This comes from the same study as my earlier posts (every Single-A to Triple-A season from 2016 to 2023, no 2020, 100+ PA at the level, and whether the player debuted in MLB within three years). This time I wanted something you can actually use going into the offseason, so I tested a handful of simple traits and only kept the ones that passed in BOTH halves of the data: 2016-2019 and 2021-2023. A trait had to show at least 1.5 times the level's rate in each era separately, otherwise it got thrown out.

The one that came through strongest is simple: hitters in the youngest fifth for their level (age on July 1 compared to everyone else at that level that year) who were also in the top fifth for ISO.

Three other traits passed the same test, they just aren't as strong:

(First number is the group, second is every hitter, starter or reliever at that level.)

A couple of things that didn't pass, in case you're wondering: being young for the level on its own didn't pass the two-era test for pitchers, and the Triple-A versions of the starter and young-hitter lists failed because in 2021-2023 most Triple-A players got at least a cup of coffee anyway, so the list didn't stand out.

The 2026 names

Here's everyone who fit Young bats with power this season at Single-A, High-A and Double-A: 64 spots, 60 players, since Braylon Payne, Caleb Bonemer, Enddy Azocar and Jesús Báez made it at two levels. ISO is at that level only, age is on July 1, 100+ PA at the level.

Single-A (13): oldest on the list is 19.8, lowest ISO is .203

High-A (25): oldest on the list is 21.4, lowest ISO is .216

Double-A (26): oldest on the list is 22.6, lowest ISO is .222

How they signed, counting each player once: International signee 27, 1st round 12, Rounds 2-5 8, Round 11+ 6, Rounds 6-10 5, Undrafted 2.

Caveats, since someone will ask: the percentages are for the group over seven seasons of history, not a projection for any one guy on this list, and plenty of players with these profiles still never made it. It's one season of ISO, and park and league effects aren't adjusted for. I left Triple-A off because most of the Triple-A names already debuted this year.

Happy to run a specific org or level if anyone wants it.

Have 4 spots open in our 30T CATS Dynasty R/RBI/HR/OBP/SB/QS/ERA/WHIP/SVH/K league. We have decided to start over and will be redrafting our teams so anyone who joins will get a fresh start. We have grown a very active, competitive, and friendly community. We use Fantrax, and communicate mostly via discord- https://discord.gg/4hhzBrv4s please join if you are interested.
Only cost is the annual Fantrax premium fee we split between all 30 teams. Let me know if you are interested!

Format: 30-team MLB dynasty league using Fantrax, ProBoards, and Slack.
Fees/caps: $200/$152M, $275/$182M, or $350/$212M. Deposit due January 15; balance March 15.
Schedule: Approximately 21 weeks, with six opponents plus the league median each week.
Playoffs: Twelve teams, four rounds; rosters lock each series except for IL replacements.
Rosters: 14–26 MLB players; 60 prospects, expanding 10 annually toward 100.
Pitching: Seven starts per standard week; unused starts expire and excess starts are removed.
IL: Ten spots with 50% salary relief; activate within one week of real-life return.
Roster moves: Weekly processing with a Monday, 11 a.m. ET cutoff; post moves on ProBoards.
Contracts: Three TC years at $1M/$1.5M/$2M, followed by performance-based arbitration.
Free agency: MLB auctions have a $1M minimum and five-year maximum; eligible MiLB additions are first come.
Prospect acquisition: $5M annual IFA budget; 10-round amateur draft begins December 1.
Extensions: Up to two non-expiring extensions, one expiring renewal, and one restructure annually.
Waivers/releases: Same-league teams receive priority; releases can retain 20%–80% salary obligations.
Trades: Final once completed; $1 per player sent/received. Deadline: day after MLB’s deadline.
Participation: Custom points scoring; competitive lineups and regular communication required. Commissioners enforce rules and conduct.

***Please comment below if you’re interested! Looking for good vibes owners who are highly committed! Our previous league lasted for 7 years & it’s our hope to bring in members that are in it for the long haul!

30T Salaries

Hello and welcome to Major League Fantasy Baseball - Salary Cap Edition!

First and foremost, we are looking for MATURE, DEDICATED owners, as we just had a mass exodus of half of the league after its first year.

We are asking for a $50 deposit which will be held in Fantrax's online treasury for 2 years, after which it will be returned to you. This deposit will help weed out the immature owners that plagued us last year (our first).

Joining the league's Discord and actively responding to DMs from leaguemates is a requirement in this league. This is a VERY active league with several trades a day going down this offseason. Transactions are now paused while we wait to refill the league--hopefully with you!

