Hello and welcome to the Dynasty Baseball Pickups written series! With the draft and All-Star break upon us, this is the final set of recommendations of the “first half” of the season. Next week, we will be taking some time to review our work and discuss some of our biggest hits and misses. This week, however, I’ve got four more add recommendations for you including a pitcher who earned a rare mid-season promotion out of the DSL, a young bat from the same org who earned a mid-season promotion to Single-A, an arm we’ve already seen in the majors that’s now taking strides in the minor leagues, and a deep league special with big league bloodlines. I've also got one former top 100 prospect whom I am recommending as a drop. Now let’s get into the names you need to know this week.

*Note: all stats current through Friday, July 11/25 and all minor league Statcast figures are sourced from TJ Stats unless otherwise stated.

Dynasty Baseball Pickups - Prospects Live
Taylor Corso and Kyle Sonntag
Prospects LiveTaylor Corso

Weekend Pickups

Ryan Johnson - 22/P/LAA/A+

Height/weight: 6’6”/215

Throws: R

Fantrax roster%: 12%

PLive-: 80

PLive Prospect ranking (June ‘25): 541

PLive Tools (‘25): Fastball: 55. Cutter: 55, Slider: 60, Changeup: 45, Command: 55

2024 stats: Did not pitch professionally

2025 stats (A+): 54.1 IP, 1.99 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 29.2% K%/4.8% BB%

2025 stats (MLB): 14.2 IP, 7.36 ERA, 1.98 WHIP, 22.2% K%/6.9% BB%

Why To Pick Up

I think most people are familiar with the story of Ryan Johnson at this point - drafted 74th overall by the Angels in 2024, rushed to the big leagues to pitch out of the bullpen in 2025 before ever making a minor league appearance, and eventually sent down to High-A when he couldn’t cut it in the bigs - but what he’s done since getting sent down may not be as commonly known. Or at least it wasn’t until his July 5th start, in which he pitched a complete game shutout with 12 strikeouts, ending up just one hit away from a perfect game. This wasn’t just an isolated good start though, in total Johnson has given up more than two runs just once in his 10 minor league starts and his past four starts have been especially successful as he has gone seven or more innings in each, giving up just four runs (all in one start) on 14 hits and four walks with 32 strikeouts in 30 innings over that span. On top of his nearly 30% K rate in Single-A, he’s also generating ground balls at a near 50% clip.

Johnson typically sits in the low to mid-90s with some sink thanks to his low arm slot, but has reportedly touched as high as 101 in the past. He pairs the heater with a big slider in the lower 80s, a solid bridge pitch in his upper 80s cutter, and a mid-80s changeup that is a work in progress but has shown flashes of playing well off his fastball. While only his slider (and sometimes his fastball when he reaches back for more velo) looks like a plus offering, it's a well-rounded arsenal overall that he controls and mixes well to allow each pitch to play to the best of their potential.

Diving a little bit deeper into his big league numbers offers some reason optimism too; his xERA (3.65) was nearly four full runs better than his actual ERA, his opponents BABIP (.426) and HR/FB rate (21.1%) further imply bad luck, and he elicited ground balls at a strong 49% clip. Even looking at his Baseball Savant page brings further positivity, as many of his metrics (including hard-hit%, average EV, and whiff%) would be above average or better marks in the big leagues.

Why To Think Twice

It’s still an unorthodox delivery with little to no leg kick and a low ¾ release, meaning there will always be some reliever risk. Furthermore, the Angels are not an organization we trust, and Johnson’s path to High-A success is proof of why. He’s also still a highly drafted college arm with unique characteristics, so it isn’t shocking to see him dominating hitters in the lower levels. With a sinker/slider/cutter heavy mix, he’s not likely to be a high strikeout arm in the bigs, which will cap his ceiling.

Final Thoughts

The Angels might end up getting partial marks from a math teacher here for “right answer, wrong process” when all is said and done, but there’s still some time to go before we see for sure if this formula will work out. We need to see how he looks in the upper levels of the minors before calling this a true success for the Angels. At this point, I would say he’s more than earned the promotion to Double-A, but with the way the Angels handle their prospects, don’t be surprised if he gets rushed back to the big leagues - hopefully, it would at least be as a starter this time. The Angels factor makes this a tough one to evaluate, but I would say he’s worth a roster spot in leagues of around 300+ prospects rostered at this point. Thankfully, he should still have plenty of minor league eligibility across all fantasy leagues after throwing just 14.2 big league innings.

Where to pick up: Leagues with 300+ prospects rostered

FAAB bid: Minimal (0-5%)