With spring training games kicking off and the 2025 fantasy baseball season just around the corner, talk of the next great fantasy baseball prospect is in high gear. Rookies are always coveted because of their potential. Look at last season for a few examples – Paul Skenes, Jackson Merrill and Jackson Chourio.
Will 2025 fantasy baseball produce any rookies close to this caliber? Only time will tell, but most rookies look to have an adjustment period before they become true fantasy baseball assets.
Knowing the path to clear playing time and fantasy relevance is tough on rookie prospects, here are eight you can stash on your fantasy team bench for 2025. These may not be players who start the season with their big club or have massive roles right away, but each prospect has the potential to be helpful in fantasy baseball this season.
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Fantasy Baseball Prospect Stashes
Roman Anthony (OF – BOS)
Roman Anthony is everyone’s favorite prospect not named Roki Sasaki this year. He is only 20 but has a sweet, left-handed swing far more advanced than most his age. He made stops in both AA and AAA last year. He led the AA Eastern League in slugging percentage and OPS. When promoted to AAA for 35 games, he did not disappoint, hitting .344/463/.519, showing there is not much left for him to prove at that level.
Anthony will be up in the big leagues at some point this season, but what will it take? Suppose Ceddanne Rafaela struggles as the ninth hitter in a competitive Boston lineup. In that case, the calls will grow loudly for Anthony to get up to the big leagues, despite his age and relative inexperience.
Jackson Jobe (SP – DET)
Of all the players on this list, Jackson Jobe has the clearest path to playing right away in the Major Leagues. When Alex Cobb underwent surgery for a hip problem, that opened up a rotation spot likely to be filled by the rookie Jobe.
The third-overall pick hit over 100 miles per hour (MPH) in spring training last season, but minor injuries kept him out of Detroit for all but two games with the Tigers last season. This year he is healthy and ready to prove he is worthy of sticking in the big leagues for good.
Kristian Campbell (2B, SS, OF – BOS)
Much like teammate Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell is likely to feel the roster crunch this spring, especially after the signing of Alex Bregman. But who knows, as any of Trevor Story, Masataka Yoshida or David Hamilton could get hurt, which would immediately open up a spot for someone with Campbell’s defensive diversity.
Throughout the Minors in 2024, Campbell put up a 20/20 season in just 115 games and he led the entire minor leagues in wRC+ (180). Look for Campbell to get a spot in the outfield first, assuming the infield stays healthy throughout most of 2025.
Andrew Painter (SP – PHI)
The talent is not in question for Andrew Painter as he enters his age-22 season. The question for one of the best pure pitchers in the Minor Leagues is all about his health. Painter missed almost all of 2023 and 2024 due to Tommy John surgery. Upon his Arizona Fall League return, Painter threw between 97-100 MPH and looked like his pre-injury dominant self.
The 2022 Pipeline Pitching Prospect of the Year looks to prove he is healthy this year. If that’s the case, Painter is going to be a popular waiver wire pickup at some point this season. Get ahead of the game and stash him on your bench.
Bubba Chandler (SP – PIT)
It began with Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. Will Bubba Chandler be the next great young pitcher to come out of the Pittsburgh Pirates system? It’s certainly possible. There is no pitch in Chandler’s repertoire he doesn’t throw extremely hard. He has hit the upper 90s with the fastball and the upper 80s with his slider and change-up.
Along with Jobe and Painter, Chandler might be one of the top two or three pitching prospects in all of baseball, meaning someone like Bailey Falter might just be in the Pittsburgh rotation keeping a seat warm for whenever the team feels Chandler is ready.
Dalton Rushing (C, OF – LAD)
The real question for Dalton Rushing is not if he is ready for Major League pitching or not, but where to play him in a loaded Dodgers lineup if re-called from the Minors. He has been working as a catcher, so he would have to back up Will Smith. If Smith were to get hurt, Rushing might be in line for major playing time.
At 24 years old, there is not much left for him to prove in the Minor Leagues. His combined slugging percentage over the last three seasons is .520 as he destroys the minor league levels. There is a chance he could come up as a reserve outfielder/emergency catcher, but I think the Dodgers want him to get reps and be ready for a larger role.
Chase DeLauter (OF – CLE)
After several injuries to his foot, the first-round pick in 2022 out of James Madison seems ready to contribute on the Major League level should the Guardians need his services at all in 2025.
DeLauter’s career Minor League slash line is .317/.387/.517 with a strong power stroke and he loves to drive the ball to right field. The Guardians are currently set with Steven Kwan, Lane Thomas and lefty Will Brennan (DeLauter is also left-handed), so there might not be room right now. But if DeLauter keeps raking in the Minors, the team will have no choice but to make room for him.
Brandon Sproat (SP – NYM)
The injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas have opened up two potential starting pitching spots for the New York Mets to start the season. Many projections systems see Paul Blackburn and Griffin Canning filling those roles to start the year. Let’s be clear, neither has the upside of 24-year-old Brandon Sproat.
Checking in at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, Sproat is built more like a wide receiver than a pitcher, but he uses that frame to throw 95-98 on his fastball and mixes in a nice change-up and slider. Sproat is free in drafts at his consensus average draft position (ADP) of pick 608. He has an opportunity and a nice offense behind him to make some fantasy noise in 2025.
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