Top 100 Fantasy MLB Prospects For 2024

Image credit: Nationals top prospect James Wood (Photo by Tom DiPace)

Following our updated Fantasy Top 500, Dylan White and Geoff Pontes also reworked our Fantasy Top 100 Prospects list. The update reflects the new rankings and adjustments in prospect value.

Baseball America subscribers will notice these rankings can conflict with our standard Top 100 Prospects list. Below, we highlighted some philosophical differences to help explain why. 

How Fantasy Values Defense: Baseball America’s goal with its Top 100 Prospects ranking is to identify the 100 most valuable professional players currently under 130 at-bats and 50 innings pitched in the major leagues. Our fantasy Top 100 hopes to identify the top 100 future major leaguers in a similar fashion. But the difference lies in how that value is measured. 

On a standard prospect ranking, the difference between a 70-grade defender and a 50 or 55-grade defender at shortstop is often significant from a future value perspective. 

For fantasy lists, that perspective shifts. A prospects’ ability to earn playing time based on defensive ability is important – up to a point. 

Fantasy managers want to know if a player’s defensive abilities (or lack thereof) will cut into playing time. There’s little difference between the best defensive shortstop in baseball and a 60-grade defender. 

Baserunning: The value of stolen bases in fantasy can often skew the difference between what WAR or wRC+ value as above-average offensive seasons versus how its valued in fantasy. The standard scoring in fantasy typically consists of some combination of runs, RBIs, home runs, stolen bases and batting average (or on-base percentage). So the combination of runs, RBIs, home runs and stolen bases are the real target. In this frame of mind, players with the ability to hit 20 or more home runs with 20 or more stolen bases are of greater importance. 

Catching: Strong defensive catchers with above-average or better hitting ability are often valued among the best players in the game on our Top 100 Prospects list. Catcher is arguably the most important defensive position on the field. Those that can reach the bar of above-average major league hitter are valued highly and rightfully so. 

It’s the opposite in fantasy baseball. Catchers tend to deal with a few unique challenges other position players do not. They tend to deal with more wear and tear over the course of the season, which in turn leads to more days off than say an outfielder. This combination of factors influences our value of catchers in fantasy. They not only have more limited plate appearances than other position players, they’re often dealing with more wear and tear on their hands which impacts their hitting. Most standard fantasy formats roster one catcher per team, meaning they’re often in lower demand. 

Proximity: The value of prospects in fantasy is often set into a two or three-year window. Meaning prospects who are three or more years away see their value deflated somewhat versus their true potential. In the same regard players with opportunities for major league playing time in the upcoming year see a value bump. Depending on the depth of your league (depth equials the number of players or prospects rostered) prospects with ETAs beyond 2025 may sit on the waiver wire outside the most elite of talents. So unlike the standard Top 100 list, we value the ability to contribute in the short term more.

Below, find the Top 100 Prospects to target in fantasy in 2024.