Welcome back to another season of the Dynasty 400 over here at PitcherList. It’s been a wild offseason filled with so many big storylines, free agent signings, trades, and so much more. As 2026 approaches, the underlying theme in the dynasty landscape is the migration toward the next crop of young superstars, which includes some of the top prospects and last year’s best rookies. While the upcoming group is highly skilled and incredibly exciting, there’s still a soft spot in our hearts for the ageless wonders like Freddie Freeman, Chris Sale, and Jacob deGrom.
Our first edition of the Dynasty 400 is actually the first of its kind, as the rankings get a little deeper this season. A heavy focus this offseason has been on the process. Included in that focus was an emphasis on finding that perfect line between current and future value, balancing out proximity versus upside with prospects, and really locking in on the next three to five years. Ultimately, it’s still a difficult task to come up with the best possible rankings for each player, but alas, here we are.
RISERS
Cam Schlittler, SP, NYY
The rise of Cam Schlittler actually began in 2024 as he dominated two levels of the Minors in his age-23 season. His path of destruction continued early on in 2025. Schlittler logged a total of 76 2/3 innings between Double and Triple-A before making the jump to the Majors. The 24-year-old was stellar as a member of the Yankees, pitching to a 2.96 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate in 73 innings. Raising his game to the next level, Schlittler had a 1.26 ERA with a 25% K-BB rate in 14 postseason innings, including eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts against the rival Red Sox in a Wild Card series clinching victory.
The stuff is excellent, headlined by an upper-90s fastball which generated a 14.7% SwStr and 30.8% CSW in 2025. He also throws a cutter and sinker, giving three separate offerings in the 90s that can paralyze hitters. Those three variations are enough to keep hitters in check, but he lacks a true putaway pitch, specifically of the breaking ball variety. He’s already missing bats at an elite rate with his fastball, but adding a wrinkle in his arsenal could make Schlittler a borderline Top 10 SP.
10 Ks AND COUNTING FOR ROOKIE CAM SCHLITTLER IN HIS POSTSEASON DEBUT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yHyRfZaRaJ
— ESPN (@espn) October 3, 2025
Geraldo Perdomo, SS, ARI
Arguably, the biggest dynasty breakout in 2025 was Diamondbacks’ shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who went from a very good real-life player to a fantasy monster overnight. Perdomo peaked last season, slashing .290/.389/.462 with 20 homers, 27 steals, and 198 combined runs and RBI. His 138 wRC+ ranked 12th in the Majors, ahead of superstars Vlad Guerrero Jr, Jose Ramirez, and Bobby Witt Jr. Nobody on the planet saw this coming from the 25-year-old, as he entered the season with just 14 homers in 390 career games. Well, maybe the D’Backs did, as they awarded Perdomo with a 4-year/$45M extension last February, signalling their commitment to him as their franchise shortstop.
Perdomo has elite bat-to-ball skills, making contact at nearly 90% overall and 94% in-zone. His plate approach is very calculated, rarely expanding the zone, and he shows a keen eye for pitch recognition. In 2025, Perdomo walked 13.1% of the time, over 1.5% more than he struck out. The biggest gain year-over-year was in his power production. A 20-homer outburst may be the outlier of his career, especially when you dig into the quality of contact metrics. Perdomo had an average EV of 87.5mph, along with a 31.9% hard hit and 6.2% barrel rate. All of those ranked in the lower fourth of qualified MLB hitters. Two key areas fueled his home run barrage: a 32.3% squared-up and a 19.9% pull air rate. Of just 33 barrels, he produced 20 homers. That’s pretty remarkable stuff and likely unsustainable moving forward. But Perdomo will hit for a high average, steal bases, and play every day, giving him ample opportunities to accumulate counting stats to keep him relevant as a fantasy asset. I don’t see a world where he is anything more than a Top 12 shortstop, but in nearly every league, he’s a quality starting option.
Alec Burleson, 1B/OF, STL
There’s always been a lot of lowkey love for my guy Alec Burleson. The 27-year-old Cardinals’ outfielder has been a very solid hitter for a long time, but he took his game up a notch last season. Playing in 139 games, the East Carolina product posted a .290 average, hitting 18 homers with 26 doubles, and five steals, en route to a career-best 124 wRC+. The downside was that he played on a St. Louis team that ranked 19th in runs scored and 24th in OPS. Still, Burleson was a consistent presence in their lineup and made considerable gains, particularly against LHP, taking him out of a platoon situation for the first time in his career.
