With roughly six weeks in the books, we’ve nearly reached the one-quarter mark of the 2025 season, which makes it the ideal time to check in on a handful of the most impactful dynasty-related takeaways for fantasy managers. We’ve spent the last few weeks highlighting several under-the-radar prospects making early-season noise, but this week’s column takes a broader look at five over-arching storylines that emerged during the seemingly endless process of updating Rotoworld’s fantasy baseball dynasty rankings. A fresh dynasty rankings update is on tap for next week. In the meantime, please enjoy this week’s column as a table-setting appetizer.
Aaron Judge has ascended to top-five status for dynasty ranking purposes
It’s not hyperbolic to suggest that Aaron Judge is putting together the most impressive sustained hot streak of his career, which is incredible considering he’s eclipsed 58 home runs in two of the last three seasons. The 33-year-old franchise cornerstone is slashing an astronomical .400/.491/.750 with a major league-leading 12 homers and 34 RBI through 37 games. He’s on pace to finish as the top player in the fantasy landscape from a re-draft standpoint and reach the 50-homer threshold for the third time in four years.
Aaron Judge hammers his 12th homer of the year 👨⚖️ pic.twitter.com/cwmSre2lta
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2025
Judge checked in at 13th overall in Rotoworld’s dynasty rankings update back Opening Day. He’s likely going to crack the top five in our next installment alongside Bobby Witt Jr. and Shohei Ohtani. There are compelling age-related cases for slotting younger superstars like Juan Soto, Elly De La Cruz, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Chourio or Corbin Carroll ahead of him, but we’re fully prepared to assume the long-term physical risks with Judge in exchange for his current production, which is head-and-shoulder above his peers through six weeks of the 2025 campaign.
The gap between MLB and Triple-A is wider than ever
Witnessing the ongoing struggles of consensus top-ranked prospects Roki Sasaki, Matt Shaw, Jasson Domínguez, Nick Kurtz, Cam Smith, Coby Mayo, Jackson Jobe, Chase Dollander and Kumar Rocker at the highest level is further proof that making the leap to the big leagues remains the most challenging adjustment period in a player’s career. The common link between most of these struggling top prospects is how quickly they ascended to the big leagues, but that doesn’t apply in all cases. There are several hitters — most notably Shaw, Mayo and Alan Roden (who was optioned back to Triple-A earlier this week) — who have extensive multi-year track records of success in the upper minors.
There are some notable exceptions here with Kristian Campbell, Jacob Wilson and Chandler Simpson standing out as prominent youngsters making instant impact for fantasy managers, but they’re relative outliers in comparison to their peers. The biggest takeaway here for dynasty managers is to expect some initial turbulence for most prospects as they adjust to everyday life in the majors, but to remain patient with elite talents. The trajectory of Nationals top prospect Dylan Crews is a prominent example of this phenomenon as he appears to have overcome an ice-cold 5-for-47 start to the season to finally start to find his footing in recent weeks.
There’s a new ‘big three’ headlining the next wave of prospect talent
One of the biggest questions for dynasty managers entering the season was whether teenage prodigies Jesús Made and Leo De Vries would join Sebastian Walcott to headline the next wave of elite prospects. They’ve lived up to the stratospheric hype through six weeks in the minors as one of the youngest hitters in the Carolina and Midwest Leagues, respectively.
Made has checked every metaphorical box in his stateside debut as a switch-hitting 18-year-old phenom this season, hitting .296/.404/.455 with seven extra-base hits and nine steals through 22 games for Low-A Carolina. He continues to record elite batted ball data relative to his age and experience and looks like a potential five-category fantasy superstar in the making. The hype is real.
Jesus Made continues to rake, with a 1.006 OPS in in his last 12 games, including 4 XBH, 5 BB and 6 SB.
