LOGIN

My FYPD rankings have changed more over this winter than any I can remember. Some of it is just the OCD in action, but I think it’s mostly because class is especially tricky to sort. This sequence is the best I could come up with for now for a typical dynasty league, but every context is different in every dynasty league. I just drafted Red Sox C Carlos Narvaez at the end of the 2nd round in a league I won last year. Sure, I could’ve tried to draft a prospect and trade that for a catcher, but sometimes it’s better just to take the guy who best fits your build during a contention cycle. Good luck out there in your leagues. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The Razz 30 off-season is a tradition like no other. Owners slowly trim their rosters from 50-something players (43 spots with unlimited IL) down to the required 25 total, bartering over mid-round draft picks and borderline droppable players. It’s quite the party, and after a couple hundred trades have been made, we begin the First-Year-Player Draft. 

1. White Sox 3B Munetaka Murakami 

2. Blue Jays 3B Kazuma Okamoto 

3. Astros RHP Tatsuya Imai

4. Mariners LHP Kade Anderson 

I wouldn’t put Murakami in the top group, but he’ll probably go that high in most leagues, and Okamoto will probably go a little lower as people chase upside over present production at the top of their drafts. Likely wouldn’t be picking that high if they had enough right-now juice in the categories to contend. Even in a rebuild, I’d be tempted to take Okamoto. If he hits right away, you can trade him for more or just build around him heading into 2027. I don’t advocate for rebuilds with long tails anyway. I think the goal should be an 18-24 month turnaround, and you have to start stacking functional pieces at some point. Why not start with Okamoto? Well, if he doesn’t hit in his first MLB season, his value will be pretty much shot. There’s some safety in far-away players like Ethan Holliday because he doesn’t have to generate big outcomes to keep his dynasty stock alive for a couple years. Or so goes that theory anyway. Every league is different though. In the Razz 30, a bad 2026 from Holliday could tank his stock just as quickly as a bad 2026 would tank Okamoto’s. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

51. Astros RHP Tatsuya Imai | 27 | NPB | 2026

Imai has been dominant in Japan since 2022 when he was 24 years old with a 2.04 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. 2025 was his best season yet. He recorded a 1.92 ERA and 0.89 WHIP, representing a big leap forward in command. His walk rate of 2.5 per nine innings was a full walk better than his previous career-best mark of 3.6. Imai generates these results on the back of a fastball-slider combination against righties with a splitter against lefties. Houston’s still having a lot of success with pitchers, and I’m betting that continues with Imai. You can move him up this list in deeper leagues or win-now windows. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

1. SS Franklin Arias | 20 | AA | 2027

Arias signed for $525,000 as the second highest paid player in Boston’s 2023 international class. Today, that looks like money well invested. A right-handed hitter listed at 5’11” 170 lbs, Arias wasn’t as good in 2025 as he had been the year before, but he was facing much older competition and still managed a 108 wRC+ in 87 High-A games despite slashing .265/.329/.380. The plate skills were still elite: 8.2% walk rate against an 8.9% strikeout rate, so the organization waved him along to Double-A for a ten-game stretch at season’s end. He hits the ball hard enough. Just needs to add some loft and grow into some man-strength. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Off the top, I want to point out how this draft and the one before it are great examples of why you should NOT tank in dynasty leagues. Last year’s class was so stacked, you could’ve landed Cam Smith with a pick at the end of round one, as happened in one of my leagues. This year, there’s not much of a difference between the top fifteen or so, and there’s no fast-moving monster among the college bats. 

1. Mariners LHP Kade Anderson

2. Rockies SS Ethan Holliday

3. Marlins SS Avia Arquette 

4. Reds SS Steele Hall

In a class without an obvious bat at the top, Kade Anderson in Seattle represents the best combination of proximity and upside. Easily the top pick in a league where quality pitching is at all hard to find. The shallower the league, the more I’d lean Holliday here. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Hello, dear Razzball readers! Although it has been many moons since we last checked in on the college game, my crack staff has been busy analyzing and organizing reports on countless prospects across the sport’s lanscape. My crack staff consists of two dogs with ADHD, an eight-month-old infant, my retired neighbor named Bill, and a cardinal that has been endlessly pecking on my window. His name is Jean Claude. 

Suffice to say, I have had my work cut out for me. Bill has spent significantly more time woodworking and making homemade canes in his garage than scouting this offseason. Not to mention, he sometimes takes the “crack” in crack staff a bit too literally. As for Jean Claude, well, he still thinks the love of his life is on the other side of the glass windows. He has been relegated to a new social role, Tweeting. The change has been quite unproductive.

As for myself, the top-10 prospects for the beginning of the 2025 college baseball season have been completed. It is not a dazzling class, but it isn’t shallow, either. Still, as I wrote these breakdowns, I couldn’t help but feel that it was one of the weaker top-10s since I started covering college prospects at Razzball in 2020. Sure, Jace LaViolette, Jamie Arnold and Cam Cannarella are awesome, but none of them scream slam-dunk, 1-1 overall to me. And the 8-10 spots could be beefier. Like a Runza.

As always, this list is a lot different than the industry consensus and what you’ll see elsewhere. These rankings take future fantasy contributions into account, especially a player’s ability to assist across multiple statistical categories. So, who is at No. 1 this year, and are there any major surprises? Here’s the list:

Please, blog, may I have some more?