2026 FYPD Rankings (First-Year Player Drafts): Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Prospects

January 24, 2026

Kevin's 2026 dynasty prospect fantasy baseball FYPD rankings (First-Year Player Drafts). His top 40 prospects from this most recent MLB draft class and international signees.

We're in the heart of the MLB offseason and if you didn't have your FYPD (first-year player draft) in your dynasty fantasy baseball league shortly after the MLB Draft, it's likely coming up soon. Along with the most recent draft class, I've added the latest group of international signees to this ranking as many FYPD's will include them in the draft pool.

I would say the FYPD period is when I value the opinions of professionals in the scouting industry the most. I don't necessarily rank based on how others rank, but I am reading and listening to scouting reports and trying to translate those scouting reports into what I value for fantasy baseball.

Let's take a look at my 2026 fantasy baseball FYPD rankings for this class. I will have a quick trigger when it comes to adjusting my rankings of these players as I see how they perform as professionals. There's a good chance that how I rank this class looks much different a year from now.

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2026 FYPD Rankings: Top 40 Prospects

Prospect details can be found in the rankings table below, with some thoughts on some new names and movers. To see some more thoughts about the top players in the draft class, check out my rankings from about a month post-MLB draft.

Tatsuya Imai, SP, Houston Astros (NPB)

Tatsuya Imai is looking like the biggest international import to the MLB this season. He had his best season in Japan in 2025 with a 1.92 ERA and 20.7 percent K-BB rate. His command was a bit of an issue earlier in his career, but has improved tremendously over the last few seasons.

He has a pretty unique pitching profile with a solid fastball and slider that moves glove side. Lance Brozdowski has a good breakdown of him here.

I'm fascinated to see where Tatsuya Imai lands.

Public sentiment is very positive. Opinions from within orgs have been more split from my convos (some love, some don't).

I wandered around our studio at @WatchMarquee to explain what makes him distinct. 🧐 pic.twitter.com/llppwGngEi

— Lance Brozdowski (@LanceBroz) November 21, 2025

Imai isn't a Yoshinobu Yamamoto-level pitcher (very few are). However, I view him slightly higher than Shota Imanaga and Kodai Senga when they came over (and he's younger). The mild concern I have for Imai is that he didn't get a particularly large contract, and some have speculated whether he can handle a starter's workload for a full season.

Dax Kilby, SS, New York Yankees (Draft Pick 1-39)

The biggest riser so far from the 2025 MLB Draft has been Dax Kilby. He was absolutely excellent in his short professional debut after being drafted. He had a 159 WRC+ in Low-A while walking (16.0 percent) more than he struck out (13.6 percent).

While he didn't hit any HRs and didn't even hit many XBH's, his quality of contact under the hood was almost as impressive as his advanced approach.

Kilby is already getting a lot of hype, but if your league isn't aware of how good he was in his debut and is mostly drafting based on draft capital, he could be a steal. He should continue to rise as he turns some of his solid raw power into game power.

Munetaka Murakami, 1B, Chicago White Sox (NPB)

Three years ago, I was absolutely salivating at the idea of adding Munetaka Murakami to my dynasty team in the future. In 2022, the "Japanese Babe Ruth" hit 56 HRs with a 225 WRC+ while walking (19.3 percent) almost as much as he struck out (20.9 percent) at only 22 years old.

Murakami's really could not come soon enough. However, the steam on the Murakami hype train has really simmered over the past few seasons. The biggest evidence of this is his signing a two-year, $34 million deal with the White Sox this offseason, a far cry from a potential nine-figure contract that was expected when he first started to break out.

The big reason for concern about Murakami is the amount of swing and miss in his game. He has struck out over 28.0 percent of the time in each of his last three NPB seasons, and obviously, NPB pitching is much worse than the pitching he'll face in the MLB.

I've seen a ton of tweets this offseason about Murakami's horrible contact rates against higher-velocity pitches, but I think a lot of that is due to limited exposure rather than him being completely unable to catch up to these pitches. I'd expect him to improve in this area as he sees more higher velocity in the majors.

Here's Murakami hitting a 95 MPH fastball 114 MPH to dead center. There's definitely some whiff issues, but he's not totally incapable of producing against velo. pic.twitter.com/X22B9dLsFJ

— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) December 13, 2025

Even though the amount of swing and miss in Murakami's game is concerning, the power upside is just so tantalizing. My favorite comp for him is a player like Max Muncy, but he has the upside to be much more. I've already mentioned the 56 HR season, but he is coming off a season where he hit 22 HRs in only 224 PAs.

An underrated facet of Murakami signing with the White Sox is that he'll have the opportunity to struggle a little bit without the lights being super bright on him. There'll be an adjustment period early on, but if he keeps the K-rate somewhat in check, we could be looking at a power monster for our fantasy teams.

Kazuma Okamoto, 3B/1B, Toronto Blue Jays (NPB)

Kazuma Okamoto is coming off a monster final season in Japan. He had a 210 WRC+ with 15 HRs in 293 PAs while walking as much as he struck out (11.3 percent). He also had six straight 30+ HR seasons from 2018 through 2023.