— Brewers Player Development (@BrewersPD) May 1, 2025
10 of his 19 hits have left the bat over 100 mph EV 🔥#ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/JdGhsthoZ5
Meanwhile, De Vries’ meteoric rise has continued this season with an astronomical .308/.402/.560 triple-slash line with 12 extra-base hits and three steals through 24 contests for High-A Fort Wayne. The precocious 18-year-old put together one of the greatest performances of the season back on April 22 when he launched two homers while hitting for the cycle as part of a sublime five-hit explosion.
LEO DE VRIES HITS FOR THE CYCLE @Padres | @TinCaps pic.twitter.com/SwJm34G0LO
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 23, 2025
We’d be remiss if we excluded Pirates sensation Konnor Griffin, who has five homers and 12 steals through 25 games for Low-A Bradenton this season in his professional debut, from this conversation as a contender to reach top-five prospect status in the coming months. However, it’s abundantly clear that Walcott, Made and De Vries are a notch above the rest of the prospect landscape right now.
No starting pitcher is ‘safe’ in the modern era
This isn’t a stunning revelation for dynasty managers that have been playing fantasy baseball for any length of time, but it feels even more resonant this year with a handful of relatively durable ace-caliber fantasy aces either hitting the shelf or dealing with lingering physical issues in the early stages of the year with the most prominent examples including Logan Gilbert (elbow), Corbin Burnes (shoulder), George Kirby (shoulder) and Shota Imanaga (hamstring). We’ve also had several upper-echelon starters dealing with injury scares lately including Cole Ragans (groin), Cristopher Sánchez (forearm), Hunter Greene (groin), Freddy Peralta (groin) and Dylan Cease (forearm) as teams refuse to take any chances with the long-term health of their frontline starters.
We haven’t even waded into the high-risk department with premium talents like Spencer Strider (hamstring), Shane McClanahan (triceps), Grayson Rodriguez (elbow, lat), Tyler Glasnow (shoulder), Blake Snell (shoulder) and Jared Jones (elbow) facing extended absences.
The main takeaway here for dynasty managers is to prioritize upside and embrace the volatility of the era when it comes to roster construction decisions. No starting pitching prospect is a safe investment from a long-term standpoint, but placing a greater emphasis on acquiring raw talents with a wider range of potential outcomes seems preferable to lower-upside arms that don’t necessarily guarantee greater volume once they reach the majors. They’re not for the risk-averse among us, but high-upside pitching prospects like Bubba Chandler, Andrew Painter, Chase Burns, Jacob Misiorowski and Noah Schultz are becoming less risky propositions than a half-decade ago.
Jac Caglianone is the most challenging prospect to rank for dynasty purposes
Caglianone’s gargantuan tape-measure homers have made him the talk of the Texas League during the first six weeks of the season as he’s recorded an astronomical .330/.409/.598 triple-slash line with eight homers, 31 RBI and one steal through 29 games for Double-A Northwest Arkansas. The 22-year-old slugging prospect’s off-the-metaphorical-charts raw power is going to make him fantasy-relevant the second he reaches the majors. He’s a potential fantasy superstar if everything comes together, but there are some lingering questions whether he’ll make enough frequent hard contact at the highest level, especially since he’s striking out nearly a quarter of the time at the Double-A level. That’s not atrocious, but he’s going to have to adjust to facing big-league caliber pitchers for the first time in his career, which could lead to some initial struggles.
Yes, it's still standing!
— Northwest Arkansas Naturals (@nwanaturals) May 4, 2025
Jac Caglianone (@jac_caglianone) CRUSHES a 115 MPH, line-drive homer off a building in right!
It's his sixth of the season! #GoNats pic.twitter.com/NcwHC2hAxr
The critical takeaway for fantasy managers to note is that he’s making strides with his defense in right field, which is that variable that could expedite his timeline to the big leagues. He figures to arrive in Kansas City at some point in the second half, but he’ll make it challenging for the Royals front office to keep him in the minors by continuing to launch tape-measure moonshots. There’s enough realistic upside here for dynasty managers to consider him a top-15 range prospect until further notice, but there remains an extremely wide range of potential outcomes. The sizzling-hot start to the season is a positive development and fantasy managers should be willing to embrace the risk here.
