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Chris Clegg's dynasty fantasy baseball buy lows, sell highs, and MLB news for Week 5 (2025). Notable prospects debuts and dynasty risers/fallers including Agustin Ramirez, Cedric Mullins, Nick Kurtz, more.
Welcome back, RotoBallers, to my dynasty fantasy baseball risers, fallers, and buys/sells for Week 5 of the 2025 MLB season. As April comes to a close, sample sizes have begun to stabilize, and there is less noise in the samples. Prospects are getting the call to majors, and there is plenty to discuss.
Today's dynasty article will look at recent prospect call-ups like Agustin Ramirez, Nick Kurtz, and Logan Evans, along with several other dynasty-related news items. This bi-weekly series will take a look at various prospects and dynasty news and discuss fantasy implications. If you enjoy dynasty baseball, you know it is a fast-paced game. Keeping up with current events can help you stay ahead of your league mates.
Call-ups, trends, and buying and selling players are all just small pieces to help you stay ahead. So, that's what we will do in this article each week: break down everything you need to know to be successful in a dynasty. At the end of the day, we all want to build a dynasty team that sustains and lasts for the long haul. I am here to help you do so. So, what do you need to know for dynasty leagues in Week 5 of the 2025 season? Let's dive in.
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Recent MLB Prospect Call-Ups
Few prospects come up and perform right away. Agustin Ramirez said none of that mattered to him as he is off to a historic start to his MLB career. It has been just five games, but Ramirez already has blasted three home runs and has four doubles, and all the underlying data backs it up.
Is he doing to sustain this pace? No. But Ramirez is hitting the cover off the ball, and it is honestly not a surprise.
Last year, Ramirez mashed 25 home runs and had 53 extra-base hits while posting a strong .267/.358/.487 slash line. He struck out in just 18 percent of his plate appearances and posted respectable contact rates of around 75 percent overall and 84 percent in-zone. Ramirez walked at a rate north of 11 percent, chasing just 26 percent of pitches out of the zone.
The power is legitimate, and the exit velocity data backs it. Ramirez posted a 90th percentile exit velocity near 107 mph last year that jumped to 109 mph in a small sample this year. The biggest issue is that the swing can get a bit flat at times, leading to far too many groundballs. The air percentage was just 52.5 percent in 2024, but this year we have seen more loft in the swing.
Ramirez is a legit bat who is going to hit for a ton of power. He should be rostered everywhere.
To show you how hard-hitting in the majors is, just look at Nick Kurtz's small sample. Sure, it has been just 17 plate appearances, but Kurtz has struck out 41 percent of the time and is slashing just .250/.235/.250. This followed 97 Triple-A plate appearances where Kurtz slashed .321/.375/.655 with seven home runs.
The lefty currently posted a 90th percentile exit velocity of 108 mph with an average exit velocity of 95.7 mph. On balls hit in the air, Kurtz is averaging 99 mph, and he has a 60 percent hard-hit rate. Kurtz makes plenty of contact, and his approach is sound, checking every box you want to see from a hitter.
He will bounce back. If someone in your league is concerned, pounce on Kurtz in a trade.
In the wake of the Logan Gilbert injury, Logan Evans got the call to replace him. Evans tossed five innings of a two-run ball in his MLB debut. He earned the win despite walking three batters and striking out three.
When he is not missing bats, Evans keeps the ball on the ground at a strong 48 percent clip in 2024, and this season, that number is 59 percent in a small sample. While the strikeout rate has been relatively low throughout his career, Evans's whiff and swinging-strike rates have been above average.
Evans’s fastball sits 93-94 mph, and the shape plays best down in the zone to induce ground balls, as it has a nice running life and up to 20 inches of arm-side run. He mixed his pitches well in his MLB debut, using four pitches at least 17 percent of the time, and Evans added a curveball and four-seam fastball in both nine percent of the time.
Given the deep arsenal, Evans does have appeal in fantasy leagues of 15 teams or deeper. He may not rack up a ton of strikeouts, but he does bring plenty of value to the table.
Dynasty Trends: Zone-Contact% Risers and Fallers
Around 100 plate appearances is when we start to see contact rates begin to stabilize. Hitters who make plenty of contact on pitches in the zone tend to produce better results. For some, it is negligible, but for others, jumps in zone contact can be a good sign of a potential breakout.
Take Pete Crow-Armstrong, the largest riser in zone contact rate, for example. Let's take a look at some players who have seen jumps in zone contact rates.
Zone Contact Risers
| Player | 2024 Zcon | 2025 Zcon | Delta |
| Pete Crow-Armstrong | 73.2 | 82.8 | 9.6 |
| Michael Harris II | 81.5 | 90.6 | 9.1 |
| Ezequiel Tovar | 77.7 | 86.4 | 8.7 |
| Wilyer Abreu | 76.4 | 85 | 8.6 |
| Shea Langeliers | 80.3 | 88.7 | 8.4 |
| Jorge Polanco | 77.4 | 85.3 | 7.9 |
| Ian Happ | 78.5 | 85.8 | 7.3 |
| Nolan Schanuel | 89.5 | 96.8 | 7.3 |
| Mike Yastrzemski | 79.4 | 85.8 | 6.4 |
| Andy Pages | 80.5 | 86.8 | 6.3 |
Zone Contact Rate Fallers
| Player | 2024 Zcon | 2025 Zcon | Delta |
| Patrick Bailey | 84 | 71.1 | -12.9 |
| Anthony Volpe | 82.4 | 71.5 | -10.9 |
| Masyn Winn | 86.1 | 75.8 | -10.3 |
| Andrew Benintendi | 82.5 | 73.1 | -9.4 |
| CJ Abrams | 81.3 | 72.2 | -9.1 |
| George Springer | 81.4 | 73.1 | -8.3 |
| Rowdy Tellez | 88.5 | 80.3 | -8.2 |
| Spencer Steer | 86.6 | 78.5 | -8.1 |
| Harrison Bader | 85.8 | 78 | -7.8 |
| Julio Rodriguez | 78.8 | 71.5 | -7.3 |
Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Buys and Sells
While everyone seems quick to tell you to sell Cedric Mullins' hot start, I don't see a reason to do so. In fact, he still seems to be undervalued in most circles despite checking all the boxes I look for in a player. The surface stats are good as Mullins is slashing .292/.432/.551 with six home runs and five stolen bases, but the under-the-hood metrics are even better.
Mullins currently has the highest barrel since 2021 and his highest average exit velocity in his MLB career. He also made a few tweaks, which have paid off in hitting the ball at more ideal launch angles. In fact, Mullins' sweet-spot rate of 41.5 percent is a 10 percentage point jump from 2024.
He is lifting and pulling the ball with authority while also showing improved discipline and contact skills. The in-zone contact rate is up over three percentage points, and Mullins' chase rate is the best mark of his career at 21 percent.
While you'll find X yelling at you to sell, I suggest buying the performance. Another 30/30 season could be in order.
Did you know that Nick Pivetta has never posted an ERA below four at any point in his career? He may break that curse this year with the hot start he is off to, but if you can sell high on Pivetta, I would. Through five starts, Pivetta owns a 1.20 ERA and has 30 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched.
Hear me out, Pivetta has pitched well. All the ERA indicators suggest that Pivetta is on the right track, having an impressive 2.18 FIP and a 3.38 xFIP. His xERA sits at 2.78. Regression is sure to come though, as Pivetta has an 88 percent strand rate and a .205 BABIP that will normalize over time.
I do like Pivetta and think this is the year we finally see a sub-four ERA, but I also think it could be a good time to cash out if someone is truly buying in.
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