Welcome to the second half of 2026 and the July update of the Dynasty 400. The midseason point of 2026 means a recalibration of the rankings, beginning with prospects and trickling into the MLB ranks as well. There were a few significant movements inside the Top 400, with many of the big shifts coming on the prospect side of the house. The huge swings in prospects aren’t necessarily reflective of that player as much as the guys around them getting better. For example, Ryan Sloan dipped quite a bit in this update. I still love Sloan; there are just guys around him breaking out, and they’ve pushed him down the rankings as a result. Any big movers on the MLB side were either injury-related (i.e., Tommy John) or long overdue. If you’re looking for the draft class of 2026, they will not be represented in this update, but will join the ranks in August. Now, let’s get to it!
Stats entering play on July 20th, 2026
NOTABLE RISERS
Hunter Goodman, C, COL
As Matt and I discussed on our most recent episode of Destination Dynasty (part of the PL podcast family), Goodman has backed up his 2025 breakout with even better production in 2026. The 26-year-old has now posted back-to-back 30-home run seasons and is slugging .561 on the season. His batting average has seen a 21-point dip, but anyone who’s followed Goodman for any period of time knew that his .278 average last season was unsustainable. Goodman is hyper-aggressive at the plate, swinging over 54% of the time with an excessive amount of chase. The problem is, he lacks the contact skills to support that type of approach, thus pushing his strikeout rate to a career-worst 32.6% this season. Under the hood, he’s still doing two things very well: hitting the ball very hard and getting it into the air on his pull side. For the season, he’s got an average EV over 91mph with a 17.6% barrel rate while pushing his pull air rate to over 30%. Those three metrics are very conducive to power, showing me that we could be seeing Cal Raleigh 2.0 where we’re getting a 30-homer floor with better batting average and some stolen base output, although the counting stats may fall short. Goodman is easily a Top 100 dynasty asset at this point and has a legitimate case as C1 in fantasy.
Bryce Eldridge, 1B, SFG
We knew the narrative surrounding Eldridge as a prospect, even dating back to his HS days. He’s a big kid with elite, 70-grade raw power and considerable swing-and-miss. The power has been on display since day one after he posted a 95mph average EV in a small sample last season and has backed it up with a 90th percentile EV of 107mph. His plate skills have been better than advertised. He’s walking at a 13% clip with above-average contact skills, including an 86% rate in-zone. These improvements have increased his average to .275 with expected stats to support it. If those gains can stick, his profile will need some adjustments, putting Eldridge in potentially elite territory, hitting for a high average with a 40+ homer upside. What’s even scarier is that Eldridge hasn’t even gotten a feel for his pull-side power in the Majors, generating a pull-air rate of 20%, well below the 30% mark from his Triple-A days. We’re still looking at an MLB sample size of just over 200 at-bats, but all signs are pointing to Eldridge becoming a fantasy monster.
Bryce Miller, SP, SEA
Miller was on the cusp of becoming one of the more elite SP2 options following his breakout 2024 season. An oblique injury led to lost time and ineffectiveness in 2025, knocking Miller back down into a black hole in dynasty with so much uncertainty surrounding the profile. Now 100 games into the 2026 season, Miller once again looks like a viable SP2 in fantasy, and this current iteration could be the best we’ve seen. Through 63 1/3 innings, the 25-year-old owns a 2.27 ERA with a career-best 25.3% K-BB rate. His command has been outstanding, walking just 4% of the hitters he has faced this season while also posting a career-high 29.5% strikeout rate. For years, Nick has harped on Miller for his lack of a quality offering to neutralize left-handed hitters. That has changed. Miller now has three pitches, a splitter, slider, and cutter, that have all seen huge improvements against lefties. They’re now hitting just .204 against him with a .603 OPS this season, down from .258 and .863, respectively, a year ago. Miller’s splitter has done more than hold lefties in check, seeing a 6% increase in swinging strike rate. The big change came as Miller was consistently missing to his arm side with the splitter and getting pounded. This year, it’s the complete opposite. His gLoc% (location to the glove side) is up to 41%, a 15% increase, and the results have been outstanding. We should consider Miller as a clear Top 40 SP in fantasy for the foreseeable future.
Brandon Marsh, OF, PHI
I’m kicking myself about how I’ve ranked Marsh over the years. While it’s true that he was simply a platoon player entering 2026, the skills were always quite strong, and now he’s breaking out. Even with some recent struggles, Marsh has a .293/.332/.476 slash line with 15 homers and eight steals and was a first-time All-Star in 2026. When I think back, I vividly remember thinking, ‘this guy could be really good if they play him every day’. Marsh has always shown an ability to find the barrel; he runs well, makes above-average contact, and has no problem getting to his power. The problem was, the Phillies would never play him against same-side pitching. His 99 at-bats against southpaws this season are already a career-high, and while the numbers aren’t great (.242 AVG, 79wRC+), he’s at least serviceable. And in reality, the key is just continued reps without the gaps in playing time, allowing him to stay in rhythm and produce. Marsh will never be a Top 150 guy, but among OF3/OF4 types, there is plenty of value to be had in the 28-year-old.
