*PSA — I have been doing these monthly updates for a long time now, and April is always the month that I look back on and regret the most. I lean more towards being aggressive and reactive in fantasy, so I want my rankings to reflect my strategy, but inevitably, I look back on the April Rankings and there are always a few rankings that look way out of place where guys don’t maintain the breakout. Did I learn from my mistakes? No. Hah, but I’m also not sure it is a mistake. Being aggressive and owning the next young breakouts are where you make your bones in dynasty, so I think it’s worth taking the extra risk. Either way, please use these rankings responsibly, and understand you may want to be a bit more conservative with your strategy. The Top 27 is free here on the Brick Wall. Blurbs for everyone. Here is the Updated Top 437 2025 Dynasty Baseball Rankings:
CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKINGS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
–APRIL 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
–UPDATED TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS COMING SOON
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
–SPREADSHEETS
–TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG!
1) (1) Shohei Ohtani – LAD, RHP/DH, 30.11 – Did you think shoulder surgery was going to slow this man down? Remember when at the least he wasn’t supposed to run as much? He’s got 6 homers, 5 steals and a 150 wRC+. And he’s going to get back on the mound at some point mid-season. Do you really want to bet against him there either?
2) (2) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 24.11 – Locking in the 2024 leveling up with an almost identical .402 xwOBA
3) (3) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 23.4 – The whiff rates and chase rates both continue to trend in the right direction, which is what we needed to see to feel comfortable that the swing and miss isn’t going to come back to bite him
4) (4) Gunnar Henderson – BAL, SS, 23.10 – Just starting to shake the rust off from his delayed start to the season. I think the 97.6 MPH EV says he’ll be fine
5) (6) Corbin Carroll – ARI, OF, 24.7 – Carroll vs. Gunnar has been a debate since they were ranked either #1 or #2 by just about every prospect outlet in 2023. And since then they have been swapping places every year. Will it happen again this year with Carroll blowing up to start the season with his bat speed up to elite ranges (75 MPH) and the EV up with it to 93.1 MPH? The whiffs (30% whiff%) and Chase (36.6%) are way up too, so I want to see a bit more before jumping him back over Gunnar. But it could be coming, and maybe not just over Gunnar.
6) (9) Fernando Tatis Jr. – SDP, OF, 26.4 – I’ve been unwilling to fade Tatis even when so many started to get lukewarm on him, and he’s showing why with an insane start to the season backed up by the underlying numbers. And the best part is he’s running like wild with 7 steals in 21 games (11 steals in 102 games in 2024)
Shadow6) (5) Shohei Ohtani – LAD, DH only/Weekly Leagues, 30.11 – This is where I would rank Ohtani in weekly lineup leagues or as a hitter only
7) (24) Oneil Cruz – PIT, OF/SS, 26.7 – Welcome to true elite dynasty asset territory Oneil Cruz!!! Cruz has been a target for me for a few years now, and I named him a buy high Target this off-season. He’s going full blow up in 2025. He’s on pace to go like 40/80 right now. hah … insane. And he’s actually been unlucky with a .393 xwOBA vs. .356 wOBA. Even the plate skills are improving with a 26.8/15.9 K%/BB%, and we know about the beastly power (19.6% Barrel%, 93.5 MPH EV, 78.1 MPH swing). This dude is in rarified air.
8) (7) Kyle Tucker – CHC, OF, 28.4 – The Quiet Killer has a 176 wRC+ with 6 homers and 4 steals in 24 games … shhhhhhhh
9) (5) Juan Soto – NYM, OF, 26.6 – Soto got paid and now he’s just chillin, content with a 6.2% Barrel%, rather than the 19.7% he put up in his contract year … nah, I’m just playing. He’s never had a wRC+ under 143 in his career. He’ll be fine. He just doesn’t run as much as the guys ranked ahead of him
10) (8) Aaron Judge – NYY, OF, 33.0 – .499 xwOBA leads all of baseball amongst qualified hitters, and while I thought he would be far and away ahead of the pack, there are actually a few guys pretty close (Alonso, Tatis, Aranda!, Rice!). He’s already 33 years old, so that has to ding him in a general dynasty ranking
11) (10) Ronald Acuna Jr. – ATL, OF, 27.4 – Everything seems to be going well in his rehab and he’s expected return at some point in May
12) (11) Julio Rodriguez – SEA, OF, 24.4 – Of course he’s off to a slow start again with a .188 BA. Cleary hold. We know the drill. But honestly, it’s almost not even worth the aggravation. He has to be the most annoying elite dynasty asset to own ever.
