As we roll out our latest update to the RotoProspects Top 700 Prospect fantasy baseball rankings, let’s dive into the key updates surrounding the top-ranked prospects this week.
Cardinals’ Joshua Baez storms up near the Top 10 after the most explosive debut in MLB history
Baez (pictured above) didn’t just get called up this week — he authored a page in the record book. Cardinals manager Oli Marmol announced on August 14 that Báez would be promoted for the first time, and he made his debut the following day as St. Louis’ starting left fielder against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He became the first player in MLB history to hit three home runs in his debut, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs in an 8-4 win. Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd challenged him with a 93.4 mph fastball up in the zone on the very first big-league pitch he saw, and Báez launched it a projected 449 feet to dead center at 108.6 mph off the bat. All three homers came off Boyd.
The production wasn’t a bolt from the blue, either. At the time of his call-up he had played 103 games for Triple-A Memphis with a .256 average, 34 home runs, and 90 RBI — a total that led all of Triple-A in homers prior to his debut. That’s the 65-power grade showing up in games, and paired with 60-grade speed (he swiped 54 bags in 2025) you’re looking at a genuinely rare three-category major leaguer.
The obvious caveat: Báez followed the historic debut by going 1-for-21 with eight strikeouts — no reason to panic, but a reminder that he’s a young bat who has worked through swing-and-miss issues for years. We’re comfortable with the 55-hit grade capping things where they are, but a full-time corner-outfield role in St. Louis alongside Jordan Walker makes him a must-roster asset in every dynasty format down the stretch.
Rays’ Xavier Isaac surges 63 spots on a genuinely different-looking August
Isaac (No. 137) is the best comeback story in the minors, and now the bat has caught all the way up to the narrative. He hadn’t played since June 25, 2025, when he was lifted from a Double-A Montgomery game with dehydration; days later a brain scan revealed a tumor and he underwent emergency surgery. That he’s playing at all is remarkable. That he’s slugging like a top-100 prospect again is the part fantasy managers need to act on.
The August surge has been staggering. This month marks the third time Isaac has hit six homers in a month, but unlike the previous two, he’s doing it without the strikeouts that usually came with the power — his August strikeout rate sits at 15%, way down from the 29.7% mark he carried into the month. That is the entire ballgame for a first-base-only profile. The 60-power was never in question; the contact was. He was also closing in on his first 20/20 season earlier in the month, and he’s a surprisingly capable runner for his size.
At 22 in Double-A, Isaac still projects as a 2027 arrival, and the platoon risk against lefties hasn’t fully gone away. But post-hype windows close fast, and this one is closing. If a manager in your league bailed on him during the down stretch, this is your last cheap week.
Phillies’ Francisco Renteria rockets into the Top 100 as a 17-year-old in the DSL
Renteria (No. 89) is the biggest pure-upside move we made this week, and the one we’d defend hardest. He is 17 years old, playing in the Dominican Summer League, with an ETA of 2029 — and he carries a 65 FV on our board, a grade shared by only a handful of players in the entire Top 700. The 60-hit/65-power/60-speed line is about as loud a triple-threat projection as exists at his age.
The scouting community is catching on quickly. He’s hitting .379/.472/.687 with 11 home runs and 24 steals in 52 games, and his August has been even better — a .459/.583/1.027 line across 11 games this month. Baseball America noted this week that while Renteria’s underlying data isn’t quite at the level of Royals outfielder Angeibel Gomez’s, it’s not far off, and Renteria hits the ball even harder. Gomez sits at No. 32 on our board, which tells you where Renteria’s ceiling lives if the swing decisions keep trending.
This is a patience play in its purest form — three-plus years from the majors, in a league where statistical noise is the norm. But in deep dynasty formats with expansive minor-league rosters, getting a 65 FV at 17 before the mainstream lists move him is exactly how you win a decade-long league.
Notable Faller: Nationals’ Jackson Kent slides 41 spots as the big-league look goes sideways
Kent (No. 180, down from No. 139) got his shot in Washington’s rotation and the stuff simply hasn’t held. The 23-year-old lefty’s profile was always built on command and a plus changeup rather than swing-and-miss velocity, and against major-league lineups the 40-grade curveball has been a genuine liability — hitters are sitting on the fastball-changeup pairing and doing damage. A 45 FV leaves essentially no margin for error, and the results have exposed how thin that margin was.
The path back exists, but it’s narrow: Kent needs a real third pitch to survive a second time through big-league orders, and until we see one, he profiles closer to a back-end starter or swingman than a rotation piece worth rostering in anything but the deepest formats. In leagues of 16 teams or fewer, he’s droppable.
The Top 25 players in this week’s updated RotoProspects Top 700 Prospect Rankings
The Top 50 can be found HERE (no subscription required). For the complete list, CLICK HERE (subscription required).
| No. | Name | Pos | Team | B/T | Level | Age |
| 1 | Jesus Made | SS | MIL | S/R | AA | 19 |
| 2 | Leo De Vries | SS | ATH | S/R | AA | 19 |
| 3 | Walker Jenkins | OF | MIN | L/R | AAA | 21 |
| 4 | Theo Gillen | 2B/SS | TB | L/R | AA | 20 |
| 5 | Josue De Paula | OF | LAD | L/L | AA | 21 |
| 6 | Sebastian Walcott | SS | TEX | R/R | AA | 20 |
| 7 | Ryan Sloan | SP | SEA | R/R | AA | 20 |
| 8 | Kade Anderson | SP | SEA | L/L | AA | 22 |
| 9 | Seth Hernandez | SP | PIT | R/R | High-A (IL) | 20 |
| 10 | Eli Willits | SS | WAS | S/R | High-A | 18 |
| 11 | Joshua Baez | OF | STL | R/R | MLB | 23 |
| 12 | Mike Sirota | OF | LAD | R/R | AA (IL) | 23 |
| 13 | Rainiel Rodriguez | C | STL | R/R | AA | 19 |
| 14 | Max Clark | OF | DET | L/L | MLB | 21 |
| 15 | Eric Hartman | OF | ATL | L/R | High-A | 20 |
| 16 | Franklin Arias | SS | BOS | R/R | AAA | 20 |
| 17 | George Lombard Jr. | SS | NYY | R/R | MLB | 21 |
| 18 | Angel Genao | SS | CLE | S/R | MLB | 22 |
| 19 | Ralphy Velazquez | 1B | CLE | L/R | AAA | 21 |
| 20 | Braylon Payne | OF | MIL | L/L | AAA | 19 |
| 21 | Vahn Lackey | C | MIN | R/R | Single-A | 21 |
| 22 | Drew Burress | OF | ATH | R/R | Single-A | 21 |
| 23 | Roch Cholowsky | SS | CHW | R/R | High-A | 21 |
| 24 | Luis Hernandez | SS | SF | R/R | Single-A | 17 |
| 25 | Josuar Gonzalez | SS | SF | S/R | Single-A | 18 |
Also worth watching
Brandon Compton (MIA, No. 189, up from 256), Bryan Rincon (PHI, No. 117, up from 164), George Klassen (LAA, No. 176, up from 216), Ronny Cruz (WAS, No. 79, up from 117), Zac Veen (COL, No. 57, up from 94), Enddy Azocar (BAL, No. 68, up from 101), and Seaver King (WAS, No. 58, up from 90) all posted notable climbs this week and are worth a look in deeper dynasty formats.
Cruz in particular has been one of the hottest hitters in the minors this month, showing a more discerning eye at the plate while stringing together three straight multi-hit games this week for Wilmington.