Please see our player page for Owen Caissie to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.
by: Grey
We’re deep, deep, deep, and these guys might not be playable. The top 100 outfielders for 2025 fantasy baseball are your flyers in most leagues, and your 5th and 6th outfielders in deep leagues. Keep in mind, we have NL-Only rankings, and AL-Only rankings. If you have no need for these outfielders in your league, think […]
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by: The Itch
1. 3B Matt Shaw | 23 | AAA | 2025
He’s still listed at third base because that’s what he played this year, but Shaw is probably ticketed for the outfield with Isaac Paredes at the hot corner under team control through 2027. No reason he can’t contribute some infield innings here and there, which might be a better fit for his skillset anyway. In 121 games across two levels this year, Shaw slashed .284/.379/.488 with 21 home runs and 31 stolen bases despite a pretty slow start to the season. The 13th overall pick in 2023, he improved throughout the season, played better in AAA than AA and earned a shot to make the opening day roster but might get caught in the wash of Chicago’s off-season machinations. Probably should’ve been part of the team this year, too.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: The Itch
It’s tricky business reacting to spring training outcomes. Veterans are working on their game, treating reps like practice, while youngsters and journeymen are striving to make a good impression. That doesn’t negate all the outcomes, of course, but I feel a little silly reading sentences about how a player looks based on a week of half-games, and I feel even sillier writing them. Nonetheless, playing time is up for grabs, and small samples or not, guys are proving themselves worthy (or unworthy) of season-opening opportunities, so we can’t just play ostrich and ignore the new realities revealing themselves.
If you’ve been around a while, you know I’m not crazy about Brayan Rocchio. SS Angel Martinez is my preferred pick among Cleveland’s options at shortstop, and he’s in a heavenly rhythm right now, batting .529 with two homers and a triple. Rocchio is hitting .118. Both players have 19 plate appearances. Would be a pretty big upset in the echo chamber if Martinez claims the gig, but I doubt the Guardians see it that way. Here’s a link to a story by Jesus Cano on mlb.com that details the changes Martinez made heading into 2024.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: The Itch
76. Reds RHP Chase Petty | 20 | AA | 2024
The 26th overall pick in 2021, Petty enjoyed a breakout season in 2023, recording a 1.73 ERA in 68 innings across two levels where he was younger than his competitors by 3.1 years and 4.3 years on average. At 6 ‘1” 190 lbs, Petty features a wipeout slider and demonstrates an aptitude for spin that portends well for his year-over-year development.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: The Itch
Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2024 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. RHP Cade Horton | 22 | AA | 2024
Horton heard his name during the seventh overall pick in the 2022 Rule 4 draft, and he’s been making noise ever since. In 21 games across three levels this season, he pitched 88.1 innings and recorded 117 strikeouts with a 1.00 WHIP and a 2.65 ERA. Word around the north side is that they’ll be extremely active in free agency, and it’s hard to disagree after seeing the cash they’re shelling out for new manager Craig Counsell, but I hope they only block Horton for legitimate rotation options. I think he could win a spot out of spring training if they’d let him.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I finally saw the Mario movie last night, which my family could do because I subscribed to Peacock to watch seven innings of the Futures Game, so . . . good work on that one, MLB.
In other good-move news: Rays 1B Curtis Mead is in the majors today. We’d be short-sighted to assume he’s going to play regularly going forward, but the team needs a spark, and Mead’s all-fields approach and excellent plate skills (12.8-to-14.7 percent walk-to-strikeout rate) give the club another tough out in a solid lineup.
Mead went for $6 in the CBS AL-Only Analysts League. I have zero dollars and could’ve really used him but feel pretty good about landing a $0 Davis Schneider. I’m in first place and trying to win a second-straight championship there but have been dealt a series of body blows these past few weeks. Josh Bell and Jake Burger got traded out from under me. I also have Tyler Wells and Taj Bradley on that team. Not a recipe for success in an Only: losing four key pieces in the same week. With the two free roster spots, I added Red Sox 3B Luis Urias and Royals LHP Cole Ragans for zero dollars. I was a bit surprised they were free, but it’s late, and there were a ton of guys to bid on in that run. I really like Ragans, though. Great get for the Royals in the Aroldis Chapman trade.
Please, blog, may I have some more?This post picks up where we left off Sunday when I posted the Top 25 Outfield Prospects for Dynasty Fantasy Baseball in 2022. While we’re here, I might as well include a quick link to all my work this off-season: 2022 Fantasy Baseball Prospects, the Minor League Preview Index. It’s been fun to explore the game system by system then position by position. Starting pitchers are coming up next, followed by relievers in one of my favorite articles to build every year (I’ve been working on it for weeks) before we ring in the new minor league season with a fresh list of Top 100 prospects. Can’t wait! This particular list could’ve gone on forever (in the sense that “forever” refers mostly to a pretty damn long time), but I stopped at sixty to avoid overstaying my welcome (I hope). If someone you expected to see isn’t on here please drop a line in the comments section.
Please, blog, may I have some more? by: The Itch
One glance at the Estimated Time of Arrival column here provides a lens into the Cubs’ timeline, or at least their next big wave of hitters. It’s a promising group, and bah gawd it better be, given the club’s firesale focused on these teenage, back-to-the-future lottery tickets. I’m not calling the front office yellow, but we all saw them flee from the fight in 2021 like Marty McFly after the time jump, and the rewards for doing so look bountiful at the moment.
But it’s not all about a half-decade from now. To their credit, the club has a middle infield combo ready to roll in the superhero team of Punch and Judy. I’m not sure which is Nick Madrigal and which is Nico Hoerner, but I do think the club would be thrilled to get ten total home runs from the pair, which could combine with 3B Patrick Wisdom, 1B Frank Schwindel and C Willson Contreras to create a passable big league infield. Add that to outfielders Ian Happ, Rafael Ortega, Jason Heyward and (eventually) Brennen Davis and the team looks like a rebuilder.
Sorry, I meant to say “contender” there, I think, or something more than rebuilder because you really can squint and see the start of something above the Mendoza line here. It takes a lot of wishful thinking to see much more than that, but they do have an interesting group at the top level, at least on the position-player side, and their minor league system is the deepest of the six I’ve ranked so far, so as the team’s most famous fan might say, they’ve got that going for them.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Baltimore SS Jorge Mateo has lived multiple lives on fantasy planet, first as a beloved but complicated Yankees farmhand, then as the primary rerun for Sonny Gray in Oakland, then as a utility piece scrambling for ar bats in San Diego, and now as a human being with a pulse in Baltimore. I’m eager to see how this plays out. None of his previous organizations is particularly adept at actualizing their own prospects at the big league level. Baltimore isn’t the cat’s pajamas either in this regard, but unlike his previous clubs, the Orioles are in position to really invest in Mateo, both in terms of playing time and big league coaching. For his part, Mateo might well understand this could be it for him as a big leaguer. I wouldn’t say he’s had any singular career near-death experience, but he’s certainly been passed around enough to understand his clock is ticking. I’m not comparing him to Anthony Santander or Cedric Mullins, necessarily, but he’s in that mold as a player with talent that nobody expects to become a major league mainstay, and I think his natural gifts measure up well against either. He’s a buy for me in just about every league until proven otherwise.
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