Kazuma Okamoto 2025 NPB Ranks
(121 batters with 200+ PA)

.327 AVG (1st)
.416 OBP (1st)
.598 SLG (2nd)

.271 ISO (4th)
1.014 OPS (2nd)
212 OPS+ (1st)

11.3 K% (11th)
11.3 BB% (11th)
1.00 BB/K (3rd)

66.8 AIR% (2nd)
43.9 Pull% (12th)
24.2 Chase% (34th)pic.twitter.com/xwJ8XVyMdY

— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) November 21, 2025

I've seen some people say they'd rather have Kazuma Okamoto than Murakami in a dynasty format. I don't think it's crazy to say that Okamoto will be a better player than Murakami. In fact, I think heis more likely to be a solid, big-league regular. His power and hit tools are both very solid. However, he is unlikely to become a star.

I'd predict Okamoto to hit 20-25 HRs a season with a solid BA. However, does he have enough upside to justify taking him super high in FYPD's given he's about to turn 30 this season? In deeper leagues where it's harder to find cheap production, I can see prioritizing him more, but overall, you can find his production and age profile elsewhere.

Charles Davalan, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (Draft Pick 1-41)

I have to give a shoutout to my friend Luke AKA The Prospect Professor for constantly being in my ear about Charles Davalan. He's a big Arkansas baseball fan, so he's been letting me know about the hitter that Davalan is.

He showed an elite hit tool at Arkansas as he walked (11.0 percent) way more than he struck out (8.5 percent) with decent quality of contact. He followed it up with tearing up Low-A in his first taste of professional baseball. He hit .500 with a 243 WRC+ and an only 13.5 percent K-rate.

I try not to put too much stock into a small sample size, especially for a college bat in Low-A, but it's always exciting to see players excel right when they get to pro ball. It'll be interesting to see what the Dodgers' plan is with Davalan this upcoming season.

They have an insane log jam of talented outfield prospects, so could they push Davalan more aggressively to the upper minors as he's an older college bat? Whatever level he's at, I expect Davalan to continue to hit and be a solid riser in prospect rankings.

Ethan Holliday, SS/3B, Colorado Rockies (Draft Pick 1-4)

Ethan Holliday is the one big faller for me since my rankings right after the draft. I usually don't want to ding prospects too much for small sample sizes, especially their professional debuts.

However, the one big red flag in Holliday's pre-draft profile was the amount of swing and miss in his game, and those red flags really showed through in his first taste of professional baseball. In 84 PAs in Low-A, Holliday struck out 39.3 percent of the time.

I'm not totally out on Holliday as he has impressive power, and this was a small sample size at a relatively aggressive assignment for him. However, I'd imagine there will be someone in every draft room who is way more excited to draft Holliday than I am, given his name and draft capital.

Ethan Frey, OF, Houston Astros (Draft Pick 3-95)

Ethan Frey might be the biggest college bat riser so far from this draft class. Frey was a relative unknown until his final season at LSU. He only had 88 PAs in his first two seasons. However, he had a strong junior season with a 128 WRC+ across 212 PAs, which led him to being a third-round pick.

Frey jumped into pro ball and raked immediately. He had a 166 WRC+ while striking out only 20.5 percent of the time and walking 16.4 percent of the time in his first 122 PAs at Low-A. Again, like with Davalan, I don't want to get too excited about a college bat raking in the low minors since that's what they're supposed to do.

Did the Astros land one of the best values in the 2025 draft? 👀

With a 80.2% contact rate and an 84.6% zone-contact rate, Ethan Frey could be a breakout name next season.

See one candidate for every American League team: https://t.co/O5gU7RrOFd pic.twitter.com/nOyTYZJMc5

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) November 28, 2025

However, it's tough not be impressed with Frey so far. I wonder if Frey could be this year's Mike Sirota, a college bat who just dominates in the low minors. Sirota likely would've forced the Dodgers to move him up in the organization had he not gotten injured in 2025.

General J-15 Signing Thoughts/Strategy

How aggressive you are with drafting J-15 signees in your FYPD largely depends on your league format and the type of dynasty manager you are. How deep are your minor leagues? How patient are you as a dynasty manager?

Are you willing and able to hold these prospects, not necessarily until they reach the majors, but until they see a tangible increase to their value? Most of these prospects will be starting their careers in the DSL. While you will have risers from the DSL, it's rare for guys to get huge value increases from their performances there.

The one true rocketship DSL riser I can remember from recent years was Jesus Made, but he was not a huge name when he was first signed. There will likely be a star or two from each J-15 class, but it's not even that likely that the star will be one of the big-name signees.

With regard to this class specifically, I think the top five have established themselves as the "top of the class," and guys I'm looking to target in FYPDs. Luis Hernandez intrigues me the most due to his success playing in the Venezuelan pro league against much older players.

However, the next four: Wandy Asigen, Francisco Renteria, Angeibel Gomez, and Johenssy Colome, all definitely interest me. My suggestion to anyone looking to draft J-15 signees is to read as many scouting reports as you can, since they likely don't have much valuable statistical data available.

Overall, I don't want to go too crazy chasing these players. However, I do understand their upside. I'm probably more likely to take some dart throws later in deep drafts in hopes of hitting the lottery.

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