13) (12) James Wood – WAS, OF, 22.8 – I’ve been the high guy on Wood since he was born, and I didn’t blink this off-season ranking him 12th overall. He’s fully backing up his elite dynasty asset status with an elite 75.4 MPH swing, 19.3% Barrel%, .398 xwOBA and a 26.3/12.8 K%/BB%. The launch has been coming up of late too. The only quibble is that he hasn’t been a great base stealer (3 for 5 this year), which keeps him out of truly exploding into the Top 10
14) (14) Wyatt Langford – TEX, OF, 23.6 – Carrying over the big 2nd half of the season right into 2025 with a 11.1% Barrel%, .376 xwOBA and 17.3/11.5 K%/BB% in 13 games. He’s firmly establishing his elite status
15) (13) Jackson Chourio – MIL, OF, 21.2 – Not having the next level blow up quite yet, but I’m getting the sense he’s really more of a 2nd half player anyway. He got off to a slow start in 2024 and even in 2023 in the minors too. And even his “slow start” is damn good with a 12.3% Barrel%
16) (15) Jackson Merrill – SDP, OF, 22.0 – He was locking in his elite dynasty asset status before the hamstring injury with a 22.6% Barrel% and .497 xwOBA in 10 games
17) (25) CJ Abrams – WAS, SS, 24.7 – I knew not to buy into that late season suspension as anything other than a blip on the radar. He came into 2025 with added muscle and was in the midst of a power explosion (4 homers with a 16.1% Barrel% and 92.8 MPH EV) before going down with a hip injury. He’s got more than a few 30/30 seasons in his future
18) (19) Paul Skenes – PIT, RHP, 22.11 – His whiff rates really aren’t in that wild crazy elite ace range with a 25.5% whiff% (28.7% in 2024), but that is definitely nitpicking with a 2.87 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 25.4/3.4 K%/BB% in 31.1 IP. Without the crazy whiff and K rates though, it’s really not such a no brainer to have him as the top dynasty pitcher in the game. There are other really, really good candidates
19) (18) Jose Ramirez – CLE, 3B, 32.7 – He’s not on pace to go 40/40 again, but that is an unreasonable expectation. He more or less looks like himself. No signs of decline yet
20) (20) Bryce Harper – PHI, 1B, 32.6 – Still elite with a .910 OPS and .409 xwOBA. And he’s running a ton with 5 steals in 22 games
21) (22) Francisco Lindor – NYM, SS, 31.5 – Blasted 2 homers yesterday and is having his normal excellent season
22) (16) Yordan Alvarez – HOU, OF, 27.10 – .280 wOBA vs. .376 xwOBA. He has a 94.1 MPH EV. He’ll be fine
23) (17) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – TOR, 1B, 25.7 – Not gonna lie, I wish he hit more homers with only 1 homer in 23 games, but the .422 xwOBA is elite. Considering he doesn’t steal many bases, the 30-ish homers he’s hit the past 3 seasons feels a tad light. Just nitpicking, I know
24) (28) Tarik Skubal – DET, LHP, 28.5 – Skenes, Skubal, Crochet, Gilbert and Yamamoto are in the top tier of dynasty aces right now, and they are quite hard to separate. There are good arguments for all 5 of them. I’ll keep Skenes in the top spot for age, but honestly, I could pick the order of these 5 out of a hat and be fine with it
25) (32) Logan Gilbert – SEA, RHP, 27.10 – He had the ace breakout in 2024, and now he’s somehow leveling up even more with a 2.63 ERA and 38/5.6 K%/BB% in 27.1 IP. The 38.1% whiff% backs up the K rate. I don’t think he’s going to keep this up obviously, but if there were any doubts about him being a true ace, there aren’t anymore
26) (29) Garrett Crochet – BOS, LHP, 25.10 – Locking in the 2024 breakout with a 1.13 ERA and 28.5/8.1 K%/BB% in 32 IP. The reason he stays in 4th behind Skenes, Gilbert, and Skubal is that the walk rate is up a tad, and the fastball velocity is down 1.5 MPH to 95.7 MPH
27) (37) Yoshinobu Yamamoto – LAD, RHP, 26.9 – Yoshi is taking it up a notch in year 2 with a 0.93 ERA and 35.2/6.5 K%/BB% in 29 IP. He’s firmly in the conversation for top dynasty pitcher in the game
CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKINGS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL SEASON, INCLUDING:
–APRIL 2025 TOP 400+ DYNASTY RANKS
–UPDATED TOP 300+ PROSPECTS RANKS COMING SOON
-TONS OF DYNASTY RUNDOWNS
-PREDICTING THE TOP 50 2026 PROSPECTS RANKS
–SPREADSHEETS
–TOP 10 2026 FYPD RANKINGS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: APRIL MAILBAG!
By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)