Not all first overall picks are created equal. Sometimes, you’re lucky enough to land a generational talent like Paul Skenes, while other times, you end up with someone like Henry Davis, as the Pirates experienced on both ends. The same holds true in Dynasty leagues — not all draft picks carry the same value. The key advantage in Dynasty, however, is that you can leverage those picks to shape your strategy. If a class is weak, you might use your pick as a trade asset in the middle of the season. If it’s a strong class, consider trading a current prospect to move up. These strategies are crucial for success and can make a significant impact.
To help you prepare for the 2025 draft, we’re going to compare it to the 2024 class, ensuring all Dynasty owners are ready to make the most of their draft decisions.
2025 Draft Class vs. 2024 Draft Class
College Position Player
College position players have gradually become the hottest commodity in the draft. We live in an information age of baseball, and MLB organizations want as much as possible. With the increase of Trackman and tech at every college field, there is information on every college player. You also have results against high-level players. With prep players, you don’t have the luxury of hundreds of at-bats of data, and you never know how good the competition is that they are playing. College position players are the most important demographic in the class.
As of today, the comparison between classes isn’t even close. I have concerns about the 2025 position player class, and the 2024 class was one of the strongest in recent memory. As of now, I would have Travis Bazzana, Charlie Condon, Nick Kurtz, Jac Caglianone, JJ Wetherholt, Christian Moore, Braden Montgomery, Cam Smith, and James Tibbs III all as the top position player in the 2025 class. Every one of them had the requisite hit/power combination with impressive swing decisions that would look elite next to the 2025 class.
College position players are the weakest component of the 2025 class. Jace Laviolette hasn’t hit above .305 in college baseball, Aiva Arquette doesn’t hit the ball in the air enough, Brendan Summerhill and Gavin Kilen make a ton of contact, but don’t hit the ball hard enough, and others have their fair share of question marks. If you are risk averse, this class might not be for you. There are waiver wire claims from the 2024 class that would be better additions to your farm system.
Advantage: 2024 Class
College Pitcher
This is a fascinating comparison. According to my most recent mock draft, three college pitchers will be in consideration in the top five, and several others will be in the top 15 discussion. On the contrary, I think Hagen Smith and Chase Burns would each be the top pitcher in the 2025 class. The advantage simply comes down to where you are drafting, and if you believe strength is in depth or the high-end talent.
The 2025 class does not lack talent though. Jamie Arnold has looked the part of a future ace so far this spring, risers like Kyson Witherspoon, Liam Doyle, and Patrick Forbes have shown flashes of dominance, and Tyler Bremner is the safe bet of the class. There are also some names down the board with intriguing outlier stuff that could have their best baseball ahead of them in the right organization.
While Smith and Burnes would have legit arguments for first overall pick ahead of Arnold, I think the depth of the 2025 class saves the day. All of the 2025 names mentioned are ahead of Trey Yesavage, Jurrangelo Cijntje, and Ben Hess, which gives the advantage to the 2025 class.
Advantage: 2025 Class
Prep Position Player
The prep class on the whole is a strength of the 2025 class. There is a legit argument for three prep names to be called in the top five of the draft between Ethan Holliday, Seth Hernandez, Billy Carlson, and others. Compare that to the 2024 prep class, which only had two names called in the top 15 with Konnor Griffin and Bryce Rainer, and you can see the gap between the classes.
Prep players will always fall on draft day due to the aforementioned lack of information. That explains the run on prep players in the 20s every year. But the 2025 class has a strong group of players like Xavier Neyens, Sean Gamble, Kruz Schoolcraft, Eli Willitts, and Brady Ebel who would not surprise anyone to be taken in the top 15. Prep position players will always be a risky bet, but the high-end talent of 2025 gives them the advantage.
Advantage: 2025 Class
Prep Pitcher
This is a coin flip in my opinion. Drafting prep pitchers is a coin flip in general because there is so much risk associated with them, and this exercise is no different. Last year Cam Caminiti and Kash Mayfield were the only pitchers drafted in the first round. It was a weaker class, and MLB organizations valued the proven commodities of the overall position player class.
The 2025 class might not have many more selected in the first round, but the top of the class is impressive. Really just the top one is impressive. Seth Hernandez has the potential to be special. He already throws in the upper 90s and has projectability to his frame. There are many who think holding 100 mph is in his capabilities. Hernandez is one of the better prep pitching prospects in the last few draft classes, and that puts this class ahead of 2024 for that reason alone. Kruz Schoolcraft and Cameron Appenzeller are also high-end arms comparable to Caminiti and Mayfield, and Billy Carlson also throws in the upper 90s for good measure, even though he is most likely a position player.
I wouldn’t say this demographic is good in 2025, but it wasn’t for the 2024 class either. Organizations are trending away from the idea of drafting prep pitchers more and more every draft.
Advantage: 2025 Class
Overall
After breaking it down, the overall advantage might come as a bit of a surprise. While the 2025 class leads in three out of four demographics, I still believe the 2024 class is superior. The depth and high-end talent in the college position player group, combined with the strong competition in the college pitcher class, are hard to overlook. I genuinely believe 11 2024 draftees would be in contention for first overall in 2025.
In FYPDs, it’s all about securing the highest-caliber talent. More often than not, the best prospects aren’t even top-of-mind during the draft. My confidence in the top prospects of the 2024 class reaching their potential — and at the very least, becoming valuable big leaguers — is far higher than in the 2025 class. Take Cam Smith, for example, he made the Astros’ Opening Day roster despite being selected 14th overall. That wasn’t a reflection of a poor evaluation by the 13 teams who passed on him.
Advantage: 2024 Class
Photos courtesy of respective owners | Adapted by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X)
