Let’s run through the current crop of MLB rookies and how they are doing for fantasy baseball purposes. Here’s the latest fantasy baseball rookie review.
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Fantasy Baseball Rookie Review
MLB Hitters
1. Jasson Dominguez (OF – NYY)
- 2024 AA/AAA: .314/.376/.504 | 8.8 BB%, 20 K% | 20 XBH, 11 HR, 16 SB (58 games)
- 2024 MLB: .179/.313/.304 | 3 XBH, 2 HR, 5 SB (56 ABs)
- This Week: .274/.364/.483 | 4 XBH, 1 HR, 0 SB
- Age: 22
- ETA: Opening Day (debuted 2023)
- fScores: 97 fContact, 107 fDiscipline, 123 fPower, 191 fSpeed
- Comp: Switch-hitting Mookie Betts-lite
- Prime Skills: Jasson Dominguez has top-notch plate skills, while also demonstrating he can be a game-changer on the base paths. He smashes pitches high in the zone from both sides of the plate, but needs to work on lifting pitches low in the zone instead of bashing them into the ground (56.7% career groundball rate).
- Player Notes: Dominguez has had a rough time in the field, but three doubles on the week and a bomb show he’s on track to provide a strong rookie season for fantasy players.
3. Kristian Campbell (2B, OF – BOS)
- 2024 A+/AA/AAA: .330/.439/.558 | 14.3 BB% / 19.9 K% | 55 XBH, 20 HR, 24 SB
- This Week: 11/26 | 6 XBH, 2 HR, 1 SB
- Age: 23
- ETA: Opening Day
- fScores: 103 fContact, 126 fDiscipline, 103 fPower, 138 fSpeed
- Comp: Bigger Gleyber Torres with more speed and better plate skills
- Prime Skills: Kristian Campbell is a big righty picked who was in the fourth round out of Georgia Tech in 2024 with a killer hit tool (90.8% Z-Contact% at AAA) to pair with a 20/20 profile. He has a big frame with a pretty sweet swing and has shown more power than the scouting grades have given him, especially from the pull side. Has not shown off his 60-grade speed on the base paths yet, but there are more bags under him if the situation allows.
- Player Notes: Campbell is off to a killer start and has already been financially rewarded as the Red Sox purchased his arbitration years — one more example as to why spring training stats don’t matter.
- 2024 AA/AAA: .284/.379/.488 | 11.9 BB%, 18.2 K% | 44 XBH, 21 HR, 31 SB
- This Week: 8/41 | 2 XBH, 1 HR, 0 SB
- Age: 23
- ETA: Opening Day
- fScores: 95 fContact, 86 fDiscipline, 96 fPower, 168 fSpeed
- Comp: Jonathan India with more speed
- Prime Skills: Matt Shaw has a solid plate approach that should develop as he gets time in the bigs with above-average power and speed. For 2025 fantasy, think of Colt Keith production plus 25 steals or so. He could be one of the better second basemen in the Majors sooner rather than later (if he gets to play there rather than at third base) and has the power and speed combo to put up some 20/20 seasons. Shaw works to some good launch angles (14.4 average launch angle) that should help the bat play up.
- Player Notes: Shaw has not been nearly as impressive as Campbell or Dominguez to start the season, but looks to put up some Colt Keith-like numbers with better speed.
- 2024 AA/AAA: .433/.473/.668 | 6.2 BB%, 6.6 K% | 35 XBH, 7 HR, 2 SB (53 games)
- 2024 MLB: .250/.314/.315 | 7.8 BB%, 9.7 K% | 4 XBH, 0 HR, 0 SB (28 games)
- This Week: 12/33 | 4 XBH, 2 HR, 0 SB
- Age: 23
- ETA: Opening Day (Debuted in 2024)
- fScores: 106 fContact, 114 fDiscipline, 60 fPower, 77 fSpeed
- Comp: More athletic Luis Arraez
- Prime Skills: Jacob Wilson was a first-rounder last year and got the bump to AAA after decimating AA pitchers. He was a doubles machine in the Minors. It almost looks like he’s been at batting practice since the draft because he’s been generating so many hits. I thought the pick was a reach when the Athletics drafted him, but he’s moving quickly and is hitting at every level.
- Player Notes: The power surge from Wilson this spring has carried forward into the season, so we might have a 20-homer bat on our hands as Wilson has yet to strike out on the season.
