Eric Cross' Top 100 Dynasty Prospect Rankings for Fantasy Baseball (May 2024)

It's hard to believe that we're already over a month into the season. At this point, all minor league levels are in full swing outside of the Dominican Summer League, and we're starting to see plenty of player movement up and down prospect rankings. This first in season upside is always an exciting one as new seasons bring new breakouts, new struggles, and new data to work with.

These rankings are geared toward standard 5x5 leagues (AVG) and consider many factors, including performance to date, scouting grades, future projection, and video and data analysis. Or, as I like to call it... PPP. Which stands for profile, performance, projection.

While these rankings are more slanted towards long-term fantasy value, proximity and short-term value do play a part in where a prospect lands in my rankings. If you want to see the full Top-500, then head on over to my Patreon!

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Top 100 Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Prospects

Prospect notes and analysis can be found following the rankings table below.

Prospect Eligibility: Less than 130 MLB AB or 50 IP (I'm ignoring service time)

Rankings Updated: May 9th, 2024

Top 10 Prospect Rankings By Position

Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Notes

Dylan Crews, Washington Nationals

For now, Dylan Crews holds a spot in my Top 10 overall, but that's not going to last much longer unless he turns his season around in the coming weeks. In 83 plate appearances this season, Crews is slashing .236/.317/.458 with a 34.9% strikeout rate. And since arriving in Double-A late last season, he's only hit .222 at the level in 39 games. It's a small sample size, and I'm not going to drop him too far yet as I'm a believer in the hit/power/approach blend he showed at LSU, but Crews' rising strikeout rate is a bit concerning.

Lazaro Montes, Seattle Mariners

After slashing .303/.440/.560 between the Complex Level and Lo-A in 2023, Lazaro Montes' encore this season has been equally as impressive. In 27 games for Lo-A Modesto, Montes is currently slashing .327/.432/.564 with six doubles, six home runs, and as many walks as strikeouts (19). Despite the high averages, Montes' contact rates are still on the lower side and continue to create some long-term concern. However, even if he can just get to around a 70% contact rate, Montes could be a middle of the order force when you factor in his massive power upside and rock-solid approach at the plate. His stock is trending up in a hurry.

"A magical [Lazaro] Montes moment once again!"

The @Mariners' No. 4 prospect launches a grand slam for the @ModestoNuts. pic.twitter.com/rJkTBKEECR

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 6, 2024

Harry Ford, Seattle Mariners vs Ethan Salas, San Diego Padres

There's plenty of discussion right now surrounding who the top catching prospect is. If you think Samuel Basallo will stick at the position (I don't), then he'd be my #1. Outside of him, the next two in the mix are Seattle's Harry Ford and San Diego's Ethan Salas. When I put a poll up for these two on Twitter last week, Salas won the poll with 60.7% of the vote. If you were ranking for real life and wanted to put Salas ahead of Ford, I wouldn't gripe about it. But for fantasy-focused prospect rankings, I sure as heck will.

We need to remember what a particular set of rankings are for and for fantasy, Ford is solidly ahead of Salas in my rankings. Let's start with the fact that there's a significant speed difference between the two with Ford grading as a plus runner and Salas more as an average to slightly below average runner long-term. Sure. Salas could provide a handful of steals, but Ford has been and should continue to be a player that provides more than 20 steals annually thanks to his plus speed and elite OBP abilities.

That's the other area that Ford stands out in over Salas. It's still too early to truly tell what type of OBP range Salas will settle in at, but it's probably not going to be the .400-.425 range that Ford is at. And for the bats, I think they're going to be closer than people thing. I'd be fine with someone projecting a slightly better bat for Salas, but at the moment, my mindset is that they're both going to be around 55-hit and 55-power long-term. Yes, I'm still a believer in more consistent power coming from Ford and he's shown glimpses of that level of power upside over the last couple of seasons.

Even if Ford is a slightly better bat, I don't believe it will be enough of an edge to offset the higher OBP and additional speed that Ford brings to the table.

