Mornin’ everyone! Hoping you’re all well and thriving. We’ve got some extra juicy stuff for you today – shoutout again to Ryan Felix Fernandes’ brain for the idea. Today, we bring you our projected 2027 American League All-Star lineups! 

Here are the ground rules:

• Players are only eligible if they are currently in the minor leagues and rookie-eligible when article posts.
• Players who have not yet been drafted are also eligible.
• This is dynasty fantasy land – so projecting trades is also allowed!

Thanks for reading!

Chris Knock

• C: Austin Wells, New York Yankees
• 1B: Dustin Harris, Texas Rangers
• 2B: Edwin Arroyo, Seattle Mariners
• 3B: Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
• SS: Anthony Volpe, New York Yankees
• LF: Royce Lewis, Minnesota Twins
• CF: Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers
• RF: Emmanuel Rodriguez, Minnesota Twins 
• SP: Roki Sasaki, Seattle Mariners
• RP: DL Hall, Baltimore Orioles
• AL HR Derby Finalist: Orelvis Martinez, Toronto Blue Jays

Notes: 

• Let’s be serious with catcher. The likely winner at the position doesn’t qualify by our criteria (< 150 ABs) so Wells is my runner-up in the AL. If he is able to maintain eligibility, the bat should be able to provide statistical All-Star catcher level production.
• Two ACL injuries move Royce down the defensive food chain to left field, where his bat still carries fantasy value even if he isn’t as quick anymore.

• Speaking of speed, the American League infield is a five-category terror in 2027. Each player looks to be headed for 15+ steals this early in their careers.
• The Mariners are going to be players for Roki once he is posted to join the league. 17 consecutive perfect innings versus the equivalent of advanced minors competition show he will be a force as soon as he comes to the MLB.

Ross Jensen

• C: Gabriel Moreno, Toronto Blue Jays
• 1B: Kyle Manzardo, Tampa Bay Rays
• 2B: Curtis Mead, Tampa Bay Rays
• 3B: Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
• SS: Anthony Volpe, New York Yankees
• LF: Evan Carter, Texas Rangers
• CF: Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers
• RF: Emmanuel Rodriguez, Minnesota Twins
• SP: Grayson Rodriguez, Baltimore Orioles
• RP: Marc Church, Texas Rangers
• AL HR Derby Finalist: Emmanuel Rodriguez, Minnesota Twins

Notes: 

• Apologies to Bo Naylor, Vinnie Pasquantino, Triston Casas, George Valera, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Luisangel Acuna, and Gabriel Martinez.
• It seems unlikely that Mead ends up playing second base, but with how the Rays use their players, it seems plausible that he may at least have eligibility there.

Taylor Case

• C: Bo Naylor, Cleveland Guardians
• 1B: Triston Casas, Boston Red Sox
• 2B: Nick Yorke, Boston Red Sox
• 3B: Zack Gelof, Oakland Athletics
• SS: Brayan Rocchio, Cleveland Guardians
• LF: Colton Cowser, Baltimore Orioles
• CF: Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers
• RF: George Valera, Cleveland Guardians
• SP: Daniel Espino, Cleveland Guardians
• RP: Matt Brash, Seattle Mariners
• AL HR Derby Finalist: Dustin Harris, Texas Rangers

Notes: 

• Apparently, I’m very confident in the development of Cleveland Guardians minor leaguers over the next 5 years. George Valera has been one of my favorite prospects for a few years now.
• Matt Brash – what a guy. Always a solid bet when you’re counting on a player who was traded away from the Padres. Every. Single. Time.
• Colton Cowser can hit. And will continue to hit. Currently slashing .308/.471/.654 in AA for the Ironbirds.

Phil Barrington

• C: Dillon Dingler, Detroit Tigers
• 1B: Kyle Manzardo, Tampa Bay Rays
• 2B: Carson Williams, Tampa Bay Rays
• 3B: John Rhodes, Baltimore Orioles
• SS: Jeremiah Jackson, Los Angeles Angels
• LF: Lazaro Montes, Seattle Mariners
• CF: Emmanuel Rodriguez, Minnesota Twins
• RF: Gabriel Gonzalez, Seattle Mariners
• SP: Xzavion Curry, Cleveland Indians
• RP: Mason Montgomery, Tampa Bay Rays
• AL HR Derby Finalist: Bryan Ramos, Chicago White Sox

Notes: 

I tried to make this a bit tougher (on myself), only choosing guys who are rostered in 15% or less on Fantrax. I want to highlight a couple of guys to target in deeper leagues: 

• The recently promoted to Triple-A Curry has a lot of talent, and if he can do what he’s already done in 180 Innings as a minor leaguer (ERA of 3.02, 0.99 WHIP, 222 Ks, only 39 BBs) every season he will start that 2027 All-Star game.
• Gonzalez was my pick to click back in February Ranking season, a .360 average and .945 OPS so far in 2022 still have my heart all aflutter. 
• Manzardo already has 11 homers and a .980 OPS through 181 ABs this season. The 17-year-old Montes could wind up at first base with his size and power profile. Combine their names and Lazaro Manzardo sounds like a Furio’s cousin on Sopranos with no neck or a very racistly Italian wrestler from the 1980s. 
• Those two and Ramos will all be in the Home Run Derby.
• Montgomery pops with 118 Ks in 69 IP so far this season at High-A and earned his recent promotion to Double-A. Knowing the Rays, he might be an opener for a while, and I wanted to fit him in.

