Tired of the same old groupthink that consumes the fantasy baseball community? Same here. Opinions are what make sports conversations great. Having your opinions challenged forces you to take a step back and reevaluate how you feel about certain players. Adding to that thought, reading one article about a prospect or player should not be the only resource used to evaluate a player properly. That is the idea behind this article. Each member of the Pitcher List dynasty staff has a unique opinion. Why not create an article that provides two different breakdowns of the same players? This article looks at four different prospects that Martin Sekulski and I disagree on. We each try to convince you that our side is the right outlook to have.
Head over to the Pitcher List dynasty page to check out the rest of the great work the team has been producing, including write-ups on all 30 farm systems.
Jaxon Wiggins – SP, Chicago Cubs
The Pro-Wiggins Argument – Matt Heckman
Seeing Jaxon Wiggins rank so low in Martin’s ranks shocked me. To be honest, I cannot figure out what the argument against Wiggins is (I guess I will have to read what Martin writes). Heading into last season, Wiggins was one of my favorite breakout picks. All he did was come out and set a career-high in innings pitched and finish the season with a 2.19 ERA. Wiggins was dominant on the mound in Double-A and is now knocking on the door of the major leagues. He has significant dynasty appeal and proximity, making him a prime target for many this off-season. The case for Wiggins seems obvious, but I will lay it out below.
The biggest knock on Wiggins up to this point is his inability to build up innings. This is not entirely his fault. In his draft season, Wiggins was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery, which prevented him from making his professional debut until 2024. The Cubs were extremely careful with Wiggins, valuing his long-term potential, and limited him to only 59.2 innings pitched. The Cubs again put Wiggins on an innings count last year, limiting his innings during the second half of the season. Even still, Wiggins built up to 78 innings and should be set to clear the 100 IP threshold in 2026.
Wiggins is healthy. Yes, concerns over his ability to handle a starter’s workload can be valid, but there is nothing in his profile that suggests he cannot. Wiggins has a starter’s arsenal. His fastball sits in the upper 90s, he gets great extension, and the pitch gets good ride up in the zone. He generates a lot of whiffs on his fastball, and it is a pitch that provides a strong foundation for the rest of his arsenal. His slider has moved to be less sliderish and more cutterish, but still profiles as a plus offering to same-handed batters. Wiggins also features a plus changeup that he can throw to both righties and lefties.
Wiggins has posted impressive strikeout rates throughout his minor league career. His pure stuff backs that up. You may see the age, 24, and be turned off a bit compared to some other prospects. Wiggins’ injury history and subsequent road back are important things to keep in mind. He is right on schedule for where the Cubs want him to be, and another year removed from injury should help his command get even better. This is definitely a pitching prospect worth buying in dynasty leagues.
The Flip Side – Martin Sekulski
I’m not sure why Matt chose Wiggins here; I’ve got him inside my Top 100, and while the gap (~40 spots) is significant, it’s not as big as the gaps we were much farther apart on. Wiggins had a strong year in 2025, posting 78 innings across three levels, including a very quick cup of coffee at Triple-A to end the year. His numbers were great. It was a 2.19 ERA and 1.03 WHIP with a 31% strikeout rate, and opposing hitters managed a sub-.500 OPS against him.
Physically, he’s a big-bodied right-hander built for durability. Wiggins has excellent stuff, headlined by a high-octane fastball that can push up into triple-digits. He also has a really good slider and a changeup, giving him three pitches with plus or better outcomes. I’d like to see more than 79 innings as his career-high workload, but he had TJ, and that happens.
If I can nitpick, Wiggins’s command is still suspect. In his debut season of 2024, his walk rate was 14.2%, and although it dipped a bit this season, it’s still firmly over 11%. He’s got a similar problem to my guy Ty Johnson: the stuff is so electric that it’s hard to command at times. But he’s also barely over 60% with his strike rate, which is very concerning. Command-and-control issues are also not new to him. Both of his seasons at Arkansas had walk rates over 13%, and even with his recent gains, there’s nothing to suggest he’ll be able to harness his stuff.
