2025 Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Risers For Every American League Team

Orioles

LHP Cade Povich

File this under the category of last man standing. Povich was fighting for the fifth starter’s role with Albert Suarez and the injured Chayce McDermott and came out on top. This spring, the lefty has had a sub-1.00 WHIP and 3.07 ERA with a 9.2 K/9 over 14.2 innings and four starts. It doesn’t look like he has added velocity or a new pitch to his arsenal but being in the rotation immediately boosts one’s dynasty profile.

Honorable Mention: RHP Tomoyuki Sugano

The crafty veteran and Japanese import will be in rotation, showing that his wiles will likely translate to the majors.

Red Sox

SS Marcelo Mayer

Of Boston’s “Big Three,” Mayer is likely third in the rankings behind Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell. This spring, though, Mayer really improved his profile by slashing .333/.429/.528 and getting an endorsement from manager Alex Cora as still being an option for the second base role ahead of Vaughn Grissom. With a potential 2025 debut essentially assured, Mayer’s dynasty value has once again risen.

Honorable Mention: RHP Richard Fitts

Fitts made the starting rotation and has shown improved stuff since 2024. I selected him as a breakout prospect last week.

Yankees

1B/DH/C Ben Rice

In 2024, Rice’s maximum exit velocity in the minor leagues was 110 mph, and in his 178 plate appearances in the major leagues it was was 110.8 mph. After adding 10 pounds over the offseason, he’s hit six balls in spring training that have exceeded 111 mph, including a 113.8 mph double. Looking back at batted balls in 2024 in the majors, only 50 batted balls exceeded that amount. In other words, Rice is crushing the ball this spring. With Giancarlo Stanton injured, Rice looks to be the primary DH, with occasional spells at first base and even behind the plate. Arrow up, especially in OBP leagues.

Honorable Mention: RHP Will Warren

With Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and now Clarke Schmidt injured, Carlos Carrasco and Will Warren both find themselves in the Yankee starting rotation to start the season. We’ve talked about how Warren’s stuff resembles Michael King and Clay Holmes with high spin, east-west movement. He is a sought-after commodity in dynasty leagues right now.

Rays

OF Chandler Simpson

With 104 stolen bases in 2024 and 94 the year before, it’s clear that Simpson is a threat on the bases, providing a potential nuclear weapon to fantasy teams. Almost as intriguing is the fact that he had a contact rate of 90.9%—the highest contact rate of anyone with at least 230 plate appearances in the minor leagues in 2024—and the second highest in-zone contact rate at 94.1%. To put that into context, only Luis Arraez and Steven Kwan had a contact rate above 90% in the majors last year. Hearing reports of improved defense and seeing the live replays of him beating out infield hits has caused Simpson’s value to skyrocket, despite being optioned to minor league camp earlier this week. 

Honorable Mention: OF Josh Lowe

As fantasy managers began to realize that George M. Steinbrenner Field—the Rays home stadium for 2025—plays like Yankee Stadium, the left handed hitters in the Rays lineup such as Brandon Lowe and Josh Lowe began to creep up high-stakes draft boards. All spring, Lowe has hit either first, third or fourth in the lineup. If he sticks there all season, he should accumulate counting stats to go along with his 20ish home runs and 30ish stolen bases.

Blue Jays

OF Alan Roden 

For Roden, it all started when GM Ross Atkins mentioned Roden by name as someone the team was watching in camp this season. The 25-year-old responded with a silly .391/.545/.739 line and was just confirmed to have made the Opening Day roster. Although it’s not the most fantasy-friendly profile, Roden should have solid batting averages with double-digit home runs and stolen bases. His preseason has been so impressive that he was chosen as one of Matt Eddy’s breakouts.

Honorable Mention: RHP Jeff Hoffman

With all the talk about failed medicals, there was skepticism regarding Hoffman coming into spring training. More accurately, there was hesitation in viewing him as a surefire closer. After sitting 96 mph and getting a 12.7 K/9, it seems like fantasy managers have seen enough. He is now being taken as the 11th closer off high-stakes redraft boards, ahead of Tanner Scott, Robert Suarez, Kenley Jansen, Pete Fairbanks and former Jays closer Jordan Romano.

Guardians

RHP Gavin Williams

Williams has a 15.3 K/9 strikeout rate across 12.1 innings this spring with all ERA estimators at 3.14 or below. He is sitting 96 mph on his four seamer and has added 2 inches of IVB. We’ll see how his movement changes will impact his effectiveness, but recent helium for him being a potential 2025 breakout has him climbing the rankings.

Honorable Mention: 1B Kyle Manzardo

Manzardo has put up a .326/.367/.609 line with three home runs while predominantly hitting third in the Guardians’ lineup. If Cleveland keeps the 24-year-old there all season, he should have a breakout season.

White Sox

RHP Sean Burke

After only 19 major league innings in his career—albeit with a 1.42 ERA and 1.4 K/9—the 2021 third-round draft pick out of Maryland finds himself as the Opening Day starter. Cynics would say it was process of elimination. Keen students of pitching see a solid four-pitch mix, headlined by a 94 mph four seamer and massive extension. As such, Burke has slowly climbed dynasty rankings all offseason.

