Welcome back to the third installment of the Fantasy Baseball Dynasty rankings. As we count down toward the top group, this week we cover players ranked 200-176.
Whether you are building your dynasty team from scratch this year or you are in year 10 with a team, there is always going to be a mix of young and old players. The players in this grouping are more on the older side and the catcher position is starting to come into play. Here is the breakdown of this week’s group:
- 1 player over 35 years old
- 9 players between the ages of 30-34
- 13 players between the ages of 25-29
- 2 players between the ages of 20-24
- 9 infielders
- 7 starting pitchers
- 5 outfielders
- 4 catchers
The older players in this group should be able to produce solid numbers for at least another three years, that is why I have them ranked this high. And the reason for the 10 players in their 30s makes sense to me since the deeper we go into the rankings, the more dominant the young players are going to be.
And now my weekly reminder: if a top prospect hasn’t reached the majors yet, they won’t be in these rankings. Itch has been running down the top prospects per team and will continue his great work. No need for me to repeat what he says.
Now on to the Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Rankings: 175-151…
175-171
| RANK | NAME | TEAM | POS. | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 175 | Paul Goldschmidt | Stl | 1B | 36 |
| 174 | Salvador Perez | KC | C | 33 |
| 173 | J.T. Realmuto | Phi | C | 33 |
| 172 | George Springer | Tor | RF | 34 |
| 171 | Sonny Gray | Stl | SP | 34 |
The Old Man Section
Everyone in the above grouping is 33 years old or older. But unless you are completely building a team of only up-and-coming players in order to win a few years down the road, you can’t skip over every older player. These players still have life in them, just not as much as the players in their 20s.
Not Who They Once Were
I will be the first to admit Paul Goldschmidt has a lot of thread worn off his tires. But he is a productive player who has the DH spot to fall back in if needed in a two or more years. After back-to-back 30-plus homer seasons, RBI totals of 99 and 114 and slugging percentages of .514 and .581, Goldschmidt hit only 25 homers and had 80 RBI while slugging a career-low .447. And the 25 homers he hit were the lowest in a full season since he hit 24 in 2016. But right now, that is a one-year blip and not a trend.
It seems Salvador Perez will never stop producing for Kansas City. Felix Fermin, who had a nice season for the Royals in 2023, will likely take on even more of the catching duties in 2024. But Perez still started 90 games behind the plate and as a bonus can play first base in fantasy leagues. He hit 23 homers and has not hit less than 21 homers in a full season since 2014 (he missed all of 2019 with an elbow injury). However, his slugging percentage of .422 was his lowest mark since 2014. Like Goldschmidt, that is not a trend yet.
J.T. Realmuto is still a good hitting catcher, but catchers age quicker than other positions, so while still valuable, I consider him a short-term dynasty catcher. Take Realmuto but have a young catcher on the bench or in your system somewhere. His numbers were fine last year with 20 homers, 63 RBI, and 16 steals. But he had a career-low in batting average (.252) and OBP (.310) and his OPS+ (106) was his lowest since posting a 92 in his rookie season of 2015.
Still Some Gas Left in the Tank
After two solid seasons with the Blue Jays, George Springer scuffled a bit last season with a career-low slash line of .258/.327/.405 with 21 homers and 72 RBI with a career-low OPS+ of 102. He did steal a career-high 20 bases, and in his first two seasons in Toronto he posted an OPS+ of 141 and 132 – just over his career OPS+ of 128. Like Goldschmidt, the decrease in production is a one-season trend. I think Springer still has several years of solid production left.
Better with Age?
Over the last three seasons, Sonny Gray has watched his ERA go from 4.19 to 3.08 to 2.79 last season and his K/BB rate go from 3.10 to 3.25 to 3.33 – all while getting older! For some pitchers, age is just a number, and that may be the case for Gray. He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, as his fastball ranks in the 31st percentile, has maintained a solid WHIP over the last three seasons and his K/9 rate has hovered between 10.3 to 9.0.