Wiggins could outpitch his erratic tendencies, ala Dylan Cease and Jacob Misiorowski. There’s also a chance he’s finding a long-term home at the back end of a bullpen, which limits his appeal. Still, I’ve got him inside my Top 100 without any reservations and feel like he’s on the cusp of being a big league pitcher, as early as 2026.
JR Ritchie – SP, Atlanta Braves
The Pro-Ritchie Argument – Martin Sekulski
If you know anything about my roster construction in fantasy baseball, I lean heavily into safety when building my starting pitching. I like guys who throw a lot of strikes, have deep arsenals, come from strong developmental systems, and have various ways to get hitters out. Command and control is also a huge factor, which is why I’ve steered away from guys like Jacob Misiorowski, Dylan Cease, and Noah Schultz. I may miss out on huge seasons, but I can sleep at night without all the heartburn.
JR Ritchie feels ’safe’ to me. The 22-year-old right-hander had a nice year in 2025, his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023. I’m sure Matt will talk about the injury-riddled start to Ritchie’s career, but it was one injury. It was a torn UCL, an unfortunate rite of passage for many young pitchers. He returned and threw 140 innings across three levels in 2025, including 59 ⅔ at Triple-A to close out the year. Ritchie posted a 2.64 ERA and 1.01 WHIP with a 15.2% K-BB rate. His walk rate was 9.6% for the season, which is higher than I’d like, but he was still in that ‘coming back’ phase. Opposing hitters managed just a .175 average against him and hit the ball on the ground nearly 50% of the time.
Ritchie has a very deep six-pitch mix that begins with a sinking fastball, which he throws over a third of the time, and generated a 58% groundball rate in Triple-A. He also utilizes a four-seamer and cutter, giving him three different looks with velocity in three different quadrants of the plate. In addition to the hard stuff, he features a changeup, slider, and curveball, each of which is thrown around 10% of the time. High groundball rates are always exciting for a pitcher, especially when they’re still missing bats, even if at a lower rate than traditional strikeout pitchers. His swinging strike rate was only 11.2% in 2025, but historically, it’s been higher, and Ritchie is at least minimizing the damage by keeping the ball on the ground when hitters aren’t whiffing.
Matt’s right in saying that Ritchie may not have ‘ace’ upside, but there’s also a lot to be said about a high floor. Aces come along every once in a while, but the MLB landscape is littered with SP2/SP3 types that build the foundation for fantasy rotations. Ritchie is that high-floor, foundational arm type. It’s a deep mix with good strike throwing, missing bats at a decent clip, but also limiting the blowups by keeping the ball on the ground. Is it sexy? No. Does it work? Yes.
The Flip Side – Matt Heckman
There seems to be a pretty big disconnect between JR Ritchie’s perceived value in dynasty circles and his true value. When comparing our rankings, Ritchie’s rank on Martin’s list instantly caught my attention. His inclusion on many Top-100 lists has continually caught my eye. That is not to say Ritchie is a bad prospect. He still ranks inside my Top 200. However, I cannot figure out what it is that I am missing compared to others.
Drafted 35th overall in 2022, Ritchie has battled injuries throughout his professional career. In fact, he did not throw more than 50 innings in any professional season before coming out and throwing 140 last year. The steep increase is encouraging, but also carries a sense of risk. Even beyond that, it is fair to question how much fantasy value Ritchie will ultimately produce. Unlike most highly ranked pitching prospects, Ritchie does not project as a high-strikeout guy. He struck out just 24.8% of the batters he faced last season. That does not project to improve in the future.
Ritchie gets his outs by limiting hard contact. He relies heavily on his sinker to keep the ball in the park. While he does have a clear plus pitch in his slider, he lacks a consistent feel for it. Too often, his slider and curveball were just uncompetitive pitches that would not entice hitters to chase. In dynasty, if you are going to target a pitcher with low strikeout potential, the command and control need to be elite. That is not the case for Ritchie.
