As we roll out our latest update to the RotoProspects Top 700 dynasty rankings, let’s take a closer look at the top ten players on the board after a 2026 season that reshuffled the top of the list.
The top 10 players in the updated dynasty rankings
1. Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs (age 24)
Crow-Armstrong (pictured above) goes from No. 42 to No. 1 in the biggest leap on the board, and it’s hard to argue with the reason. He finished as the No. 1 fantasy player in 2026 after hitting .280/.372/.570 with 45 home runs, 107 RBI, 119 runs and 41 stolen bases, becoming the first Cub and just the seventh player in MLB history to go 40-40. The 24-year-old led the majors in homers, runs and total bases for much of the second half, produced roughly 10 wins above replacement by FanGraphs’ count (the best Cubs season since Rogers Hornsby in 1929), and entered the postseason as the NL MVP favorite.
The reason he’s No. 1 is the combination of a monster ceiling and a rare safe floor: elite speed, Gold Glove defense that keeps him in the lineup every day, and a power surge fueled by sharper plate discipline. The only caution for dynasty owners is that a 45-homer season is well beyond what he had shown before (he hit 31 in 2025), but even with some regression, a 30-30 baseline in a premium category-stuffing profile is hard to beat at 24.
2. Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds (age 24)
De La Cruz holds steady at No. 2 after the best season of his career, finishing as the No. 7 fantasy player in 2026. The switch-hitting shortstop hit .283/.365/.515 with 30 home runs, 79 RBI, 99 runs and 30 stolen bases in 143 games, joining the 30-30 club and posting career highs in on-base and slugging percentage while cutting down on his strikeouts. He got there in dramatic fashion, hitting .348 with nine homers, a 1.156 OPS and six steals in September to win National League Player of the Month, even as the Reds finished 75-87.
His 30 steals were well below his 2024 peak of 67, which is why he sits one spot behind Crow-Armstrong rather than ahead of him, and he spent time on the injured list earlier in the year. But the underlying tools (a 6-foot-5 frame, elite bat speed and top-end sprint speed) make him one of the few players with a true 40-40 ceiling at a premium position, and the improved contact gives him a safer floor than he had a year ago.
3. Jackson Chourio, OF, Brewers (age 22)
Chourio vaults from No. 26 to No. 3 after a season that ended with a World Series title. He missed the start of the year after fracturing his left hand in the spring, then hit .291/.351/.487 with 25 home runs, 75 RBI, 96 runs and 23 stolen bases in 127 games, his second straight 20-20 season and a career-best OPS. He finished as the No. 17 fantasy player in 2026, but the real jump came in October: he hit a walk-off in the NLDS and went 8-for-14 through the first three games of the World Series, including a four-hit, one-steal night in Game 3 that made him the second-youngest player (behind Ty Cobb in 1908) to do that in a Fall Classic game.
For dynasty owners, the case is simple: he’s 22, he’s already produced three straight seasons of 20-plus homers and 20-plus steals, and the contact and power trends are still moving in the right direction. He hasn’t yet posted the 30-30 season his tools suggest is coming, but few players in the game combine his age, track record and ceiling.
4. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals (age 26)
Witt slips one spot to No. 4 after a season that was good, but not by his own lofty standards. He hit .279 with 18 home runs, 54 RBI, 95 runs and 45 stolen bases (his most since a 49-steal season in 2023) in 144 games, finishing as the No. 15 fantasy player after posting 32 homers and a .332 average in 2024 and 23 homers with 38 steals in 2025. The home run total fell sharply, he spent part of August managing back tightness, and his RBI total suffered in a Kansas City lineup that ranked near the bottom of the majors in runs as the Royals sank to last place in the AL Central.
The good news is that the underlying profile hasn’t changed: he still hits the ball hard (a 92.2 mph average exit velocity and 11.3 percent barrel rate), the speed is still elite, and he’s signed through 2030 with a long-term extension. At 26 and with a clear path to 20 homers and 40 steals in a year when the power rebounds, he remains one of the safest dynasty assets in the game, even if the 30-homer ceiling looks a little less certain than it did a year ago.
5. Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays (age 22)
Caminero climbs from No. 11 to No. 5 after another elite power season, finishing as the No. 11 fantasy player in 2026. He hit .276/.360/.524 with 42 home runs, 101 RBI and 100 runs in all 162 games, becoming the first player in Rays history to post back-to-back seasons of 40-plus homers and 100-plus RBI, and he was a key piece of a Tampa Bay team that beat Cleveland in the ALCS (he homered in the series-clinching Game 6) before losing to Milwaukee in the World Series. He battled a left foot injury in Game 4 of the Series but insisted on staying in the lineup for Game 5.
The profile is one of the best in the game for a third baseman: huge raw power, a solid hit tool, and he doesn’t turn 24 until next May. The one drawback is the lack of speed (just three steals this year), which caps his value in categories leagues compared to some of the players ahead of him. But as a 40-homer, 100-RBI engine at a premium offensive position, he’s a top-five dynasty asset for the next decade.
6. James Wood, OF, Nationals (age 23)
Wood moves up from No. 9 to No. 6 after a second straight 30-homer season, finishing as the No. 16 fantasy player in 2026 despite a month on the shelf. The 6-foot-6 lefty hit .265 with 30 home runs, 77 RBI, 21 stolen bases and more than 100 runs scored, along with an OPS near .890 and an elite walk rate that put him among the three players in the majors with 100 runs and 100 walks. He and CJ Abrams became the 11th pair of teammates in MLB history to each go 30-20, and Wood made his second straight All-Star team.
The lone blemish was an oblique strain that put him on the injured list for the first time in his career in early August and cost him about a month. He was producing at a top-five fantasy pace before the injury (30 homers and 100 runs through 114 games), and elite barrel and hard-hit rates back up the power. The strikeout rate is still high, but with a growing walk rate and real speed on the bases, Wood is a legitimate five-category cornerstone who is still only 23.
7. Juan Soto, OF, Mets (age 27)
Soto drops three spots, from No. 4 to No. 7, after a season shortened by injuries. Two separate stints on the injured list for calf strains limited him to 111 games, and he finished as the No. 76 fantasy player in 2026 while hitting .275/.393/.515 with 27 home runs, 68 RBI, 63 runs and nine stolen bases. The rate stats were still elite (a 147 wRC+ and 78 walks in just 477 plate appearances), but the counting stats weren’t close to the 43 homers, 127 walks and a surprising 38 steals he delivered in his first year with the Mets, and the team missed the playoffs.
The case for patience is strong. The bat never went anywhere, with a 92.6 mph average exit velocity and a 13.9 percent barrel rate, and the injuries were soft-tissue issues rather than anything structural. The big question is the speed: with 9 steals in 2026 after 38 in 2025, his stolen base totals are the part of his value most likely to swing from year to year, and the Mets are expected to give him more time at designated hitter as Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing emerge. A healthy Soto is still a top-five bat, but owners now have to price in some injury risk and less speed.
8. Konnor Griffin, SS, Pirates (age 20)
Griffin jumps from No. 16 to No. 8 as the clear top young asset on the board outside the top five. The consensus No. 1 prospect in the sport entering 2026 made his MLB debut on April 3, collecting an RBI double in his first at-bat, and signed a nine-year, $140 million extension days later, the largest guarantee in Pirates history. His rookie year was a learning experience: he hit .272/.324/.404 with six home runs, 33 RBI, 43 runs and 23 stolen bases in 80 games, missing a stretch of the season with an injury and finishing as only the No. 233 fantasy player because of the missed time and a modest power output.
What drives the jump is the upside. He’s 20, has already run at a 30-plus steal pace, and finished strong with a leadoff homer in the season finale as the Pirates posted their first winning record since 2018. Pittsburgh’s own beat writers expect a much bigger 2027, and the scouting profile (a 6-foot-3 frame, plus speed and developing raw power at shortstop) points to a perennial 20-20 or better bat with room to grow. The lack of 2026 production keeps him just outside the top five, but the long-term ceiling is first-tier.
