Hello and welcome to the Dynasty Baseball Pickups written series! With just a few weeks remaining in both fantasy baseball and the minor leagues, that means we only have a few of these articles to go. While it is definitely getting more difficult to find interesting names to recommend, this week’s recommendations aren’t without intrigue. We’ve got a 2025 international free agent arm who skipped over the DSL, a couple of bats with intriguing power/speed blends, a slugger who was moved at the deadline to Taylor’s favorite team, and another arm who has been flying under the radar despite consistently strong performance. Now let’s get into the names you need to know this week.

*Note: all stats current through Friday, September 5/25 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

Ixan Henderson - 23/P/STL/AA

Height/weight: 6’2”/200

Throws: L

Fantrax roster%: 3%

PLive-: 92

PLive Prospect ranking (July ‘25): 302

PLive Tools (‘25): Fastball: 50, Slider: 50, Curveball: 45, Changeup: 45, Command: 50

2024 stats (A/A+): 104 IP, 2.34 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 24.2% K%/9.5% BB%

2025 stats (AA): 127.2 IP, 2.54 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 25.5% K%/9.6% BB%

Why To Pick Up

Henderson is a name I’ve considered writing up for a while now, but every time I’ve dug in, I’ve just found myself a bit underwhelmed despite the fact that he hasn’t posted an ERA above 3.00 at any stop in professional baseball since being drafted in 2023. Eventually, that level of performance demands a deeper dive. He operates with a fastball in the low to mid-90s that tends to perform a bit better than expected thanks to his low arm slot. That low arm slot also helps his secondary stuff play up as both his breaking balls have been effective to hitters on either side of the plate, and his changeup has served him well against righties. The stuff has ticked up a mph or two this year, which has helped him improve his K% around 1% over last year’s full-season mark, but more importantly, it’s up 6% over what he posted in High-A last year.

Shoutout to Matt Thompson, who, in the April 10th edition of the Daily Sheet, called Henderson a sleeper prospect who will climb up lists this year, and he couldn’t have been more right, as Henderson has risen from unranked in our earliest lists this year to a borderline top 300 prospect.

Why To Think Twice

Henderson’s 9.6% BB% and 63.6% strike rate are fringier numbers than you might expect from a “control over stuff” arm with the career numbers that he has posted. He’s also allowed surprisingly high contact rates in his career, including a 76.5% clip this year, yet he’s allowed just a .207 batting average against. His ground ball rate has also dropped in each of the last three years, from 57.1% in his short 2023 pro debut, to 42.8% in 2024, and now 37.8% this season. If it works, it works, but the under-the-hood numbers seem to indicate a prolonged stretch of good fortunes for Henderson.

Final Thoughts

In his fantasy spin of Henderson for the Cardinals' Top 20 list, Greg Hoogkamp mentioned that Henderson is a pitchability lefty who has done well to limit the long ball, despite not generating a ton of ground balls. I’m still not sure he’s much more than a back-of-the-rotation arm, but in a Cardinals organization that always seems to need help in the rotation, that might just be enough. His continued success in Double-A makes him an interesting add in leagues with 300+ prospects rostered, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on his 2026 performance when he will surely be starting the year in Triple-A.

Where to pick up: Leagues with 300+ prospects rostered

FAAB bid: Minimal (0-5%)