2025 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Breakouts from proven model that nailed Jackson Merrill’s strong season

With superstars like Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani commanding $700 million contracts, it’s more important than ever that teams extract maximum value from younger players on controlled contracts. That youth movement has also meant that keeping an eye on top MLB prospects is a critical element to experiencing success in season-long Fantasy baseball as well. With MLB Opening Day 2025 approaching, identifying potential 2025 Fantasy baseball breakouts should be a top priority as you put together your 2025 Fantasy baseball draft strategy.

So who should you be targeting among top Fantasy baseball prospects like Dylan Crews, Jackson Jobe, Andrew Painter and Marcelo Mayer? Crews stole 12 bases on 15 attempts in 31 games during his big-league debut in 2024 and is -185 (risk $185 to win $100) to steal 20+ bases in 2025. A reliable set of 2025 Fantasy baseball rankings can help you identify potential value at every stage of your upcoming drafts. Before finalizing your 2025 Fantasy baseball draft prep, be sure to see the 2025 Fantasy baseball rankings and cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Last season, SportsLine’s Projection Model identified several top Fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts, including Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill.

A consensus top-20 prospect ahead of the 2024 MLB season, Merrill’s 2024 Fantasy baseball ADP hovered in the low-220s because of a perceived blockage at his natural position (shortstop). However, Merrill made the shift to centerfield and won the Opening Day job in San Diego, then quickly made his presence known by slashing .292/.326/.500 with 24 home runs, 90 RBI and 16 stolen bases.

He finished second to Paul Skenes in NL Rookie of the Year voting and was a huge boon for Fantasy baseball managers. The model called the breakout campaign, predicting that he’d outperform that ADP by 8-10 rounds on average. Anyone who took a chance on Merrill at the end of their Fantasy baseball drafts got a multi-category contributor for their Fantasy baseball lineups.

The SportsLine model is engineered by the same people who powered projections for all three major Fantasy sites. And that same group is sharing its 2025 Fantasy baseball rankings and cheat sheets over at SportsLine, helping you find Fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts long before your competition. Their cheat sheets, available for leagues on many major sites, are updated multiple times every day.

Any time more MLB news comes out about free agency signings or Fantasy baseball injuries, the team at SportsLine updates its projections. Go to SportsLine now to see these proven Fantasy baseball cheat sheets.

Top 2025 Fantasy baseball breakouts

One of the Fantasy baseball breakouts 2025 the model is high on: Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki. The 23-year-old was a two-time all-star in Japan and threw a perfect game in 2022 before taking baseball by storm at the 2024 World Baseball Classic. His fastball regularly hits triple-digits and backs it up with an 80-grade splitter with significant movement on both planes at 88-90 mph.

Sasaki was signed by the Dodgers this offseason and should slot right into the starting rotation for the defending world champions. Los Angeles has exceptional starting pitching depth and will reportedly deploy a six-man rotation when Ohtani is ready to return to the mound, which should help protect Sasaki from being overworked. The model ranks the rookie ahead of established veterans like Jose Berrios and Reynaldo Lopez.

Another of the 2025 Fantasy baseball breakouts the model advises targeting: Yankees left fielder Jasson Dominguez. This is the sixth year in a row that the 22-year-old Dominican has been a consensus top-100 prospect and the expectation is that he’ll finally have a chance to earn an everyday role for the Yankees in 2025 after playing 26 games in the Big Leagues spread out over the last two seasons.

Dominguez hit six home runs and stole six bases over his first 26 games in the majors and that power-speed combination should be alluring to Fantasy baseball managers. He has an .816 career OPS over 1,565 minor-league plate appearances and regularly showcased power that was well above average from both sides of the plate as he worked his way through the farm system. Now the model predicts he outperforms Teoscar Hernandez and Spencer Steer, who are both being drafted in the first 12 rounds on average in 12-team leagues. See more breakouts at SportsLine.

How to find proven 2025 Fantasy baseball rankings

SportsLine’s model is also high on a surprising outfielder who is one of the best prospects in baseball. This player is going outside the top 100 picks but is projected to outperform more established outfielders like Lawrence Butler and Kris Bryant. This pick could be the difference in winning your league or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.

So which 2025 Fantasy breakouts should you target in your upcoming drafts? Visit SportsLine now to get 2025 Fantasy baseball rankings for every single position, all from the model that called Jackson Merrill’s big season, and find out.