Fantasy baseball is a made-up game that takes into account the real-life performances of players on the field. Just because fantasy is based on reality, though, doesn’t mean the two always line up just so—especially when it comes to prospects.
After all, value on a baseball diamond can be a whole lot different than value on a fantasy roster, and owners in keeper and dynasty leagues deserve to know the difference.
In recent weeks, five separate reputable industry sources have released their top 100 prospects: Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, Bleacher Report, ESPN.com (subscription required) and MLB.com.
As part of a special project to point out certain prospects who are better or worse in fantasy compared to reality, we tracked those top 100s—well, really four top 100s and one top 101, to be exact—and then dissected them to determine which prospects appeared in all five of the rankings.
It turns out, there are 69 consensus top-100 prospects who made the cut in each.
Not every prospect from that batch neatly fits into either category—better in fantasy or better in reality—but we’ve extracted the top young talents who do.
Here’s a look at 18 prospects, along with their average, highest and lowest ranking from the five top 100s, as well as an ETA and a verdict on whether each profiles better in fantasy or reality.
Statistics come from Baseball Reference.
Fantasy value is based on standard 5×5 scoring for hitters (BA, R, HR, RBI, SB) and pitchers (W, ERA, WHIP, K, SV).