year old. That’s good for a 166 wRC+. The K rate and 56.5% GB% are both a bit higher than optimal, but this dude can crush the ball and is a breakout waiting to happen. It might be time to pounce, and at the least keep a very, very close eye on him.

Tim Elko – CHW, 1B, 26.4 – Elko popped onto the back at #309 of the Updated Top 323 Dynasty Prospects Rankings (Patreon), writing, “He’s a classic Quad-A slugger, MLB bench bat type with 10 homers and a 29.6 K% at Triple-A, but Chicago is in full rebuild, and if they give him time, he’ll hit dingers” … right on cue, Chicago called him up, and he did in fact hit dingers with a 101.4 MPH homer off Sandy Alcantara for the 1st of his career. He’s 1 for 6 on his young career. The BA could be terrible, but the power is no joke.

Matthew Lugo – LAA, OF, 23.10 – Speaking of hitting your first MLB dinger, Matthew Lugo joined that club yesterday with a 108 MPH homer off Felix Bautista. He did it coming off the bench for Jo Adell, he of the 65 wRC+ and negative 3.5 defensive value. He has a negative 0.4 WAR right now. I might be insane, but I actually don’t want to give up on Adell yet as his .330 xwOBA is actually much better than his surface stats, but I mean, he’s going on his 6th year of being brutal. The problem is that Lugo hasn’t been all that great at Triple-A himself with a 65 wRC+, so I don’t think a change here is imminent, but I liked Lugo this off-season, and even with the slow start, he would be worth a shot if he does find his way into the lineup more. Just a keep your eye situation right now.

Jordan Lawlar ARI, SS, 22.10 – The wait is over. Lawlar is getting the call to the big league club after demolishing Triple-A all season. He just ranked 2nd overall on my Updated Top 323 Prospects Ranksand while it doesn’t seem like there is an open spot for him, Arizona claims they will be able to find at bats for him. Optimally you want to call a guy up like this to a full time job, but he’s too good to not be helping the big league club, so I get it. He’ll get eased in, and then when Eugenio Suarez’ contract runs out after this season, he will take over 3B for good.

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

Top 323 May 2025 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings (Patreon)

It’s the first Prospects Rankings Week of the 2025 season, and as usual, I’m going over 300 deep with quick blurbs for every player. I wanted to focus on prospects still in the minors, so if you are in the majors, you are ineligible. Top 15 free here on the Brick Wall. Here is the Top 323 May 2025 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings:

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-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG! 

1) (5) Roman Anthony – BOS, OF, 21.0 – His weaknesses are still present with a 30.9% whiff%, 47.5% GB%, and poor base stealing skills (3 for 5), but a 96.5 MPH EV cures a lot of ills. Like all of the ills. He’s going to be a beast, although one other thought, Nick Kurtz actually had a very similar profile to Anthony at Triple-A, and we are seeing an adjustment period for Kurtz, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see one for Anthony. Either way, Anthony is the top dog still in the minor leagues, and with Casas’ injury, he feels closer than ever to getting the call

2) (12) Jordan Lawlar ARI, SS, 22.10 – Lawlar has a real case to be the #1 prospect still in the minor leagues. He’s a great base stealer (12 for 13), he makes more contact than Anthony (25.7% Whiff%), and he lifts it more (36.2% GB%). He doesn’t hit it nearly as hard, but a 89.1 MPH EV and 44.7% Hard Hit% ain’t bad at all. When he’s healthy, like he is now, he’s a stud. He’ll probably have to wait for 2026 to get a true full time role though, taking over for Eugenio Suarez at 3B.

3) (8) Leodalis De Vries – SDP, SS, 18.7 – De Vries took the top spot in my Predicting the 2026 Top 50 Prospects Rankings (Patreon) this off-season, and he’s right on schedule, slashing .309/.400/.593 with 4 homers, 3 steals, and a 15.6/13.5 K%/BB% in 22 games at High-A as an 18 year old. The reason he took that top spot over other worthy prospects is that he has no issues lifting the ball with a 28.8% GB%, so there will be no awkward swing changes, or “he needs to lift more” conversations down the line like we are now dealing with Jordan Walker.

4) (15) Sebastian Walcott – TEX, SS, 19.2 – Walcott makes for an interesting discussion. Would you rather someone be a destroyer of worlds at age appropriate levels, or be extremely young for the level while merely holding their own. Walcott is once again holding his own being extremely young for Double-A, but 2 homers with a .245/.363/.372 triple-slash in 25 games doesn’t exactly blow you away. On the plus side, he lowered his groundball rate to 30%, which is big to see, and the 21.2/14.2 K%/BB% is impressive considering the age. He’s an elite prospect, but I do think it brings up an interesting discussion of how to evaluate these guys

5) (9) Walker Jenkins MIN, OF, 20.2 – With literally all of the super fun lower minors prospects blowing up and living up to the hype, it’s so sad to see Jenkins have to watch from the sidelines. He’s been limited to just 2 games with an ankle sprain that recently required a cortisone shot and is expected to keep him out until June. You can’t sell low on a talent like this, but he definitely seems to get injured a lot.

6) (20) Bubba Chandler PIT, RHP, 22.8 – I don’t see how you can go with anybody but Chandler for the top pitching prospect in the game. He has a 1.42 ERA with a 39.6/7.7 K%/BB% in 25.1 IP at the highest level of the minors. The fastball sits 98.2 MPH, he induces weak contact, he has a diverse pitch mix, and he’s a whiff machine. Painter has looked a tad rusty at Single-A. Bubba is running away with the top spot

7) (18) Josue De Paula – LAD, OF, 19.11 – The game power is ticking up with 4 homers in 26 games at High-A, the plate approach remains elite with a 13.2/19.3 K%/BB%, he’s still running with 5 steals, and he crushes the ball. Can’t wait for him to be tested at Double-A, because he’s doing everything we asked of him at High-A right now

8) (32) Jesus Made MIL, SS, 18.0 – Treating Single-A like it’s the DSL, slashing .305/.400/.476 with 3 homers, 8 steals, and a 21.1/11.6 K%/BB% in 20 games. He was worth every last bit of the hype. We’re gunning for the elite studs in dynasty, and now that he’s doing it in full season ball, there are not many players I would want to trade Made for.