Ritchie could wind up having a very solid major league career. He keeps the ball on the ground. Gets excellent movement on his slider and mixes in a solid curveball. However, for fantasy, he does not profile to be a game changer. The strikeout rate projects to be underwhelming, and he is due for serious regression to his minor league ERA numbers once promoted to the major leagues. There are better prospects with better stuff, more upside, and a higher floor than Ritchie.
Ty Johnson – SP, Tampa Bay Rays
The Pro-Johnson Argument – Martin Sekulski
I’ll be curious to see how Matt attacks Johnson in this piece. I hope he brings some friends because the 6’6″ right-hander is one tough hombre and packs a punch. Johnson flew under the radar after a middling career at MAC powerhouse Ball State, dropping to the 15th round in the 2023 Draft. Johnson did his part in his debut season of 2024, posting a sub-3.00 ERA with a 28.2% K-BB rate, while also being traded from the Cubs to the Rays as part of the Isaac Paredes deal. The 24-year-old was even better in 2025, spending his whole year at Double-A. Johnson logged 110 1/3 innings with a 2.61 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and a 25.8% K-BB rate, his second K-BB over 25% in as many seasons. Opposing hitters faired very poorly against Johnson in 2025, managing just a .533 OPS against him, batting .172 with a 17.7% swinging-strike rate and a 31.6% CSW.
Besides being an imposing figure on the mound, Johnson has the stuff to dominate hitters, evidenced by his early production. Using above-average extension and a modified short arm delivery from a 3/4 arm slot, hitters have very little time to react. His four-seam fastball has picked up additional velo since year one, averaging over 94mph this past season. His slider is a nasty putaway pitch and his primary breaker. It shows exceptional depth, biting hard away from right-handed hitters and diving at the backfoot of lefties. Johnson gets some very uncomfortable ‘excuse me’ swings with the slider, and many hitters look very lost against it. His third pitch is a fading changeup, which has flashed as a plus offering as well, but needs to be sequenced better to create more variance from the slider.
I’d assume Matt is concerned about the depth of his arsenal, but he shouldn’t be. Johnson has three pitches that he can command well, with plus or better outcomes, and has clearly not had any issues striking hitters out. The 24-year-old pounds the zone with a strike rate of over 66%, getting a ton of whiffs and chasing outside the zone, while also keeping the damage to a minimum. There’s probably also some concern about age-to-level. I get that he’s 23 pitching in Double-A, but it’s the Rays, and they’re going to Rays. Plus, he was a collegiate arm who didn’t enter the mix as a pro until age 22, a perfectly acceptable thing. I have no qualms about putting Johnson firmly in my Top 100, and he should be ranked a bit higher given his successes thus far. Don’t be surprised if he makes his MLB debut for the Rays later this summer.
The Flip Side – Matt Heckman
If there is one person in the article series I am most worried about being wrong on, it is definitely Ty Johnson. Even so, let’s move forward with the argument. As mentioned by Martin, Ty Johnson has been excellent since being acquired by the Rays. Since being drafted into pro ball, his velocity has continued to climb, and he is coming off a season in which he struck out 34.1% of batters and finished with a 2.61 ERA. That is pretty good stuff.
You already know about Ty Johnson’s success with the Rays. Martin is sure to have hit on that. His fastball/slider combination gives him two plus offerings, creating a stable base for his long-term potential. The issue here is really relief risk. While pitchers being traded to the Rays is often viewed as a positive for their development, there are plenty of negatives. The Rays always seem to have a plethora of pitching prospects who could debut at any point. Johnson, who is already 24, has yet to spend any time above Double-A. Guys like Santiago Suarez, Brody Hopkins, and TJ Nichols could all theoretically be ahead of Johnson on the depth chart.
Team context is never a good reason to be out on a prospect. However, it is something to note when there are other concerns. Despite solid walk rates, Johnson’s control leaves plenty to be desired. His excellent two-pitch combination helps elicit swings and misses, but he lacks the ability to consistently hit his locations. Against tougher competition, Johnson’s sporadic command could impact his success.