Once full, we will hold a dispersal draft for all new owners as well as any current owner who wants to redraft their team. Most teams, and thus, most players, will be available in the dispersal draft.

League Rules:

Scoring System: H2H Categories

Number of Teams: 30 (Must be a current MLB team name)

Commissioner: Ryne

Playoffs will begin in Scoring Period 23.

Number of matchups each period: 7

Number of teams in playoffs: 12

Division winners get top seeds.

No re-seeding.

Maximum Total Players: 40 + 8 IR

The 40-man roster can be composed of all prospects/minor leaguers, all major leaguers, or a mixture of both.

Only players on the MLB Injured List may be put on the Injured Reserve.

Minor League Eligibility: <=130 ABs, <= 50 IP

Rosters (minimum requirement)

2 C (1)

1 1B (1)

1 2B (1)

1 3B (1)

1 SS (1)

1 CI (0)

1 MI (0)

4 OF (3)

5 SP (5)

7 RP (3)

1 P (0)

Games needed from a previous season to qualify at a specific hitting position: 20; current season: 10

Starts needed from previous season: 5; current season: 3

Relief appearances needed from previous season: 8; current season: 5

Categories:

HR

RBI

R

SB

OBP

QS

K

ERA

SVH

WHIP

Innings Pitched Minimum: 25

Maximum Games Started: 10

Daily lineups.

Trade deadline is just before playoffs begin.

No trading restrictions.

Draft picks for current year and the next year are tradeable. Supplemental FYP drafts will consist of 3 rounds each year. Draft order will be determined via a lottery using the current NBA lottery odds.

Unlimited adds/drops/claims.

We will use a Free Agent Auction Bidding system with a $100 budget. $0 bids are allowed. Bids are processed around 3:00 AM EST each night.

This is a league that uses real MLB player luxury tax hits which are subject to change at any time.

All teams must be under the MLB’s Luxury Tax Threshold of $245,300,000 and above the Salary Floor of $148,200,000 at all times during the initial startup draft and regular season.

If you release a player with a salary, and they go unclaimed on waivers, you will have a cap penalty that follows the following guidelines:

75% of his current year luxury tax hit, per Spotrac.com

50% of his luxury tax hit for next year (if guaranteed)

25% of all future luxury tax hits

Failure to meet the Salary Floor is grounds for removal from the league. There is no tanking in MLFB.

If a player’s real life luxury tax hit changes, it will change here too.

If a change in player’s luxury tax hit causes you to go over cap, you will be notified and have 72h from that notification to fix it before the commissioner takes action.

Available teams:

Twins

White Sox

Orioles

Athletics

Astros

Padres

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Considering dangling the 1st overall pick this year, the draft consists of international FAs/ ‘26 Draft/ and prospects who weren’t selected in this past February’s start up prospect draft and haven’t yet debuted. (Prospects can only be added off waivers in season to rosters once they debut)

What can we expect to get from him moving forward - closer to first half or second half? I want to believe in the breakout but unsure.

Are you holding or selling high?

I have been playing in free dynasty leagues for 3 years but I want to put $$$ on the line! Lmk if you got orphans available I'll take a look!

Which side would you rather have? Bellinger would be like my 6th outfielder and give more hitting depth. I’m kinda in a good spot at SP (Cease, Brown, Gilbert, Fried, Kade, Wheeler, Jobe, Melton, Peralta with McClanahan, Greene and Horton stashed) or just stay put with Ashcraft snd stay put.
Most categories, OBP league.

30 Team $$ Dynasty need a few.
7x7 most categories
5th yr.
$41.84 (includes Fantrax premium)
Email if interested
60heat@gmail.com

After releasing both the Sleeper Hitters and Sleeper Pitchers prospect spreadsheets over on the Patreon, I've decided to share the hitters portion for increased visibility. Too much time watching film and crunching numbers has gone into this, and it's basically an amalgamation of all of this year's Sleepy Prospect write-ups (my prospect analysis series).

After bringing you all Rumfield and Antonacci before the season started, I'm narrowing down my favorite sleepers for the 2027 season. My reputation over on the fantasy baseball reddit is pretty solid thanks to the weekly waiver wire series I've been posting for the past 3 years, but I've pivoted hard into dynasty over the last year and it's gone quite well. The Patreon has now been open for a year, and we're already past 100 paid subscribers!

And if you're interested, please check out my ongoing AFL series.

Looking to join a dynasty league with MLB + MiLB roster management with $100+ buy-in. Let me know if anyone has openings along those lines!

