'09 Draft Prep: Top 25 rookies to target

Find yourself wondering how the upstart Tampa Bay Rays outdueled the big-budget Yankees and Red Sox in the AL Beast last summer? Look no further than their farm system.

Every year they churn out cheap talent for the major league team, and not just roster-fillers either. They have a nice collection of legit future superstars.

This, therefore, shouldn't surprise you: For the fourth consecutive year, we list a Tampa rookie as the No. 1 target on Draft Day.

Heck, it is even the one that put the nail in the coffin of the then-defending champion Red Sox in Game 7 of the ALCS -- one David Price. He follows the footsteps of two-time No. 1 Delmon Young, who was traded for ALCS MVP Matt Garza, and last year's No. 1 Evan Longoria. Longoria conveniently won the AL Rookie of the Year and led his team, which had never won more than 70 games in a single season, to the biggest franchise turnaround in major-league history.

So yes, when elite prospects hit big as rookies they can really turn teams around, Fantasy teams not excluded.

David Price made a pretty nice debut during Tampa's World Series run in 2008. (Getty Images)

If the Price is right -- pun completely intentional and hitting you on the head like one of his hard, cut fastballs -- you will have the next AL ROY dominating for you in your Fantasy rotation. In a recent Rotisserie analysts draft, Price was the first pick of the 11th round, and frankly he shouldn't have lasted that long. Perhaps the only reason he stuck on the board that long is because pitching in Rotisserie formats has the tendency to go a little later.

In the case of Longoria, he was picked in your Fantasy draft last year and maybe even dropped at the season's start, since he was sent to the minor leagues. Well, he came up two weeks into the season and was a monster from there on out. Price is more certain to make the team out of spring training, so he is even a safer pick this go around -- even if he has the notorious dangers of counting on young pitching working against him. (How did Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain work out for the Yankees and your Fantasy team last year?).

There are varying timetables that teams and prospects have in a given season, which is why we take the time this year to differentiate between prospects and rookies to target in our preseason draft prep package.

Here are our picks for the rookie-eligible players who are worth considering on Draft Day. Bear with us, though, because position battles this spring can dramatically alter which rookies will have the most immediate impact for Fantasy owners. A rookie drafted in February might not even see the major leagues this year. On the opposite side of the ledger, a Chris Davis-like midseason call-up might not get drafted in any league and provide a huge lift for Fantasy owners during the season.

The possibilities for our Top 25 are endless, so if you want a larger swath of prospects to peruse for Draft Day, check out our Top 100 prospects list. Those are the most intriguing talents in the minors, ignoring whether or not they are real candidates to make the team out of spring training.

In addition to our Top 25 rookies to target and our ensuing Top 100 prospects in Fantasy Baseball, we annually provide you with a quick-reference guide for our preseason All-Rookie and All-Prospect teams. The All-Rookie Team consists of those players we expect to make the most significant impact in Fantasy Baseball this season, broken down by position. The All-Prospect Team is made up of players who will make the most noise this year as burgeoning, long-term superstars, regardless of whether they make it to The Show.

You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Top 25 rookies in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.