Top 10 Dynasty Baseball Players for 2027
By JD, Founder.
Top 10 Dynasty Baseball Players for 2027, from the FanRanked Staff dynasty board. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Bobby Witt Jr., Junior Caminero and the rest of the top 10 players, with a note on each player.
This is the first published article in my FanRanked 2027 Dynasty Series.
You can expect to see my Top 1000 Dynasty Rankings ready to go by the time drafts start in 2027, and along the way I will be publishing articles with my analysis.
The whole board, every ranked player with every note, is in our dynasty baseball rankings, updated through the offseason.
This differs from my in-season rankings, which are more reactive and prone to changes on a day by day basis. Each player is thoughtfully placed and will be more or less static until we have more 2027 data to influence their outlook.
Without further ado, here is the top 10 for 2027.
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The Top 10
#1 Pete Crow-Armstrong OF CHC 24.5
I agonized over who to rank #1 in this dynasty refresh, and it basically came down to three players for me: PCA, Witt, and Caminero. I think they are in a league of their own and clearly tier 1 players above everyone else.
PCA has clearly been the most valuable player for 2026 and anyone holding him on their team had a good shot to win the championship this year. The reason I debated whether this made him the #1 dynasty asset is the fact that he hasn't done it all year. He was objectively terrible to start the season, and he has come on so hot in the second half that it's hard to remember how tough that first stretch was. At one point I had him as low as 35th overall and the consensus dynasty rankings that I track had him as low as 52 overall.
He also doesn't have as compelling of a sabermetric profile as Witt or Caminero, as his exit velocities are a touch lower and his strikeout rate is a touch higher than both of them. However, he has an ideal launch angle and is willing to run rampant in every situation and pile up stolen bases. If I had to guess, I don't think PCA finishes as the number one player next year (woah hot take I know, way to call your shot) but on a risk-adjusted basis I think you're more or less guaranteed to get a ton of contribution from him in four of the five categories (ex: AVG) and that plays really well in a 5x5 dynasty format. There's also a certain intangible factor to him that I can't really quantify that makes me think that he really prides himself on being the face of the Cubs, and the potential face of baseball, and I feel like he will want to accumulate counting stats to justify his status.
If I have the number one pick in a dynasty league next year, I think I have to go PCA. I wouldn't fault anyone for taking one of the top 3 guys, but PCA is my pick (kicking and screaming).
#2 Bobby Witt Jr. SS KC 26.3
If Bobby Witt Jr. was PCA's age, I think he'd be the #1 player for me. It's really that 2-year age gap (26 vs 24) that makes the 5th, 6th, and 7th years of this analysis lean in favor of PCA because he will still be in his prime while BWJ will be on his way out. It's hard to truly have a 7-year mindset when it comes to dynasty leagues, but that is the lens that I'm viewing these rankings through. I want to make sure that I start out these rankings as faithful to the rules as possible.
As for BWJ's actual performance this year, he largely underwhelmed. Right? Or did he actually put together a pretty strong season all things considered?
In a season, I think we'd all agree was the down season for him, he still had an OPS hovering around .800, stole 43 bases, and hit 18 home runs while only striking out 17% of the time (as of this writing on September 21st, would love to see him get to 20/40). Runs and RBIs are more of a function of the team rather than him, but he wasn't a negative in that department and was among the league leaders in runs at 87.
The underlying savant metrics still back up his abilities at the plate, with a higher max EV than Junior Caminero and an average EV eclipsing mashers like J-Rod and Ben Rice. If this is what a down season looks like for BWJ, then you're establishing an incredibly high floor and should be able to rely on him for stats at least this good, with a ton of upside in 2027. He may not have as high a ceiling as PCA, but the floor is among the highest of anyone in baseball and I'm happy taking this profile with my second pick.
#3 Junior Caminero 3B TB 23.2
I had to fight myself from putting Junior Caminero first overall, but you can't put a guy who doesn't contribute in stolen bases first overall unfortunately. He is far and away my favorite bat in baseball and at only 23 years old I think he still has room for growth here. Something that doesn't necessarily concern me but that I wasn't really aware of is that his launch angle was only 9.9 for 2026. I feel like this means that there is, incredibly, actually more upside in the homerun department if he learns to lift some of these balls he's mashing into the ground or hitting for 115 mph singles.
If I had to pick one player in the major leagues next year to bet on hitting 50 home runs, Junior Caminero is the easiest call out there. If he continues hitting the ball this hard, maintains a sub-20% K rate, and finds a little bit of a greater launch angle, stolen bases be damned, it's going to be hard to not make him the #1 overall player in dynasty leagues when he's knocking on the door of 60 HRs.
#4 James Wood OF WAS 24.0
James Wood just missed being in the top tier of dynasty assets for me, because his injury in the second half derailed what otherwise would have been a monumental season for him.
