Farm Futures: Top 100 Fantasy Baseball Rookies For 2025

In case you missed it, earlier this offseason I published my Rookie Infielder Tiers, Rookie Outfielder Tiers and Rookie Pitcher Tiers. A lot has changed since then, as I've fully updated the top-400 prospect rankings and there's been some shuffling on big-league rosters, so it was time for another set of rookie rankings!

It's pretty simple: these are the top 100 rookies to roster in 2025 fantasy baseball leagues, grouped into tiers. Here's what you need to know before we get to the rankings:

• For rookie eligibility, I follow MLB, which uses 130 at-bats, 50 innings or 45 days on the active roster as the cut-offs for exhausting prospect eligibility, so there are talented young players like Heston Kjerstad (BAL), Porter Hodge (CHC), Jonatan Clase (TOR) and Hunter Bigge (TB) who are under the at-bats or innings thresholds but have spent over 45 days on active MLB rosters and are not included on the rankings. Additionally, with free agents from Asia or Cuba, I only consider them prospects if they're under 25 years old, so Roki Sasaki (LAD) is included while Hyeseong Kim (LAD) is not.
• These rankings are intended for standard 5x5 rotisserie leagues, but if you want to use them for points leagues, just devalue the relievers and speed-first position players.
• ADP is from the last 20 NFBC Draft Champions leagues (1/22/05-2/11/05). Draft Champions leagues are 15-team, 50-round draft-and-hold leagues in which each team starts two catchers.
• The final column for each prospect shows one stat from the ATC projections that I think is relevant for that specific prospect. For most hitters, I chose wRC+, where a 100 wRC+ represents a league-average hitter, as it can illustrate how ready these prospects are to face big-league pitching. For some of the top hitters, I included a single counting stat like stolen bases or home runs. In some cases, those counting stats are only for a partial season's worth of playing time, but they help show why you might be interested in that player. For most pitchers, I chose K-BB%, as that's the single best stat to sum up a pitcher's skill level.
• I wrote the outlooks for almost all the prospects included in this article, but if you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments, on Twitter, Bluesky or Discord.

TIER ONE

There are almost 75 picks of ADP separating Roki Sasaki and Jasson Dominguez, but those two, along with Dylan Crews, are roughly in the same tier for me. The only Sasaki share I'm getting is the one I got before we got news of him getting posted, just because I think the injury risk is too high for where he's getting drafted.

Crews' best stats will be steals and runs, and he's priced pretty steeply for that archetype, but he has a very high ceiling in stolen bases, as evidenced by his 5.6 percent attempt rate (per Statcast) during his brief run in the majors. For reference, Xavier Edwards had a 4.2 percent attempt rate while Brice Turang had a 4.1 percent attempt rate last season.

Dominguez has a higher batting average and power ceiling than Crews (in my estimation), but I think Crews could steal 15 more bases than Dominguez while edging him out in runs+RBI based on where they project to hit in their respective lineups.

TIER TWO

Matt Shaw is capable of providing 15-25 home runs with 15-25 steals if he holds the regular job all season, although he's more likely to eclipse 20 steals than 20 homers as a rookie. Long-term, he should hit for a positive batting average, but I would be expecting something around .245 or .250 this season. 

Bubba Chandler, Kumar Rocker and Jackson Jobe are going right next to each other in drafts. I have them ranked essentially in the order of innings I'm expecting them to throw in the majors this year. They each have high ceilings and will get to compete for rotation spots in camp. Jobe arguably has the best pure stuff of the trio, but Chandler and Rocker are more accomplished as upper-level starting pitchers. Chandler is certainly the most built up from an innings standpoint, as he tallied 119.2 frames in 2024 while Rocker (48.1) and Jobe (97.1 IP, including postseason) failed to top 100.

Boston playing Kristian Campbell over David Hamilton makes more sense to me than playing Roman Anthony over Wilyer Abreu or Ceddanne Rafaela. I'd be all for playing Anthony over Masataka Yoshida, but they're paying Yoshida $18 million per year. I'm not sure if the Red Sox will make a trade or if they're fine going into the year with one or both of Campbell and Anthony at Triple-A indefinitely, but I can't currently put together a Boston lineup that makes sense and includes Anthony. 

It sounds like the Diamondbacks will find room for Jordan Lawlar if he's healthy this spring and earns a job, as he can play third base or second base in addition to shortstop. Obviously he's not playing over Ketel Marte, but if Arizona wanted to give Marte one day off every few weeks, Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suarez one day off per week, and a couple days off per week for Lourdes Gurriel, they could find room for Lawlar and let things play out from there. He has the talent to flirt with a 20/20 season and will look to avoid picking up the injury-prone tag this year.

The one guy who I've put here that doesn't belong by ADP is Caleb Durbin, largely because his ADP is anchored from where it was before he was traded from the Yankees to the Brewers in mid-December. I think he's basically going to produce like Maikel Garcia this year. There's more playing-time risk with Durbin than with Garcia, since we've never seen Durbin against big-league pitching, but Garcia's ADP is almost 200 spots higher than Durbin's.