170-166
| RANK | NAME | TEAM | POS. | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 170 | Rhys Hoskins | FA | 1B | 31 |
| 169 | Byron Buxton | Min | DH | 30 |
| 168 | Jonah Heim | Tex | C | 28 |
| 167 | Ke’Bryan Hayes | Pit | 3B | 27 |
| 166 | MJ Melendez | KC | RF/LF | 25 |
A Power Bat
After missing all of last season with a knee injury, Rhys Hoskins is set to return in 2024, though with whom we don’t know yet. No matter who he plays for, what Hoskins does well is hit for power. His career 162-game average is 36 homers and 98 RBI. And in the four seasons in which he has had 389 at-bats or more, he has yet to hit fewer than 27 homers.
The DH Who May Play CF
Byron Buxton is not eligible to start the season as a center fielder in most fantasy leagues as he was only a DH last season. Even if he remains as a DH, he still has value. Buxton hit 17 homers and drove in 42 with nine steals in 85 games last year. But the problem with Buxton is the yearly injury he suffers. It is impossible to count on him to stay healthy, so I can’t rank him higher.
A One-Year Wonder?
Jonah Heim has shown he can hit for power, posting home run rates of 3.5%, 3.6% and 3.5% the last three years. But the big difference in Heim last season was his ability to drive in runs as he had a career-high 96 (in 457 AB). His previous career high was the 48 he had in 2022 (over 406 ABs). He had a career year with his slash line as well, going .258/.317/.438. Compare that to his career .323/.292/.399 line. Perhaps he figured things out last year, but I’m not 100% sold on him yet to rank him higher.
Ready to Launch
I may be ranking Ke’Bryan Hayes too low here, to be honest. His career stats say he should be in this area as he reached career highs in homers (15), RBI (61), AVG (.271) and SLG (.453). But Hayes appears to finally have learned how to hit the ball in the air last year. After posting launch angles of 2.6% and 5.2% during his first two full seasons, Hayes jumped to a 13.2% launch angle last season. Pair that with an average EV that ranked in the 93rd percentile, and it is easy to see why his homers and slugging percentage jumped. I can easily envision a 20-20 season from Hayes.
Ready to Launch II
As a rookie in 2022, MJ Melendez hit 18 homers and drove in 62 runs in 129 games and slashed .217/.313/.393. I was expecting a jump in those stats last season, but Melendez hit only 16 homers and drove in 56 in 148 games. However, he improved his slash line of .235/.316/.398, and looking deeper into the numbers, he hit the ball harder last year (93.2 EV) compared to 2022 (90.7 EV) and his Hard-Hit % increased from 43.7% to 49.6% .
Like Hayes, I may be ranking Melendez a little too low. His EV rate ranked in the 96th percentile, his Hard-Hit% ranked in the 91st percentile and his Barrel% ranked in the 75th percentile. All of those were improvements from 2022 when he ranked in the 81st, 69th and 72nd percentiles. In short, I think Melendez is due for better numbers this season and seasons to come.
165-161
| RANK | NAME | TEAM | POS. | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 165 | Gavin Lux | LAD | 2B | 26 |
| 164 | Jonathan India | Cin | 2B | 27 |
| 163 | Sandy Alcantara | Mia | SP | 27 |
| 162 | Joe Ryan | Min | SP | 27 |
| 161 | Bryan Woo | Sea | SP | 24 |
A Pair of Second Basemen
Gavin Lux missed all of the 2023 season after being slated to play shortstop for the Dodgers. With no games played in 2023, he is still a second baseman until he gets his required games in at short. In 2022 he slashed .276/.346/.399 with six homers, 42 RBI and seven steals in 129 games. But Lux heads into 2024 like he did in 2023 – as the expected starting shortstop with a great chance to put up some nice numbers.
The chances of Jonathan India playing for the Reds this season are up in the air as the team has a plethora of infield talent that can put at second base. But no matter India plays, I think he will produce. Despite being slowed in the second half of last season by plantar fasciitis, India still had 17 homers, 61 RBI and 14 steals with a .338 OBP. I think India is due for a big season, either with the Reds or a new team.
