Dynasty Trade Advice: Carlos F. Rodriguez, Cristian Mena, Joey Loperfido, Victor Scott II (2024 Fantasy Baseball)

My prospect rankings are based on fantasy value, not real-life value. Considering such, hitters generally weigh a bit heavier for me due to the injury risk and higher volatility of prospect pitchers. Proximity does matter in these rankings to an extent but is not the end-all, be-all. The main goal of these rankings is to provide the highest return on investment as of early February 2024. Here are the top 10 undervalued dynasty baseball prospects to target. Below we dive into a few notable names.

I’m taking the biggest values or “sleepers” from my prospect rankings (starting outside of the top 100) against the consensus amongst prospect analysts on FantasyPros and we will dig in on five pitchers and five hitters I feel are undervalued in the market and are great buy lows. Anyone with a potential debut in 2024 will have an fScore attached.

If you are curious about the fScore ratings you can check out my fScore rankings and information.

Unheralded Dynasty Prospect Trade Targets

NOTE: Rookie status is determined by 130 at-bats (ABs), or 50 innings pitched (IPs) at the major league level. I did opt to include foreign imports in this equation.

Victor Scott II (OF – STL)

2023 A+/AA: .303/.369/.425, 9 HR, 94 SB
Age: 23
ETA: Mid 2024
Tim’s Ranking: 61
Consensus Ranking: 128
fScores: 96 fContact, 84 fDiscipline, 69 fPower, 269 fSpeed, 72 fDurability
Comp: Esteury Ruiz with more power and a better glove

Victor Scott II is the center fielder of the future for the Cardinals. The Cardinals’ ability to pull off a trade to clear out one of Tommy Edman or Dylan Carlson for pitching could affect how soon we see Scott debut with the big league club. He had a great showing at the Arizona Fall League and displays fantastic speed and contact. While he has limited power, it’s not nothing.

He will instantly be a top-five runner in baseball once he’s up and should have more value than Esteury Ruiz once he is up and established with a regular role because he’s simply a better hitter than Ruiz. Even in a world where steals are up 30-40%, a guy who can steal 60 bases every year with 10 homers is worth a decent amount in fantasy baseball.

Joey Loperfido (2B/OF – HOU)

2023 A+/AA/AAA: .278/.370/.510, 25 HR, 27 SB
Age: 25
ETA: Early 2024
Tim’s Ranking: 82
Consensus Ranking: 154
fScores: 111 fContact, 96 fDiscipline, 93 fPower, 118 fSpeed, 76 fDurability
Comp: Christian Yelich (without the peak years)

Joey Loperfido has all-fields gap power and can hit oppo tacos with his bat speed. He has very good speed to go with a great hit tool and very good plate skills. He would be a killer top-of-the-lineup guy, but in Houston, he’s probably looking at super utility duties when he debuts as a guy who can play in the infield and outfield. If Jake Meyers fails, Loperfido could be up sooner rather than later in 2024. He could be a nice 18-homer, 12-steal type with multi-position eligibility. At 25, there’s no point in keeping him in the minors much longer.

Carlos F. Rodriguez (SP – MIL)

2023 AA/AAA: 128 1/3 IP, 158 Ks, 57 BBs, 2.99 ERA, 1.12 WHIP
Age: 22
ETA: Mid 2024
Tim’s Ranking: 88
Consensus Ranking: 175
fScores: 75 fPDurability, 112 fStuff, 98 fControl, 136 fERA
Comp: Marcus Stroman

Carols F. Rodriguez has an almost infamously below-average fastball but he showcases three above-average breaking pitches and locates all of his pitches well. He’s short for a pitcher at 6-foot-0, so he’s always going to be fighting that uphill battle as a prospect, but results matter and the Brewers are good at developing lower pedigree pitchers. This dude is climbing up the system levels quickly and is earning it based on his performance. There’s a little Braxton Garrett in his pitch mix and his size is a concern but the results continue. The Brewers are excellent at developing pitchers and Rodriguez just seems like the next one in a long line of successful projects.

Cristian Mena (SP – ARI)

2023 AA/AAA: 133 2/3 IP, 156 Ks, 64 BBs, 4.85 ERA, 1.41 WHIP
Age: 21
ETA: Late 2024
Tim’s Ranking: 97
Consensus Ranking: 181
fScores: 69 fDurability, 110 fStuff, 90 fControl, 101 fERA
Comp: Pedro Martinez super light

Cristian Mena was literally traded while I was writing this article — going from a team with a terrible track record of developing pitchers (Chicago White Sox) to a team with a below-average track record of developing pitchers (Arizona Diamondbacks). A killer curve and increased fastball velocity have led to this 20-year-old (last season) to put up some nice K numbers at a high level for his age. The arm angle is way over the top, which gets on hitters very quickly.

Ignore the ERA with this guy, the batting average on balls in play (BABIP) and left on base (LOB) luck is ridiculously bad. He spent time in the Southern League using the infamous tacky ball and we don’t know the results of what that’s doing to help or hurt pitchers at this point but his swinging strike rate is higher than his K-BB rate, which is abnormal. The White Sox sold low on him and this could be a killer grab for the Diamondbacks, as he could probably come up and be their No. 5 starter as soon as next summer.

More Fantasy Baseball Prospect Advice

Welsh’s Top 150 Prospect Rankings
Top 150 Fantasy Baseball Prospects Scouting Reports
Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Draft Prospects to Target in Redraft Leagues
Top 30 First-Year Player Draft Rankings
5 Prospects to Trade in Dynasty Leagues
Top Prospect Rankings By Position:

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