Chris Clegg's Top 100 Fantasy Baseball Prospects for Dynasty - December Update

December 22, 2024

Chris Clegg's top 100 fantasy baseball prospects for dynasty leagues, updated for December 2024. Read about the rising dynasty prospects for fantasy baseball.

Welcome back, RotoBallers, to my top 100 fantasy baseball prospect rankings, freshly updated for December. For those who are not familiar, I will be releasing monthly updates to my fantasy baseball dynasty prospect rankings here on RotoBaller, along with my notes on risers.

After a full offseason of work, spending time on backfields, in minor league camps, watching video, and diving in on advanced data, I have made several refinements to my fantasy baseball prospects rankings. These rankings are helpful when evaluating players both for redraft and dynasty leagues and can help give you an edge in any format.

This specific set of prospect rankings can be used for any fantasy format, with the focus being on a player's potential for fantasy leagues long term. We hope that at RotoBaller, we can help you become a champion in both dynasty and redraft formats. You can find my top 100 prospect rankings list here, but if you want the full top 1,000 prospect list (yes, 1,000 prospects ranked for dynasty leagues), you can check out my website, The Dynasty Dugout.

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Top 100 Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Prospects

Top Fantasy Baseball Prospect Risers

Andrew Painter looked the part in the Arizona Fall League when I got to watch him live.

After going down with an injury in Spring Training of 2023, Painter went the rest and recovery route. Unfortunately, that ended in him having Tommy John Surgery on July 25, 2023.

After being selected in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft, Painter tossed 103.2 innings in 2022, moving from Single-A to Double-A while posting a 1.56 ERA with 155 strikeouts and 25 walks. He looked like the best pitching prospect in baseball, and it was not close. Painter was on the verge of making his MLB debut out of Spring Training in 2023 and would have been 19 when he debuted.

Pre-TJ Fastball

Painter’s fastball averaged nearly 97 mph in 2022, reaching 101 with incredible IVB (induced vertical break), creating a rising effect at the top of the zone, especially given the high spin rates. It produced a ton of swing-and-miss and set up the rest of the arsenal well.

Arizona Fall League Fastball

The velocity being back from his first start is highly important. The command will only get better with the pitch, but it already looks like the plus offering that it was pre-surgery.

Pre-TJ Slider

Arizona Fall League Slider

Painter threw his slider consistently and his was his most used secondary. The pitch has sat around 88 mph in each of the last two outings and has touched 90 mph.

While averaging 7.5 inches of horizontal, it has registered as high as 10 inches and has also shown good depth. Locations were much better in his most recent start, burying it down and away from righties. This pitch is more of the cutter/slider he debuted in Spring Training of 2023 versus the longer horizontal one he previously threw.

Pre-TJ Changeup and Curveball

Painter also mixes in a changeup, which made major strides in 2022, sitting in the high 80s. The curve is the lesser of the two breakers, but you can still argue it is a plus pitch in the upper 70s. It has a two-plane break but less depth than the typical curveball.

Arizona Fall League Changeup and Curve

Painter seldom mixed his changeup in the AFL. It was a firm 91 mph pitch with carry and 16 inches of fading action.

Painter looked the part and the command was good coming off his surgery. That is usually the last thing to come back and by spring, he should be in great shape. The velocity and stuff is back and Painter looks ready to pitch in the majors. It is likely he starts the year in Triple-A, but I expect 100 or more innings in the Phillies rotation.

Every pitch Andrew Painter threw today.
3 IP/2 H/0 ER/0 BB/3 K
33 p/25 strikes/6 whiffs
FB: 97 t99
CB: 80
SL: 88 t91
CH: 90 pic.twitter.com/81R6y26JBC

— Chris Clegg (@ChrisCleggMiLB) October 30, 2024

Zyhir Hope is another big riser up prospect rankings. He continued to improve all season despite missing time with an injury, but he impressed in the Arizona Fall League and checked a lot of boxes with what I look for.

Hope missed time during the 2024 regular season due to a shoulder injury, but it did not affect him upon his return. In Single-A this year, the 2023 11th-rounder slashed .287/.415/.490 with nine home runs, 14 doubles, and eight stolen bases. The performance is impressive, but the underlying data stands out the most.

There is no denying the power in Hope’s profile, which was displayed in the Arizona Fall League as he hit a 470-foot home run. That was not a fluke, as he hit a 450-foot shot in the regular season.

Having a 90th percentile exit velocity north of 108 mph, Hope not only had some of the top exit velocities for his age but also in all of the minors. The launch angles are quite good, and Hope put the ball in the air 56 percent of the time with a 50 percent pull rate, a good recipe for success.

He makes a lot of in-zone contact, with an 87 percent rate paired with a 76 percent overall mark. The chase rate of 17 percent shows his very strong plate discipline. Hope is a stud in the making and the Dodgers know they have something special here.

While he did not collect a hit yesterday, Zyhir Hope hit a hooking foul ball a mile that barely missed staying inside the foul pole. Hope is highly impressive physically and is a strong athlete with major pop. pic.twitter.com/bxgxvNBQWE

— Chris Clegg (@ChrisCleggMiLB) October 31, 2024

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