Three of a Kind
Sandy Alcantara will miss the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. He won’t help you this year, but he should be a very productive pitcher in 2025 and beyond. He has a career ERA of 3.32 and WHIP of 1.16. He doesn’t have the highest strikeout rate, but he limits damage and thus doesn’t hurt your staff.
Joe Ryan had a 4.51 ERA for Minnesota last year. This is why I don’t care about that – 197 strikeouts in 161.2 innings of work. Ryan strikes people out and limits the number of batters he walks. His BB/9 rate fell from 2.9 to 1.9 last year while upping his K/9 rate to 11.0 from 9.2 in 2022. While his fastball velocity ranked only in the 23rd percentile, opposing batters hit only .240 against the pitch. Overall, his K% and Chase% ranked in the 88th percentile and his BB% ranked in the 92nd percentile.
I think Bryan Woo can be a great sleeper at this spot in the rankings. He didn’t have great stats in his rookie season with the Mariners, posting a 4.21 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. But when you look a little deeper, you see a pitcher with a lot of talent. His average EV ranked in the 82nd percentile, Barrel% ranked in the 77th percentile and his Hard-Hit% ranked in the 83rd percentile. He’s a young pitcher learning how to succeed on the MLB level, and I think that success will come sooner rather than later.
160-156
| RANK | NAME | TEAM | POS. | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 160 | Brandon Pfaadt | Ari | SP | 25 |
| 159 | Ketel Marte | Ari | 2B | 30 |
| 158 | Yandy Diaz | TB | 1B | 32 |
| 157 | Nick Castellanos | Phi | RF | 32 |
| 156 | J.P. Crawford | Sea | SS | 29 |
Looking to the Future
Brandon Pfaadt may not be a great pitcher in 2024, especially if he pitches like the 2023 regular season pitcher we saw when he had a 5.72 ERA and 1.41 WHIP with an 8.8 K/9 rate and 2.4 BB/9 rate. But Pfaadt gave us a glimpse of the pitcher he can be during the postseason. In five starts he had a 3.27 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. His K/9 rate increased to 10.6 and his BB/9 rate dropped to 2.0. The Diamondbacks didn’t let Pfaadt go deep into games as he only lasted 22 innings in those five starts, but the talent is there to be a very solid pitcher.
Older, But Still Productive
Ketel Marte is probably one of the more overlooked second basemen in fantasy baseball. In 2019 he hit 32 homers, drove in 92 runs and slugged .592. In 2021, injuries limited him to 90 games, but in those games, he hit 14 homers and had 50 RBI and slugged .532.
Then came 2022, a season where he hit only 12 homers, drove in 52 runs, and slugged only .407. Perhaps his run of solid seasons was over, right. Nope, Marte bounced back last year to hit 25 homers, drive in 82 runs, and slug .485. I think 2021 was more the outlier for Marte.
Yandy Diaz has always been able to get on base. He has a career .381 OBP and has topped .400 the last two seasons. He has always been a good hitter at the plate as well with a career .290 batting average. So his .330 average and .410 OBP last year should not be a surprise. What Diaz has not done in the past is hit home runs. That changed last season when he hit 22 to go along with 78 RBI – both career highs. So, why the power increase?
Diaz has always hit the ball hard (career EV is 91.7 mph). But last year his Barrel% was 9.5 compared to a career 6.9%. More barrels mean more balls flying out of the park. He should at least be able to duplicate what he did last year for the next three years.
In his first season with Philadelphia, Nick Castellanos did not live up to expectations, hitting only 13 homers with 62 RBI and slashing .263/.305/.389, which are all below his career average. But he rebounded last year with 29 homers and 106 RBI, the second time for him to top 100 RBI in the last three years. His slugging also jumped back up to his career average. He isn’t great, but he is a solid source of power and RBI.
Will The Power Continue?
