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It is the last week in July, we are heading towards the August 2 trade deadline, and teams will make clear who are contenders and who are selling off. Often times these trades can have an impact on prospects who are part of deals. Sometimes a veteran being moved can open up playing time for a prospect coming up from the minors.
This is another installment of our fantasy baseball prospects rankings series, reviewing MLB prospects to make fantasy impacts in 2022. For those who are not familiar, below you will find our updated list of the top-25 fantasy baseball prospects rankings to make an impact for the 2022 fantasy baseball season, which RotoBaller will be updating weekly. You’ll find quite a few well-known prospects on the list — as well as some lesser-known players that could nonetheless provide key contributions to your fantasy league teams this season.
As always, this weekly list is updated to reflect rest-of-season fantasy baseball values, and near-term impacts that these MLB prospects can make. Players who are playing in the minors but graduated from prospect status will also not be in the rankings. Nick Pratto, JJ Bleday, Max Meyer (injured), and Ezequiel Duran have all been called up and will not be on the list this week.
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Top MLB Prospect Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
The list below is for 2022 fantasy baseball redraft leagues. These are MLB prospects, rookies, and call-ups to potentially make a rest-of-season fantasy baseball impact in 2022. As prospects are called up, they are removed from the rankings. You can also see our top-250 fantasy baseball dynasty prospects for longer-term outlooks.
| Ranking | Player | Pos | Team | Age | ETA |
| 1 | Miguel Vargas | 3B | LAD | 22 | August |
| 2 | Alec Burleson | OF | STL | 23 | August |
| 3 | Kyle Muller | SP | ATL | 24 | August |
| 4 | DL Hall | SP | BAL | 23 | August |
| 5 | Kyle Stowers | OF | BAL | 24 | August |
| 6 | Gabriel Moreno | C | TOR | 22 | August |
| 7 | Jonathan Aranda | 1B/2B/3B | TB | 24 | August |
| 8 | Jordan Westburg | 3B/SS | BAL | 23 | August |
| 9 | Triston Casas | 1B | BOS | 22 | Mid/Late Aug |
| 10 | Ryan Pepiot | SP | LAD | 24 | August |
| 11 | Ken Waldichuk | SP | NYY | 24 | August |
| 12 | Hunter Brown | SP | HOU | 23 | August |
| 13 | Francisco Alvarez | C | NYM | 20 | August |
| 14 | Oswald Peraza | SS | NYY | 22 | September |
| 15 | Ryan Noda | 1B/OF | LAD | 26 | September |
| 16 | Gabriel Arias | SS | CLE | 21 | September |
| 17 | Peyton Burdick | OF | MIA | 25 | September |
| 18 | Mason Martin | 1B | PIT | 22 | September |
| 19 | Michael Busch | 2B | LAD | 24 | September |
| 20 | Spencer Steer | 2B/3B | MIN | 24 | September |
| 21 | Shea Langeliers | C | OAK | 24 | September |
| 22 | Pedro Leon | 2B/OF | HOU | 24 | September |
| 23 | Tommy Henry | SP | ARI | 24 | September |
| 24 | Corbin Carroll | OF | ARI | 21 | September |
| 25 | Gunnar Henderson | 3B/SS | BAL | 20 | September |
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings #1-3
Players 1-3 are the only ones in the minor leagues that I think have a chance to make a real impact on your fantasy baseball teams in the second half if they get the opportunity to be called up. There are no changes in this tier from last week.
Clearly, the Dodgers are not in any hurry to call up Miguel Vargas and are fine with playing Jake Lamb and Trace Thompson while Chris Taylor is injured. It makes sense. Teams that have pressure to compete are more willing to give opportunities to veterans and established names.
The same can be said for Saint Louis. The Cardinals need a boost to their offense and while Alec Burleson could potentially provide the help, it looks like the Cardinals may look to the trade market for help, although they could use help in their bullpen, rotation, and bats.
I think Kyle Muller could be traded. Five of the Braves Top 10 prospects are pitchers at Triple-A. While I thought the Braves could stand pat, I was on a trade deadline panel and one of my panel mates, made a great point about the Braves potentially looking for another starter.
Could the Braves package some of these prospects for an established starter? And if so, would Muller get a chance to start the last couple of months for another organization? Time will tell. He deserves an opportunity over Ian Anderson but they keep sending Anderson out there every fifth day.
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings #4
DL Hall stands in a tier all his own again this week. He has a boom-or-bust nature and he had been booming more than busting as of recently. He had four starts with 40 strikeouts in 20.2 innings pitched.
He did start and pitch just one inning on July 22nd where he allowed two hits, one earned run, but also struck out two. This was a planned short outing after the All-Star break and could be a way to limit his innings pitched too.
The Orioles are .500 and 3.5 games out of a Wildcard spot. I would love for them to go for it and that would include calling Hall up either as a starter or a bullpen arm that could go a few innings. If he is used as a bullpen arm, that will limit his fantasy viability, but all of that remains to be seen. Hopefully, we see him sometime in August in Baltimore.
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings #5-25
If I were to guess, we will not see many of these names play any significant amount of time in the majors down the stretch. The trade deadline and injuries can always change things but at the moment that's how it is looking.
Trey Mancini has come up in trade rumors. If he were to go, that could give room for Kyle Stowers to come up depending on what the return would be for him.
Triston Casas shoots back up the list as he is not injured and playing at Triple-A. Casas has a .350 OBP and six home runs in 39 games this season. The Red Sox are really unclear about what their strategy is. They could use help at first base. Would they go out and get some help like a Josh Bell or are they content with waiting for Casas to be ready? We should get more clarity over the next week.
Oswald Peraza is a name that could potentially get moved, which could result in some playing time if he were to go to the Reds or a team like that. Volpe is the higher-rated prospect and sounds like a non-starter for the Yankees to move.
The Yankees are in the market for some outfield help, bullpen help, and potentially a starter. Peraza is 22, has 80 career Triple-A games under his belt, and is more ready to come up. He moves up for now, knowing that if he does not get moved, he is likely moving down again.
Corbin Carroll and Gunnar Henderson move way down to the bottom of the list. The more I think about it and the more I talk to people, the more it seems like these guys will make their debut in 2023.
They are the No. 3 and No. 5 prospects overall and it will be fun to see them up. Arizona has nothing to play for and the Orioles have more older guys like a Jordan Westburg that might just make more sense to call up than Henderson.
Honorable Fantasy Prospect Mentions
- Cade Cavalli, SP
- Caleb Kilian, SP
- Ethan Small, SP
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