9) (34) Felnin Celesten – SEA, SS, 19.8 – Slashing .333/.394/.462 with 2 homers, 6 steals, and a 16.3/9.6 K%/BB% in 22 games at Single-A. The GB% is down from 64.9% in 2024 to 46.1% in 2025, which is huge to see, although he’s still not lifting and pulling a ton. Regardless, he’s in the next wave of elite prospect, and quite frankly, he’s nearly there already

10) (23) Chase Burns – CIN, RHP, 22.4 – I was pretty much all in on Burns already this off-season, ranking him in a group of ace pitching prospects and ranking him high on FYPD Rankings, and now he went out and proved he deserved that lofty status, destroying High-A and Double-A with a 2.61 ERA and 41.3/7.5 K%/BB% in 20.2 IP. Upper 90’s gas with a devastating slider is his game, while also mixing in a curve and change. He doesn’t have the track record of Bubba, he hasn’t done it at Triple-A, and Cincy is a terrible place to pitch, but the stuff and early results are his equal.

11) (10) Andrew Painter PHI, RHP, 22.1 – Here is what I wrote about Painter in the latest Dynasty Baseball Rundown: “4 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 2/0 K/BB at Single-A. Am I the only one who is a tad underwhelmed by what Painter is doing at Single-A? He hasn’t been bad. He has a 3.97 ERA with a 26.7/2.2 K%/BB% in 11.1 IP, but where is the 30%+ K rate? Where is the under 3 ERA? Maybe I’m being too harsh as he’s still shaking the rust off from Tommy John, but even in this last outing, the fastball wasn’t that impressive, sitting 95.4 MPH and putting up a 5% whiff%. The cutter and slider were whiff machines, and his control is obviously on point this year, but I feel like he should be blowing Single-A hitters away. I’m probably being too harsh, but that’s just what I’m thinking right now.” … he just got the call to Triple-A, so hopefully he comes out guns blazing, rather than talking about him needing to shake off more Tommy John rust

12) (25) Marcelo Mayer – BOS, SS, 22.4 – 7 homers with a 21% K% and 91.3 MPH EV in 28 games at Triple-A. He’s handling his business, and with Casas out for the season, another spot in Boston just opened up. Maybe it goes to Anthony though, or maybe they still call up neither.

13) (13) Samuel Basallo – BAL, C/1B, 20.8 – .200 BABIP is the only issue. He’s crushing the ball and the 19.6/12.5 K%/BB% looks excellent. Baltimore is crowded, but a guy like Basallo, who has a shot to be one of the top hit/power prospects in the league has a way of forcing the issue. He’s only 20, so there really isn’t a rush right now

14) (37) Jac Caglianone KCR, 1B, 22.3 – Cementing his status as one of the top power hitters in the minors with 6 homers, a 23.4/12.1 K%/BB% and 156 wRC+ in 27 games at Double-A. He’s a 6’5”, 250 pound defensive end. His homers just hit different … literally

15) (6) Matt Shaw – CHC, 3B/2B/SS, 23.5 – A poor MLB debut just puts such a damper on an exciting prospect, but so many players struggle in their first taste or two or the bigs, that you have to stay patient with prospects you believe in, and I believe in Shaw, weird batting stance and all

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKINGS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
APRIL 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS (4/25/25)
MAY 2025 TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG! 

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

Welcome to the First Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings Week of the 2025 Season!

The Updated Top 437 Dynasty Baseball Rankings dropped on the Patreon 2 weeks ago, and now it’s time to turn out attention to the diaper dandies. That’s right, it’s the first Prospects Rankings Week of the 2025 season! I’m going over 300 deep with quick blurbs for every player. Full Rankings will be on the Patreon with about a Top 20-ish free here on the Brick Wall. First post drops tomorrow. Catch you then …

-Halp

Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (4/28/25)

I’ll be running down everything that caught my eye in the Dynasty Baseball world on most Mondays throughout the season here on the Brick Wall. The rest of the week you can catch my Rundowns on the Patreon. Here is the Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown (4/28/25):

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
APRIL 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS
UPDATED TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS COMING SOON
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS
TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG! 

Hunter Barco PIT, LHP, 24.4 – I gotta seriously consider using my psychic abilities for something other than baseball prospects. After listening to 10 hours of “Awaken Your Psychic Abilities” YouTube music and tones video this off-season, I predicted that Hunter Barco would be the 32nd overall ranked prospect in baseball by next off-season in my Predicting the 2026 Top 50 Prospects Ranks, and I think I even undersold him. He could be the top pitching prospect breakout in the minors this year, and his dominance continued yesterday, going 3 IP with 1 hit, 0 ER and a 8/0 K/BB at Double-A. He now has a 0.00 ERA with a 40.0/5.3 K%/BB% in 20.2 IP. The velocity has ticked up into the mid 90’s, he has two bat missing secondaries in his slider and splitter, the control is solid, he’s 6’4”, 235 pounds and he has that funky lefty delivery that I just love. I mean, that is checking all of the boxes. I already jumped him up to 195th overall on the Updated Top 437 Dynasty Baseball Rankings that just dropped on the Patreon last week. If he can truly keep this up at Triple-A, and we’ve seen more than a few top pitching prospects struggle with that jump (Brandon Sproat and Quinn Mathews), we could be looking at a truly elite pitching prospect.

Arjun Nimmala – TOR, SS, 19.6 – Sticking with guys on that Predicting the 2026 Top Prospects list, Nimmala checked in at #39, and he’s right on track to end up in that area after homering in his 3rd straight game at High-A. This one was out to dead center. With Single-A now becoming a sort of glorified rookie ball, High-A can be considered the first real test for these youngsters, and Nimmala is passing it with flying colors, slashing .289/.349/.539 with 5 homers, 1 steal, and a 21.7/8.4 K%/BB% in 18 games. Seeing the K rate all the way down in the low 20’s is huge. He’s blowing up.

Bryce Rainer – DET, SS, 19.9 – Rainer didn’t crack that Predicting the 2026 Prospects list, but he clearly should have as his pro debut has been damn impressive. He went the opposite way for his 2nd homer in 10 games at Single-A, and he’s now slashing .226/.381/.484 with 2 homers, 2 steals, and a 11.9/19.0 K%/BB%. He’s crushing the ball with a 93.7 MPH EV, the plate skills are elite, and he’s running. He also most certainly looks the part at a powerful 6’3” with a smooth and quick lefty swing. This looks like an elite prospect waiting to happen.

