The 2018 Top 200 Fantasy Prospects represents the culmination of over 40 days of prospect positional rankings. These rankings will ultimately detail 500 total prospects, including 40 catchers, 34 first basemen, 32 second basemen, 36 third basemen, 58 shortstops (part 1 and part 2), 120 outfielders (part 1, part 2, and part 3), and 180 pitchers (part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4).

This is an exciting time of year at The Dynasty Guru! We hope you enjoy our extensive rankings and appreciate any and all feedback. The prospect fun does not end in March! During the season, there will be monthly prospect updates, examining risers, fallers, injuries, and other notable developments. Further, TDG will release a full, updated top 200 prospects ranking over the Summer, including various new draftees.

However, before we get to what you came to see, we sincerely hope you enjoy the package the TDG team has put together here. If you’re looking for all of our rankings in one easy-to-use spreadsheet format, you can donate a minimum of $10 to receive a downloadable version of the entirety of our ultra-deep dynasty rankings. This package includes Bret Sayre’s Top 500 for standard leagues, Tom Trudeau’s Top 500 for OBP leagues, Jesse Roche’s Top 200 prospects, and our entire rankings series in downloadable form. For more information, click below.

With all that said, please enjoy the rankings!

2018 Top 200 Fantasy Prospects

Final Thoughts

Ranking Flexibility

These rankings include several tiers, and are flexible within those tiers. The largest tiers fall between 21-52, 53-100, 101-148, and 149-196. The smallest adjustment to a player’s fantasy tools can elevate a player between tiers. Prospect evaluation is a fluid, ever-changing process; therefore, rankings also must adapt and change.

Further, fantasy rankings change across league formats. For example, Jorge Mateo has more value in a standard, 5-by-5 scoring format than even a 6-by-6 format. These rankings hope to bridge league formats by providing fantasy tool grades and peak projections (for hitters only). Please focus less on the strict rankings and more on what works for your league.

In practice, rankings are useful guides; however, drafts often complicate rankings. Do not strictly adhere to rankings. Be prepared to shift expectations and strategy. An article regarding prospecting in startup drafts is forthcoming and will analyze prospect trends in two separate dynasty drafts.

The Wildcard Fantasy Tool: Risk

These rankings measure three fantasy tools: hit, power, and speed for hitters and repertoire, command/control, and depth of repertoire for pitchers. An important fourth factor analyzed is risk. This writer tends to be risk-averse.

In many fantasy league formats, there is a limit on the number of prospects a team can roster. Sometimes this limit is simply a strict roster size cap (i.e., a team can only place 10 players in the minors). Sometimes this limit restricts the number of keepers (i.e., a team can only keep 5 prospects or 40 total players). Nevertheless, many leagues restrict rostering and retention of prospects. In these formats, higher upside, extremely young prospects, such as Wander Franco, are costly investments. In formats without restriction, or simply with expansive rosters, these high upside, high risk prospects are more valuable. Consequently, the risk and required lead time of such prospects is not as significant.

For those willing to bear more risk, consider discounting the risk factor employed in these rankings. For example, such owners may elevate Esteury Ruiz, Yunior Severino, and Luis Garcia ahead of Nick Solak, Max Schrock, Brandon Lowe, and Kevin Kramer.

It has been a pleasure providing these rankings. Good luck to all our readers in upcoming fantasy drafts, the long, grinding baseball season, and, hopefully, the playoffs!