5 Prospect Breakout Candidates: First Base

Zach's top fantasy baseball prospect stashes, sleepers and breakout candidates at 1B for 2025. These prospects have big upside if they get the opportunity.

First base used to be a position stacked with power-hitting fantasy baseball studs who hit in the heart of many lineups. While there are still some elite sluggers at the top of the player pool at the position, there isn't as much depth as there used to be for fantasy baseball at 1B.

The position was also one of the most turbulent in baseball this offseason. Multiple contenders moved first basemen in and out of their projected lineups, creating a "carousel" that gave "Who's on First?" a whole new meaning. If you don't find the answer to that question for your fantasy team early in the draft or are looking to add some depth in later rounds, targeting a first-base prospect is a great strategy to consider.

Unfortunately, most of the biggest prospect names at the position are still likely a year or more away from breaking spring training with their MLB teams. However, a few have the potential to give you a boost at some point this season even in redraft leagues.

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Jac Caglianone, Kansas City Royals

Coming into spring training, Caglianone was viewed to be a ways from making an impact for the Royals since he has yet to play above Single-A. He was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft and hit .241 with a pair of homers and a .319 wOBA in his first 29 games as a pro.

However, Caglianone has impressed throughout his first MLB spring training, launching mammoth home runs and hitting .500 (7-for-14) in his first 11 games with an unsustainable .729 wOBA and .786 ISO. His highlights have gone viral, and he looks ready to make quite the splash whenever the Royals decide he's ready for his debut.

Over the past 10 years, Jorge Soler is the only @royals hitter to hit more than one 114+ mph homer in the regular season.

Jac Caglianone has now done it twice this spring 😳

(🎥 @MLB)

pic.twitter.com/jweNsmV3hi

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) March 10, 2025

Some Royals fans are calling for Caglianone to make the Opening Day roster, but even if he starts in the minors, it may not be long at all before he's slotting into the Royals lineup just behind Bobby Witt Jr.

"Cags" isn't the closest of these prospects to making the team, but he does have the highest ceiling. Whenever he gets his chance, he'll bring elite power potential and be a 1B prospect to draft or add.

Tyler Locklear, Seattle Mariners

The Mariners gave Locklear a look last season, but he wasn't quite ready for a full-time role in the majors. He played 16 games with Seattle, going 7-for-45 (.156) with two home runs and a .217 ISO. He spent August and September back in the minor leagues and finished with a .272 batting average, 16 homers, a .196 ISO, and .382 wOBA in 111 games in Triple-A.

Tyler Locklear is looking really good this spring 👀 #TridentsUp🔱 pic.twitter.com/oEHXz8w5G9

— Kick Dirt Baseball (@KickDirtBB) February 23, 2025

Locklear doesn't have nearly as high a ceiling as Caglianone or the rest of the hitters on this list, but the reason he's so high on this list is that he's so close to making an impact.

The Mariners did bring in Donovan Solano and Rowdy Tellez this offseason and still have Luke Raley in the mix as well. Mitch Haniger is expected to start the season as DH, but there could be at-bats available there as well if Locklear can bounce back from last year's slight regression.

Before his struggles last year, Locklear was a hyped prospect, so he's a typical post-hype sleeper to keep a close eye on this season.

Nick Kurtz, Athletics

While Locklear and Caglianone look ready for MLB right away, the other three players in this post all need a little more work in the minors.

At this point, they deserve watching and grabbing when they're called up, but depending on how your league treats bench spots, it may be best to leave them on waivers to start the season. However, they still have redraft league value since they'll make an impact when they arrive.

Kurtz made some noise this spring training by hitting .250 with a .398 wOBA over his first 12 games and crushing a tape-measure home run.

Nick Kurtz 💣

His first homer of the spring was hit 110.3 mph and went 444 feet.

No. 34 on our Top 100.

(🎥 @MLB m)pic.twitter.com/Dvgpct9xmH

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) March 8, 2025

Last year, Kurtz rose to Double-A even though he only played 12 games after being drafted with the No. 4 overall pick in last year's MLB Draft. In his very small sample size, he went 14-for-38 (.368) with three doubles, four home runs, a .395 ISO, and a .559 wOBA.

Since he got so few games in, the Athletics sent him to Arizona to play in the Arizona Fall League. He hit .353 in his 13 games for the Mesa Solar Sox with three doubles, two triples, and two home runs for a 1.058 OPS.

The hulking lefty showed the full package at Wake Forest and could have a quick rise through the minors to arrive in Sacramento by the middle of the season. He was reassigned to minor league camp but could follow the path of Jacob Wilson last season and be ready to make a big impact this summer.

Tyler Soderstrom is on track to be the Athletics 1B for now, but the team won't be able to keep Kurtz's batting out of its lineup if he keeps mashing as he has at every level since it drafted him.

Bryce Eldridge, San Francisco Giants

Eldridge was drafted a year before Kurtz and Caglianone but is only 20 while the other two prospects are 22. Eldridge had a full season in the minors last year, playing 99 games in Single-A and High-A, nine games in Double-A, and eight games in Triple-A.

Combined, he hit .289 with 23 home runs and 91 RBI with a .224 ISO. His batting average and his ISO decreased in both Double-A and Triple-A, which is why the Giants aren't planning on him making their Opening Day roster.

While he did smash an impressive home run, he hit just .182 (2-for-11) in his eight games before being reassigned to the minor league camp for the Giants.

Two year ago I was watching Bryce Eldridge at Madison HS. Now he's hitting 450 in big league exhibition games. Meteoric rise. pic.twitter.com/75Mb6FExnH

— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) February 22, 2025

Eldridge's success in the low minors is very promising for him down the road, but his value in redraft leagues is much less certain. While the Giants don't have a long-term solution at 1B, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores with maybe a little Jerar Encarnacion mixed in should give them solid enough production to wait for Eldridge to progress.

It will be interesting to see whether he starts the year at Double-A or Triple-A and how he does while there. If he gets off to a slow start, he may not have any redraft value, but if he starts fast and climbs, he could arrive by midseason.

Deyvison De Los Santos, Miami Marlins

Another long shot to make the majors but who could make a difference once he arrives is Marlins masher Deyvison De Los Santos. Unlike the other bats on this list, De Los Santos is one-dimensional, but that one specialty is extremely impressive. De Los Santos hits dingers -- lots and lots of dingers.

Last season, De Los Santos crushed a minor league-leading 40 home runs. He started with the Diamondbacks' Double-A team and moved to Triple-A before being traded to Miami in exchange for A.J. Puk. He hit .294 with a .277 ISO and .392 wOBA across all three stops and provided plenty of highlights like this one:

Deyvison De Los Santos extends his MiLB homer lead with No. 40 ‼️

The @Marlins prospect does it in gargantuan style, going 476 feet for the @JaxShrimp 🤯 pic.twitter.com/WMU4FSXE4D

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) September 19, 2024

The concern with De Los Santos is that he has struggled with a high strikeout rate and his average has dropped as he has climbed through the minors. He hit only .240 in his 50 games with Jacksonville and his strikeout rate climbed to 28.4 percent.

In spring training this year, he went 2-for-11 in MLB camp before being optioned to Triple-A. He struck out six times in those 11 at-bats (54.5 percent K%) and didn't have an extra-base hit.

De Los Santos is only 21 even though he has been a buzzy prospect for a few years. He still has time to develop, but he still has a ways to go before his plate approach is MLB-ready. If he gets a chance in MLB this year, he has a high power ceiling, but he'll need to show significant improvement at Triple-A before getting a chance to play, even for the Marlins.

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