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Both the minor leagues and the MLB are underway, and it is a full go for the 2024 fantasy baseball season! After a full offseason of work, spending time on backfields, in minor league camps, watching video, and diving in on advanced data, I have made several refinements to my fantasy baseball prospects rankings. These rankings are helpful when evaluating players both for redraft and dynasty leagues and can help give you an edge in any format.
This specific set of prospect rankings can be used for any fantasy format, with the focus being on a player's potential for fantasy leagues long term. We hope that at RotoBaller we can help make you a champion in both dynasty and redraft formats.
You can find my top 50 prospect rankings list here, but if you want the full top 1,000 prospect list (yes, 1,000 prospects ranked for dynasty leagues), you can check out my website, The Dynasty Dugout.
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Top 50 Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Prospects
The Top Tier: Prospect Ranking Notes
Tier 1 has a very talented group of prospects which include Wyatt Langford, Junior Caminero, Jackson Holliday, and Jackson Chourio. Two of these guys are already on their respective MLB teams, and Caminero and Holliday are likely to be up very soon. While there is not a clear-cut standout at the top, Langford looks like one who can hit the ground running and be a high-end contributor right away.
Chourio has big power and speed upside, but some struggles with breaking stuff could limit the batting average ceiling in the early part of his career. Caminero has massive power and Holliday has some of the best plate discipline skills in the minors with a well rounded skillset. For a more detailed breakdown of each of the top prospects, check out this article on RotoBaller.
The Norfolk Tides now have home runs from their 1, 2, 3, and 5 hitters tonight.
Jackson Holliday (2), 99.6 mph, 414 feet
Connor Norby (2), [N/A], [N/A]
Heston Kjerstad (1), 107.1 mph, 451 feet
Kyle Stowers (2), 100.3 mph, 367 feet🎥: @TheVergePodpic.twitter.com/mqJtepbyFM
— Beck (@Upper_Beck) April 3, 2024
Top Pitching Prospects
Paul Skenes and Jackson Jobe are the two top pitching prospects in the game at this point. Skenes is MLB ready and it likely won't be long before we see him up in the Majors. Jobe is slated to start in Double-A but is quite advanced and while the Tigers will likely be cautious with him this year, we should still see him in the Majors in 2024.
Skenes's fastball touches triple digits regularly, and you have likely seen him still throwing 100+ after he is 100 pitches deep into a game. It has an incredible flat approach angle with elite carry, making it hard for hitters to catch up.
Skenes also boasts a slider that sits in the low 90s and gets a ton of whiffs. The changeup is a pretty nasty offering that makes hitters look foolish, but he has not needed it often.
Jobe made significant gains with his control in 2023 and his fastball took a big leap this spring. Jobe’s slider is his best pitch, sitting in the mid-80s with a ton of sweeping action with spin rates up to 3,200 RPM. The pitch gets anywhere from 12-17 inches of sweep but averaged near 15 in 2023, missing a ton of bats. Jobe added a cutter to bridge the velocity gap between the fastball and slider, sitting between 90 and 93 with short horizontal break and ride.
🔥 Jackson Jobe 🔥
MLB's No. 25 prospect hits 100+ mph 3x in a perfect 9th inning ...
Seals the save for the @tigers by getting a K on an 86 mph changeup. pic.twitter.com/Z1vBAsGMRj
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 12, 2024
Potential Prospect Risers
Every year, players make significant leaps up prospect rankings as they come into the season with new pitches, increased bat speed, more power, etc. Oftentimes, it is young players who have already shown a skillset that could lead to a breakout. In my top 50, I think the players who have the potential to make the biggest leap are Leo Dr Vries, Sebastian Walcott, and Colt Emerson.
In the small pro sample, Emerson made contact at a rate north of 80 percent with a zone contact of 86 percent. He showed a strong eye at the plate as well, chasing just 20 percent of pitches out of the zone.
While he did hit just two home runs, the exit velocities were impressive in Emerson’s pro debut. The average exit velocity checked in right around 89 mph and he paired it with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 105 mph, which is already north of MLB average.
Walcott took the prospect community by storm in 2023 after signing for a $3 million bonus with the Rangers and then immediately looking like a stud, making it from the Dominican Summer League to High-A in a matter of months. Walcott flashes high-end tools across the board for his age and has an impressive frame, leaving plenty of room to tap into what is already impressive power, posting a 106 mph 90th percentile exit velocity, which would already be plus by MLB standards.
De Vries was the top international signing in the 2024 class and is likely to be in Single-A at some point in 2024. He was already working with the Single-A team in minor league spring training games which is a very encouraging sign.
It’s been an up and down season for Sebastian Walcott but the talent here is undeniable. #StraightUpTX
pic.twitter.com/X6hJMJKla3— Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg) August 15, 2023
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