Jacob Misiorowski MIL, RHP, 23.0 – 5 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 9/0 K/BB at Triple-A. Is Misiorowski finally starting to take that step forward with his control? He didn’t walk a single batter in this one, and in the start before, he only walked one guy. His 11.5% BB% in 29.2 IP is actually starting to resemble a semi-reasonable walk rate, and it comes with a 1.82 ERA and 33.6% K%. It also comes with some of the best stuff in the minors. The fastball sat 97.4 MPH in this one and notched a 29% whiff%. The slider, curve and change were all whiff machines too, leading to a 38% whiff% overall. This is the type of stuff that can thrive with a 10+ BB%, and it looks like we might be finally entering that range. We need to see it over a larger sample as the walk rate sat 14%+ last year, but another start or two with solid control and Mis will be among the very best pitching prospects in the game.

Jonah Tong – NYM, RHP, 21.9 – Speaking of 14%+ walk rates, Tong currently has a 14.9% BB% in 17.1 IP at Double-A, but when it comes with a 40.5% K%, I think we can partly overlook that. He had his best outing of the season yesterday, going 4 IP with 1 hit, 0 ER, and a 10/1 K/BB. Here are the highlights of the absolute filth. The curveball is just silly, the changeup was making lefties look foolish, the slider in the dirt induced terrible swings, and the mid 90’s fastball was blowing guys away. He’s obviously having some issues controlling his truly filthy stuff, but he was able to harness it in this one, and if he’s able to build on this, his stock is set to sour. I was a big fan this off-season, and that love continues to grow.

Dylan Crews WAS, OF, 23.1 – I preached patience with Crews’ early season struggles, as we saw both Chourio and Langford struggle in 2024 before their epic breakouts, and now Crews looks to be headed on that same path. He crushed a 104.8 MPH homer with a 78.7 MPH swing off Tylor Megill, and he’s now slashing .364/.391/.705 with 4 homers and 3 steals in his last 12 games. The underlying numbers looked good even when he was slumping, and he’s now rocking a 14.9% Barrel%, a 90.2 MPH EV, a 29.4 ft/sec sprint, a 73.1 MPH swing, and a .344 xwOBA. He’s coming.

Agustin Ramirez – MIA, C, 23.7 – Ramirez has taken the major leagues by storm after drilling 2 homers at 108.7 MPH and 105.1 MPH last night. He’s been straight unstoppable since getting the call, slashing .474/.524/1.158 with 3 homers, 1 steal, and a 9.5/9.5 K%/BB% in 21 PA. The 17.5% Barrel%, 92.9 MPH EV and .504 xwOBA backs up the surface stats. He wasn’t even this good in at Triple-A before getting the call with a 113 wRC+ in 19 games, so obviously he’s not this good, but at the least, he’s quite clearly proving his big time power bat is no joke. He’s not a good defensive catcher, and Joe Mack is right behind him and crushing the minors, but his bat is clearly going to be good enough to even DH if it will have to. How can you not be buying after this debut?

Anthony Volpe – NYY, SS, 23.11 – 2 for 3 with a 105.3 MPH double and 103.6 MPH homer. Volpe is doing his best to marry his extreme lift and pull profile from his rookie year, with his more all around hitter approach of 2024, and so far, it’s working with 5 homers, 3 steals, and a 123 wRC+ in 28 games. Or maybe he’s just getting stronger and swinging harder with a career high 71.9 MPH swing and 90.7 MPH EV. The underlying numbers back up the surface stats with a 13% Barrel% and .337 xwOBA. I pushed Volpe up my Updated Top 437 Dynasty Rankings to #71 overall despite his low BA, because for fantasy, it’s all about that power/speed combo, and he’s back to gunning for homers.

Ceddanne Rafaela – BOS, SS/OF, 24.7 – 2 for 4 with a 108.4 MPH homer and 100.5 MPH double. Rafaela’s .644 OPS is almost exactly the same as last year’s 664 OPS, which is discouraging on the surface, but when you look under the hood, you are seeing improvements everywhere you wanted to see them. The Barrel% is up to 11.3%, the EV is up to 89.6 MPH, the whiffs are down to 25.7% and the BB% is up to 6.3%. The .332 xwOBA vs. the .273 xwOBA from 2024 tells the story much better than the surface stats. Rafaela is leveling up.

Nolan Jones CLE, OF, 26.11 – Here’s what I wrote about Jones in the Updated Dynasty Rankings, “He’s been terrible, but he has a 95.2 MPH EV with a .329 xwOBA, 27.2% whiff%, 22.9% Chase% and an 11.8 degree launch. He’s also stolen 2 bags. I mean, this should really be working. I don’t want to give up yet” … and then he went out yesterday and jacked a 109 MPH dinger. He already has a big MLB season under his belt, and this man now has a 96.2 MPH EV on the season! Don’t give up on him yet.

Hunter Brown – HOU, RHP, 26.8 – 6 IP, 7 hits, 1 ER, 9/1 K/BB at KC. Brown shot up to 60th overall on the Updated Dynasty Rankings, and he just keeps on proving he’s a young ace with a 1.22 ERA and 29.9/5.2 K%/BB% in 37 IP. The fastball sat 96.7 MPH with a 27% whiff%, while the changeup notched a 42% whiff%. The only thing keeping him from ranking even higher is that the 26.9% whiff% on the season is more in above average range than truly plus, and even this outing with 9 K’s, it came with a 26% whiff%. It’s just nitpicking, but I think it’s worth mentioning. Either way, he induces weak contact, the control is taking a step forward into plus territory, and the stuff is huge. It’s just a continuation from what he did in the 2nd half of last off-season. He’s a beast.

Nick LodoloCIN, LHP, 27.3 – 7 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 9/1 K/BB vs. COL. The only thing missing from Lodolo’s excellent start to the season were the strikeouts, and they showed up in a big way in this one with a 29% whiff% led by the curve which put up a 50% whiff%. He now has a 2.25 ERA with a 18.9/3.5 K%/BB% in 36 IP, and those strikeout are on the way up. As long as he stays healthy, this could finally be the blow up year we’ve been waiting for.

