Introduction

With the start of the season around the corner, we’ve published a TON of articles here at The Dynasty Guru to get you geared up to crush your dynasty leagues in 2025. Just on the prospect side alone, we’ve published a top 200 prospects list, a top 100 consensus FYPD list, we’ve given you top 100 starting pitching rankings (1-50 here, 51-100 here), and deep positional prospect rankings at every position. Check them out in the 2025 Hub if you haven’t already. With more information than ever being published online to help players get an edge, I’ve been thinking about new ways to gain the upper hand in deep dynasty leagues.

Anyone who has played dynasty leagues knows that the prospect lists at the beginning of the season look very different from lists at the end of the season. Some players graduate, some fall off, and some come out of nowhere to become the most coveted prospects in your dynasty leagues. One category of prospect that we all fall in love with each year is the “pop-up” pitching prospect. The pitcher who seemingly comes out of nowhere to dominate the first few months of the season while earning a quick promotion. Maybe they added velocity, improved control, added a new pitch, or changed something mechanically in the offseason that shoots them up rankings lists.

I’ve been thinking more and more that getting to these “pop-up” pitchers first once the season gets underway is a great place to get this extra edge. While at this point in the pre-season you should have your minors spots filled out on your rosters, that doesn’t prevent you from looking one step further; to try to identify the players in your free agent pool that you want to pay attention to early in the season so that you can get the jump on your league-mates in rostering them.

So with that preamble out of the way, I’ve tried to make the task a bit easier for you. I’ve come up with eleven pitchers I think are worth monitoring for your deep dynasty formats. I’ll also be publishing a supplemental piece in mid-June following up on each of these players to see how they’re doing and to offer some recommendations.

When selecting players, my criteria were fairly simple:

• The players had to be rostered in less than 10% of Fantrax leagues
• And they had to be free agents in two leagues that I am in: a 14-team NL-onlyleague, and a 14-team AL-only league.

The logic is that if these players are rostered in less than 10% of leagues to begin with, and they are not rostered in two very deep, league-specific formats with knowledgeable managers, there’s a very good chance they are available in your leagues as well. As it turned out, only 3 of the 11 players cracked our top 200 pitching prospects list here at TDG, with the highest player being at rank 140. These are deep cuts, my friends, so let’s get started.

American League Pitching Prospects to Watch

Steven Zobac – KCR (unranked)

Kicking things off is Steven Zobac, a 24-year-old, 6’2” righty with the Kansas City Royals who finished the 2024 season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Zobac actually split last season between High-A and Double-A, and the unquestionable highlight of his season was his performance on August 7th against Amarillo when he struck out 12 over 7 scoreless innings. Zobac offers a mid-90’s fastball that he will work up in the zone to righties and lefties when he needs a strikeout, as well as a high-80’s slider that falls off the table to get swings and misses. He also has a changeup that he throws sparingly, but it’s an important third pitch in his arsenal. Encouragingly, Zobac has shown great control throughout the minors, as he walked just 5.6% of batters in 126 innings in 2024. Zobac also earned pitcher of the year honors within the Royals organization, which is a nice vote of confidence for the righty. Aside from a few Spring Training innings this season (where he’s performed well in a small sample size) Zobac is yet to pitch above Double-A, but he is an arm to watch carefully heading into 2025.

A.J. Blubaugh – HOU (unranked)

Can a pitcher finish the year 12-4 in Triple-A as a 24-year-old and be under the radar? If your name is A.J. Blubaugh, then the answer is yes. Blubaugh has a true five pitch arsenal, mixing in a Fastball, a Sweeper, a Changeup, a Cutter, and a Curveball. He doesn’t strike out a ton of batters (he didn’t have a double-digit strikeout game all season), but he did average just over one strikeout per inning while walking just under 10% of batters. Despite his success at Triple-A, Blubaugh enters 2025 on the outside looking in for a rotation spot in Houston, but he could be one of the first pitchers brought up to fill an opening should someone struggle or suffer an injury. The Astros have an established history of developing under-the-radar pitchers into core starters for the franchise, and Blubaugh could very well be next in line.

Will Dion – CLE (unranked)

If you were ever looking for an underdog story to root for in 2025, you can stop your search with Will Dion. Not only was he a 9th round pick (276 overall) in the 2021 draft out of McNeese State, but the 24-year-old lefty stands at just 5’10” on the mound. Dion pitched 116 innings at Triple-A last year and saw his numbers regress from his stellar 2023 season where he pitched to a stellar 2.39 ERA split between High-A and Double-A. One data point jumps out significantly in Dion’s 2024 data, which is an alarming 17.1% home run/fly ball rate. For context, his highest total in any other season was 7.6%. He also saw his walk rate jump from 7.6% in 2023 to 10.4% in 2024, which is not uncommon for players adjusting to the ABS system. Dion won’t blow you away with velocity, as his fastball sits in the low 90’s, but he has four pitches that he throws regularly. The Guardians certainly have plenty of intriguing pitchers who could be ahead of Dion in the pecking order, but if the home run rate regresses and Dion returns to form with his control, he could be worth stashing in deeper leagues.

Michael Forret – BAL (unranked)

The Baltimore Orioles drafted Michael Forret out of Junior College in 2023, and the 20-year-old righty spent his first season in pro ball split between Single-A and High-A in 2024. The results were a bit uneven across the season for Forret, but he still managed a very respectable 28.8% strikeout rate to go along with a 10.2% walk rate. At 6’3”, Forret’s best pitch is his slider, which he couples with a mid-high 90’s fastball. He spent the 2024 season refining his kick change as a 3rd offering, and has a splitter that he has been working on as well. Forret has all the makings of a potential pop-up pitching prospect in 2025.