Aaron Cumming

• C: Harry Ford, Seattle Mariners
• 1B: Nick Pratto, Kansas City Royals
• 2B: Ezequiel Duran, Texas Rangers
• 3B: Colson Montgomery, Chicago White Sox
• SS: Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
• LF: George Valera, Cleveland Guardians
• CF: Drew Gilbert, Houston Astros
• RF: Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers
• SP: Ricky Tiedemann, Toronto Blue Jays
• RP: Landon Knack, Los Angeles Dodgers (for now)
• NL HR Derby Finalist: Jhonkensy Noel, Cleveland Guardians

Notes: 

• Riley Greene is a star, plain and simple. I typically take the pessimistic route with my hometown team’s players, but I just love him so much.
• Pratto has taken a backseat to the phenomenon surrounding Vinnie Pasquantino, but he’s a powerful bat in his own right, and that comes with the best first base glove we’ve seen on a prospect in a long time.
• Ford and Montgomery are young and hyper-talented hitters that could have massive peaks if they keep progressing.
• A reasonable comp for 2022 first-round pick Drew Gilbert’s game is Lorenzo Cain, but he has the ability to grow well beyond that level.
• Due to injuries and a deep organization, Landon Knack could find himself as the odd man out in LA. His stuff would play up in a role designed to keep him on the mound, and he could take a Jason Isringhausen-esque route to being a dominant reliever after being dealt to the A’s for Frankie Montas.

Ryan Felix Fernandes

• C: Harry Ford, Seattle Mariners
• 1B: Jhonkensy Noel, Cleveland Guardians
• 2B: Carlos Colmenarez, Austin Aces (Tampa Bay Rays)
• 3B: Coby Mayo, Baltimore Orioles
• SS: Colson Montgomery, Chicago White Sox
• LF: Evan Carter, Texas Rangers
• CF: Anthony Gutierrez, Texas Rangers
• RF: Robert Hassell III, Chicago White Sox
• DH: Alberto Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners
• SP: Cole Wilcox, Austin Aces (Tampa Bay Rays)
• RP: Carlos Duran, Las Vegas Monarchs (Oakland Athletics)
• AL HR Derby Finalist: Jasson Dominguez, New York Yankees

Notes: 

• In 2027 the landscape of MLB will look a lot different. If you checked out my team you know it isn’t robot umpires I’m talking about, but they are coming for us all! As fellow guru, Taylor Case, hinted at with his NL All-Star choices last week that a couple of you picked up on. I feel a couple of existing teams will not be in the same division or league in 2027. So for the sake of driving everyone crazy like the kid from Talladega Nights who screamed anarchy over and over again. I went off the rails and just created my own bizarro American League. Now hear me out…  I’m on my third Zima so just bear with me.
• MLB will have two expansion teams by 2027 which will change the number of divisions in each league. But, before that they will take care of the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays dire situations that they have with their stadiums and lack of attendance/support which of course leads to the most important thing to MLB… money. So I predict in 2025 the Oakland Athletics will relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada, which is when their lease ends with the city of Oakland, and thus will buy out the last three years of the Tampa Bay Rays lease with the city of Tampa/St Pete and move the Rays to Austin, Texas. Both markets MLB has talked about the last two years when expansion has been brought up by the media. Now with those two teams relocating to different parts of the country (primarily the move by the Rays from an east coast team to a west), it makes sense to add the two expansion teams at the same time for the 2025 season to realign the divisions. From what I read I believe Nashville is a lock to get a team and Charlotte makes sense to fill the void of losing a team on the east coast. MLB then can use the template the NFL came up with back in 2002 when they also expanded to 32 teams. That means there will be two new divisions called the NL and AL South thus making eight divisions with four teams in each division.  I will elaborate on all of this in a future piece on The Dynasty Guru and will gladly take any ideas or suggestions at RyanFelixFerna1 on Twitter. But, yes this is why you see teams you never heard of. Cool names right? If MLB uses them then please know by reading this line you are agreeing to be my surprise witness for my case against MLB to get some of that expansion money! 
• As for my team, I went with loud tool guys i.e. Noel, Mayo, and Carter. They are all guys that are pretty well known so I won’t bore you with those guys. As for Rodriguez and Gutierrez they might not be on your radar because they are both a minimum of four years away from debuting in the majors. But, both have intriguing fantasy tools and both have received raves from scouts and fellow players. Rodriguez was compared to Barry Bonds by fellow prospect Noelvi Marte when they played together. I’m sure that is a bit of a stretch, but I never heard anyone being compared to Bonds so I took note. And Guiterrez who came out of the same academy as Eloy Jimenez in the Dominican Republic has been described as a more athletic version of him by those who have seen him play. This year Guiterrez has been putting up good numbers while Rodriguez has not done anything so far that will catch your eye. 
• I have two deals that helped fill out my team with the first one happening this year at the trade deadline with the Oakland A’s (Las Vegas Monarchs) sending Paul Blackburn coach to the LA Dodgers for 3B Miguel Vargas, P Ryan Pepiot, and my pick for RP in Carlos Duran who has a wipeout slider which should play with his 4-seamer that touches 98 mph as a closer. The second deal has top prospect Robert Hassell III going to the White Sox after a trade deadline deal in 2023 when the White Sox again fail to meet expectations and deal impending free agents Lucas Giolito and closer Liam Hendricks to the Padres. Padres GM A.J. Preller is never afraid to deal prospects and has to compete with the Dodgers so they go all in by trading Hassell, Robert Gasser, and Victor Lizarraga for Giolito and Hendricks for a 2023 playoff run.
• The Rays (Austin Aces) will strike gold with Wilcox who came over from the Blake Snell deal back in 2021. He lost a season with Tommy John, but showed elite stuff before the injury and all reports this year is that he is on track and looks good.  And the Aces will also have my favorite player from this team, Carlos Colmenarez. He will be the next great Rays prospect that you will want on your team. His numbers won’t make you take notice, but the Rays are very high on him and he is coming off of a hand injury.  He won’t supplant Wander Franco at SS so I have him moving to 2B.