Since becoming a full-time player in 2020 with the Mariners, J.P. Crawford had never hit more than nine homers or slugged higher than .376. Last year Crawford broke out with 19 homers, helping him drive in a career-high 65 runs while still slashing .266/.380/.438. The reason for Crawford’s power surge is simple – “I’m not trying to slap singles anymore. I’m trying to do damage,” he told Daniel Kramer of mlb.com.
Instead of watching fastballs early in the count fly through the strike zone, Crawford attacked them and sent them flying all over the park. On the first pitch of an-bat last year he slashed .315/.327/.685 with five home runs. On 1-0 pitches he slashed .528/.514/.917 with three homers. And despite being more aggressive early in the count, Crawford still walked a league-leading 94 times and has a career walk rate of 11.3%. His strikeout rate did jump to 19.6%, but that is still below the MLB average.
There is no reason to think Crawford’s new approach is not going to yield close to the same results he had last season.
155-151
| RANK | NAME | TEAM | POS. | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 155 | Ha-Seong Kim | SD | 2B/SS/3B | 28 |
| 154 | Bryce Miller | Sea | SP | 25 |
| 153 | Mason Miller | Oak | SP | 25 |
| 152 | Cal Raleigh | Sea | C | 27 |
| 151 | Jarred Kelenic | Atl | LF | 24 |
Improvement Each Season
Since joining the Padres in 2021, Kim has progressed at the plate in each season. As a rookie, he slashed .202/.270/.352. He improved to .251/.325/.383 in 2022 and last season he slashed .260/.351/.398 (all career highs) with career highs in home runs (17) and RBI (60) and steals (38). Making Kim even more valuable is the fact he can play three different positions in the infield.
He has improved in each of his three years in the majors and he is only going to be 28 on Opening Day. There is no reason to think he is not going to continue to produce at the level he did in 2023 over the next four years.
Two Young Pitchers
Bryce Miller and Mason Miller share the same last name, but as pitchers they are vastly different.
Bryce Miller didn’t have great numbers at the end of the season, posting a 4.32 ERA and a K/9 rate of 8.2 despite owning an above average fastball. However, he doesn’t walk hitters as he issued only 26 free passes 131.1 innings to end the year with a 4.58 K/BB rate. With today’s pickoff limitations, pitchers who don’t batters have a lot of value as fewer runners on base leads to lower ERAs. Simple math.
Then there is Mason Miller. In 10 games (six starts) he had a 3.78 ERA and a 10.3 K/9 rate with the Athletics. He has always been able to strike hitters out as he had a career 11.5 rate in college and 15.8 K/9 rate in the minors. What hurts Mason Miller is his lack of command right now. He walked 4.3 hitters/9 last season. While he had a 2.5 BB/9 rate in the minors, that was only covering 39.1 innings. In 239 innings in college he had a 4.2 BB/9 rate. If he learns to command his pitches, he could be very undervalued here.
The Former Teammates
Cal Raleigh is not going to help your batting average or OBP, but he sure is going to help your power numbers. He slugged 30 homers for the Mariners to lead all catchers and his 75 RBI ranked sixth while also slugging .456. He hit 26 homers and slugged .485 in 2022 in 361 at-bats. Raleigh is a power hitter and should be a target of yours if you are not concerned with average or OBP.
Jarred Kelenic has been a fantasy darling for years, but he never lived up to the hype in Seattle. But the Atlanta Braves see something in Kelenic, and the Braves have been pretty dang good at developing talent. So it may be time to start buying stock in Kelenic again.
He showed his skills with an amazing month of April with seven homers and 14 RBI in 26 games with a .308/.366/.615 slash line. But over the next 281 at-bats, he hit only four homers and slashed only .235/.314/.356. Now in a lineup surrounded by potent hitters, I think Kelenic will be relaxed and start to produce at a level many expected of him when he was one of baseball’s top prospects.
Come Back Next Week
Thanks for reading and come back again next week for Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Rankings: 150-126.
If you need to catch up, here are the previous rankings:
