2018 Dynasty Prospect Top 125 Baseball Rankings
It’s cold, the days are short, and baseball is gone. Soon we’ll have white garbage falling from the sky, football will be everywhere, and you’ll probably contemplate ending it all. But hold on, there is hope, while some consider this the offseason, the pros know of this time as the trading season. But who do you want? Rankings haven’t been posted by any major outlet, and they’re likely months away from doing so. Now is a time to reassess your farm, take a long look at your teams’ depth, project your stars, and dream on your up and comers. If you’re a longtime reader of this site, you’re already ahead of the curve, and with that I present my 2018 dynasty prospect rankings.
To answer the one question many will have about Shohei Otani. I am fortunate enough to have seen him a bunch, so I’ll give you a few scenarios.
Option 1) Otani is both a hitter and a pitcher. In the case this happens he is the #1 fantasy prospect.
Option 2) He’s split into two players, hitter and pitcher. This is the likely and grimmer scenario. Any team that wants a two-way player is going to have to transition to a 6-man rotation. This caps his innings severely, as he’ll max out at 27 starts. If he was to pitch 6 innings every start he’d be limited to 162 innings. That’s how many innings German Marquez had… This would make him my #5 prospect as a pitcher because of his capped performance. On the hitting side, he’d likely play 3 of the other 5 days in the cycle, meaning he only plays half the games in the season. That is not exciting, and I would rank the hitting side down at #81, next to players I’m very unsure about even making the majors as starters.
Without further ado, the rankings.
| 1 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. |
| 2 | Eloy Jimenez |
| 3 | Ronald Acuna |
| 4 | Victor Robles |
| 5 | Brendan Rodgers |
| 6 | Gleyber Torres |
| 7 | Michael Kopech |
| 8 | Francisco Mejia |
| 9 | Alex Reyes |
| 10 | Fernando Tatis Jr. |
| 11 | Bo Bichette |
| 12 | Nick Senzel |
| 13 | Kyle Tucker |
| 14 | Keston Hiura |
| 15 | Brent Honeywell |
| 16 | Walker Buehler |
| 17 | Lewis Brinson |
| 18 | Luis Robert |
| 19 | Jorge Mateo |
| 20 | Willy Adames |
| 21 | Austin Meadows |
| 22 | Mitch Keller |
| 23 | Brendan Mckay |
| 24 | Willie Calhoun |
| 25 | Franklin Barreto |
| 26 | Royce Lewis |
| 27 | Estevan Florial |
| 28 | Forrest Whitley |
| 29 | Sixto Sanchez |
| 30 | Hunter Greene |
| 31 | AJ Puk |
| 32 | Triston McKenzie |
| 33 | Kolby Allard |
| 34 | Mackenzie Gore |
| 35 | Kevin Maitan |
| 36 | Leody Taveras |
| 37 | Alec Hansen |
| 38 | Juan Soto |
| 39 | Austin Hays |
| 40 | Anthony Alford |
| 41 | Taylor Trammell |
| 42 | Alex Verdugo |
| 43 | Nick Gordon |
| 44 | Kyle Wright |
| 45 | Luis Urias |
| 46 | Jack Flaherty |
| 47 | Luiz Gohara |
| 48 | Jay Groome |
| 49 | Franklin Perez |
| 50 | Mike Soroka |
| 51 | Michel Baez |
| 52 | Cal Quantrill |
| 53 | Blake Rutherford |
| 54 | Alex Faedo |
| 55 | Kyle Lewis |
| 56 | Matt Manning |
| 57 | Riley Pint |
| 58 | Shane Baz |
| 59 | Jesus Sanchez |
| 60 | Ian Anderson |
| 61 | Yadier Alvarez |
| 62 | Ryan McMahon |
| 63 | Justus Sheffield |
| 64 | Dylan Cease |
| 65 | Jose Siri |
| 66 | Miguel Andujar |
| 67 | Monte Harrison |
| 68 | Jorge Alfaro |
| 69 | Dustin Fowler |
| 70 | Adrian Morejon |
| 71 | Jesse Winker |
| 72 | Austin Beck |
| 73 | Chance Adams |
| 74 | Luis Ortiz |
| 75 | Sandy Alcantara |
| 76 | Anderson Espinoza |
| 77 | Scott Kingery |
| 78 | Jake Bauers |
| 79 | Keibert Ruiz |
| 80 | Ryan Mountcastle |
| 81 | Tyler O’Neill |
| 82 | JB Bukauskas |
| 83 | Yusniel Diaz |
| 84 | Tyler Mahle |
| 85 | Seth Romero |
| 86 | Beau Burrows |
| 87 | Mickey Moniak |
| 88 | Jon Duplantier |
| 89 | Brent Rooker |
| 90 | Pavin Smith |
| 91 | Corey Ray |
| 92 | Harrison Bader |
| 93 | Michael Chavis |
| 94 | Joey Wentz |
| 95 | Corbin Burnes |
| 96 | Carter Kieboom |
| 97 | Chance Sisco |
| 98 | Andres Munoz |
| 99 | Jesus Luzardo |
| 100 | Daniel Johnson |
| 101 | Jorge Guzman |
| 102 | Carson Kelly |
| 103 | Adam Haseley |
| 104 | JP Crawford |
| 105 | Christian Arroyo |
| 106 | Jeren Kendall |
| 107 | Isan Diaz |
| 108 | Jose de Leon |
| 109 | Brandon Woodruff |
| 110 | Stephen Gonsalves |
| 111 | Fernando Romero |
| 112 | Aramis Ademan |
| 113 | Isaac Paredes |
| 114 | David Paulino |
| 115 | Wander Javier |
| 116 | Freicer Perez |
| 117 | Oneil Cruz |
| 118 | Yasiel Antuna |
| 119 | Albert Abreu |
| 120 | Andres Gimenez |
| 121 | Heliot Ramos |
| 122 | Jo Adell |
| 123 | Jahmai Jones |
| 124 | Magneuris Sierra |
| 125 | Zack Collins |
Here are the remaining players I contemplated adding to the list, or at the very least have my attention. They are in the order of their teams
| Austin Riley |
| Christian Pache |
| Jomar Reyes |
| DJ Stewart |
| Tanner Houck |
| Oscar de la Cruz |
| Adbert Azolay |
| Alex Lange |
| Carson Fulmer |
| Aristides Aquino |
| Shed Long |
| Tyler Stephenson |
| Bobby Bradley |
| Will Benson |
| Daz Cameron |
| Christin Stewart |
| Colin Moran |
| JD Davis |
| Meibrys Viloria |
| Kyle Zimmer |
| Seuly Matias |
| Mitchell White |
| Starling Heredia |
| Jordan Sheffield |
| Trevor Rogers |
| Mauricio Dubon |
| Jacob Nottingham |
| Fernando Romero |
| Tyler Jay |
| Alex Kirilloff |
| David Peterson |
| Justin Dunn |
| Desmond Lindsay |
| Peter Alonso |
| Domingo Acevedo |
| Clark Schmidt |
| Thairo Estrada |
| Lazaro Armenteros |
| James Kapreilian |
| Dylan Cozens |
| Roman Quinn |
| Jhailyn Ortiz |
| Ke’Bryan Hayes |
| Cole Tucker |
| Kevin Newman |
| Luis Escobar |
| Josh Naylor |
| Jorge Ona |
| Luis Almanzar |
| Christian Arroyo |
| Chris Shaw |
| Evan White |
| Thyago Vierra |
| Dan Vogelbach |
| Devlin Perez |
| Dakota Hudson |
| Wander Franco |
| Josh Lowe |
| Lucius Fox |
| Ronald Guzman |
| Yohander Mendez |
| Bubba Thompson |
| Cole Ragans |
| Hans Crouse |
| Chris Seise |
| TJ Zeuch |
| Richard Urena |
| Erick Fedde |
| Joan Baez |
| Adonis Medina |
The Author
24 Comments
I love it when a new ranking comes out, especially a fantasy-focused one.
I like the high ranking of Jorge Mateo.
The name that jumped out at me is Andres Munoz. This may be the first time I’ve even seen it. What made you put him on the list?
A lot of recent information. He’s the youngest player in the AFL, he’s throwing over 100 (scary but awesome). For perspective, he’s in the AFL while being 7 months older than Hunter Greene.
I’m assuming this is Luis almanzar of San Diego, not of Oakland?