What are your thoughts on Ewing going into 2027? Would you buy him this offseason?
He went 11/25 this year in 492 plate appearances. Could he be a future 20/20 guy?

Hi Everyone!!

I’ve posted a few times in here about the new site I’m building (Front Office Fantasy Sports) and I’ve received a relatively good response and some really solid feedback from the group. We filled up the first league quickly (admittedly, I thought it would take weeks to do that, not a few days) and I’m looking to either host an existing league who wants to import their rosters or get some new people in to run a league on their own without much help from me.

As a recap, here is what the site offers:

League details:
• Format: 12-Team Rotisserie Dynasty
• 40-Man Rosters: 26 active MLB spots + 14 Minor League (MiLB) farm system slots + 7/10/15/60-day IL slots
• Economics: $500 hard salary cap with multi-year player contracts (Commissioner defined lengths), salary retention via cuts and trade, extensions, and buyouts
• Offseason Rule 5 Draft: Unprotected minor leaguers can be selected by other clubs every winter
• Scoring: Classic 4x4 Roto, Advance 4x4 Roto, or Custom 4x4 Roto (stats listed on the website).
• Cost: 100% FREE for the 2027 inaugural season (all league and seat fees are waived for beta testers, plus you get future discounts).  Integration with LeagueSafe for prize payments off the site.
• Communication: Active Discord server for trade chatter and draft scheduling.

If you’re interested, please visit https://frontofficefantasysports.com/beta

30 Team Dynasty points league entering year 3 looking for 4 active replacement owners. Dispersal pool includes Ohtani, Elly de la Cruz, Jose Rodriguez, chase burns, Benge, Jackson Kobe, Andy pages, Franklin arias, Ethan Salas and many more. Reach out for more details if you are interested

Very active owner prefer a startup but I might be open to an existing one

All from the box scores. The US collegiate national team played five games in Japan in July 2025 and lost all five. In September Japan's U-18 team played the US twice at the U-18 World Cup in Okinawa, seven-inning games, and won one of them.

Tiny samples, all of it, and Cholowsky hit .320 with 21 homers at UCLA this spring. His one hit in Japan was a homer to center at Jingu in the last game, an inning after Lackey's inside-the-parker in the same game.

The US won the U-18 final 2-0. In the other game Bolemon threw six scoreless and Japan still won 6-2 in eight, after a 16-year-old lefty, Ryosuke Sueyoshi, held the US hitless for 4⅓ innings. Sueyoshi is a first-round candidate in Thursday's NPB draft, and so is the catcher who drove in three in that Jingu game, Kai Watabe.

Japan's college team beat the US again this July, 6-3 in 11 innings, in the final of the first World Collegiate Baseball Championship in Taiwan.

Follow-up to last week's post on which minor league numbers separate the guys who make it. A few people asked about draft position, so here it is on its own: every Single-A to Triple-A season from 2016 to 2023 (no 2020), anyone with 100+ PA or 100+ batters faced at the level, and whether they debuted in MLB within three years. "Real role" means 300+ MLB plate appearances (or 400+ batters faced for pitchers) in that same window.

Single-A hitters (3,515 seasons)

A few things that jumped out:

• Even first-rounders mostly don't get a real role fast. 43% of first-round Single-A hitters debuted within three years, but only 15% got to 300 MLB plate appearances in that time.
• The gap shrinks as guys climb. Round 11+ hitters reached the majors 4.5% of the time from Single-A, 9.6% from High-A and 21.7% from Double-A. The ones who survive to Double-A are a very different group.
• International signees look like mid-round picks at Single-A and catch up later. 9.9% from Single-A (about the same as rounds 6-10), then 37.9% from Double-A, close to rounds 2-5 at 43.4%.

Hitters, first round vs round 11+, by level (reached MLB within 3 years)

Pitchers

Draft position matters a lot for starters and a lot less for relievers.

• Single-A starters: first round 46.2%, rounds 2-5 29.4%, round 11+ 14.5%.
• Double-A starters: first round 80.3%, round 11+ 38.4%.
• Double-A relievers: rounds 2-5 32.8%, round 11+ 21.1%, international 23.2%, undrafted 22.6%. Once a reliever is in Double-A, where he was drafted barely separates anyone.

Caveats, since someone will ask: these are player-seasons, so a guy who spent two years in Single-A counts twice. Round 11+ is mostly from the old 40-round drafts before 2021. And this is history, not a projection for any one player.

Happy to run a specific level or group if anyone wants it.