28 Fantasy Baseball Pitching Prospects To Target In 2025 Redraft Leagues

This group of notable names has the best opportunity to provide current-season value with rosterable per-inning quality and sufficient quantity.

1. Roki Sasaki, RHP, Dodgers (ADP: 88)

The No. 1 prospect who is already in the starting rotation is an easy choice for top-ranked pitching prospect for redraft. The late-sixth round price seems pretty reasonable, as it balances his upside, unicorn splitter and great team context with his lack of track record, potential ticking arm time bom, and much-discussed dead zone fastball. He’s being picked around the same area as Tyler Glasnow and Hunter Greene. Personally, it’s a toss-up for me amongst that trio, as they each have incredible upside with their injury risk.

2. Kumar Rocker, RHP, Rangers (ADP: 314)

Much has been made about the recent Rocker renaissance and his excellent per-inning public projections. With the recent injuries to Jon Gray (broken wrist) and Chad Bradford (elbow), it seems like achieving 100 innings this season in the major leagues is a near lock.

3. Will Warren, RHP, Yankees (ADP: 392)

Another beneficiary of starting pitcher injuries, Warren appears to be a large part of the Yankee rotation as it stands now thanks to Gerrit Cole missing the entire season recovering from elbow surgery and Luis Gil recovering from a strained oblique. Not only will he now be virtually assured of getting the opportunity, but Warren also seems to have taken a step forward with his pitch arsenal this year. In spring training so far, he is showing nearly 36 inches of east-west movement on his sinker and signature sweeper, hearkening inevitable, yet not inappropriate, Michael King and Clay Holmes vibes. The biggest improvement seems to be the command, which will be the key to his success. On a per-inning basis, Warren is not as good an option as the next two pitchers, but because of the volume—and the current later cost—he is ranked higher.

4. Andrew Painter, RHP, Phillies (ADP: 378)

Heading into draft season, Painter and Jackson Jobe were nearly interchangeable as the top pitching prospects to target. In fact, Painter might have actually been ranked higher because he was essentially guaranteed a spot in the rotation (at some point) for a World Series contending club. Since then, however, it has been reported that he won’t debut with the Phillies until later in the year and that they will be saving him to be ready for the playoffs. As a result, he probably won’t pitch more than 80 innings in the regular season. If he’s the pitcher that we saw before his Tommy John surgery, he should be a mid 3s ERA with sub 1.20 WHIP. If he’s rusty, he might not be a positive contributor to your squad. At his current cost of a 26th rounder, I’m willing to find out.

5. Jackson Jobe, RHP, Tigers (ADP: 242)

Jobe’s five-pitch mix has been causing a stir on social media, with two heaters sitting 96 to 98 mph (and touching 100), a 90 mph cutter that grades as double plus, a plus changeup that has a foot and half of fade and a hard curveball that has over a foot of horizontal break. As a result, whereas Painter’s ADP has been sliding, Jobe’s has been ascending. Some pause should be taken because his ball percentage is a mediocre 37%, he still may not throw more than 120 innings in the major leagues and, despite the arsenal, he has not been getting strikeouts. Additionally, if the Tigers are once again making a playoff push, he might be slow played to be ready for the postseason. All in all, at his ADP cost, I have not been targeting Jobe. Because he may have a similar end-of-season outcome to Painter, by taking Jobe, you are choosing him over pitchers such as Jesus Luzardo or Ranger Suarez. In other words, I would choose the pairing of Luzardo and Painter over the alternate two-round draft pairing of Jobe and Ortiz. Draft season in high-stakes redraft leagues is a series of tradeoffs and probabilities. With the range of outcomes—although Jobe may potentially have an extremely productive season—the cost is quite high just to break even.

6. Jack Leiter, RHP, Rangers (ADP: 413)

In 2024, Leiter put up a solid Triple-A line featuring a 1.26 WHIP and 3.51 ERA with a 33% K%, but his 35.2-inning major league debut produced only a 1.71 WHIP and 8.83 ERA. Although his 96 mph four seamer was already in the 86th percentile, he added more velocity in the offseason and has been sitting 98 in the preseason. His slider has also added 2 mph and has a more gyro shape that Stuff+ models are eating up. As mentioned in the Rocker blurb, with Cody Bradford and Jon Gray starting the season on the IL and missing a significant amount of time, it seems like Leiter and Rocker will both be claiming the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation to open the season. Whether Leiter can show enough command to stay a starter for the bulk of the season remains to be seen. As a result, we have him lower than Rocker.