9. Jacob Misiorowski, SP, Brewers (age 23)
Misiorowski rockets from No. 54 to No. 9 after a unanimous Cy Young season, and he finished as the No. 2 fantasy player in 2026. The 6-foot-7 right-hander went 16-5 with a 1.80 ERA, 252 strikeouts, a 0.80 WHIP and a .157 opponent batting average in 174 2/3 innings, leading the majors in ERA, strikeouts and opponent average, a sweep only three other pitchers had managed since 1950. His 1.80 ERA smashed the Brewers’ franchise record for a starter (2.36 in 1978), and the hardware followed: he was named the NL Cy Young Award winner on November 11 in a unanimous vote, the 24th unanimous winner in the award’s history, ahead of finalists Cristopher Sanchez and Chris Sale. Before that, he helped the Brewers win their first World Series title, throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the Game 5 clincher, going 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in two Series starts, and topping out at 103.5 mph, a World Series record.
The case for caution is about health and workload. He threw nearly 194 innings between the regular season and postseason, up from about 141 last year, and he was removed from Game 5 with right calf cramping. Even so, a 13.0 strikeouts-per-nine rate with a sub-1.00 WHIP is the profile of a true ace, and he’s one of only two pitchers in this top 10 and the one who can swing a fantasy team’s ratios on his own. He’s the biggest mover on the list for a reason.
10. Shohei Ohtani, UT/SP, Dodgers (age 31)
Ohtani falls from No. 1 to No. 10, the biggest drop in the top ten, after an injury-plagued season that ended with the Dodgers getting swept by the Brewers in the NLCS. He still produced at the plate before the second half, hitting .275 with 30 home runs, 81 RBI, 89 runs and 11 stolen bases in 135 games for his sixth straight All-Star appearance, but those numbers represent his lowest offensive totals since joining the Dodgers. He finished as the No. 32 fantasy hitter and the No. 188 pitcher because the injuries erased most of what made him a one-man cheat code: after going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA, 95 strikeouts and a 0.95 WHIP over 14 starts (including a 0.74 ERA through his first ten), left knee inflammation and right biceps tightness ended his pitching season after July 3. He hit just .245 with eight homers after the All-Star break and spent time on the injured list in September.
The good news for dynasty owners is that the Dodgers have said he won’t need offseason surgery, only rest, and both the team and Ohtani expect him to return to two-way duty in 2027. That’s what keeps him in the top ten: a healthy Ohtani remains the most valuable fantasy asset in the sport, with an elite power-and-speed bat and a frontline-ace arm in the same roster spot. But at 31 and with a lost second half to learn from, owners should treat the pitching as a bonus rather than a lock, and the drop reflects genuine questions about how often the whole package shows up.
A look at the Top 25 players in the dynasty rankings
| No. | Name | Pos | Team | Age | Last |
| 1 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | OF | CHC | 24 | 42 |
| 2 | Elly De La Cruz | SS | CIN | 24 | 2 |
| 3 | Jackson Chourio | OF | MIL | 22 | 26 |
| 4 | Bobby Witt Jr. | SS | KC | 26 | 3 |
| 5 | Junior Caminero | 3B | TB | 22 | 11 |
| 6 | James Wood | OF | WAS | 23 | 9 |
| 7 | Juan Soto | OF | NYM | 27 | 4 |
| 8 | Konnor Griffin | SS | PIT | 20 | 16 |
| 9 | Jacob Misiorowski | SP | MIL | 23 | 54 |
| 10 | Shohei Ohtani | UT/SP | LAD | 31 | 1 |
| 11 | Nick Kurtz | 1B | ATH | 23 | 12 |
| 12 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | OF | SD | 27 | 21 |
| 13 | Yordan Alvarez | UT | HOU | 29 | 18 |
| 14 | CJ Abrams | SS | WAS | 25 | 19 |
| 15 | Corbin Carroll | OF | ARI | 25 | 5 |
| 16 | Cam Schlittler | SP | NYY | 26 | 27 |
| 17 | Kevin McGonigle | SS | DET | 21 | 25 |
| 18 | Sal Stewart | 1B | CIN | 23 | 62 |
| 19 | Jackson Merrill | OF | SD | 23 | 92 |
| 20 | Julio Rodriguez | OF | SEA | 25 | 10 |
| 21 | Ronald Acuna Jr. | OF | ATL | 28 | 13 |
| 22 | Tarik Skubal | SP | FA | 29 | 14 |
| 23 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | SP | LAD | 27 | 29 |
| 24 | Paul Skenes | SP | PIT | 24 | 7 |
| 25 | Jose Ramirez | 3B | CLE | 33 | 15 |