Tylor Megill NYM, RHP, 29.8 – 6.1 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 9/1 K/BB at WSH. We’ve all been waiting for this Megill breakout for years now, and while we’ve been faked out before, I so want to buy this. The fastball sat 95.8 MPH and put up a 26% whiff%, while the slider notched a 55% whiff%, leading the way for a 28% whiff% overall. He now has a 1.74 ERA with a 29.8/9.2 K%/BB% in 31 IP. I couldn’t help but fly him up my Updated Top 437 Dynasty Rankings last week to #251 overall, and while that maybe wasn’t even high enough, I did want to have some restraint due to the fact he has faked us out year after year in the past. Regardless, there is always so much to love about Megill, and he might be putting it together.

Kaelen Culpepper – MIN, SS, 22.3 – An injury has limited Culpepper to only 9 games at High-A, but he’s been sneakily really strong in those games, and it got less sneaky yesterday with him blasting a no doubt dinger with an athletic and powerful righty swing. He’s now slashing .344/.432/.563 with 1 homer, 0 steals, and a 13.5/13.5 K%/BB% in 9 games at High-A. The groundball rate is high and he’s not running yet, but I thought he was a sneaky good pick in last year’s First Year Player Draft, and he just keeps on hitting.

Jared Thomas – COL, OF/1B, 21.9 – Speaking of underrated college bats that I liked a lot in last year’s FYPD class, Thomas was another one of those guys, and he’s exploding on another level. He went the opposite way for his 4th homer of the season, and he’s now slashing .366/.480/.561 with 4 homers, 4 steals, and a 21.0/15.0 K%/BB% in 21 games at High-A. He’s done nothing but rake in pro ball with a 148 wRC+ in his pro debut last year. He looks the part at an athletic 6’2”, 190 pounds with a strong across the board profile. Will Colorado ever give him a real shot? Who knows. They are a total wild card, but Thomas looks legitimately exciting.

Wilfred Veras CHW, OF, 22.4 – If you’re looking for a fun upside proximity play with almost no hype, Veras is your man. Just watch him jack out this homer yesterday. He’s 6’1”, 240 with that vicious righty swing and he loves to run. He now has 4 homers, 7 steals, a 125 wRC+ and a 31.5/13.5 K%/BB% in 20 games. Plate approach was a major issue for him coming into this year, so it’s great to see the high walk rate, although the 31.5% K% is obviously too high. The risk is most certainly high, but Chicago is eventually going to give a guy with this much talent a shot, and the fantasy upside is worth taking a chance on him.

Noelvi Marte – CIN, 3B, 23.6 – Marte must have taken my advice and gotten back on the juice ;), because he’s been a man possessed this season, and it continued yesterday with a 3 for 5 day. He hit a 103.8 MPH double, a 103.2 MPH single and a 99.6 MPH single. His sprint speed is back up to 29.3 ft/sec, which is a career high, and the bat speed is back up too with a 74.2 MPH swing. That is double plus range. He’s definitely been on the lucky side with a .353 xwOBA vs. .458 wOBA, and a 12.8% K% vs. a 25% whiff%, but it’s clear whatever mental and physical issues caused Marte’s horrific 2024 is behind him. He’s back on track to being an exciting all category young dynasty asset.

Andy Pages LAD, OF, 24.5 – The Dodgers stayed patient with Pages through his slow start, and what a smart move that was, because he’s been on fire of late, culminating with a 4 for 5 day yesterday, punctuated by a 105.1 MPH homer. He now has 5 homers with a .861 OPS, and while the .303 xwOBA isn’t as impressive, the dude is a launch machine with a very respectable 22.4% whiff% and 8.3% Barrel%. The .277 BA might be coming down, but he’s going to rip dingers.

Geraldo Perdomo – ARI, SS, 25.4 – I had absolutely zero faith that Perdomo was going to be an impact major leaguer, even when Arizona showed all signs of loving him, and Arizona was clearly correct. They put their money where their mouth was this off-season, and he’s delivered. He went 1 for 4 with a 102.6 MPH homer yesterday, continuing to lock in the power gains with a career best 89.4 MPH. Combine that with a 15.4 degree launch, 9.4/16.5 K%/BB% and base stealing ability, and you get a really solid across the board fantasy contributor (4 homers, 6 steals, and a .361 xwOBA in 28 games).

Payton Tolle – BOS, LHP, 22.5 – 4 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 9/1 K/BB at High-A. The 50th overall pick in the draft got blown up in his first outing of the season, which is bringing his season line down, but this was his 2nd excellent outing in a row. This is a big boy at 6’6”, 250 pounds with a three quarter arm lefty delivery, the fastball has continued to tick up into the mid 90’s now, and he has multiple bat missing secondaries (change, slider, curve). He currently has a 6.52 ERA with a 37.8/11.1 K%/BB% in 9.2 IP at High-A, but like I said, it was really just one bad outing. He’s got high K mid-rotation starter upside.

Gunnar Hoglund – OAK, RHP, 25.4 – After undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of 2021, Hoglund is just now starting to look like his old self. He was on track to be an easy Top 10 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft until he went down with the injury, and teams thought so highly of him that he was still selected 19th overall. But Tommy John recovery is not always super smooth, and while it’s been a bumpy road, he’s slowing starting to look like his prime self. He went 5 IP with 3 hits, 0 ER, and a 5/1 K/BB at Triple-A. The fastball is back up to 94 MPH, which is great to see, and the curve notched a 38% whiff%. He throws a legit 5 pitching mix (4-seamer, curve, change, sinker, slider) with plus control, and it’s resulted in a 2.43 ERA with a 26.1/6.1 K%/BB% in 29.2 IP. He’s not missing quite enough bats to really fly him up the rankings, the stuff is good but not great, and he has a terrible ballpark waiting for him, but Hoglund is definitely taking a big step forward this year and is firmly putting himself back on the fantasy radar.

Logan Evans – SEA, RHP, 23.10 – Evans made his MLB debut and it was pretty unimpressive, going 5 IP with 2 hits, 2 ER, and a 3/3 K/BB vs MIA. The sinker and 4-seamer only sat 92.9 MPH and he put up a lowly 10% whiff%. The stuff and whiffs weren’t that impressive at Triple-A either before getting the call. He has gotten some hype these past 2 off-seasons, but I’m not sure it’s warranted at the moment. He just doesn’t look that special right now.

