Looking Back: The Best Picks of Every HumBabe Dynasty FYPD

In a competitive dynasty league, a strong minor league roster is the difference between having a pipeline of talent versus desperately scouring the waiver wire to fill out a roster. The First-Year Player Draft (FYPD) is a key part of this: it’s often the only opportunity to pick up the top MLB draft picks who are statistically the most likely to become superstars. Here I’ll be recapping some of the biggest difference-makers taken by year in the HumBabe Dynasty League.

Criteria include the player’s career point total, current Fantrax dynasty league ranking, prospect ranking, and as a tie-breaker their value compared to their draft position. I’m considering as well how much the drafting team got from them, whether from directly keeping them or getting significant value for them in a trade. The rankings will be year-by-year for an easier comparison, but I’ll be skipping last year’s draft for now as in my opinion it’s way too early to start picking winners.

2024

1) Nick Kurtz, 1B

#10 to Pablo & the Secret Weapons

MLB: #4 to OAK

Pop quiz: who have been the three best hitters in MLB over the 2025–2026 seasons? You probably got the first two: Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. Number three, though, is none other than the Big Amish himself. Kurtz reached the big leagues less than a year after his draft and has proceeded to hit .280/.393/.565 over his first 209 games. The best part? Kurtz won’t turn 24 until Spring Training 2027.

2) JJ Wetherholt, 2B

#14 to Wally Mash

MLB: #7 to STL

You know you made a good pick when he gets an 8-year, $112 million extension halfway through his rookie year. Wetherholt fits perfectly as the leadoff man in the Cardinals’ breakout offense with his .356 OBP, speed, and solid power, On June 1, a blockbuster 5-player deal sent him to LeBronto Blue James, where his excellent defense will keep him in the lineup every day at a relatively thin position league-wide.

3) Chase Burns, SP

#4 to Lone Star Drillers

MLB: #2 to CIN

The Wake Forest star achieved the rare feat of making his big-league debut in his first professional year and his MLB All-Star debut in his second. The Lone Star Drillers’ rotation is looking much stronger with breakout performances from Burns, Foster Griffin, and Troy Melton to go along with the brilliance of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

4) Trey Yesavage, SP

#8 to Brooklyn Robins

MLB: #20 to TOR

I’ll be keeping the other draft classes to three players for the sake of time, but I couldn’t leave out one of the most exciting young arms in the game and breakout stars of the 2025 postseason. The Robins believed in Yesavage enough to take him well above his MLB draft position and the move paid off big-time. He and fellow breakout starter Jose Soriano were valuable enough to land two of the best veterans in baseball in Spencer Strider and Kyle Schwarber in blockbuster trade with the Coastal Splitters.

2023

1) Paul Skenes, SP

#1 to Galactic Crusaders

MLB: #1 to PIT

I thought for a while on how much credit to give for making the biggest no-brainer pick of all time. In the end I wanted this piece to highlight the best players, and bumping Skenes down for being too good would miss the point. A lot of “can’t-miss” pitchers don’t work out (think Mark Appel or Luke Hochevar who both went #1) while Skenes already looks headed to Cooperstown barring any major injuries.

2) Wyatt Langford, OF

#3 to Eastside Bombers

MLB: #4 to TEX

Langford would probably get more attention if he was drafted in any other year. Since his debut in 2024, he has put up solid production every year with a career 117 wRC+. Just 24 years old, Langford has plenty of time and the five-tool skillset to develop into one of the league’s best outfielders.

3) Jacob Wilson, SS

#5 to London Bag Club

MLB: #6 to OAK

The son of long-time shortstop Jack Wilson, Jacob is a rare throwback to the dead-ball era who is really fun to watch unless he’s playing against your team. In this era of spin rates and pitch shaping, Wilson’s .311 2025 batting average might as well be .361. The GCU product will be scoring a lot of runs in this talented A’s offense.