Here are their Steamer 600 projections (if they each got 600 plate appearances):

Maikel Garcia: .262/.319/.375, 8 HR, 69 R, 56 RBI, 30 SB, 2.3 fWAR, 215.3 ADP

Caleb Durbin: .241/.326/.361, 10 HR, 67 R, 58 RBI, 26 SB, 2.0 fWAR, 386.0 ADP

TIER THREE

There's a little something for everyone in this tier, and it's the final tier that I think is applicable for NFBC leagues like the Main Event or the RotoWire Online Championship, where you're drafting 30 players and have in-season FAAB. 

On the pitching side, I gravitate toward the lower-profile/lower-pedigree prospects like Sean Burke, Joey Cantillo, Michael McGreevy, Thomas Harrington over bigger names like Andrew Painter, Rhett Lowder and Quinn Mathews. I just think you're paying for the name brand with the latter group while the former group is more proven at the highest level. I do have a share of Mathews from earlier in draft season, but I'm now less convinced that he's up right away, and obviously Painter is a premium talent, it's just all about the price and number of innings I'm expecting. With Lowder, I don't see a high ceiling and I don't know how many starts he'll make this year, but I think he has a relatively high floor on a per-start basis relative to most rookies.

Seth Halvorsen has the best case for being the Rockies closer, and he's got a higher ceiling and better stuff than Rockies closers of the recent past. He used to be readily available after pick 500, and he's starting to push up even too high for my liking.

Chase DeLauter's lower-body injury history is extensive and repetitive, which not only makes him a high-risk investment but has resulted in his stolen bases drying up. Jacob Wilson went from being a divisive prospect to someone seemingly all prospect analysts agree will hit for an empty, high batting average. Coby Mayo could hit 20-plus homers this year if he gets the playing time, but there's no clear path as things stand. Nick Yorke could hit 15 homers with 10 steals and a solid batting average while picking up outfield eligibility, but there's no guarantee he'll play much if guys like Nick Gonzales, Andrew McCutchen and Tommy Pham are producing serviceably. 

Edgar Quero, Agustin Ramirez and Dalton Rushing are talented rookie catchers, but the most talented of the three, Rushing, has the most obstacles to playing time. Quero seems to be the best combination of talent and a path to playing time, while Ramirez could lead all catcher-eligible players in stolen bases if he gets 120 games or so, and there's reason to believe he could get starts at designated hitter and/or first base as the year goes on. 

Zach Dezenzo is someone I've gotten higher on throughout the offseason, just because I think there's a clear path for him to win an everyday corner-outfield job in the spring and I think he could do a decent Luke Raley impersonation, just with better teammates and a cozier park. I know the projection systems peg Deyvison De Los Santos as a passable hitter, but I think there's a decent chance the book gets out quickly and he gets exposed and demoted back to Triple-A or struggles and hits around .220 all year. Both of these first baseman are getting pushed up because of that eligibility. It's really tough to find any first basemen worth taking past pick 400.

Emmanuel Rodriguez and Cody Thomas are power/speed flyers. There's a more obvious path to playing time for Thomas — he just needs to supplant Seth Brown. However, Rodriguez is more talented and probably has a better chance of forcing his way into the picture. I wouldn't be surprised if either slugger made waves during spring training, and I also wouldn't be surprised if either guy hit around the Mendoza Line while playing sparingly for the big club in 2025.

TIER FOUR

This is the last tier that features rookie catchers I'm willing to roster in Draft Champions in Drake Baldwin, Adrian Del Castillo and Drew Romo. There are some position players with exciting skills and an unclear path to playing time (Johnathan Rodriguez, Alan Roden) and some position players with boring skills and a clear path (Chase Meidroth, Jace Jung). Christian Moore and Nick Kurtz feature in this tier as they attempt to be the first position players from the 2024 draft class to reach the majors. Sawyer Gipson-Long won't be recovered from Tommy John surgery until around midseason, but he could provide 8-10 useful starts down the stretch. I'm downgrading Ronny Mauricio because it seems like his ACL recovery has been pretty bumpy. Alejandro Rosario and Luke Keaschall aren't locks to even reach the majors this year, but they're talented enough to force the issue.

TIER FIVE

Drafting a player from this tier guarantees you nothing in 2025. These are the complete flyers with varying degrees of upside and probability. If you're desperate for steals, you might take a shot on Payton Eeles, Chandler Simpson, Adael Amador, Denzel Clarke, Tyler Black or Enrique Bradfield. The best pure pitchers in this tier have something wrong with their situation or their health, and there are some wild-card reliever prospects if you're into that type of thing.

HONORABLE MENTION

Brady House (WAS), James Triantos (CHC), Jac Caglianone (KC), Andrew Walters (CLE), Yoniel Curet (TB), Miguel Ullola (HOU), Ben Casparius (LAD), Marc Church (TEX), Hagen Smith (CHW), Chase Burns (CIN), Sebastian Walcott (TEX), Jeferson Quero (MIL), Edgardo Henriquez (LAD), Wade Meckler (SF), Billy Cook (PIT), Shay Whitcomb (HOU), Jaden Hill (COL), Parker Messick (CLE), Jared Serna (MIA), Jett Williams (NYM), Andrew Morris (MIN), Logan Henderson (MIL), Mason Barnett (ATH), K.C. Hunt (MIL), Walker Jenkins (MIN), JJ Wetherholt (STL), Zac Veen (COL), Shane Smith (CHW), Trey Sweeney (DET), Tirso Ornelas (SD), Tyler Locklear (SEA)