Matt Shaw – CHC, 3B/2B/SS, 23.4 – Triple-A Matt Shaw homers just don’t hit the same after his struggles in the majors, but he got ahold of his first dinger at Triple-A with a frozen rope out to left field. The crazy batting stance and leg kick has been sorta toned down, but honestly, not really as he still has the pointed in batting stance with the extreme leg kick. Again, it’s not as crazy as it was earlier in the year, but it’s still a weird batting stance. Even though I’m not a fan of the stance, I’ll trust that he knows what he’s doing, and I don’t want to move off him because of it. Plenty of great players struggle in their first taste of the bigs, and I’m staying patient.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
APRIL 2025 TOP 437 DYNASTY RANKS
UPDATED TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS COMING SOON
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS
TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG! 

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

Updated April 2025 Top 437 Dynasty Baseball Rankings (Patreon)

*PSA — I have been doing these monthly updates for a long time now, and April is always the month that I look back on and regret the most. I lean more towards being aggressive and reactive in fantasy, so I want my rankings to reflect my strategy, but inevitably, I look back on the April Rankings and there are always a few rankings that look way out of place where guys don’t maintain the breakout. Did I learn from my mistakes? No. Hah, but I’m also not sure it is a mistake. Being aggressive and owning the next young breakouts are where you make your bones in dynasty, so I think it’s worth taking the extra risk. Either way, please use these rankings responsibly, and understand you may want to be a bit more conservative with your strategy. The Top 27 is free here on the Brick Wall. Blurbs for everyone. Here is the Updated Top 437 2025 Dynasty Baseball Rankings:

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKINGS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
APRIL 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
UPDATED TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS COMING SOON
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS
TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG! 

1) (1) Shohei Ohtani LAD, RHP/DH, 30.11 – Did you think shoulder surgery was going to slow this man down? Remember when at the least he wasn’t supposed to run as much? He’s got 6 homers, 5 steals and a 150 wRC+. And he’s going to get back on the mound at some point mid-season. Do you really want to bet against him there either?

2) (2) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 24.11 – Locking in the 2024 leveling up with an almost identical .402 xwOBA

3) (3) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 23.4 – The whiff rates and chase rates both continue to trend in the right direction, which is what we needed to see to feel comfortable that the swing and miss isn’t going to come back to bite him

4) (4) Gunnar Henderson – BAL, SS, 23.10 – Just starting to shake the rust off from his delayed start to the season. I think the 97.6 MPH EV says he’ll be fine

5) (6) Corbin Carroll – ARI, OF, 24.7 – Carroll vs. Gunnar has been a debate since they were ranked either #1 or #2 by just about every prospect outlet in 2023. And since then they have been swapping places every year. Will it happen again this year with Carroll blowing up to start the season with his bat speed up to elite ranges (75 MPH) and the EV up with it to 93.1 MPH? The whiffs (30% whiff%) and Chase (36.6%) are way up too, so I want to see a bit more before jumping him back over Gunnar. But it could be coming, and maybe not just over Gunnar.

6) (9) Fernando Tatis Jr. – SDP, OF, 26.4 – I’ve been unwilling to fade Tatis even when so many started to get lukewarm on him, and he’s showing why with an insane start to the season backed up by the underlying numbers. And the best part is he’s running like wild with 7 steals in 21 games (11 steals in 102 games in 2024)

Shadow6) (5) Shohei Ohtani LAD, DH only/Weekly Leagues, 30.11 – This is where I would rank Ohtani in weekly lineup leagues or as a hitter only

7) (24) Oneil CruzPIT, OF/SS, 26.7 – Welcome to true elite dynasty asset territory Oneil Cruz!!! Cruz has been a target for me for a few years now, and I named him a buy high Target this off-season. He’s going full blow up in 2025. He’s on pace to go like 40/80 right now. hah … insane. And he’s actually been unlucky with a .393 xwOBA vs. .356 wOBA. Even the plate skills are improving with a 26.8/15.9 K%/BB%, and we know about the beastly power (19.6% Barrel%, 93.5 MPH EV, 78.1 MPH swing). This dude is in rarified air.

8) (7) Kyle Tucker – CHC, OF, 28.4 – The Quiet Killer has a 176 wRC+ with 6 homers and 4 steals in 24 games … shhhhhhhh

9) (5) Juan Soto – NYM, OF, 26.6 – Soto got paid and now he’s just chillin, content with a 6.2% Barrel%, rather than the 19.7% he put up in his contract year … nah, I’m just playing. He’s never had a wRC+ under 143 in his career. He’ll be fine. He just doesn’t run as much as the guys ranked ahead of him

10) (8) Aaron Judge NYY, OF, 33.0 – .499 xwOBA leads all of baseball amongst qualified hitters, and while I thought he would be far and away ahead of the pack, there are actually a few guys pretty close (Alonso, Tatis, Aranda!, Rice!). He’s already 33 years old, so that has to ding him in a general dynasty ranking

11) (10) Ronald Acuna Jr. – ATL, OF, 27.4 – Everything seems to be going well in his rehab and he’s expected return at some point in May

12) (11) Julio Rodriguez – SEA, OF, 24.4 – Of course he’s off to a slow start again with a .188 BA. Cleary hold. We know the drill. But honestly, it’s almost not even worth the aggravation. He has to be the most annoying elite dynasty asset to own ever.

13) (12) James WoodWAS, OF, 22.8 – I’ve been the high guy on Wood since he was born, and I didn’t blink this off-season ranking him 12th overall. He’s fully backing up his elite dynasty asset status with an elite 75.4 MPH swing, 19.3% Barrel%, .398 xwOBA and a 26.3/12.8 K%/BB%. The launch has been coming up of late too. The only quibble is that he hasn’t been a great base stealer (3 for 5 this year), which keeps him out of truly exploding into the Top 10

14) (14) Wyatt Langford – TEX, OF, 23.6 – Carrying over the big 2nd half of the season right into 2025 with a 11.1% Barrel%, .376 xwOBA and 17.3/11.5 K%/BB% in 13 games. He’s firmly establishing his elite status

15) (13) Jackson ChourioMIL, OF, 21.2 – Not having the next level blow up quite yet, but I’m getting the sense he’s really more of a 2nd half player anyway. He got off to a slow start in 2024 and even in 2023 in the minors too. And even his “slow start” is damn good with a 12.3% Barrel%

