Fantasy Baseball Draft Prospects: Jasson Dominquez, Kyle Manzardo, Junior Caminero (2024)

These 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 to the majors is also prominent in these rankings since we are looking at guys for only 2024.

Rather than getting into writing little bios on all of these hitters, I’ve decided to keep my rankings simple. I’ll provide the 2023 stats of each player across all levels, a player comp, a small blub on the player’s prime skills for fantasy, and an explanation of my ranking with expectations for 2024 with ATC projections and my thoughts on these projections. I’ve also included fScores for any players I expect to debut in 2024, which highlights what my fScore projections believe the player is capable of at the pro level for immediate impact.

If you are curious about the fScore ratings, you can check out my fScore rankings and information on the fScores by following THIS LINK.

NOTE: Rookie status is determined by 130 ABs or 50 IPs at the Major League level. I did opt to include the foreign imports in this equation but did not include Shane Baz (who would be ranked 5th behind Chourio) or Mason Miller (who would rank 14th).

Top Prospects to Target for Redraft Leagues

Junior Caminero (3B – TB)

2023 A+/AA: .324/.384/.591, 31 HR, 5 SB

2023 MLB: .235/.278/.353, 1 HR

Age: 20

ETA: Debuted in 2023… back up in Late May

fScores: 103 fContact, 74 fDiscipline, 113 fPower, 97 fSpeed, 57 fDurability

Comp: Ronald Acuna w/o the wheels

Prime Skills: Probably the quickest bat speed in the minors, the hit tool is ridiculous, and now the power is catching up. He could be one of the best hitters in baseball sooner rather than later.

Projections (ATC): .264/.321/.445, 13 HR, 3 SB (79 games)

Ranking Explanation: This is one I’m on the fence about in regards to playing time because the Rays are a team that has always been impossible to predict. He played last season and the Rays best team has Caminero starting at 3B in my opinion with Paredes at 1B and Diaz at DH. If he doesn’t break camp (which I would only put at 50/50 odds), he should still be up by early June when he passes Super 2 status, which means I would be predicting more like 100 games played minimum and potentially closer to 120-130 if he breaks camp. Jordan Walker played in 117 games last year after breaking camp and being sent down, which seems like a safe ballpark. The slash seems pretty fair, but I would be projecting closer to a .460-ish slug with closer to 18-20 homers and 8-10 steals, with potentially more if he breaks camp and they play him every day like they did with Wander.

Kyle Manzardo (1B – CLE)

2023 AAA: .237/.337/.464, 17 HR, 1 SB

Age: 22

ETA: Opening Day 2024

fScores: 96 fContact, 122 fDiscipline, 109 fPower, 65 fSpeed, 59 fDurability

Comp: Joey Votto

Prime Skills: Manzardo is already a professional hitter with great contact skills and super-star-level plate discipline skills. He could walk into the Majors on Day 1 and avoid being overwhelmed. He also has easy 25-homer power and should produce at least a league average 1B in his first season with the odds of performing better than that in points leagues thanks to the plate skills.

Projections (ATC): .230/.318/.408, 14 HR, 2 SB (103 games)

Ranking Explanation: In my opinion, this projection is way off. Manzardo is currently projected to break camp in the Opening Day lineup and had a stellar Arizona Fall League performance, bouncing back from a rough season where he battled injuries. I think he plays 150 games or so and hits something like .255/.350/.450 with 20-25 homers and no speed (less than 3-4 steals).

Jasson Dominquez (OF – NYY)

2023 AA/AA): .265/.377/.425, 15 HR, 40 SB

2023 MLB: .258/.303/.677, 4 HR, 1 SB

Age: 21

ETA: Debuted 2023, should return after minor league rehab in June or July

fScores: 99 fContact, 103 fDiscipline, 136 fPower, 162 fSpeed, 60 fDurability

Comp: Switch-hitting Mookie Betts-light

Prime Skills: Dominguez has top-notch plate skills while demonstrating he can be a game-changer on the base paths. He smashes pitches high in the zone from both sides of the plate but needs to work on lifting pitches low in the zone instead of smashing them into the ground. He was doing a good job of this before the injury at the major league level.

Projections (ATC): .236/.322/.394, 5 HR, 6 SB (36 games)

Ranking Explanation: Dominguez had TJ surgery, and since he’s not Bryce Harper (even though he is from another planet), he is unlikely to resume playing baseball until Early July in 2024, and the Yankees have already stated he doesn’t have a locked in roll automatically when he’s healthy, so he will probably spend at least a month in the minors on a rehab assignment before we see him again in 2024. It’s also possible the Yankees are setting up the ability to push his return back so Dominguez retains rookie status for 2025, so they can shoot for the DP rewards, but that likely depends on the health of the rest of their guys. I would project something like .265/.345/.460 with eight homers and seven steals in 40 games, which could be a boon late in the season.

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