Way back in Januay we tried to predict the unpredictable – the top-40 rookies for the coming season in fantasy baseball. Here is a review of that list wtih comment. Remember, playing the rookie game is something we all love to do each year, but the returns are far from certain.
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | POS | COMMENTS |
| 1 | Bobby Witt Jr. | KC | SS/OF | Was a dynamite fantasy performer with his .254-20-80-82-30. |
| 2 | Seiya Suzuki | FA | OF | Was decent at .262-14-46-54-9, but he wasn’t drafted to be decent. |
| 3 | Julio Rodriguez | SEA | OF | Was spectacular going .284-28-75-84-25 and was rewarded with a massive contract. |
| 4 | Shane Baz | TB | RHP | Made six starts, suffered multiple injuries, and ended the year with TJ surgery. |
| 5 | Josh Lowe | TB | OF | Less than 200 PAs in the bigs but went .315/.402/.556 at Triple-A. |
| 6 | Spencer Torkelson | DET | 1B/3B | Had eight homers and a .604 OPS. Was straight up – awful. |
| 7 | Oneil Cruz | PIT | SS | Future is so bright. Went 17/11 in 87 games. Next year will be fun. |
| 8 | Adley Rutschman | BAL | C | As good as advertised. Hit 13 homers, 35 doubles and posted a .806 OPS. |
| 9 | Joe Ryan | MIN | RHP | Was darn good going 13-8 with a 3.55 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 151 Ks in 147 innings. |
| 10 | Hunter Greene | CIN | RHP | Throws 100 mph and might have figured it out late. Had 164 Ks in 125.2 IP. |
| 11 | Jarren Duran | BOS | OF | Went 10/18 in 68 Triple-A games. Went 3/7 in 58 big league games. |
| 12 | C.J. Abrams | SD | SS | Hit .303 in Sept. but that .604 OPS on the year was terrible. |
| 13 | Riley Greene | OF | DET | Solid MLB start, but in the end that .682 OPS wasn’t anything to get excited about. |
| 14 | MacKenzie Gore | SD | LHP | Started great. Got hurt. Was traded to WAS. In total, 1.47 WHIP in 16 outings. |
| 15 | Vidal Brujan | TB | 2B/OF | Didn’t hit in 2021. Didn’t hit in 2022. Through 62 big league games – .487 OPS. |
| 16 | Seth Beer | ARI | 1B | Didn’t hit in 38 games with a .521 OPS. Just never established himself. |
| 17 | Cristian Pache | OAK | OF | Just 23 years of age, but a .439 OPS in 115 big-league games has his future in doubt. |
| 18 | Grayson Rodriguez | BAL | RHP | Made 17 starts around injuries and – dominated going 2.62 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 13.0 K/9. |
| 19 | Jeremy Pena | SS | HOU | Overall had a darn solid season going .253-22-63-72-11. A .289 OBP is concerning. |
| 20 | Reid Detmers | LAA | LHP | Had 122 Ks over 129 IP with 1.21 WHIP. Strong season for the lefty. |
| 21 | Nick Lodolo | CIN | LHP | Often dominated and racked up a 30% K-rate for 131 punchouts over 103.1 innings. |
| 22 | Joey Bart | SF | C | Had 11 homers with a .660 OPS and 38.5 K-rate. He’s Mike Zunino. |
| 23 | Triston Casas | BOS | 1B | The slugger hit .195 in the bigs but posted a .889 OPS in minors. Only 95 PAs with Sox. |
| 24 | Cade Cavalli | WAS | RHP | Made 1 start in bigs, got hurt, that was it. Had a 1.18 WHIP and a K per inning in minors. |
| 25 | Nolan Gorman | STL | 2B | In 89 games had 14 homers but a .721 OPS and 33 K-rate. Just blah. |
| 26 | Max Meyer | MIA | RHP | Arm issues eventually led to Tommy John surgery. |
| 27 | Edward Cabrera | MIA | RHP | Made 14 starts with a K per inning, an 11% BB-rate and nine HBP. Huge arm. |
| 28 | Nick Pratto | KC | 1B | Played 49 games with Royals with a 36 percent K-rate while batting .184. |
| 29 | Kyle Isbel | KC | OF | Over 278 PAs he went .211/.264/.340 with nine steals in 15 steal attempts. |
| 30 | Brennen Davis | CHC | OF | Back surgery limited him to 53 games with a .597 OPS. |
| 31 | Alek Thomas | ARI | OF | Had some nice outings, but overall .231-8-39-45-4 in 411 at-bats was disappointing. |
| 32 | Austin Martin | MIN | SS/OF | Didn’t happen last year, and got worse this year with two HRs and a .685 OPS in 92 games. |
| 33 | Khalil Lee | OF | NYM | Hit .214 with 10/15. Also struck out 150 times with a .699 OPS. |
| 34 | JJ Bleday | MIA | OF | Hit, if we can call it that, .167/.277/.309 for Miami over 65 games. |
| 35 | MJ Melendez | KC | C | Hit just .217 with a .706 OPS but went 18-62-57 over 534 PAs. |
| 36 | Emerson Hancock | SEA | RHP | Made 21 starts at AA with a 2.42 K/BB, 8.4 K/9 and 1.20 WHIP. Somewhat disappointing. |
| 37 | Jake McCarthy | ARI | OF | Borderline league winner with his second half running. Went .283-8-43-53-23 over just 99 games. |
| 38 | Jordan Groshans | TOR | SS | Hit .301 in the minors for MIA after being acquired. Hit .262 in 17 big league games. |
| 39 | Luis Campusano | SD | C | Had just 50 PAs in the bigs. Can really hit though with .906 OPS at AAA last year and .846 this yr. |
| 40 | Sixto Sanchez | MIA | RHP | Shoulder surgery ended his season. He’s thrown zero official innings the last TWO years. |