16) (15) Jackson MerrillSDP, OF, 22.0 – He was locking in his elite dynasty asset status before the hamstring injury with a 22.6% Barrel% and .497 xwOBA in 10 games

17) (25) CJ AbramsWAS, SS, 24.7 – I knew not to buy into that late season suspension as anything other than a blip on the radar. He came into 2025 with added muscle and was in the midst of a power explosion (4 homers with a 16.1% Barrel% and 92.8 MPH EV) before going down with a hip injury. He’s got more than a few 30/30 seasons in his future

18) (19) Paul SkenesPIT, RHP, 22.11 – His whiff rates really aren’t in that wild crazy elite ace range with a 25.5% whiff% (28.7% in 2024), but that is definitely nitpicking with a 2.87 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 25.4/3.4 K%/BB% in 31.1 IP. Without the crazy whiff and K rates though, it’s really not such a no brainer to have him as the top dynasty pitcher in the game. There are other really, really good candidates

19) (18) Jose Ramirez – CLE, 3B, 32.7 – He’s not on pace to go 40/40 again, but that is an unreasonable expectation. He more or less looks like himself. No signs of decline yet

20) (20) Bryce Harper PHI, 1B, 32.6 – Still elite with a .910 OPS and .409 xwOBA. And he’s running a ton with 5 steals in 22 games

21) (22) Francisco Lindor – NYM, SS, 31.5 – Blasted 2 homers yesterday and is having his normal excellent season

22) (16) Yordan Alvarez HOU, OF, 27.10 – .280 wOBA vs. .376 xwOBA. He has a 94.1 MPH EV. He’ll be fine

23) (17) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – TOR, 1B, 25.7 – Not gonna lie, I wish he hit more homers with only 1 homer in 23 games, but the .422 xwOBA is elite. Considering he doesn’t steal many bases, the 30-ish homers he’s hit the past 3 seasons feels a tad light. Just nitpicking, I know

24) (28) Tarik SkubalDET, LHP, 28.5 – Skenes, Skubal, Crochet, Gilbert and Yamamoto are in the top tier of dynasty aces right now, and they are quite hard to separate. There are good arguments for all 5 of them. I’ll keep Skenes in the top spot for age, but honestly, I could pick the order of these 5 out of a hat and be fine with it

25) (32) Logan Gilbert SEA, RHP, 27.10 – He had the ace breakout in 2024, and now he’s somehow leveling up even more with a 2.63 ERA and 38/5.6 K%/BB% in 27.1 IP. The 38.1% whiff% backs up the K rate. I don’t think he’s going to keep this up obviously, but if there were any doubts about him being a true ace, there aren’t anymore

26) (29) Garrett Crochet – BOS, LHP, 25.10 – Locking in the 2024 breakout with a 1.13 ERA and 28.5/8.1 K%/BB% in 32 IP. The reason he stays in 4th behind Skenes, Gilbert, and Skubal is that the walk rate is up a tad, and the fastball velocity is down 1.5 MPH to 95.7 MPH

27) (37) Yoshinobu Yamamoto – LAD, RHP, 26.9 – Yoshi is taking it up a notch in year 2 with a 0.93 ERA and 35.2/6.5 K%/BB% in 29 IP. He’s firmly in the conversation for top dynasty pitcher in the game

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKINGS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
APRIL 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
UPDATED TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS COMING SOON
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
SPREADSHEETS
TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG! 

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

Welcome to the First Dynasty Baseball Rankings Week of the 2025 Season!

The first Updated Dynasty Baseball Rankings Week is always the toughest because we are still working with small samples, but the wheeling and dealing, and decision making, never stops in dynasty, so we gotta make decisions based on something. I’m going over 400 deep with quick blurbs for every player. Full Rankings will be on the Patreon with about a Top 20-ish free here on the Brick Wall. First post drops tomorrow. Catch you then …

-Halp

The Underachievers Dynasty Baseball Rundown (4/7/25)

I’ll be running down everything that caught my eye in the Dynasty Baseball world on most Mondays throughout the season here on the Brick Wall. The rest of the week you can catch my Rundowns on the Patreon. Here is the The Underachievers Dynasty Baseball Rundown (4/7/25)

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
-DYNASTY RUNDOWNS AND MONTHLY DYNASTY & PROSPECTS RANKINGS UPDATES ALL SEASON
-TOP 1,000 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKS
-TOP 500 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL PROSPECT RANKS
-TOP 146 2025 FYPD RANKS
-2025 FYPD Target & Strategy Guide
-POSITION BY POSITION TARGETS
-OBP TOP 400 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
ALL IN ONE RANKINGS SPREADSHEET
TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST

Festival of Targets – It’s legitimately wild how many of my named Targets in my Position by Position Dynasty Targets articles (Patreon) are going off right now: Tyler Soderstrom, Jesus Luzardo, Heliot Ramos, Ben Rice, Ivan Herrera, Spencer Torkelson, Michael Conforto, Kris Bubic (who dominated again yesterday), Pavin Smith, Otto Lopez, Jose Soriano, CJ Abrams/Oneil Cruz/Hunter Greene (high end targets), Trey Sweeney, Drew Rasmussen, Jordan Walker and more. Honestly, so many of my guys are going off, it’s not even fun anymore 😉 I’ve been on a week and a half celebration bender, and I need to sober up and come up for some air. So let’s turn our attention to some of the underachievers, and see if there are signs of a breakout still coming, or if I missed the mark completely on them. I’ll also go into underachievers I didn’t name as targets. Let’s kick it off with Target Jo Adell …

 Jo Adell – LAA, OF, 26.0 – Adell went 0 for 4 yesterday and now has a 67 wRC+ in 7 games. With his history, it would be so easy to finally write him off and say this is the final nail in the coffin, but when you look under the hood, it’s actually encouraging. The whiff% is down to a career best 26.3%, which is almost in the average range. That is an absolutely wild transformation from his days putting up mid to upper 30’s whiff rates. And it continues a downward trend from 2024 where he put up a 29.8% whiff%, so there is hope there is real improvement here. He’s also doing it while still ripping the ball with a 91.5 MPH EV, and while being more selective with a career best, and above average 25.5% Chase%. Other than the surface stats, I’m damn pumped about this start. Stay the course, as all signs point towards the breakout season finally coming.

