While only a few fantasy leagues take defense into account, a good glove keeps struggling or sub-par hitters on the field. Today, I'm going to look at some of the league's best non-catching defenders who are projected to struggle with their offense.
To find the players in question, I used FanGraphs Steamer projections, which include an overall talent component and a defensive component. To get the overall talent, I used wRC+, which combines all of a hitter's offensive contributions into one value, with a 100 wRC+ being league average. A 90 wRC+ is 10 percent worse than the league average.
For the defensive component, I used the combined defensive component (Def) that takes into account runs saved and position. The following list is mainly center fielders and shortstops.
Here are the 30 hitters with a wRC+ under 100 with the best defensive grades.
| Name | Team | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG | wRC+ | ADP | Defense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masyn Winn | STL | 7% | 18% | .255 | .313 | .388 | 97.9 | 261 | 13.5 |
| Ezequiel Tovar | COL | 5% | 24% | .266 | .306 | .443 | 92.4 | 191 | 12.6 |
| Brenton Doyle | COL | 6% | 27% | .248 | .297 | .410 | 81.6 | 165 | 12.6 |
| Dansby Swanson | CHC | 9% | 25% | .241 | .308 | .398 | 98.5 | 146 | 12.3 |
| Ke'Bryan Hayes | CIN | 7% | 20% | .244 | .300 | .355 | 78.2 | 473 | 11.4 |
| Ceddanne Rafaela | BOS | 5% | 21% | .261 | .303 | .428 | 97.4 | 126 | 10.7 |
| Mason McCoy | SDP | 8% | 31% | .203 | .272 | .310 | 66.6 | ND | 10.0 |
| Andres Gimenez | TOR | 6% | 17% | .251 | .313 | .380 | 94.4 | 307 | 9.5 |
| Carson Williams | TBR | 8% | 34% | .213 | .285 | .385 |
While only a few fantasy leagues take defense into account, a good glove keeps struggling or sub-par hitters on the field. Today, I'm going to look at some of the league's best non-catching defenders who are projected to struggle with their offense.
To find the players in question, I used FanGraphs Steamer projections, which include an overall talent component and a defensive component. To get the overall talent, I used wRC+, which combines all of a hitter's offensive contributions into one value, with a 100 wRC+ being league average. A 90 wRC+ is 10 percent worse than the league average.
For the defensive component, I used the combined defensive component (Def) that takes into account runs saved and position. The following list is mainly center fielders and shortstops.
Here are the 30 hitters with a wRC+ under 100 with the best defensive grades.
| Name | Team | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG | wRC+ | ADP | Defense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masyn Winn | STL | 7% | 18% | .255 | .313 | .388 | 97.9 | 261 | 13.5 |
| Ezequiel Tovar | COL | 5% | 24% | .266 | .306 | .443 | 92.4 | 191 | 12.6 |
| Brenton Doyle | COL | 6% | 27% | .248 | .297 | .410 | 81.6 | 165 | 12.6 |
| Dansby Swanson | CHC | 9% | 25% | .241 | .308 | .398 | 98.5 | 146 | 12.3 |
| Ke'Bryan Hayes | CIN | 7% | 20% | .244 | .300 | .355 | 78.2 | 473 | 11.4 |
| Ceddanne Rafaela | BOS | 5% | 21% | .261 | .303 | .428 | 97.4 | 126 | 10.7 |
| Mason McCoy | SDP | 8% | 31% | .203 | .272 | .310 | 66.6 | ND | 10.0 |
| Andres Gimenez | TOR | 6% | 17% | .251 | .313 | .380 | 94.4 | 307 | 9.5 |
| Carson Williams | TBR | 8% | 34% | .213 | .285 | .385 | 85.5 | 452 | 9.2 |
| Nick Allen | HOU | 8% | 20% | .233 | .297 | .313 | 73.5 | 747 | 9.2 |
| Konnor Griffin | PIT | 6% | 25% | .260 | .323 | .396 | 99.8 | 216 | 9.1 |
| Jacob Young | WSN | 7% | 18% | .251 | .313 | .332 | 82.7 | 633 | 9.1 |
| Paul DeJong | NYY | 6% | 32% | .205 | .263 | .366 | 74.7 | 744 | 8.9 |
| Anthony Volpe | NYY | 8% | 24% | .229 | .294 | .392 | 91.5 | 352 | 8.5 |
| Jose Siri | LAA | 6% | 36% | .201 | .261 | .370 | 72.3 | 747 | 8.4 |
| Johan Rojas | PHI | 5% | 21% | .247 | .293 | .350 | 77.6 | 750 | 8.1 |
| Vinny Capra | BOS | 8% | 21% | .239 | .309 | .348 | 81.1 | ND | 8.0 |
| Jake Meyers | HOU | 8% | 21% | .251 | .319 | .378 | 96.9 | 440 | 7.7 |
| Victor Scott II | STL | 8% | 21% | .226 | .299 | .324 | 78.9 | 337 | 7.6 |
| Miguel Rojas | LAD | 7% | 14% | .256 | .311 | .373 | 92.1 | 649 | 7.6 |
| Colson Montgomery | CHW | 8% | 30% | .218 | .295 | .413 | 96.2 | 241 | 7.2 |
| Otto Lopez | MIA | 7% | 15% | .266 | .321 | .390 | 97.0 | 212 | 7.1 |
| Bryce Teodosio | LAA | 5% | 31% | .219 | .273 | .320 | 64.0 | 747 | 7.0 |
| Ryan McMahon | NYY | 11% | 32% | .211 | .304 | .371 | 90.8 | 414 | 6.9 |
| Trey Sweeney | DET | 8% | 27% | .224 | .294 | .358 | 82.1 | 741 | 6.8 |
| Kyle Isbel | KCR | 6% | 19% | .243 | .296 | .370 | 82.2 | 700 | 6.7 |
| Denzel Clarke | ATH | 8% | 33% | .229 | .301 | .369 | 84.9 | 397 | 6.6 |
| Ernie Clement | TOR | 4% | 10% | .272 | .307 | .399 | 95.9 | 288 | 6.5 |
| Nacho Alvarez Jr. | ATL | 8% | 21% | .238 | .317 | .334 | 85.3 | 726 | 6.5 |
| David Hamilton | BOS | 9% | 23% | .228 | .299 | .362 | 81.2 | 716 | 6.5 |
And here are my thoughts on a few of the players.