Carson Benge, OF, NYM
2026 may not be going the way that many Mets fans anticipated, but through all of the struggles, their future has shined bright. The arrivals of Carson Benge and AJ Ewing have been more than just a shot in the arm; they’ve laid the new foundation for the new-look Mets. Matt Heckman and I have talked about Benge in great detail on our pod, and although I’m not ready to anoint him as a Top 100 dynasty asset, his tools are there. After a slow start, Benge has rattled off back-to-back very good months, raising his season-long slash line to .261/.323/.396 with 11 homers and 16 steals. Underlying data has been encouraging as well. In his rookie season, he’s got an 89.2 mph average EV with respectable barrel and hard hit rates. But where Benge excels is with his LA Sweet Spot%, which measures how consistent you are with finding ideal launch angles. His 88th percentile rate (38.7%) is very strong and is at least partially indicative of future success with creating above-average quality of contact. In addition, he’s making overall contact at an 80% clip, which ticks up to 88% in-zone with minimal chase outside the zone. When you factor in the speed element, Benge projects as a future 25-25 guy, possibly higher, with a solid batting average as well. I’m cautiously ranking Benge just outside the Top 100 overall, but his upward trajectory will likely continue.
PROSPECT RISER
Eli Willits, SS, WAS
There was a quiet pessimism surrounding the Nationals’ selection of Willits with the first overall pick in 2025. That pessimism turned into extreme optimism as Willits has ascended to the top of the prospect rankings, moving to a Top 10 guy on my board. The 18-year-old shortstop is responsible for a .274 average with 12 homers and 38 steals in year one as a pro. His 139 wRC+ ranks third among 18yo in full-season ball, trailing Alexander Frias and Juneiker Caceras. He’s also one of two 18yo with at least 10 homers and 20 steals, joining Steele Hall. The arrival of his in-game power has been earlier than expected, only elevating an already outstanding set of tools.
NOTABLE FALLERS
Jackson Holliday, 2B, BAL
Name value can only carry you so far, and the stopping point for Jackson Holliday is right now. The 22-year-old has yet to deliver on his prospect pedigree or fulfill the promises of a former #1 pick. Many will say that the sample size is still relatively small, but we’ve now eclipsed 1000 PAs with a .226/.304/.360 slash line with 27 homers and 25 steals. Conservative math shows you that he’s a 16-homer-14-steal player over a full season of plate appearances with a poor batting average. Regardless of your name or pedigree, that’s not going to get it done. The one silver lining I can find is that he’s walking at a 15.2% clip this season, more than double his previous career-high. The thought of Jackson Holliday is no longer outweighing the production.
Jacob Wilson, SS, ATH
I had little doubt in my mind that what we saw from Jacob Wilson in 2025 was an aberration and that regression was certain to come. The batted-ball profile he’s shown since his prep days has always been contact-oriented with virtually no power. That hasn’t changed. Among qualified hitters, he is 2nd percentile in EV, 5th in barrel rate, and 8th in hard hit rate, while also featuring the slowest bat speed in the Majors. There’s no debating that the bat-to-ball skills are elite and Wilson will repeatedly be a .300-ish hitter for the next decade. Beyond that, there’s nothing. Even with elite contributions in one category, the lack of contributions in the other four push his value to below-average.
Alex Bregman, 3B, CHC
The Alex Bregman experiment in Chicago has gone about as well as imagined. After years of playing in stadiums tailor-made for his swing, Bregman took a calculated risk going to Wrigley Field, and it’s gone downhill quickly. Breggy still has outstanding plate skills, making high levels of contact with minimal chase and whiffs while drawing plenty of walks. But he’s managed just ten homers this season with a career-worst .239 batting average. The 32-year-old has never been an elite power guy, but he has multiple 30-homer seasons on his resume and was at least putting together above-average quality-of-contact metrics. Unfortunately, those have gone away as well. Bregman’s free agent decision has not only impacted his own career, but is now having a substantial ripple effect on dynasty owners.
Salvador Perez, C, KCR
It goes without saying that we’ve seen the final hurrah for Sal Perez, who unceremoniously departs the Dynasty 400. The 36-year-old catcher is doing what he does, hitting for a bad average with poor plate skills but always finding that power stroke. His batted-ball data is still above the MLB average, while everything else fades away. Perez had an outstanding run. He had 14 straight seasons with double-digit homers, including a career-best 48 in that magical 2021 season.
NOTABLE PROSPECT FALLER
Max Clark, OF, DET
I’ll keep this simple. Clark is a terrific athlete with a fun set of skills and a charisma that reminds me so much of what PCA does for the Cubs. His plate discipline and contact rates, plus his 60-grade hit tool, will keep him as a high-floor dynasty asset for the next decade. But, from what I’ve seen in numerous live looks and what the data shows, I have legitimate concerns about his power. He’s recorded just 11 barrels this season (3.9%) with a 37.1% hard hit rate at Triple-A. Clark has been a little better of late, finding a little extra juice, but I’m still not seeing the power upside to maintain his ranking as high as I had him over the past few months.