Beyond that, Johnson does not have the look of a starting pitcher. That is an ambiguous term, but Johnson looks exactly like a reliever. He stands tall with an unorthodox bend in his leg. His short arm then comes exclusively from the stretch. With no wind-up, there is an obvious relief risk. There are very few major league starting pitchers who have found success pitching exclusively from the stretch. Color me skeptical that Johnson will.
Johnson has a plus-two pitch offering, works exclusively from the stretch, is on the older end for most top prospects, and is in an organization that tends to overflow with pitching depth. That all spells reliever to me. There is potential here. His changeup develops more, he develops a windup motion, and his command improves. If that happens, Johnson has a substantial ceiling. The ceiling is undoubtedly the argument for Martin, but the probability of reaching that ceiling is relatively low.
Christian Zazueta– SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
The Pro-Zazueta Argument – Matt Heckman
Is the easy argument against Christian Zazueta just that he is a Dodgers prospect? That seems counterintuitive because the Dodgers have a great player development system, but with their constant backlog of prospects, maybe it lowers his dynasty value? Worrying about organizational depth can be a mistake. Talent often wins out, and there is always the potential for trades. In Zazueta’s case, we are too far away to even be worrying about that. Zazueta, a former Yankees’ prospect, will be 21 for the entire season and has only thrown one inning above Low-A. He is still at least two years away from making his major league debut. However, his performance on the mound speaks for itself. Zazueta finished 2025 with a 2.41 ERA and an impressive 23.8% K-BB%. Dynasty managers should not be surprised if Zazueta is a big riser in 2026.
Unlike most other top-end pitching prospects, Zazueta already has the base figured out. He is a command specialist who has posted minuscule walk rates throughout his professional career. Zazueta has command over all three pitches he throws. He commands the zone well, paints the corners, and effectively limits hard contact. Zazueta was pitching masterfully in 2025 before an undisclosed injury impacted his season. He missed just short of a month at the end of June, returned for one start in July, and then was sidelined again until August. The encouraging part is that Zazueta returned to make three starts in August (all short starts), signalling he is healthy heading into 2026.
While command is Zazueta’s best skill, he has the arsenal that provides significant upside. His fastball sits in the mid-90s, and he has flashed upper-90s stuff at times. He gets good extension on his release, and the pitch works well up in the zone from his lower arm slot. His changeup is his best secondary with two-plane movement. This is a plus offering and one that should work well for him at the next level. Zazueta also throws a mid 80s slider that dives down and away from righties. He commands all three pitches exceptionally well and should improve with more innings. Dodgers’ prospects tend to rise quickly up dynasty ranking boards. Now is a good time to get in on Zazueta ahead of the curve.
The Flip Side – Martin Sekulski
The luxury of riches continues for the two-time defending champions, as yet another high-end prospect emerges from the Dodgers’ system, this time it’s 21-year-old Christian Zazueta. The talented right-hander carved up Class-A in his age-20 season, posting a 2.41 ERA with a 23.8% K-BB rate. His command was outstanding, walking fewer than six percent of the hitters he faced. Zazueta uses a three-pitch mix to pound the zone, throwing strikes over 67% of the time, while also generating a swinging strike rate of nearly 17%. His four-seamer sits in the mid-90s with excellent carry, but also deploys a plus changeup and a slider.
There’s no arguing that Zazueta has some incredible talent, but he’s far from flawless. There’s significant reliever risk in the profile, which ultimately limits his projection as a dynasty asset. While his fastball and changeup have been very productive, the lack of a consistent third offering keeps him on the outside looking in as a long-term starter. The stuff is solid across both of his top pitches, but not elite. Far too often, we’ve seen guys dominate through the lower minors with just two pitches, but ultimately stall as they face more advanced hitters. The positive is that his command is plus, or better, giving him a higher floor and a slightly higher probability of overcoming the lack of depth in the arsenal. My other concern with him is durability. At 6’3″, 163lbs, he’s slight of frame and wiry, two physical characteristics that increase the risk of potential injury long term. To this point, we’ve not seen a substantial workload for him either, adding an extra point of contention for those questioning his future role. Overall, I like Zazueta’s upside, but I am leery of pushing him too high given those inherent risks.
