Our New Year’s resolution for this year is to compete in our dynasty leagues, and to help us ring in the championship bells, we released our top 50 dynasty third basemen this week.
As with the other positions, Geoff Pontes and Dylan White reveal who they’re targeting, who they think are sleepers, and which old acquaintances should be forgotten at the hot corner. They identify players who they think will meet or exceed their current fantasy value; those whose starting value is outside the top tier at the position but who have a good chance of jumping substantially in value; and those players who are potentially at the peak of their dynasty value.
You can find all of positional rankings, target/sleeper/fades lists, deep dives, articles about strategy and all things fantasy in BA’s Fantasy Baseball 2024 HQ here.
There isn’t much risk identifying a touted prospect as a target, but Caminero is worth investing in without much hesitation because he should meet his lofty expectations. You (should) already know about the prodigious power. Caminero had the highest 90th percentile exit velocity in Double-A and was five years younger than the average age for the level, turning 20 years old in July. His power plays to all fields. His sole home run in the majors went to right center field and he hit a double off a Tanner Houck slider at Fenway Park that hit the spot on the Green Monster that connects to the center field wall. But the Rays’ No. 1 prospect has more than just tremendous bat speed. He also has essentially average contact rates, in-zone contact rates, and chase rates as (again) one of the youngest hitters in the upper levels. I have him as a 30-home run bat — and Steamer and ZiPS essentially do too. Being that young and having multiple projection systems aligning in their endorsement of him despite only 36 major league plate appearances, makes him a high-confidence dynasty target.
Royce Lewis, Twins
Health remains a nagging question for Lewis until he plays a full season. His career spans only 280 plate appearances due to a litany of injuries over the last three years, but the former No. 1 draft pick has 17 home runs, six stolen bases, a .307 batting average, and a 153 wRC+. Despite the scarce major league experience, Steamer still projects him to hit 27 home runs and steal 13 bases with a wRC+ that is 25% better than the average major league hitter. He’ll still only be 24 years old when the season begins, yet carries himself with the…