At the ASB, he was on a 162 game pace of 47 HR / 25 SB with a .279/.410/.575 slash, which would have made him far and away the most valuable player outside of PCA this year. He also hits the ball much harder than any of the guys in the top 3 (95.3 avg EV), although that comes with a higher K rate at 28.6%.
Unfortunately, that oblique strain really torpedoed his second half and clearly has been affecting him since he came back from the injured list. Interestingly enough, it hasn't necessarily tanked his exit velocities as he's actually at 96.4 avg EV in the last 30 days, but instead caused a dramatic reduction in his barrel rate to 7.7%. I think this is the risk with James Wood and why he is not in the top tier for me. When you run K rates close to 30%, you're prone to some intense streakiness that you don't necessarily want to see from your #1 overall player.
James Wood is still an elite asset to own and if I had the fourth pick, I would be very happy taking him here but his warts and second-half 2026 performance keep me from really putting him in the top tier of dynasty assets.
#5 Elly De La Cruz SS CIN 24.7
Elly has come on like a bat out of hell in the last month, and gone from my 10th-ranked dynasty asset to the 5th-ranked in the process. He is one of the bona fide faces of the MLB at this point, despite being only 24 years old, because he's been around since 2023 and has performed at an elite level every year.
This year he has taken another step forward and improved in basically every measurable category but the two that I find the most compelling are the nearly 3 mph jump in avg exit velocity and the 11% walk rate, despite keeping his swing and miss largely the same compared to 2025. We are one launch angle adjustment away from him being a perennial 40-plus home run threat, but I do love that in general his game seems to be shifting from more of a speed-based profile to a power profile.
Another a unique aspect of Elly's profile is that he suddenly became a lefty masher in 2026 after being clearly deficient against lefties for his career. Prior to this year I would have argued that Elly should only hit from the left side but this year he slashed over 1.000 OPS against lefties, with 10 home runs in only 181 PA (vs 18 HR in 428 PA vs righties). I'll be curious to see if this is just an aberration or something that persists on a yearly basis going forward.
I don't really have any complaints with Elly. The only reason he's not the top tier for me is the same reason James Wood's isn't: the inflated K rate is going to lead to streakiness and that's not something I can overlook. I can see an argument for taking Elly over James Wood but I don't have him over my top three guys right now.
#6 Jackson Chourio OF MIL 22.5
I think my first five players are more or less run of the mill, in line with what you'd expect to see from any dynasty list. Jackson Chourio might be my first bold take at number 6, but I couldn't justify putting him any lower than this.
Chourio debuted at 20 years old and has done nothing but succeed at the major league level. I think the issue is that he hasn't thrived, just merely succeeded, and that's why people overlook him when it comes to the elite players in the league. Everything is trending in the right direction for him: His 2026 xwOBA was the highest of his career. His exit velocity has jumped 2 mph while his launch angle is continuing to improve, and he's hitting .285 while putting up his third straight 20/20 season.
My bet isn't that this is Jackson Chourio's final form, but that what we are seeing is just Chourio maturing at the big league level rather than getting his seasoning in the minor leagues. Sometime in the next 3 years, he is going to establish himself as one of the most valuable players in fantasy baseball and put up a 30/30 or knock down the door of a 40/40 season and blow everyone away. Everything I'm seeing tells me that he is trending in the right direction, and if a manager in your league is suffering from Chourio fatigue I think this is the year to jump in and scoop him up. The 2026 offseason might be the last time before he truly establishes himself as a bona fide star in both fantasy baseball and the MLB.
#7 Shohei Ohtani (Hitter) DH LAD 32.2
Ohtani is going to start my 3rd tier of dynasty players, and I think we are in for a wake-up call when it comes to how we can expect to see Ohtani used going forward. I think Ohtani's days of playing 150+ games every season are gone. The most responsible thing for the Dodgers to do would be to throttle his usage and make sure that he is healthy for the full season, including the playoffs, and not risk an overuse injury in July.
Can he still be an elite player at 140 games per season? Absolutely. Is he also 32 years old and subjecting himself to a completely novel workload that we don't know how it will affect him in the future? Also yes.
To be fair, I think this workload effect manifests itself more with his pitching exposure rather than him being able to DH but I think you'll see a little bit of an effect on his offensive statistics regardless. Part of me wants to move him down even more (because this is supposed to be a 7-year dynasty projection) but I also think Ohtani can continue to be an absolute force at the plate into his late 30s.
No projection methodology can account for the unique athlete that Ohtani is, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and not trust the aging curves here.
To be clear this ranking is just the hitter version of him. I'm not going to try to rank the hitter/pitcher version of him because I think it's too difficult to compare him to everyone else in the league when you have the whole package working for you.