Tyler Fitzgerald – SFG, SS/2B, 27.7 – Fitz wasn’t a named Target, but I was definitely excited by the power/speed and also scared off by the plate approach, and after putting up his 3rd straight 0-fer yesterday to give him a 29 wRC+ in 7 games, it looks like the hit tool just might tank him. But his whiff% is actually down 3.1 percentage points to 28.1%, and his K% is down 5.8 percentage points to 25.9%. His exit velocity is also up almost 1 MPH to 88.5 MPH. He’s never going to be a high BA guy with a 20.4 degree launch hitting in Oracle Park, and his current xBA is .180, so I’m not saying it’s all roses, I’m just saying the surface stats aren’t nearly as bad as it really is. Stay the course with Fitz.

Pete Crow-Armstrong – CHC, OF, 23.0 – The Crow went 0 for 4 yesterday and now has a 47 wRC+ in 12 games. If PCA doesn’t work out, that one will seriously hurt me as he’s been my guy since before he was drafted. But before I get too sad, let’s see what’s happening. Just like with Fitz and Adell, the whiff rates are actually down, and his is down to an above average 24%. That is down 5.9 percentage points from 2024. And amazingly enough, he’s done it while upping his bat speed 2 MPH to an above average 72.6 MPH. When you try to swing faster, you are supposed to miss the ball more, not less. He’s still chasing too much, but at least there is some improvement with it down 3.5 percentage points to 37.9%. And even with a .255 OBP, he still has 3 steals in 12 games. I wish the surface stats looked better too, but he has majorly improved whiffs, majorly improved bat speed, slight chase improvement, and he’s running. I’m encouraged.

Dylan Crews – WAS, OF, 23.1 – I thought it would never happen. Crews finally had a decent game, going 2 for 4 with stolen base. That gives him a whopping negative 35 wRC+ in 8 games. I’m not gonna lie, it doesn’t look good under the hood either with a 38% whiff% and 36.4% Chase% which are much worse than his 2024 debut. But you have to remember that Crews got off to a slow start last year as well. There was blood in the streets with him struggling at Double-A, but he eventually found his rhythm, and I’m betting on the same thing happening in 2025. He might just be a slow starter.

Luis Garcia – WAS, 2B, 24.11 – You know I couldn’t go an entire Dynasty Rundown without at least partially victory lapping hah. And that brings us to Luis Garcia, who wasn’t someone I was going after. He’s gone 0-fer in 5 of 7 games this season and now has a 40 wRC+ in 7 games. His plate approach is still terrible and showing no signs of maturing with a 40% Chase% which is worse than 2024. His contact rates remain in that good but not great area with a 19.2% K%, and I’m being generous because the whiff rates are actually all the way up to 28.9% right now (21.3% in 2024). And finally, he continues to not hit the ball that hard with a 87.9 MPH EV. The weird thing about his season is that he has an insane 15% Barrel%, which I’m not buying, but it’s something, and he also has a career high launch at 10 degrees, which is nice to see that continue to go in the right direction. Obviously it’s insanely early, but if I were to buy Garcia, which I wasn’t, these aren’t the signs I want to see for a next level breakout. It looks like more of the same, with some launch/barrell% silver lining.

JJ Bleday – OAK, OF, 27.5 – Bleday was another popular target that I wasn’t buying into. After going 0 for 4 yesterday he now has a 59 wRC+ in 10 games. And he continues to be a below average CF. Here is what I wrote in his Top 1,000 blurb, “Bleday is a low ceiling player with little speed, a below average BA, and above average homer power at best. I also think there is risk too, because he’s a below average outfielder, and Denzel Clark and Colby Thomas are charging hard to compete for those open OF jobs. Kurtz and Soderstrom could push Rooker into more OF duty too.”  … Bleday currently has 0 barrels on the season. The plate approach is really good, which matters, but that is about it. Even his launch is way down to 8.3 degrees, which is down so much I’m wondering if that was a choice. Not a good choice, considering the new hitter’s paradise they play in. Kurtz can’t stop hitting homers at Triple-A (he went deep for his 4th time last night), Soderstrom isn’t going anywhere (he homered for the 4th time in 10 games last night too), and Target Denzel Clarke’s double plus CF glove is sitting at Triple-A with a massively improved hit tool (22.6/16.1 K%/BB% with a .280 BA). I was fading Bleday this off-season, and I’m even more off him now.

Jackson Jobe – DET, RHP, 22.8 – I love Jackson Jobe. I was the first one hyping him as a true elite pitching prospect during his 2nd half 2023 explosion, and I ranked him very high this off-season (21st overall in the Top 500 Prospects Rankings). But because so many places had him Top 10 and in the same tier as Andrew Painter, I got a lot of questions on why I wasn’t higher. And my answer was his 25.6/12.0 K%/BB% last year. And now that mediocre K/BB is back in the majors. He pitched last night against the Quad-A White Sox and went 5 IP with 4 hits, 2 ER, and a 4/3 K/BB. His first start was more of the same at the pitcher’s paradise in Seattle, going 4 IP with 3 hits, 3 ER, and a 3/4 K/BB. The fastball was down to 95.8 MPH in this latest one and didn’t record a single whiff on 14 swings. He has a 20.8% whiff% between the two starts, which isn’t great, and we know he was working on new pitches this off-season because he wasn’t happy with how many bats he was missing. One of those new pitches, the curveball, has yet to get a single whiff this season. I still love Jobe, and how I closed out his Top 1,000 blurb is still how I feel about him: ” Jobe should break camp with the team in 2025, and while I wouldn’t expect an ace season right out of the gate, I’m betting on him getting there eventually.”

Chase Dollander – COL, RHP, 23.5 – Dollander was another elite pitching prospect I wasn’t quite as high on, but in his case, it had nothing to do with his K/BB rates, it had everything to do with him pitching in Coors. And his first MLB start at Coors went basically exactly how you would have thought. Great K/BB. Bad outing. He went 5 IP with 7 hits, 4 ER, and a 6/1 K/BB vs. OAK. The 97.8 MPH fastball put up a respectable 20% whiff%, but it got rocked with a 101 MPH against. The cutter, curve, and changeup all performed well by missing bats and inducing weak contact, leading to a solid 25% whiff% overall. It was a good outing … probably in any other ballpark but Coors. I like Dollander. I still ranked him 57th overall on the Prospects Rankings, but in Coors, I just can’t go higher than that.

