As the MLB offseason starts gaining momentum, I’m excited to share the first draft of my first-year player draft rankings! Well, not exactly the first draft, I’ve spent a significant amount of time reviewing, adjusting, reverting back, and wondering what I was thinking yesterday to get to this point. The reality is this is how I would draft the top 50 picks at this moment, and I haven’t made any significant changes after sleeping on it a few times, so I think it’s a great time to get out there to share the list with you.

For my opinions on this draft class as a group, please keep reading past the list and let me know what you think in the comments or on Twitter!

Heading into upcoming dynasty supplemental drafts, fantasy players might get a feeling “the honeymoon is over” after the quality of the last two first-year player drafts. While true, I don’t necessarily feel the current draft class is as weak as it’s being labeled at times by the fantasy industry, and the return value for high picks I’m seeing in some of my own dynasty leagues. It’s true last year’s draft, headlined by Spencer Torkelson, Austin Martin, Max Meyer, and Robert Hassell, was far deeper, but it was thought to be one of the deepest draft classes in recent memory which is turning out to be true. The 2019 draft class had a much bigger star appeal with Adley Rutschman, Bobby Witt, Andrew Vaughn, Riley Greene, C.J. Abrams, and Jasson Dominguez. But after that initial group of big names, you could have started to think of selecting some of this year’s top names if the classes had been combined.

The point I’m trying to make is even though this year’s draft class may not be as deep, or appear to have as big of stars on the surface, fantasy owners don’t have to go try to trade their draft capital for pennies on the dollar. There is talent in this draft class, there are upside and loud tools in certain players, and there are guys with high floors who should become major league regulars. If we look back to the 2018 class, with the exception of Jarred Kelenic and potentially Grayson Rodriguez, there were no real dynasty cornerstone players to select. The 2017 class is similar, with many players who garnered big dynasty appeal as they climbed through the minors, but coming up on five years in the pros, the class as a group has yet to put up influential stats in the big leagues.

So while this 2021 class is not the best we’ve seen, it’s also not hopeless. I believe we’ve gotten a bit spoiled with the group of draft classes we’ve seen recently. It reminds me of how we saw Juan Soto, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Fernando Tatis get big-league promotions around the same time, then become the three most sought-after players in dynasty almost overnight. Not all prospects will be generational talents, and not all draft classes will be the deepest in recent memory or packed with some of the absolute best prospects in the game. I like this draft class just fine and I am eager to see what professional coaches can do with a wide range of talent. So my advice? Take a deep breath, open a beverage of choice, and enjoy the offseason capped off with a fine dynasty supplemental draft when it’s time.