Roman Anthony, Boston Red Sox

After seeing Roman Anthony several times between the end of 2023 and so far this season, my long-term outlook on him isn't all sunshine and rainbows as it was last summer. To put it simply, Anthony's swing decisions have been subpar, to say the least. He's been chasing plenty of breaking pitches below the zone and taking fastballs over the heart of the plate. Sure, he's walking at a solid clip, but the 31.9% strikeout rate is becoming rather concerning. I'm not going to drastically drop him down my rankings yet, but he did drop nine spots this month and will continue to slide if I don't see some improvements from him in the areas outlined above.

Roman Anthony smokes a triple down the right field line. #RedSox pic.twitter.com/jhvLDPgvOR

— Eric Cross (@EricCross04) May 7, 2024

With that said, there's still plenty of upside here with Anthony, so I wouldn't necessarily be rushing to sell him in dynasty leagues.

Adael Amador, Colorado Rockies

I've always thought that Adael Amador was underrated due to his lack of big power or speed. He's always been a fringe-average power/speed guy, but I thought he could still project to 15-20 homers thanks to Coors Field and his elite blend of contact and approach. Well, maybe not.

In 2024, Amador is still showing an elite approach with more walks (18) than strikeouts (16) and has 11 steals in 23 games, but he's doing absolutely nothing with the bat, currently hitting .124 with a .136 SLG, .012 ISO, and a whopping one extra-base hit (double). I'm not one to think an elite hitter magically stops being an elite hitter, so I'd be willing to buy low on Amador right now in dynasty leagues given how far his perceived value has dropped.

Owen Murphy, Atlanta Braves

Outside of Jared Jones, the most notable pitching riser in my May update was Atlanta's Owen Murphy. In six starts this season for Hi-A Rome, Murphy has recorded a 1.82 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 9% walk rate, and a 36.6% strikeout rate. That's a lofty 27.6% K-BB rate, which is up 6.4% from his already impressive 21.2% mark in 2023. It's becoming a real three-horse race in the Atlanta system between Murphy, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Hurston Waldrep to see who will be the best arm moving forward. And at this point, the momentum is shifting heavily towards Murphy thanks to his three above-average to plus pitches and above-average command and control.

Sheer dominance from Owen Murphy 💪

The @Braves' No. 5 prospect takes a perfect game into the 7th and finishes with double-digit K's for the second straight start for @GoEmperors: pic.twitter.com/Gl1dQWR4rW

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 26, 2024

Ralphy Velazquez, Cleveland Guardians

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll already know that I've tweeted about Ralphy Velazquez a few times this season. So it should come as no surprise that he's risen considerably up my rankings and into my Top 100 overall. Velazquez has six home runs in 25 games so far for Lo-A Lynchburg along with a .276/.345/.486 slash line.

The bat is going to need to stand out as Velazquez is a 1B/DH long-term, but I certainly believe it will. Velazquez projects as an above-average hitter with plus or better raw power and he's shown a decent approach as well. The major question though is where does he fit in long-term with Bo Naylor, Josh Naylor, and Kyle Manzardo already in the picture in Cleveland.

Termarr Johnson, Pittsburgh Pirates

Rounding things out at spot #100 this month is Pittsburgh Pirates second base prospect, Termarr Johnson. And honestly, I probably should've dropped him further. After slashing .244/.422/.438 in 2023, Johnson has struggled to the tune of a .171/.373/.239 slash line this season in 118 plate appearances. He's always walked a ton and probably always will, but the rest of the profile is a giant question mark. When drafted, Johnson was considered a hit over power prospect and subsequently sold out for power in 2023. Now, he's struggling to make contact or hit for power. Will he ever be able to find that happy medium? I'm not so sure.

If you enjoyed these rankings and want to see the full Top 500 along with additional rankings, analysis, and more, check out Eric's Toolshed Fantasy Patreon.

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