7. Bubba Chandler, RHP, Pirates (ADP: 311)

Although Chandler has some of the best stuff of any of the pitchers on this list, I’m not quite as sold as him being the next Paul Skenes or Jared Jones for the Pirates. For one, he is not on the 40-man roster yet, whereas Braxton Ashcraft and Mike Burrows are. While on a per-inning basis he has the potential to be the best of the bunch, I’m a bit concerned he might not get the opportunity, especially at the price.

8. AJ Smith-Shawver, RHP, Braves (ADP: 475)

After averaging 96 mph on his four-seam fastball in 2024, Smith-Shawver sat 98, touching 100, in spring training this past week while striking out seven in under four innings. He is likely to start in the minors to begin the season due to Grant Holmes and Ian Anderson no longer having options, but if the improvements to his pitching arsenal are real, he will be up in the big leagues sooner rather than later in a great team context.

9. Quinn Mathews, RHP, Cardinals (ADP: 391)

Baseball America’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2024 has already been optioned to minor league camp, but he should be in the big leagues before long. That’s despite there being five other starting pitchers in Triple-A already on the 40-man, which Mathews isn’t. Still, he is too good to be kept down and should still get 100 innings in the majors. That said, this this one is a bit more of a leap of faith that he will reach that quantity.

10. Sean Burke, RHP, White Sox (ADP: 446)

Burke caught RoboScout’s eye last year in Triple-A as he returned from injury and was throwing 95 mph with above-average ride and huge extension. Sure enough, it earned him a debut in the majors where he threw 19 innings with a 1.00 WHIP, 1.42 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning. His predominantly three-pitch mix—though he does add a changeup to lefties—consists of two above-average offerings and an average curveball. If he can keep the walk percentage in single digits, he can put up a sub-4 ERA. Unfortunately, in roto leagues that count wins as a category, playing for the White Sox means he probably won’t accumulate many in 2025.

11. Joey Cantillo, LHP, Guardians (ADP: 455)

Cantillo may not start in the Guardian rotation and will be even more hard-pressed to crack it when Shane Bieber returns from his Tommy John surgery later in the year. That’s the bad news. The good news is that with Ben Lively, Luis L. Ortiz and Triston McKenzie all showing some flaws over the years, fantasy managers should be able to count on around 100 innings from Cantillo. Projections have him with solid strikeouts and a worse-than-average WHIP but a better-than-average ERA. For a 30th-round pick in 15-team roto leagues, he’s likely to return a small profit.

12. Zebby Matthews, RHP, Twins (ADP: 412)

Unlike Will Warren or Jack Leiter, Matthews has no issues with command, as evidenced by a minuscule 1.9% walk rate in the minor leagues across three levels in 2024. On a per-inning basis, Matthews should outperform Warren, however, he is currently the seventh starting pitcher on the Twins depth chart, (likely) behind David Festa. In other words, he may not accrue enough volume to earn as much fantasy value as the pitchers above him on this list but still should be a valuable contributor.

13. Kyle Hart, LHP, Padres (ADP: 478)

As I mentioned on the fantasy podcast two weeks ago, Hart is a source of sneaky value for those fantasy players who are blindly beholden to the public projections. Because Hart threw 11 innings for the Red Sox in 2020 with a 8.2 BB/9 and a 15.55 ERA—followed by xFIPs above 5 in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons in the upper minors—the projection systems are only inputting this data to generate their 2025 projection. Meanwhile, in 2024, he became a new pitcher in Korea adding velocity and a sweeper, winning the country’s Cy Young equivalent with 182 strikeouts and only 38 walks over 158 innings. If you assume that he is a “new” pitcher—similar to Erick Fedde, who arguably underwent a similar transformation overseas the year prior—Hart’s “translation” of his 2024 stats corresponds to a 1.20 WHIP, 3.50 ERA major league pitcher with approximately 9 K/9. That is a steal in the 32nd round, provided the Padres give him the opportunity.