Tigers

RHP Casey Mize

After returning from Tommy John surgery, Mize posted an acceptable, if mediocre, 102.1 innings in 2024. In the offseason, however, Mize has added around a tick on both his fastballs and slider. More importantly, he’s added over an inch of ride on all his offerings—no longer in the dead zone—while his trademark splitter has been even more effective this spring. The 28-year-old has been a trendy sleeper in high-stakes leagues.

Honorable Mention: RHP Jackson Jobe

Jobe was already valued extremely highly, but after effortlessly adding a sinker and curveball into his high-octane repertoire and also breaking camp in the rotation, he’s skyrocketed even further.

Royals

LHP Kris Bubic

Bubic was a trendy waiver wire pick-up in 2023 after he struck out nine Giants in early April, seemingly out of nowhere. Upon closer examination that spring, he had added 2 mph to his fastball with extra extension and a lower release height while re-shaping his slider. Unfortunately, he struggled in his next start and was diagnosed as needing Tommy John surgery not long after. Returning late last year, the Royals worked him out of the bullpen to ease him back and build him up, where he showed success in the role. Coming into 2025, it wasn’t clear if he would A) return to the rotation and B) how he might perform if he did. Last week, the Royals announced he was in the rotation to start the season, and he has been sitting 93 mph with a 9 K/9 over five spring starts. Whether or not he will be successful in 2025 is unclear, but his value has skyrocketed from a fringe speculative bid prior to spring training to now an undeniable must-grab.

Twins

LHP Connor Prielipp

After battling numerous injuries throughout his professional career, Prielipp returned in 2024 with a bang, showing off a hellacious pitch mix of a 95 mph fastball, 87 mph slider and changeup, each of which elicited whiffs at a better than league average rate. Geoff Pontes has already identified him as a breakout pitching prospect and Matt picked him for breakout team, as well.

Honorable Mention: 1B Ty France

Early in the preseason, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli announced that France would be the primary first baseman. Any associated skepticism has since been dispelled, as the 30-year-old veteran has a .439/.477/.707 line with two home runs. With the Twins’ offense suddenly encountering injuries, with Royce Lewis and now Brooks Lee being sidelined to start the season, France’s job security has been strengthened even further. He’s a solid corner infield option for competitive dynasty teams in 2025.

Athletics

RHP Gunnar Hoglund

We mentioned him as a standout performer in the Spring Breakout games after striking out four straight batters, including Leodalis De Vries and Cobb Hightower. His fastball is now sitting 96 mph along with a a reshaped slider that has cutter shape sitting in the 90s. He’s an intriguing post-hype pitcher.

Astros

3B/OF Cam Smith

After much speculation, it seems like Smith has, indeed, made the Opening Day roster for the Astros. The crown jewel of the Kyle Tucker trade, Smith has shown incredible poise this spring training, hitting home runs off of all current or former major leaguers A.J. Minter, Adam Warren, Connor Overton, and Grant Hartwig.

Honorable Mention: INF/OF Zach Dezenzo

Dezenzo is another player getting a boost in value from the fact that he made the Opening Day roster. When you hit .409/.447/.659 with two home runs, you essentially force the issue and that’s exactly what Dezenzo did. Playing first base as well as the corners, the Astros have had him plugged into the fifth spot in the batting order. If that holds, Dezenzo might put up excellent 2025 value.

Angels

OF Matthew Lugo

RoboScout already liked what they saw from Lugo in 2024: .287/.376/.578 with 17 home runs and 16 stolen bases across two levels while showing his above-average bat speed and ability to crush fastballs. He won’t make the team out on Opening Day, but Lugo has basically shown himself to be the first outfielder to called up this season after hitting .304/.339/.482 this spring.

Mariners

RHP Andres Muñoz

The last few years, Muñoz has been a reliever who should have great ratios when he’s pitching. However, he’s not always been assured of the role, limiting his potential saves, and he is often injured. This year, it seems like Muñoz does not have competition for the closer role. Most exciting have been the reports of Muñoz adding a kick-change. If he adds it to his 97 to 98 mph fastball and 88 mph slider, it will be one more tool in his tool belt. Muñoz has been being drafted as the eighth closer off the board in recent high-stakes leagues and should exceed his career high of 22 saves from last year.

Honorable Mention: 2B Ryan Bliss

Bliss has quietly positioned himself as the likeliest candidate to win the second base job with the Mariners. At worst, he will be a solid defender and the weak side of a platoon. However, if he is a regular, he is capable of putting up 10 to 15 home runs with 30 to 35 stolen bases. That is an excellent middle infield contributor with a much more open path to playing time than a month or two ago.

Rangers

RHP Jack Leiter

With the rash of injuries hitting the Rangers—Jon Gray and Cody Bradford will miss at least a month to start the season—the main beneficiaries seem to be Leiter and Kumar Rocker. Rocker was already well-regarded in both dynasty and redraft leagues, but Leiter has added two ticks to his fastball and slider—maxing out at 100.6 mph on his fastball—and also introduced a sinker to his arsenal. The command is still shaky, but the previous perception of Leiter coming into the season was, at best, a back-of-the-rotation starter or reliever. With his new arsenal, the ceiling outcomes have risen.