Burleson showed other improvements as well, quietly increasing his contact rates across the board and reaching new levels in the quality of his contact. With a 91mph average and 111.1 mph max EV, along with a 9.5% barrel and 43% hard hit rate, Burleson set new career highs in many metrics. He did all of this without sacrificing his contact or plate approach, which also improved. Burleson cut his chase rate by over 5% and started locking in at the plate, and the results followed. It’s highly unlikely that Burleson ever becomes a league winner in fantasy, but multi-position eligibility and a safe floor give him plenty of value in all league types.
Daylen Lile, OF, WSH
For all of you who checked out for the NFL season in early August, you don’t know the name Daylen Lile. Lile, a 23-year-old outfielder for the Nationals, was one of the best fantasy players down the stretch in 2025. From July 1st on, Lile slashed .299/.347/.498 with eight homers, 11 doubles, 10 triples, and six steals in 68 games. His 132 wRC+ ranked in the Top 35 of qualified hitters, just one behind Ben Rice and Jose Ramirez. Simply put, Lile was one of the most underrated players in the second half of the 2025 season.
When you dig into Lile, you find a similar profile to Geraldo Perdomo. Lile makes a high amount of contact, hits for a high average, and squares up the ball at a high clip, but lacks the high-end EVs you’d associate with a high-performing player. But when the dust settles, he gets the job done. As 2026 approaches, Lile is locked in as the everyday left fielder in Washington, joining a very talented outfield that includes Dylan Crews and James Wood. Roster Resource projects Lile as the #3 hitter in the Nationals lineup, generating even more buzz around what he could be in fantasy. Lile still ranks outside the Top 250 overall, but if he can produce at a reasonable clip over the course of a full season, his dynasty value will only rise.
FALLERS
Noelvi Marte, 3B/OF, CIN
My rank dip on Marte is equal parts market adjustment and questionable skills. Admittedly, I was too high on Marte, who has yet to recapture the glory of his pre-PED breakout in 2023. The suspension in 2024 cut his season short, and he returned as a shell of his previous self. In 2025, he got off to a good start, but an oblique injury put him on the IL, and he never really got it back together. Marte still finished the season batting .263 with 14 homers and 10 steals, a solid stat line for a 90-game sample. But, under the hood, things weren’t as encouraging.
The batted-ball data leaves a lot to be desired. Other than bat speed, nothing on his Savant page is encouraging, as it’s lined with dark blue from top to bottom. In 2025, Marte posted an 88.5 mph average EV, a 9% barrel rate, and a 36.3% hard-hit rate, all of which are well below the MLB average. As if the quality of contact wasn’t questionable enough, his plate discipline sets him back even further. Marte actually has decent bat-to-ball skills, but his approach is aggressive, evidenced by a 51.8% swing rate and a chase rate of over 34%. While the contact skills are good, they’re not good enough to overcome a bad approach. We should have a better idea of what Marte will be by the end of 2026, which will be his fourth season in the league. For now, he’s appropriately ranked just outside the Top 200.
Roki Sasaki, P, LAD
I don’t even know who Roki Sasaki is at this point. As a starter, he flashed a dominant splitter, but the rest was meh, including his command. The surface numbers as a reliever during the postseason certainly looked better, but it still came with a walk rate of nearly 12%. Plus, everything we heard about Roki coming to the US turned out to be true. His durability was a concern; Sasaki missed over 4 months due to a shoulder impingement. His fastball was a concern, specifically the shape. The fastball graded out as a 4.70, according to PLV. It has just over 13 inches of iVB and generated a swinging strike rate of only 5.5%, leaving only its 96.1 mph average velocity as its only relevant feature. As 2026 approaches, Sasaki is included in the Dodgers’ six-man rotation. Yet, his inclusion feels more out of pity than warranted by his performance.
Carson Williams, SS, TBR
I’ve been locked in on the hit tool of Carson Williams since his early days as a prospect, and unfortunately, a lot of what I saw came to fruition last season. In his debut, Williams struggled to a .172/.219/.354 slash line with five homers and two steals. We knew about his defensive wizardry and that the power could play, but his contact woes were even more pronounced. It was a small 32-game sample, but Williams struck out 41.5% of the time. We can give him a slight pass, since he was just 21, but it’s not like this strikeout issue is new. Entering 2026, he’s on the path to open the season at Triple-A in favor of Taylor Walls; not exactly a vote of confidence in what Williams can be. It’s still really early, but the returns aren’t encouraging.