2022

1) Zach Neto, SS

#14 to Pablo and the Secret Weapons

MLB: #13 to LAA

As of mid-2026, Neto has had far and away the best career of any player taken in 2022. To get this talent with the #14 pick was a massive steal. Unfortunately, that was followed by an equally massive fumble by Pablo in trading him for Taylor Walls and his .585 career OPS.

2) Jackson Holliday, SS

#6 to Golden City Gatekeepers

MLB: #1 to BAL

The former #1 prospect in all of baseball has been a little disappointing so far and his #2 ranking here speaks more to the weakness of the 2022 draft class than his MLB accomplishments so far. Of course, Holliday is still just 22 and has tons of time to develop. 2022 is the Zach Neto draft right now, but it could be remembered as the Jackson Holliday draft in a few years if he leads the Gatekeepers’ young roster into the top tier of the league.

3) Cade Horton, SP

#8 to Perth Platypi

MLB: #7 to CHC

This is another guy who could change the perception of the 2022 draft class. Horton showed a lot of promise in 2025 but has since suffered a few major injuries and is set to miss the entire 2026 season. The Platypi will hope for Horton to join the ranks of pitchers who come back stronger from Tommy John surgery.

2021

1) Gavin Williams, SP

#16 to Orlando Splitters

MLB: #23 to CLE

Williams stands out as the only #16 pick to make this list. He took a few years to hit his stride with the Cleveland Guardians, but is now a solid mid-tier starter who will get you points week in and week out. While the Splitters did not hold on to Williams, they got significant value from him by packaging him in a trade that brought back Willy Adames, Randy Arozarena, and Jesus Luzardo from London Bag Club.

2) Matt McLain, IF

#12 to Say Hey Kids

MLB: #17 to CIN

The short king from UCLA had a rookie year to remember in 2023, hitting .290/.357/.507 and finishing 5th in Rookie of the Year voting. McLain hasn’t had the same level of success since but makes this list by being an important piece on the Say Hey Kids’ 2023 championship squad. He’s still only 26 and we’ll see if he can get his career back on track.

3) Colton Cowser, OF

#15 to Wally Mash

MLB: #5 to BAL

Cowser is another player who makes this list more from the weakness of the draft class than his own production. So far he has been the typical replacement-level fantasy player: good enough to be rostered on a hot streak, as a short-term injury replacement, or for a matchup against the Rockies, but just not enough contact to be a viable everyday player.

2020

1) Spencer Torkelson, 1B

#1 to Lone Star Drillers

MLB: #1 to DET

Torkelson had a bit of an up-and-down major league career compared to his sky-high expectations, but the former ASU star still tops the 2020 list based on having the highest career point total of all HumBabe First-Year Player draftees. At 26 years old, we can’t rule out him having a higher level of play to show us. That would be a great development for the Lone Star Drillers who have kept him all the way to the present day waiting for that big breakout.

2) Reid Detmers, SP

#10 to Golden City Gatekeepers

MLB: #10 to LAA

The Angels are not known for success in developing pitching, but Detmers has become a very good mid-rotation arm this decade. Quality starting pitching is hard to find in a 16-team points league and the Gatekeepers had to be happy with this selection.

3) Garret Crochet, RP

#12 to LeBronto Blue James

MLB: #11 to CHW

When I first saw Crochet’s name in the draft history, I was all ready to put this down as the greatest First-Year Player Draft pick of all time. Unfortunately, this pick was several years before Crochet’s conversion into an elite starting pitcher. Crochet didn’t produce much for LeBronto as a reliever and bounced around between a few HumBabe teams over the following years while missing a lot of time with injuries. Still, I have to give some credit to this 2020 pick for spotting the clear talent.

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One thing I noticed when looking at each HumBabe draft class is how strong the last few years have been compared to before. Have the players themselves been better, or have our drafting skills improved as a whole? The 2024 class has already produced more stars than 2020, ’21, or ’22, even with half the draftees still working through the minor leagues. It’ll be interesting to see if the trend of loaded draft classes continues or if it goes back to be more hit-or-miss like previous years.

-Pablo & the Secret Weapons