The division reports debuted last year. The goal of this article series is to provide a quick overview of all dynasty-relevant information from each division. Each team has multiple levels each containing plenty of impactful prospects which can feel impossible to keep up with. This article series, which will be updated once per month, will help dynasty managers stay up to date on performances, injuries, promotions, and more. New this season is the inclusion of tiers in the rankings. Next to their rank, each prospect is assigned a tier. The tier range is 1-5.
- Tier 1: A potential difference-making dynasty prospect. Somebody who would rank in the top-20ish prospects for dynasty baseball
- Tier 2: A still very good dynasty prospect who holds plenty of value. This prospect would typically rank in the 21-75 range
- Tier 3: A mid-tier prospect who could be valuable but has questions and concerns present in his profile ranking in the 76-150 range
- Tier 4: A prospect who is worth knowing, but is reserved for deeper leagues. This prospect would rank 151-250
- Tier 5: The rest of the prospects fall into Tier 5
The AL West is full of prospects dynasty managers need to keep tabs on. For one final time, this article has been updated for the month of September. After some late-season promotions, there are several new names to know on each team’s Top 10 list. This article details all of the changes dynasty managers need to know on prospects from the AL West. The goal is to help dynasty managers stay updated on the latest information with in-depth looks at each specific team! Each division will come with a monthly update that readers can look forward to.
AL West
Athletics
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Assignments:
- Jacob Wilson, SS – Wilson is one of the most difficult prospects in all of baseball to get a feel for, especially from a fantasy baseball point of view. The A’s took him with the sixth overall pick in the 2023 draft, and the overall feeling at the time was that Wilson would fit in the “better real-life player than fantasy asset” bucket. That still may very well be the case, but Wilson has certainly complicated things by being one of the most productive hitters in all of minor league baseball a season ago. Across three minor league levels and 58 games, Wilson triple slashed an almost-fictional .433/.473/.688 with seven home runs. He was so productive that the A’s fast-tracked him to the bigs. He missed some time due to injury, but hit .250 in 28 games with minimal power as a 22-year-old. The lack of in-game power was always the knock on Wilson, but now that he’s knocked out four home runs this spring, it begs the question of whether or not Wilson is in store for a power breakout in 2025. The answer is probably not, but even if he has a tad more power than originally expected, he should be a useful fantasy player, given his feel to hit. We will find out right away, as Wilson is slated to be the Opening Day shortstop.
- Max Muncy, INF – Similar to Wilson, Muncy is going to get a shot at the MLB level right out of the gate. Starting second baseman Zack Gelof underwent surgery to repair a hamate injury and is set to miss several weeks, opening the door for Muncy. The 22-year-old Muncy has yet to debut at the big-league level, but he is coming off of a nice 2024 in the minors, where he triple slashed .292/.378/525 in 58 games. He offers some power and some speed, but there is some risk his strikeout rates balloon to north of 30% in the majors.
Notable Prospect News:
- Nick Kurtz, 1B – Kurtz is the top prospect in the system and one who could be up as soon as this season, but he was hit on the hand by a pitch on March 15th and has not returned to game action since. X-rays did come back negative on Kurtz, which is a good sign, but it’s something to monitor at the start of the season.
- Shotaro Morii, P/INF – It’s definitely a stretch to still label this as “news” now that we are entering April, but Morii’s signing alone was historic. The two-way player bypassed playing professionally in Japan to sign as an international amateur with the Athletics. The Athletics, at least for now, are willing to use him as a two-way player. Let’s hop on board and see how it plays out.
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Assignments:
- Cam Smith, 3B/OF – Of all the 2024 draftees, nobody’s stock has improved as much as Smith’s. The third baseman was selected by the Cubs with the 14th pick of the draft and tore the cover off the ball in his professional debut, triple slashing .313/.396/.609 with seven home runs in 32 games across three levels. Smith was then the headline prospect going to Houston in the Kyle Tucker trade and forced Houston’s hand with a monster performance in Spring Training. In his first 15 games, Smith hit .342 with four home runs. His power should play even better in one of the best ballparks for right-handed hitters, and we will find out right away, as Smith is slated as an everyday player out of the gate.
Notable Prospect News:
- Miguel Ullola, P – Ullola is arguably the top pitching prospect in the system but his stock is heading in the wrong direction after the right-hander suffered a shoulder injury in mid-March. It’s unclear when he will return to game action, but shoulder injuries for pitchers are always worrisome. Ullola posted a strikeout rate north of 30% across Double-A and Triple-A a season ago, and a healthy campaign could have him in the bigs this year – even if if it’s in the bullpen.
- Zach Dezenzo, INF – Another injury update here, but a positive one for Houston. Dezenzo took a groundball to the head during the final stretch of Spring Training games, and despite suffering a sprain to the jaw, which sounds very painful, has been able to return to game action. The corner infielder has had a monster spring, hitting .391 in his first 18 games, and is starting the year with the big league club.