Masyn Winn: After a mini breakout in 2024 (15 homers, 11 steals and a .267 average), Winn regressed in all aspects of his game in 2025 (nine homers and nine steals while hitting .253). Most of his struggles occurred because of a knee injury he dealt with for most of the season.
Star shortstop Masyn Winn was scratched from Tuesday's starting lineup due to more knee pain, and it was later revealed that he has been playing through a torn meniscus. Rather than place him on the injured list, the Cardinals have opted to keep him on the roster for the rest of the year in hopes they can reach the postseason and they believe that his 2026 season will be in jeopardy.
Once the season was over, he had surgery on the knee. The key to his value going forward is how long it will take for him to rebound from the injury and operation. For me, I'm staying away this year.
Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle: After Hunter Goodman, these are the two best hitters on the Rockies, and they're projected to be below average. They would barely be fantasy-relevant if they didn't steal bases and didn't get the Colorado batting average boost.
Dansby Swanson and Ceddanne Rafaela: They barely make the list with their wRC+ just a couple of points below 100. Both are being drafted in the first 150 picks and provide solid fantasy stats.
Ke'Bryan Hayes: While his fielding is elite, he's a horrible hitter. He has a 63 wRC+ in 966 plate appearances over the past two seasons. Of the 155 hitters with at least 900 PA, his 63 wRC+ is the worst. The next lowest hitter is Jonah Heim with a 71 wRC+. The only way I could see adding Hayes would be for a week against a weak opponent, hoping for a stolen base (he averaged 11 over the past three seasons).
Mason McCoy: I had to check a couple of times to make sure he wasn't a catcher. If you thought Hayes had no talent, McCoy is even worse. He hasn't done anything in the majors, with a 49 wRC+ in 84 plate appearances.
Andres Gimenez and Ernie Clement: The Blue Jays have some great up-the-middle infield defense with bad offense production.
Gimenez dealt with quad and ankle injuries last year, limiting him to 369 plate appearances. Even before the first injury, he just had a 64 wRC+. Another issue is that he has a sizeable platoon split over the past three seasons, with a .673 OPS against righties and a .619 OPS against lefties. The Blue Jays took notice and sat him against five of the last six lefties the team faced.
As for Clement, there are more positives. He went crazy in the postseason (.977 OPS). Since most of the improvement was BABIP-based, regression is expected, but he'll likely see more playing time to start the 2026 season.
Also, Clement might have a bit more power coming since he increased his bat speed as the season progressed. He had a .099 ISO in the first half and a .151 ISO in the second.
Carson Williams: If only Williams could hit the ball. He has a 64 percent contact rate in both Triple-A and the majors.
Konnor Griffin: My only surprise with Griffin is that projections have the game's top prospect as a below-average hitter.
Jake Meyers: Meyers changed his profile from being a bad power hitter (going from 13 homers to three) to a good contact hitter (improving his batting average from .219 to .292) by lowering his launch angle (from 14 to 10 degrees). By getting on base more (improving his OBP from .286 to .354), he was able to steal 16 bases. It's a solid profile for a fantasy manager looking to add batting average and steals late in a draft.
Victor Scott II: Scott's lack of power (.080 ISO) and batting average (.216 AVG) make him just a stolen base only play (34 steals) in roto leagues.
Colson Montgomery: After not living up to his potential while in the minors, Montgomery went all the way down to complex ball last season to make some adjustments. He came back and hit 21 homers in 284 plate appearances. He's going to have to keep the power up, because he could be batting average drain if he maintains a sub-70 percent contact rate. He'll need to improve his contact rate soon, because he's right on the line of becoming either Nelson Velazquez or Kyle Schwarber.
