M-Rod’s 2019 Top 100 Dynasty Prospects

Written by: M-Rod (@MRodProspects)

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The fantasy baseball community loves rankings. Rankings season is a fun time to get excited about Spring Training and to evaluate where your prospects stack up against the competition. And trust me, I’m as pumped as anyone this time of year.

But with so many rankings being published from different outlets, using different criteria, and intended for different purposes, how do we make sense of it all? How do we take in the abundance of information and correctly apply it to our own unique league dynamics?

The short answer is: well, it depends. Every league has specific scoring, different owner dynamics, and figuring out how to translate rankings into actionable information is largely going to be up to you. But putting the impact that defensive skills have on fantasy value into context is a potential edge to be had.

The first and most obvious distinction between lists is that most of the major outlets are ranking prospects for projected real-life value. Be weary (but not too weary) of prospects being propped up by defensive tools, particularly ones who project to play an up the middle position such as SS, 2B, and CF. For example, there should be a sizable discrepancy on where Cristian Pache lands on a real-life ranking versus a fantasy-specific ranking. Pache is probably the single best defensive prospect in baseball, and his skills in CF are going to give him a tremendous floor as a potential Gold Glove outfielder.

With this is mind, be careful not to overcompensate and write him off completely for fantasy purposes. Plus defense can prop up a player’s fantasy stock by accelerating his timeline to reach the bigs and earning that player a longer developmental leash to contribute on the offensive side of the ball. This is why we see players like Byron Buxton come up before the bat might be ready. Like Buxton, Pache may require supreme patience in dynasty leagues, but with these elite athletes, offensive upside absolutely exists.

On the other hand, if someone like Willie Calhoun or Peter Alonso doesn’t produce immediately at the plate, a once highly-coveted fantasy asset can spoil in an instant. This invites some seemingly hidden risk into the mix for players who don’t offer value on defense.

In short, defense matters. Make sure you are aware of what it is about a prospect’s profile that is fueling his ranking, but be sure to further examine why he might be over or undervalued in your league.

Without further ado, my own take on the Dynasty Top 100 is complete. This is an important part of my own process and I hope that there is some value in it for you as well. If there is one thing I hope you take from this list it’s that prospects, to me, are about chasing upside.

Player Pos. Team
1 Vlad Guerrero Jr. 3B TOR
2 Eloy Jimenez OF CWS
3 Fernando Tatis Jr. SS SD
4 Nick Senzel 3B/2B CIN
5 Forrest Whitley SP HOU
6 Victor Robles OF WSH
7 Alex Kiriloff OF MIN
8 Wander Franco SS TB
9 Keston Hiura 2B MIL
10 Bo Bichette SS/2B TOR
11 Taylor Trammell OF CIN
12 Jo Adell OF LAA
13 Kyle Tucker OF HOU
14 Carter Kieboom SS/2B WSH
15 Ian Anderson SP ATL
16 Royce Lewis SS/OF MIN
17 Sixto Sanchez SP MIA
18 Casey Mize SP DET
19 Michael Kopech SP CWS
20 MacKenzie Gore SP SD
21 Francisco Mejia C SD
22 Corbin Burnes SP MIL
23 Jesus Luzardo SP OAK
24 Kristian Robinson OF ARI
25 Touki Touissant SP ATL
26 Justus Sheffield SP SEA
27 Mitch Keller SP PIT
28 Yordan Alvarez 1B HOU
29 A.J. Puk SP OAK
30 Luis Garcia SS WSH
31 Brendan Rodgers SS/2B COL
32 Brent Honeywell SP TB
33 Luis Robert OF CWS
34 Adrian Morejon SP SD
35 Luis Urias SS/2B SD
36 Chris Paddack SP SD
37 Alex Reyes SP STL
38 Nolan Jones 3B CLE
39 George Valera OF CLE
40 Keibert Ruiz C LAD
41 Dylan Cease SP CWS
42 Peter Alonso 1B NYM
43 Kyle Wright SP ATL
44 Bryse Wilson SP ATL
45 Griffin Canning SP LAA
46 Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B PIT
47 Vidal Brujan 2B TB
48 Adonis Medina SP PHI
49 Jazz Chisholm SS ARI
50 Jesus Sanchez OF TB
51 Shane Baz SP PIT
52 Alex Verdugo OF LAD
53 Andres Gimenez SS NYM
54 Jahmai Jones 2B LAA
55 Triston McKenzie SP CLE
56 Josh James SP HOU
57 Cristian Pache OF ATL
58 Justin Dunn SP SEA
59 Dustin May SP LAD
60 Jarred Kelenic OF SEA
61 Austin Riley 3B ATL
62 Yusniel Diaz OF BAL
63 Nate Pearson SP TOR
64 Tony Santillan SP CIN
65 Brendan McKay SP/1B TB
66 Brandon Marsh OF LAA
67 Luis Patiño SP SDP
68 DL Hall SP BAL
69 Hunter Greene SP CIN
70 Yusei Kikuchi SP SEA
71 Jonathan India 3B CIN
72 Jhon Torres OF STL
73 Ronaldo Hernandez C TB
74 Matthew Liberatore SP TB
75 Seuly Matias OF KC
76 Jonathan Loaisiga SP NYY
77 Mike Soroka SP ATL
78 Nathaniel Lowe 1B TB
79 Estevan Florial OF NYY
80 Drew Waters OF ATL
81 Christin Stewart OF DET
82 Alec Bohm 3B PHI
83 Leody Taveras OF TEX
84 Gavin Lux SS/2B LAD
85 Danny Jansen C TOR
86 Tirso Ornelas OF SD
87 Trevor Larnach OF MIN
88 Nolan Gorman 3B STL
89 Ronny Mauricio SS NYM
90 Matt Manning SP DET
91 Deivi Garcia SP NYY
92 Jeisson Rosario OF SD
93 Isaac Paredes SS DET
94 Esteury Ruiz SS/2B SD
95 Brusdar Graterol SP MIN
96 Garrett Hampson 2B/SS COL
97 Hudson Potts 3B SD
98 Micker Adolfo OF CWS
99 Spencer Howard SP PHI
100 Nick Madrigal SS/2B CWS
Anderson Espinoza SP SD
Ryan McKenna OF BAL
Logan Allen SP SDP
Khalil Lee OF KC
Jon Duplantier SP ARI
Joey Bart C SFG
Franklin Perez SP DET
Jose Suarez SP LAA
Evan White 1B SEA
Mark Vientos 3B NYM
Jordyn Adams OF LAA
Bubba Thompson OF TEX
JoJo Romero SP PHI
Marco Luciano SS SF

What did @MRodProspects get right? What’d he get wrong? Tweet him to let him know!

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Featured image courtesy of photographer Brian Westerholt and Four Seam Images

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