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Assignments:
- Caden Dana, P – It was actually a bit surprising, but the Angels optioned Dana to Triple-A back in early March. Dana was expected to be a contended for a rotation spot – he made his MLB debut last year as a 20-year-old, after all. Dana did struggle at the big-league level, but it was fewer than a dozen innings, and he was dominant all year long at Double-A (2.52 ERA, 20.1% K-BB rate). Instead, the Angels decided to bring in a bunch of veterans to help fill out their rotation. Some of them have plenty of question marks themselves, so we will probably see Dana sometime soon.
- Christian Moore, 2B – It felt like coming into Spring Training that Moore had an inside track to make the Opening Day roster. We know how aggressive the Angels are with their young players, and had it not been for an injury last season, the 2024 draftee likely would have made it to the bigs by the end of the season. The 22-year-old has been a little underwhelming this spring, though, hitting .222 with a .067 ISO and 32.7% strikeout rate in 24 games, so he’ll start the season at Triple-A as the Angels elect to start the season with Luis Rengifo, Tim Anderson, J.D. Davis, and Kyren Paris as the team’s infielders. The big league club will get Zach Neto and Yoán Moncada at some point, which could make Moore’s path a little murkier, but if he hits at all like he did last season (.984 OPS in 25 games), he will be in the majors in no time.
- Ryan Johnson, P – Johnson, a second-round pick from 2024, is skipping the minor leagues entirely and joining the big league club as a bullpen piece. He showcased high strikeout upside with minimal walk numbers throughout his collegiate career at Dallas Baptist University.
Notable Prospect News:
- Cole Fontenelle, 3B – Fontenelle was probably the highlight of the Angels’ Spring Breakout game against the Cubs, going 2 for 4 with a home run. The switch-hitting third baseman was limited to just 22 games in 2024, but he made the most of them, putting up a 149 wRC+ with two home runs and 12 steals. He was a league-average hitter in the minors in 2023, but if he can come close to replicating the production we saw in 2024, he can quickly climb the rankings in this farm system.
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Assignments:
- Harry Ford, C – It feels easy to forget about Ford – he was drafted in 2021 and has slowly climbed the minor league ladder since then, playing one level each of the last four seasons. Throw in the fact that the Mariners have a deep farm system and pair it with the aforementioned prospect fatigue, and it feels like Ford has gotten a little bit lost in the shuffle, despite being a solid performer at every stop. Last year, as a 21-year-old in Double-A, Ford triple slashed .249/.377/.367 with seven home runs and 35 steals. The step back in power is a slight concern, but it’s exceptionally rare in the fantasy world to find a catcher with this type of speed. He will start the year in Triple-A and is knocking on the door of the majors.
- Tyler Locklear, 1B – Locklear is set to return to Triple-A after a spring where he couldn’t get much going, triple slashing .222/.300/.333 in 11 games. It’s no secret that the Mariners’ offense failed to live up to expectations a year ago, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Seattle turn to Locklear and his power bat if the team is slow out of the gate. The first baseman hit .272 with 16 home runs in 111 games between Double-A and Triple-A last season but failed to produce against MLB pitching in a brief stint, striking out 40% of the time in 16 games. The Mariners have already said goodbye to Mitch Haniger, and guys like Rowdy Tellez and Miles Mastrobuoni probably don’t have the longest of leashes.
Notable Prospect News:
- Jonny Farmelo, OF – Farmelo was off to a scorching start to the 2024 season, posting an .819 OPS with four home runs and 18 steals across 46 games at Single-A before suffering an ACL tear and requiring surgery. The news aspect here is that Farmelo is expected to return to minor league games in a few months. It’s unclear just how much the injury will impact his tools, given how important speed is to his game.
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Assignments:
- Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, P – Welp, here we go again! It feels like these two are always paired together. It’s been a rough go of it for Texas Rangers pitchers this spring. Jon Gray has a fractured wrist and is slated to miss multiple months, while Cody Bradford has a forearm injury that has shut him down for at least the first month of the season. That has opened the door for both Rocker and Leiter to start the season with the big-league club. Leiter has looked like the better of the two this spring, with a 3.48 ERA to Rocker’s 9.00, but the latter looked electric in his return to pitching in 2024, while the former had his ups and downs. Beyond the already injured arms for Texas, the rotation also includes Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle – two pitchers who have combined for roughly 100 innings since the start of 2023. That means Texas is likely to rely on Rocker and Leiter all season long.
Notable Prospect News:
- Alejandro Rosario, P – The injury bug was not limited to just the starting rotation for Texas, as 2024 breakout prospect Rosario suffered an elbow injury in February and is expected to miss the entire campaign. The initial expectation was for Rosario to undergo Tommy John surgery, but it is unclear at this point whether or not that surgery has been conducted or if he will undergo an internal brace procedure. Either way, Rosario is out for all of 2025 and will likely return in some capacity in 2026. It’s a shame because Rosario was the best pitcher in the minors last season from a production standpoint. Across 88.1 combined Low-A and High-A frames, the right-hander finished with a 2.24 ERA and a 33.1% K-BB rate. That’s elite production, and Rosario is probably worth holding onto or buying low on in dynasty leagues where at least 100 prospects are rostered.