Connelly Early – BOS (unranked)

One of the most exciting parts of the spring is when a young pitcher who already had some promising skills shows up to camp, and it’s clear that they put in the work that could help take them to the next level. This year, one of those pitchers is 22-year-old Red Sox prospect Connelly Early. 2024 was Early’s first season in pro ball after being drafted in the 5th round out of UVA in 2023, and the 6’3” lefty put up very solid numbers while splitting his time between High-A and Double-A. Early mixes in three pitches, a fastball, slider, and changeup, and he was plagued by an unusually low 53.5% left on base percentage at Double-A that helped inflate his ERA to 4.50 over 36 innings, but the underlying data, a strikeout rate just above 30% and a walk rate just under 10%, suggested there could be more to unlock. Now for the exciting part: Early, whose fastball sat between 92 and 94 MPH last season, showed up to Red Sox camp this spring and immediately touched 97 MPH in his first live throwing session. Now it will be important to see if those velocity gains stick as Early gets stretched out, but it could mean a significant step forward for the young lefty.

American League Bonus:

Jose Corniell – TEX (2nd half) (Unranked)

I wanted to give you one more player to watch on the American League side, but someone who we won’t see until the second half of 2025. Jose Corniell ended up missing all of 2024 after beginning the season on the IL with elbow inflammation before ultimately needing surgery to repair the UCL in his right elbow. So it’s been a little while since we saw the 21-year-old from the Rangers farm system, but in 2023 Corniell, a 6’3” righty with a mid-upper 90’s fastball, a plus sweeper, and a changeup, showed plenty to get excited about. Corniell showed exceptional control for a player so young (he was just 20 at the time), and the secret won’t be kept for long as he begins to ramp back up for his return to pro ball.

National League Pitching Prospects to Watch

Chen-Wei Lin – STL (164)

Chen-Wei Lin is already a trailblazer in the majors, becoming the first player to sign out of Taiwan when he joined the Cardinals in 2023. The first thing that jumps out about Chen-Wei Lin is his size. At 6’7”, Lin is an imposing presence on the mound and his plus fastball that can touch triple digits is the most exciting weapon in his arsenal. The Cardinals have brought Lin along slowly, as the 22-year-old spent all of his first full season at Single-A, but Lin excelled and he got better as the season progressed. In his final seven starts Lin went 5-0 with a 1.13 ERA, a 0.80 WHIP, and 48 strikeouts to go along with just 7 walks. Chen-Wei Lin built up to 116 innings last season, and now that he’s had a full season state-side under his belt, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Cardinals bring him along more quickly as long as he continues to have success.

Carlson Reed – PIT (UNR)

The Pirates have become one of the top pitching development organizations in recent years, and Carlson Reed is part of the next group of exciting young arms finding success at the lower levels of the minors. A 4th round pick in 2023, Reed sports a mid-upper 90’s fastball, and quality secondary pitches in his slider and his changeup. The 6’4” righty split the 2024 season between Single-A and High-A, and as a 21-year-old old he adjusted seamlessly to the more advanced level. Reed closed out the season with a minuscule 0.87 ERA at High-A Greensboro, while maintaining a strikeout rate at just under 30% and dropping his walk rate to 7.9%. If Reed can build on his 2024 season in the upper levels of the minors, he’ll be a pitcher to watch and to add quickly.

Humberto Cruz – SDP (140)

Humberto Cruz of the San Diego Padres is a different kind of profile than the rest of the players on this list as he had just two abbreviated starts in the complex league to his credit for professional experience in 2024. Even with the very limited sample state-side, Cruz’s pedigree as one of the top arms at the U18 World Cup, a mid-upper 90’s fastball as an 18-year-old to go along with two other pitches, and above-average athleticism make him a pitching prospect with a very exciting profile. We should expect to see more of Cruz in 2025 in full-season ball, and he is absolutely a name to watch.

Joe Whitman – SFG (187)

The San Francisco Giants are another organization that always seems to have a number of exciting young prospects working their way up the pipeline, and Joe Whitman is a name that could be among them very soon. Whitman is another 2023 draftee, and like several other prospects in this group he spent 2024 split between Single-A and High-A. Whitman topped 100 innings on the season, and most impressively he dropped his walk rate to just 5% while at High-A, while keeping his strikeout rate at just under 25%. A 6’5” lefty, Whitman has three legitimate offerings in his fastball that sits in the low-mid 90’s to go along with a changeup and a slider. If the control gains stick as he pushes into the upper levels of the minors, Whitman should see himself viewed as a legitimate mid-rotation option in San Francisco in the coming years.

National League Bonus:

Zander Mueth – PIT (UNR)

The Bonus round on the National League side will focus on a player that is still a number of years away from the big leagues, but could present very promising upside for those patient enough to wait. The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Zander Mueth 67th overall in 2023, and paid him an over-slot signing bonus of nearly $1.8 million to pluck him from his commitment to Mississippi. A 6’6” righty with a lower arm-slot delivery, Mueth has drawn comparisons to Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck. Mueth struggled with his control in 2024, walking 15.1% of batters, but that’s not uncommon for a pitcher in full-season ball just one year removed from high school. Mueth may return to Single-A to start the 2025 season, but it makes good sense to bet on the Pirates here to get the most out of the young righty.