- 2024 College: .387/.488/.654 | 39 XBH, 16 HR, 4 SB
- A/A+/AA: .313/.396/.609 | 11.2 BB% / 17.9 K%| 16 XBH, 7 HR, 2 SB
- This Week: 2/18 | 0 XBH, 0 HR, 0 SB
- Age: 22
- ETA: Opening Day
- fScores: 96 fContact, 89 fDiscipline, 102 fPower, 81 fSpeed
- Comp: Josh Jung with shades of Manny Machado
- Prime Skills: Cam Smith began his Minor League career on a complete tear, outpacing his college profile. He’s very stoic at the plate, very calm with a great eye and quick hands to get to any pitch and crush it. He hits to all fields and if the Astros can teach him to pull more into the Crawford boxes, there’s quite a bit more of a power upside here.
- Player Notes: There’s a chance Smith is sent down at some point if he continues not to produce at the MLB level. The Astros got a little Angels on us, and it is not paying off yet, but we are still looking at small sample sizes.
88. Thomas Saggese (2B, SS, 3B – STL)
- 2024 AAA: .253/.313/.438 | 5.9 BB%, 23.1 K% | 46 XBH, 20 HR, 9 SB
- 2024 MLB: .204/.250/.306 | 3.8 BB%, 26.9 K% | 3 XBH, 1 HR, 0 SB
- This Week: N/A
- Age: 22
- ETA: Opening Day (debuted in 2024)
- fScores: 100 fContact, 74 fDiscipline, 80 fPower, 86 fSpeed
- Comp: Righty Matt Carpenter with more speed
- Prime Skills: Thomae Saggese has a good hit tool and very solid plate skills (which he showed off better in the Fall League than the iffy AAA season with 16 walks and only 15 strikeouts in the Fall League). He has underrated power and speed for a guy who plays multiple infield positions. He’s kind of a jack of all trades.
- Player Notes: Saggese was recalled before Sunday’s doubleheader, going a combined 2-for-4 across both games. He’s the only player on the Cardinals’ roster who should play shortstop besides Masyn Winn, who has needed a break, but has looked better the last couple of days.
102. Zach Dezenzo (1B, 3B – HOU)
- 2024 CPX/AA/AAA: .299/.385/.492 | 11.5 BB%, 22.6 K% | 24 XBH, 7 HR, 5 SB (52 games)
- 2024 MLB: .242/.277/.371 | 4.6 BB%, 33.8 K% | 4 XBH, 2 HR, 0 SB
- This Week: 1/7 | 0 XBH, 0 HR, 0 SB
- Age: 25
- ETA: Opening Day (debuted in 2024)
- fScores: 96 fContact, 92 fDiscipline, 98 fPower, 103 fSpeed
- Comp: A bigger, more athletic Chas McCormick
- Prime Skills: Zach Dezenzo is a power/speed guy who has to work on his hit tool (75% Z-Contact% in his debut), but can take a walk and will excel against fastballs with above average exit velocities. Needs to work on reducing the strikeout rate.
- Player Notes: I thought Dezenzo would be starting full-time and Smith would have begun in AA or so, but we can see he’s not getting enough run to let the bat play with only seven at-bats on the year.
MLB Pitchers
- 2024 AA: 91 2/3 IP | 13.6 K-BB% 12.3 SwStr%, 30.5 CSW% | 2.36 ERA, 1.12 WHIP
- 2024 MLB: 4 IP | 6.3 K-BB%, 4.2 SwStr%, 25 CSW% | 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP
- This Week: 9 IP (2 starts) | 8 Ks, 8 BBs | 5.00 ERA, 1.55 WHIP
- Age: 22
- ETA: Opening Day (debuted in 2024)
- fScores: 100 fStuff, 99 fControl, 110 fERA
- Comp: George Kirby
- Prime Skills: Jackson Jobe has excellent command of his pitches for someone his age and has a ton of spin on his pitches. The fastball is riding as an above-average pitch, but it allows him to use his elite slider to get strikeouts. The walk rate is higher this year, but I think it’s an aberration and wouldn’t be too concerned. There seems to be a bit of a pitch mix issue in why his killer stuff has not played as well as it should.
- Player Notes: As per my fears, Jobe has yet to figure out the pitch mix, and the control is as bad as last year to start the season. However, his second start was much better than the first.
- 2024 CPX/AA/AAA: 36 2/3 IP | 36 K-BB%, 22 SwStr%, 36.9 CSW% | 1.96 ERA, 0.79 WHIP
- 2024 MLB: 11 2/3 IP | 14.5 K-BB%, 13.3 SwStr%, 28 CSW% | 3.86 ERA, 1.54 WHIP
- This Week: 8 IP (2 starts) | 4 Ks, 2 BBs | 7.88 ERA, 1.88 WHIP
- Age: 25
- ETA: Opening Day (debuted in 2024)
- fScores: 114 fStuff, 104 fControl, 154 fERA
- Comp: Hunter Greene with a better slider (12/6)/worse fastball
- Prime Skills: Kumar Rocker is a large pitcher with a dominant fastball/slider combo. He throws 97-99 with one of the best hard vertical sliders you will see. There’s a below-average change-up in there, too, that he has to throw to mix things up. I have Rocker ranked as a top-60 starter for 2025, which is aggressive and will depend on the workload, but the fScores love him and he was amazing in his small 2024 sample size.