Correct
I feel like I’m missing Yordan Alvarez… Is he left out because of his position?
He has power, but I’m not convinced he can hit enough to even make it to the majors. I probably should have put him in the honorable mentions, but I never game him any thought to actually making the list.
You seem to be the only blogger with even remote questions about Yordan’s hit tool. Care to explain why you feel that way?
Well as far as standing alone, I wish I was taking this position alone, but I know the guys at Baseball Prospectus have said similar things regarding Yordan Alvarez, but here is some food for thought. First, Alvarez exploded onto the scene this season by destroying low A, but after his promotion to high A, he was a .277/.329/.393 hitter. Now if you wanted to say which part of his season seemed more realistic, his .449 babip in Low A or .316 babip in high A? His bat isn’t fast through the zone, and it his plate discipline only seemed average after the move up to high A. While others have made similar profiles work, I just think its a huge amount of pressure for a 1B to handle.
[…] Baseball Prospect Rankings: TheDynastyGuru.com ranks the top 125 fantasy prospects heading into […]
Surprised not to see Brandon Marsh (Angels) on the list. Was he missed? Thanks
No, he certainly had a nice start in rookie ball and he probably should have made the honorable mentions, but i’m not focused on rostering him yet.
Pretty aggresive ranking of Hiura. He scares a lot of people away with that shoulder injury.
Elbow injury. He’s been playing the field since he was drafted, so i’m not worried about his ability to field.
This characterization is incorrect. Hiura played almost exclusively as DH since he was drafted, only seeing 3 games in the field with 0 assists over that time.
Well the injury is most certainly in his elbow. Following that, any professional organization that is allowing their players to play in the field after being drafted injured are showing the necessary steps that they 1) already have extensively tested and/or rehabbed the injury and 2) are ready to allow him to play without fear of immediate re-injury. I don’t see any purpose in bringing up 0 assists because he’s without question made hundreds of throws before Brewer coaches and trainers before they even let him touch the dirt in live games.
Sorry, yes…elbow. But Jesse is 100% correct. He almost exclusively DH’d after being drafted. He struggled when he got promoted. And many teams were scared away from drafting him higher than he was due to the injury and the possability he would/will need surgery. Swinging the bat never appeared to be the worry with him…it was throwing the baseball. And the fact the Brewers have been very cautious with him should still worry fantasy owners. That and the fact that surgery has still not been ruled out from what I have read.
Other than all of that….I love the kid and think he has the chance to be stud with the bat. Just not sure about his health yet.
The worst case scenario here is Tommy John, and with a position player, that’s a missed year which I can live with. If the Brewers have let him play even a single out in the field since his draft day, it means they’ve seen him make literally hundreds of throws in practice to prove to them he can be put in the field. I’m not claiming he’ll have Robinson Cano’s arm at 2B, I’m just more than satisfied with where he is and I know from multiple games watched at UC Irvine he can really really hit. With that known, I’m ranking him as a fantasy player, and I’m all in on that.
Arroyo is on the top 125 and on honorable mentions.
Ignore the honorable mention
In the most recent podcasts, everyone is speaking about Acuna as if he’s a possible generational talent. I know the difference between 1-5 is small, but what makes you like Vlad Jr. and Elroy over him?
I supposed I should have been more clear. I made these rankings on my own so there was never a point where I preferred Acuna to Vlad or Eloy. I suppose I see a few things that put those two over Acuna. 1) they are both significantly more developed, and are going to have much more powerful bodies. Acuna making lots of loud contact is wonderful, but in the power department the huge guys are the ones who typically lead the league in homers. 2) I’m not sure I buy Acuna as an MLB burner. He had a lot of steals this year, but I don’t anticipate him being a mega stolen base threat. 3) I honest think Vlad Jr. is one of two guys (Devers) who have a chance to be the next Pujols/Cabrera type bats.
Delvin, not Devlin. That is all.
You seem a lot lower than industry consensus on Scott Kingery. Would love your assessment of the second sacker.
For as well as Kingery runs he’s never put up gaudy steal totals, the homers seemingly came out of nowhere and AA Reading where he experienced his power surge is the definition of a bandbox. While he hits well, he doesn’t have terrific plate discipline either. He is a second baseman so he has that going for him, but I don’t think its an exciting profile.