#8 Juan Soto OF NYM 27.9
Juan Soto is a generational talent and while I don't want to say he has been underestimated when it comes to how valuable he has been, I think it's worth just putting some of his performance into context through his age-27 season. Some of my favorite stats:
Soto is clearly a generational talent and his ranking here reflects more his position on the aging curve rather than his talent. If he were 24 or 25 years old, he would be in consideration for number 1 for me. Unfortunately, I don't think he will age that gracefully, as he's starting to get a little thick and I don't think he can stay this elite forever. I still think there will be a very great 3- to 4-year stretch where you can ride his generational talent until it becomes clear he is not the same player he once was. In OBP leagues he's still a top-five asset for me.
#9 Fernando Tatis Jr. SS/OF SD 27.7
My gut wants me to rank FTJ much lower than 9th, but as I dove into the data, my brain told me I couldn't rank him lower than this.
Outside of PCA he has been the second most valuable player in the second half of 2026. In some ways he's been even more valuable than PCA, with a higher xwOBA and a K% of only 15%.
He also has everything you'd expect to see from a player who would be in the top 10 dynasty assets from an underlying metrics perspective. The Savant page is glowing red and things have generally improved, most notably, for me, the K rate, which has come down from nearly 30% in his rookie year to 18.6% this year and 18.7% in 2025, while still maintaining elite exit velocity numbers.
So why is my gut telling me not to rank him 9th? I feel like he is one of the most volatile players inter-season in the top 10 and is not as young as some of the guys above him on this list. I was fully ready to bury him in my rankings and more or less did back in June when I had him ranked 50th overall and thought he was a shell of his former self. I'm also concerned his launch angle issues could reemerge and take his 25-homer seasons below 20 as his speed starts to decline and his profile starts to look like Xander Bogaerts.
In an ideal world, he begins selling out for more power and starts hitting 30+ home runs a year, a la Manny Machado, and holds his value into at least his mid-30s. If he takes that path expect him to be valuable for the full 7-year period this analysis covers.
#10 Nick Kurtz 1B ATH 23.5
This ranking should be CJ Abrams' spot; he's done nothing but earn it this year with a 30/30 season. But as the reigning president of the Nick Kurtz fan club, it would be irresponsible of me to rank him outside of the top 10 on any dynasty list.
I feel like Kurtz is the first player on this list whose production this year doesn't justify a top-10 spot on its own, which should tell you how I feel about Nick Kurtz's potential. Remember he's only 23 years old and was drafted in 2024 so he has not even entered what should be his prime yet.
From this point onward in the rankings, every player is going to have their warts and there is no complete player, so you have to go by upside in a dynasty list like this. Let's talk about his potential upside, he's 98% or greater in the following categories:
This profile screams when I hit the ball, I'm absolutely doing damage. I don't think there's a single player in the big leagues outside of maybe Yordan Alvarez and Aaron Judge that have this impressive batted-ball profile, but Nick Kurtz is only 23 years old. Compared to 29 for Yordan and 34 for Judge. The issue is he doesn't always "hit the ball":
And both of those stats actually trended worse in 2026 compared to his rookie year, the threat of a low batting average is very real if he doesn't improve on this.
If you're at the 10th pick in your dynasty league, all of the surefire bets are gone and everyone has their warts. It's either age, sporadic performance, or some metric in an otherwise reliable skill set that gives you pause. I think Nick Kurtz's combination of youth and upside is the most attractive bet left after the first nine players are spoken for.
If your league really values pitching, the Miz is a fine bet at number 10 overall. If you want to give yourself the best chance to win next year, maybe Yordan is your guy. If you're looking for more of a 30/30 skill set, then I wouldn't fault you for taking CJ Abrams. All I'm saying is don't overlook Kurtz in 2027.
Top 10 at a Glance
Updated September 24, 2026. The board moves all season, so see the full dynasty baseball rankings for the current order and every player's note.
| # | Player | Team | Pos | Age |
|---|--------|------|-----|-----|
| 1 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | CHC | OF | 24.5 |
| 2 | Bobby Witt Jr. | KC | SS | 26.3 |
| 3 | Junior Caminero | TB | 3B | 23.2 |
| 4 | James Wood | WAS | OF | 24.0 |
| 5 | Elly De La Cruz | CIN | SS | 24.7 |
| 6 | Jackson Chourio | MIL | OF | 22.5 |
| 7 | Shohei Ohtani DH | LAD | DH | 32.2 |
| 8 | Juan Soto | NYM | OF | 27.9 |
| 9 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | SD | SS/OF | 27.7 |
| 10 | Nick Kurtz | ATH | 1B | 23.5 |
📚 The Series: Top 10
Players in this article
- James Wood
- Junior Caminero
- Nick Kurtz
- Aaron Judge
- Ben Rice
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- CJ Abrams
- Elly De La Cruz
- Fernando Tatis Jr.
- Jackson Chourio
- Juan Soto
- Manny Machado
- Pete Crow-Armstrong
- Xander Bogaerts
- Yordan Alvarez
About the author
JD, Founder at FanRanked. Former professional baseball player of 5 years, hardcore fantasy baseball fan for much, much longer.