There is no greater joy in a dynasty or keeper league than being the first to the next big thing. In my first-ever keeper league, we instituted a minor league five-round draft to our standard keepers. That year I started the league off with minor leaguers Anthony Rizzo of the Boston Red Sox in the first round and Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks. As you can see, that has stayed with me. That love of hitting on a minor league prospect to change the dynamic of your fantasy team is what has kept my long love of prospecting active. That’s why it’s time to discuss prospects for the 2023 season.
2024 Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings
Behind The Ranks
The following list is my prospect ranks in a long-term dynasty build. The ranks combine the value someone gets for their proximity to the league and my view on their long-term value for your team as a whole. These ranks also represent a roto/h2h standard category-based format. Many people like to play in OBP dynasty leagues. There would be a little fluctuation in value if we were focused on OBP. The bigger change comes from a points format. Depending on your scoring system, pitchers tend to jump in value by at least 10-15%. Low strikeout players or guys who make a lot of contact without monster-counting stats can jump as well (for example Luis Arraez). At the end of the day though, these ranks represent my value on these guys as a whole. You could move a guy up or down if your league happens to benefit from a certain trait of theirs.
Prospect Strategy
When I put together a dynasty team, I tend to first look to construct a “win-now” type of team. The second thing I do with valuing players is put players in three-year windows. When it comes to prospects, I throw most of this out the window. More often than not I am not drafting prospects for “need.” That includes looking at my minor league system and thinking, “Man, I have a lot of shortstops. Maybe I should move one or two to get a catcher.” Talent is talent, and that’s all I focus on. That same ideology comes into play when looking at an uber-talented 18-year-old hitter at A-ball versus a decent bat at Triple-A. I want the players that have the best potential to be top prospects. I may keep those guys, or use them as trade bait later. When it comes to pitchers, I tend to have a 75/25 ratio of hitters to pitchers in my system to start. As time goes on, that ratio might even out a bit more. I also tend to be picky on the starters I am willing to consider in the first five or six rounds of a minor league draft.
Player Notes
I not only watch prospects on MiLB, and study them at every level on videos, but I see many prospects live in person here in Arizona. This can lead me to be more stubborn at times with evaluations. Even when the results sometimes are not there in the minors, I want to hold on to not giving up on these guys (George Valera and Jack Leiter are two good examples). Sometimes it’s for the good, and sometimes not. Some players that you’re going to think I love like, Jackson Holliday, Dylan Crews, Matt Shaw, Chase DeLauter, Robby Snelling, Drew Thorpe, Noble Meyer, Jakob Marsee, Victor Scott II, and Rhett Lowder. You’d be right about that. Some players you think I might hate like Walker Jenkings, Jett Williams, Roman Anthony, Xavier Issac, Adael Amador, and Tyler Black. You’d be wrong, but I might have them lower than some of my peers. Finally, love or hate some polarizing prospects that will catch your eye, like Kevin Alcantara, Termarr Johnson, Sebastian Walcott, Joendry Vargas, and Brock Porter.
Welsh’s Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings
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