Last week, I studied how well Baseball America’s prospect rankings translated into eventual fantasy performance.

The results were fairly conclusive; after adjusting to floor negative-value seasons, hitters performed better than pitchers, and there was clearer stratification in hitter value across different ranking buckets than their counterparts.

That analysis included a significant amount of data going back to BA’s original lists in 1990, which has its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, the more the merrier. Sample sizes are bigger and we can more confidently assert statistical significance with the right tests. But on the other hand, 1990 was a long time ago (a phrase typed with millennial tears hitting the keyboard). Macro trends in prospect evaluation and baseball writ large have changed immensely.

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Intro

You may have noticed over the years that RotoGraphs has not typically published dynasty rankings. This is likely for any number of reasons. There is no lack of dynasty content or rankings on other sites and, absent a ranking model that adds particular value relative to the rest of the industry, there isn’t much incentive to, as my editor put it, “vibe out a list of rankings.”

I wanted to change that, though. The full rankings model is not ready to hit the press yet, but I wanted to walk you through some of the steps and methodology that are going into my rankings because I both value transparency and think that there are useful insights to glean along the way. First up is the key differentiator in any dynasty ranking: prospects.

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With over half of the 2026 season in the books, it’s a good a time to update OOPSY’s Top 100 prospects list, this time with a fantasy spin.

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It’s been a few weeks since we covered several rookie hitters. Rookies have been making a significant impact on the fantasy baseball landscape from a pitching and hitting standpoint. Several rookie hitters and pitchers have been starting in fantasy lineups instead of simply being stash candidates. These rookie hitters have name value, so they could be possible candidates to buy, sell, or hold based on their underlying metrics, skills, playing time, and peak projections. Read the rest of this entry »

Series Overview

This series aims to help readers conduct their routine due diligence in their dynasty leagues. It makes use of up-to-date OOPSY Peak projections and my own arbitrary whims to suggest free agent adds and drops as well as trade candidates and targets. Each entry will highlight a handful of players, both prospects and major leaguers, who have seen their perceived value shift recently. For each player I will offer a “verdict,” an open-ended recommendation on how I would value the player moving forward. Forgive me as these suggestions may sometimes enter the realm of “hot takes.” Most of my dynasty leagues are 14 to 20-team 5×5 roto leagues, but this series aims to be broadly relevant for all keeper and dynasty formats. Any reference to how a player projects using the FanGraphs auction calculator uses these settings with OOPSY DC (ROS) unless I say otherwise (15-team 5×5 SV 2 C). When referencing an OOPSY Peak WAR projection, I am referencing their up-to-date peak WAR projection assuming a full season of playing time: 600 PA for hitters and 198 innings pitched for arms.

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The Prospects Part II episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: James Anderson

Strategy Section

• Prospects
  • Which matters more – projections or in-season minor league statistics?
  • Drafting prospects pre-season
  • How to know when to sit/start a prospect during the season?
  • How to know when to keep/drop a prospect during the season?
  • General trade advice for dynasty leagues

Prospects

• Prospects to know for 2026
• Prospects to know for 2027

Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week

Buy/Sell/Hold/Drop

• Hot Players
  • Travis Bazzana
  • Blaze Alexander 
  • Casey Schmitt
  • Michael Soroka 
  • Spencer Arrighetti
  • Max Meyer 
• Cold Players
  • Kazuma Okamoto
  • Jorge Soler
  • Lucas Erceg
  • Jared Jones
  • Trevor Rogers

Injury Update

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In this weekend’s chat, I was asked the following question, shared below with my response:

7:37 Beano: So many call ups this week! Can you help with a bid pecking order? Alcantara, Torrens, Garcia, Valdez, Ramirez, Troy …
7:38 Jeff Zimmerman: I’m not really high on any of them. I’m sure one will be useful, but they seem like fill-ins.

I looked through the players and wasn’t interested for various reasons. But valuing recently promoted hitters is a challenge for everyone, so today I want to expand on that short answer by sharing a bit of my process. In addition to the five players above, I included two other recent call-ups: Sterlin Thompson and Colt Emerson. This year’s edition of The Process includes my work on this topic.

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Last week, we looked at five of the top rookie hitters to examine their major league path, performance, skills, and how to value them moving forward. There have been many rookie hitters who have been providing value in redraft, keeper, and dynasty leagues of various sizes, so we wanted to cover five more. It’s helpful to digest their prospect grades and reports to see how they align with the underlying metrics. Should we buy, sell, or hold these five rookie hitters? We plan to cover pitchers in a future article if you’re wondering what’s next. 

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The Prospects Part I episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Chris Welsh

Strategy Section

• Prospects
  • What is the difference between early season prospects vs. later season prospects?
  • Return on Investment for prospects
  • How to know when to draft a prospect pre-season ?
  • How to know when to pick up a prosect in-season?
    • Before they come up?
    • After they come up?
  • How much FAAB should you spend on prospects?
    • Keep honest bids

Buy/Sell/Hold/Drop

• Hot Players
  • JJ Bleday
  • Luke Raley
  • Carson Benge
  • David Martin
  • Kyle Harrison
  • Michael McGreevy
• Injury Guru’s Trivia of the Week
• Cold Players
  • Fernando Tatis Jr.
  • Mike Trout
  • Aaron Nola

Injury Update

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Among the top 100 hitters on the Fantasy Player Rater, several hitters are highly touted rookies or players who entered the season rookie-eligible. We’ll examine five rookie hitters. The goal is to provide redraft, keeper, and dynasty thoughts on these rookie-eligible hitters to figure out whether fantasy managers should consider holding, selling high, or buying in various formats. Though keeper and dynasty formats can have different rules and scoring, we’ll do our best to consider these differences. 

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