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Welcome back RotoBallers to our weekly fantasy baseball prospect rankings. This was a week where we saw bigger names get sent down than got called up such as C.J. Abrams and Jarred Kelenic.
For Week 6 some significant changes were also made to the rankings. Teams are being more aggressive with calling up prospects than in the past, and for some players, it takes a couple of stints before catching on. The latest update tries to reflect those changes in the prospect environment.
For those who are not familiar, below you will find our updated list of the top-25 fantasy baseball prospects rankings to make an impact for the 2022 fantasy baseball season, which RotoBaller will be updating weekly. You’ll find quite a few well-known prospects on the list — as well as some lesser-known players that could nonetheless provide key contributions to your fantasy league teams this season. As always, this weekly list is updated to reflect rest-of-season fantasy baseball values, and near-term impacts that these MLB prospects can make.
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Top MLB Prospect Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
The list below is for 2022 fantasy baseball redraft leagues. These are MLB prospects, rookies, and call-ups to potentially make a rest-of-season fantasy baseball impact in 2022. As prospects are called up, they are removed from the rankings. You can also see our top-250 fantasy baseball dynasty prospects for longer-term outlooks.
| Ranking | Player | Pos | Team | Age | ETA |
| 1 | Grayson Rodriguez | SP | BAL | 22 | May |
| 2 | Adley Rutschman | C | BAL | 24 | May |
| 3 | Max Meyer* | SP | MIA | 23 | May |
| 4 | Nolan Gorman | 2B/3B | STL | 21 | June |
| 5 | Oneil Cruz | SS | PIT | 23 | June |
| 6 | Riley Greene | OF | DET | 21 | June |
| 7 | Jarren Duran | OF | BOS | 25 | June |
| 8 | Triston Casas | 1B | BOS | 22 | June |
| 9 | Vinnie Pasquantino | 1B | KC | 24 | June |
| 10 | C.J. Abrams | SS | SD | 21 | June |
| 11 | Josh Lowe | OF | TBR | 24 | June |
| 12 | Shane Baz | SP | TB | 22 | June |
| 13 | Roansy Contreras | SP | PIT | 22 | June |
| 14 | Matthew Liberatore | SP | STL | 22 | June |
| 15 | Jarred Kelenic | OF | SEA | 22 | July |
| 16 | Kyle Muller | SP | ATL | 24 | June |
| 17 | Heliot Ramos | OF | SF | 22 | June |
| 18 | Alec Burleson | OF | STL | 23 | June |
| 19 | Gabriel Arias | SS | CLE | 21 | July |
| 20 | Gabriel Moreno | C | TOR | 22 | July |
| 21 | Miguel Vargas | 3B | LAD | 22 | July |
| 22 | Mason Martin | 1B | PIT | 22 | July |
| 23 | Elehuris Montero | 3B/1B | COL | 23 | July |
| 24 | Ryan Noda | 1B/OF | LAD | 26 | July |
| 25 | Edward Cabrera | SP | MIA | 22 | July |
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings #1-5
Some notable changes were made here to favor proximity. Grayson Rodriguez, Adley Rutschman, and Max Meyer are getting the most buzz for being called up soon. Rodriguez is 2-1 with a 3.09 ERA, 2.67 xFIP, and 36.8% strikeout rate in seven starts (32 innings) this season so far. He seems ready to take a step to the next level. He has to be better than Jordan Lyles right?
Rutschman has gotten the most buzz but has not done great at Triple-A thus far, batting .194 and one home run in nine games so far. Many expected him to be up already. Keep an eye on his production over the next week. I hesitate to put him No. 1 because in many leagues catcher is not an impactful position overall. If he bats .230 with 10 home runs the rest of the season, how much will that impact your fantasy team?
Max Meyer is 2-1 with a 3.24 xFIP and 29.5% strikeout rate. Elieser Hernandez is the pathway to regular playing time. If he pitches poorly, I am hopeful Meyer gets a chance sooner rather than later.
Gorman and Cruz round out the Top 5 as they offer some upside at the MLB level if they get the opportunity. Gorman is striking out 35.5% of the time, but has 14 home runs in 32 games! For our fantasy teams, that kind of power production really plays if the average doesn't bury you. When Paul DeJong was demoted, I had expected Gorman to get called up but he did not with many articles citing his strikeout rate. Oneil Cruz is struggling at batting in Triple-A hitting .185 in 139 plate appearances. He does have eight steals already, but for fantasy, especially in roto leagues, we do not want an empty steals player. Improvement on defense is key for him as well to be trusted by the big league club.
*Update: On Thursday May 19th Max Meyer was placed on the seven-day IL with nerve irritation.
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings #6-15
This is a more difficult range to rank and I would say all of these players are closer together than their rankings suggest. Some additions to this list include Vinnie Pasquantino, CJ Abrams, Roansy Contreras, Matthew Liberatore, and Jarred Kelenic. Pasquantino has a higher walk rate (15.3%) than strikeout rate (14.6%). He also has eight home runs and three steals in 34 games played.
Contreras is being stretched out to hopefully join the Pirates rotation this summer while Liberatore struggled out the gates, but three of his last four starts have been good. Abrams and Kelenic need more consistent at-bats to improve. Abrams already has three home runs and three steals in five games in Triple-A.
Outside of the injured Shane Baz, any player in this range could get called up tomorrow and I wouldn't be shocked, but they could also stay down in the minors for a couple more months and that would not shock me either.
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings #16-25
This group right here is kind of the best of the rest at this point. These are guys that are promising and/or playing well at the moment and/or have some spot starts/appearances under their belt, but there's a lack of clarity on what the big league club's plans for them are during the significant part of the season.
Honorable Mentions: Nick Pratto 1B; Korey Lee, C; Michael Busch, 2B; Pedro Leon, SS/OF; Oscar Gonzalez, OF; Peyton Burdick, OF; Brennan Davis, OF; Cade Cavalli, SP;
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