14. Tomoyuki Sugano, RHP, Orioles (ADP: 335)

Whereas Kyle Hart is reportedly in a dogfight to be the Padres’ fifth starter, Sugano is already locked into the Orioles’ rotation after winning the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young in 2024, his second time winning the accolade. As a 35-year-old who relies more on command and pitchability than on filth, Sugano is not as much of a dynasty asset as he is a redraft asset. But with three average pitches and a splitter that flashes plus, he should be a low-ratio performer this season, albeit without many strikeouts.

15. Chase Dollander, RHP, Rockies (ADP: 621)

In a “draft and hold” format, there is (often) an opportunity to pick and choose amongst your pitchers to decide on which ones you want to roll out that week in order to capitalize on juicy matchups or to avoid the tough ones. In these formats, Rockies pitchers can therefore be benched if they are in Coors that upcoming week. Last year, for example, Ryan Feltner had a 1.25 WHIP and 3.93 ERA over 84.1 innings away from Coors. The downside of course, is that a “180 inning” pitcher will really only be available to you for around 90 innings, so that definitely has to be accounted for in the value proposition. If you have the ability to be on top of the weekly lineups, at this price, Dollander is a good value, as he should be able to put up league average results in his away games once he is promoted.

16. Michael McGreevy, RHP, Cardinals (ADP: 440)

McGreevy had a nice year in Triple-A in 2024. RoboScout took notice of it, and the Cardinals rewarded him with 23 innings in which he had a sub-2.00 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP. Of course, the .234 BABIP is unsustainable, but McGreevy thrives on limiting walks and getting weak batted balls, mostly on the ground. He won’t light up the strikeout column but is mostly the sixth Cardinals starter, making him first up if Sonny Gray or Erick Fedde get traded or if Steven Matz gets injured.

17. Shane Smith, RHP, White Sox (ADP: 551)

Taken in the Rule 5 draft from the Brewers, there’s an extremely-high probability that he will be accumulating innings in 2025 in the major leagues. And with the state of the White Sox rotation, he might even make some starts. So far in spring training, his fastball has sat 97 mph and his 91 mphslider/cutter with five inches of positive IVB and three inches of horizontal break has extremely similar movement traits to Garrett Crochet’s double-plus cutter. Irresponsible pitch comp aside, if Smith is successful in 2025, RoboScout will not be surprised.

18. Rhett Lowder, RHP, Reds (ADP: 514)

If not for the recent arm troubles, Lowder would rank higher, as he was earmarked for 100+ innings with the Reds in 2025. Although he has been cleared to throw from flat ground, caution should still be exercised, especially since he is already at a disadvantage with Great American Ballpark as his home stadium. I would more likely take the pitchers above him.

19. Logan Henderson, RHP, Brewers (ADP: 669)

This one is a RoboScout pick. With Tobias Myers potentially missing time with an oblique injury, Henderson might be next up to get the call. Either way, he should get called up. It might be in the bullpen, but he should have solid ratios with upside if he cracks the rotation. He’s added 1 to 2 mph on his four seamer and his cutter, the changeup remains great and he’s been flirting with a new slider. At this price, he’s worth a shot with little downside.

20. Any of the next tier

This group of pitchers are either not going to accumulate enough innings to be a significant source of fantasy value, or they are not likely to put up a must-have per-inning performance in 2025. However, they all have enough interesting traits to be taken any time after the 45th round (pick 650 or later).

• Brandon Sproat, RHP, Mets (ADP: 500)
• Thomas Harrington, RHP, Pirates (ADP: 640)
• Chase Burns, RHP, Reds (ADP: 689)
• Drew Thorpe, RHP, White Sox (ADP: 745)
• Noah Schultz, LHP, White Sox (ADP: 553)
• Cade Horton, RHP, Cubs (ADP: 625)
• Tink Hence, RHP, Cardinals (ADP: 730)
• Caden Dana, RHP, Angels (ADP: 606)
• Noah Cameron, LHP, Royals (ADP: 604)