- Player Notes: Rocker got rocked in his first start, and the second start was lackluster from a strikeout perspective, but had a much better outcome. He also needs some work on fine-tuning the pitch mix in the Majors.
42. Chase Dollander (SP – COL)
- 2024 A+/AA: 118 IP | 24.4 K-BB%, 16.6 SwStr%, 29 CSW% | 2.59 ERA, 1.19 WHIP
- This Week: 5 IP | 6 Ks, 1 BBs | 7.20 ERA, 1.60 WHIP
- Age: 23
- ETA: Mid 2025
- fScores: 104 fStuff, 93 fControl, 125 fERA
- Comp: Zach Wheeler light in Coors
- Prime Skills: Chase Dollander has a big-time fastball with a slider and curve. The fastball sits in the high 90s, while the curve has been a deadly tunnel pitch with guys swinging right over the top of it. He was one of the top swinging strike generators who reached the upper Minors in 2024, but we saw a decent downtick in strikeouts as he jumped to AA. He needs to throw more strikes early in the count and often doesn’t get an equal number of called strikes to the swinging strikes.
- Player Notes: Dollander had an impressive debut for the Rockies on Sunday, getting the call earlier than I expected after not breaking camp.
- 2024 AA: 135 2/3 IP | 20.1 K-BB%, 12.6 SwStr%, 27.7 CSW% | 2.52 ERA, 0.94 WHIP
- 2024 MLB: 10 1/3 IP | 1.9 K-BB%, 11.2 SwStr%, 26.2 CSW% | 9.58 ERA, 2.03 WHIP
- This Week: 3 IP | 2 Ks, 1 BBs | 6.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP
- Age: 21
- ETA: May/June 2025 (debuted in 2024)
- fScores: 98 fStuff, 103 fControl, 125 fERA
- Comp: Young Noah Syndergaard
- Prime Skills: Caden Dana looks like vintage Syndergaard on the mound with his hair, 94-95 miles per hour (MPH) fastball and power slider. The curve is only average, but he has a pretty nifty two-seamer to pair against the four-seamer with some nice ride.
- Player Notes: Dana was recalled earlier than I expected as well and had a short stint, but was not terrible. Keep an eye on this to see if he stays up or is sent back down.
99. Thomas Harrington (SP – PIT)
- 2024 A+/AA/AAA: 92 1/3 IP | 29 K-BB%, 17.7 SwStr%, 31.8 CSW% | 1.95 ERA, 0.82 WHIP
- This Week: 4 IP | 2 Ks, 4 BBs | 13.50 ERA, 2.75 WHIP
- Age: 23
- ETA: Called Up on April 1st, 2025
- fScores: 93 fStuff, 112 fControl, 105 fERA
- Comp: Nick Martinez
- Prime Skills: Thomas Harrington is a command-oriented pitcher whose nastiest pitch is the change-up against his 92-93 MPH fastball. He has an interesting 3/4 arm action with a quick whip and the breaking pitches kind of pop out quick from the hand, playing up against the below-average fastball velocity… which, by the way, is very flat and plays up against the velocity.
- Player Notes: Harrington was uncharacteristically shaky, command-wise, which may have been nerves in his first start. I expect him to get a few more opportunities before the Pirates side-step to Bubba Chandler.
135. AJ Smith-Shawver (SP – ATL)
- 2024 AAA: 89 IP | 18.3 K-BB%, 14.2 SwStr%, 29.5 CSW% | 5.85 ERA, 1.24 WHIP
- 2024 MLB: 4 1/3 IP | 11.1 K-BB%, 10.3 SwStr%, 24.1 CSW% | 4.62 SIERA, 1.15 WHIP
- This Week: 8 2/3 IP (2 starts) | 10 Ks, 6 BBs | 5.19 ERA, 2.19 WHIP
- Age: 22
- ETA: Early 2025 (debuted in 2023)
- fScores: 97 fStuff, 91 fControl, 100 fERA
- Comp: Giovanny Gallegos as a starter
- Prime Skills: AJ Smith-Shawver has a super over-the-top arm slot that he repeats well, making it difficult to pick up on what pitch is coming out of his hand. He throws heat (hits 99 MPH), and the arm slot makes it come on even faster. His curve is his best pitch, and he might be better working in a slider to counter the curve and change-up since he’s so vertical.
- Player Notes: Despite showing some really good stuff (14.5 SwStr%) so far, he’s gotten hit pretty hard in both games with some bad batting average on balls in play (BABIP) luck. I would buy him if you can.
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