Garrett Mitchell – MIL, OF, 26.7 – Mitchell was one of my favorite targets this off-season, and while his start hasn’t been bad with a 102 wRC+, it hasn’t exactly been exciting either with 0 homers and 1 steal. Are we still buying here? Hell yea. The whiff rates are all the way down to 25% (34.8% in 2024), and the launch is all the way up to 9.3 degrees (2.8 degrees in 2024). And not only has he done that while maintaining his elite bat speed, he’s actually taken the bat speed up into even more rarified air with a 76.8 MPH swing (75.7 MPH in 2024). Don’t budge off Mitchell.

Matt Wallner – MIN, OF, 27.3 – Wallner is another target who isn’t having a bad start with a .804 OPS, but the guy has 0 homers, and hitting homers is what he does. Honestly, his start is the wonkiest one to understand. I think I should be over the moon for the 22.9 K%, because that insane 36.4 K% from 2024 needed to come down, but his whiff rates are actually much worse with a 44.2% whiff% (38.4% in 2024). Hard to trust the K rate when the whiff rate is still so bad. But on the flip side, the homers are certainly going to come with a 92 MPH EV, 13.6% Barrel% and 18 degree launch. And it was his career ..252 BA that made me confident enough in the hit tool to call him a target. He again has a good BA with a .267 BA. There is some mixed bag in here, but I’m holding strong.

James Wood – WAS, OF, 22.7 – Wood went 0 for 3 yesterday and now has a 81 wRC+ with a 41.7% K% in 9 games. That K rate is damn scary, but thank goodness he has a 27.4% whiff%, which is actually 2 percentage points better than 2024, because the hit tool is the only thing that can tank him. That whiff% shows to not be scared off by the K rate right now. He’s still crushing the ball with a 16.7% Barrel%. The biggest negative is the negative 2.7 degree launch. He needs to bring that up to really get the true breakout we want to see, but don’t you dare panic on Wood.

Michael Toglia – COL, 1B/OF, 26.8/Triston Casas – BOS, 1B, 25.3 – Now these are two targets where there are reasons to worry. It’s too early to actually worry, but both are having starts you don’t want to see. Casas went 0 for 5 with 2 K yesterday and Toglia went 1 for 5 with a strikeout. The worrisome part is that their hit tools are going in the wrong direction. Toglia is hitting .143 with 44.7% K% and 45.2% whiff%. Casas is hitting .167 with a 34.2% K% and 36% whiff%. Toglia just got back into Coors, and he was a better 2nd half hitter than 1st half last year, so definitely give him some time, but that swing and miss is scary. Casas was supposed to be gradually improving that hit tool as his career went along, and so far, it’s gradually getting worse. Again, way too early to panic on each, but each have red flags that need to start seeing some improvement.

Ben Brown – CHC, RHP, 25.7 – I loved Ben Brown, and I thought if Chicago was smart, they would give him that 5th starter job. They did indeed give him that job, but he’s not making them (or me) look smart. He had his 2nd rough outing last night, going 4 IP with 7 hits, 5 ER, and a 5/4 K/BB vs. SDP. He still can’t find that 3rd pitch, throwing the changeup only 3.7% of the time, and it hasn’t recorded a single whiff. The good news is that the 4-semaer and curve are still whiff machines with a 25% and 40.8% whiff%, respectively, but both pitches are getting hit hard. I love K chasing in fantasy, so Brown’s 33% whiff% on the season is still so damn enticing to me, but so far he hasn’t made the improvements you would really want to see to feel comfortable. In general, I’m still holding.

Kumar Rocker – TEX, RHP, 25.4 – I was buying Rocker’s en fuego finish to 2024, but so far, it hasn’t shown back up in 2025. He got roughed up in his first outing, and his 2nd outing last night was a weird one, going 5 IP with 6 hits, 1 ER, and a 1/0 K/BB vs. TBR. He induced a ton of weak contact with a 84.4 MPH EV against, but he didn’t miss many bats with a 10% whiff%. The famed slider only put up a 27% whiff% and the two 95+ MPH fastballs notched 1 whiff in 28 swings. After getting rocked with poor control in his first outing, it was nice to see him settle down in this one. Remember that he’s only had 64.2 IP in his minor league career due to injuries, so he’s learning on the fly here in the majors. There are going to be bumps, and he needs to find a pitch to get lefties out. I’m holding, but maybe I’m slightly less excited than I was this off-season.

Zac Veen – COL, OF, 23.4 – How can I do an underachieving Target write-up without mention Zac Veen! I couldn’t love Veen more a couple years ago at an uber athletic and projectable 6’3”, 190 pounds with Coors Field waiting for him, but as you know, it’s been a bumpy road to say the least since then. But he’s been drawing us all back in this year, and now he got the call to the bigs to take over for the struggling Jordan Beck. He opened some eyes this spring with 2 homers, 9 steals, and a 113 wRC+ in 28 PA, and then he went to Triple-A and slashed .387/.472/.677 with 1 homer, 1 steal, and a 16.2/10.8 K%/BB% in 8 games. He still doesn’t crush the ball, but he’s been adding muscle and the power has definitely been ticking up. He’s a game changer on the bases with league leading stolen base ability, and while the K rates have been on the high side in the minors, they aren’t in the danger zone and Coors will only help with that. I can’t say I’m still gaga over Veen like I was back in the day, but it’s still so easy to see a monster fantasy player. I’m just excited to see what he can do.

Rafael Devers – BOS, 3B, 28.5 – 5 for 9 with 2 doubles and a homer in a double header. He’s now 10 for 19 in his last 5 games and has a 134 wRC+ on the season. We never doubted you big fella!!! ***I did start to doubt him. Shoulders scare me, but we can all stop holding our breath now …

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
-DYNASTY RUNDOWNS AND MONTHLY DYNASTY & PROSPECTS RANKINGS UPDATES ALL SEASON
-TOP 1,000 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKS
-TOP 500 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL PROSPECT RANKS
-TOP 146 2025 FYPD RANKS
-2025 FYPD Target & Strategy Guide
-POSITION BY POSITION TARGETS
-OBP TOP 400 2025 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
ALL IN ONE RANKINGS SPREADSHEET
TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST

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