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Ohtani is quite simply one of the greatest baseball players to ever walk the planet. If a shred of doubt remained, he did away with it with two all-time postseason performances: a three-homer game against the Brewers to clinch the NLCS that included six scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts on the mound, likely the greatest single-game performance of all time, before he reached base a major-league postseason record nine times in Game 3 of the World Series. His 2025 regular season was a slight step backward from 2024, as he didn't go 50-50, managing 55 homers and a mere 20 stolen bases in 158 games. Still, he posted an OPS over 1.000 for the third consecutive season and cruised to his third straight MVP award (second straight in the National League). By the end of the campaign, he looked fully back in form on the pitching mound, though those that draft Ohtani in weekly leagues will still want to plan to use him in the UT spot most of the time.

The Mets missed the playoffs, but the first season of Soto's record 15-year, $765 million contract with the club has to be considered a resounding success, at least from an individual standpoint. He smacked a career-high 43 home runs, his second straight season clearing 40, and led all of Major League Baseball in walks with 127 during the regular season. Most surprisingly, Soto tied for fourth in the National League with 38 stolen bases, more than triple his previous career high of 12. The season was not free of adversity, as Soto hit below .220 in May and July, and he had former hitting coach Eric Chavez in his ear trying to get him to be more aggressive. Soto stuck with his approach and in the end was a finalist for NL MVP while earning his sixth career Silver Slugger. The steals seem largely fluky and a return to single digits is even possible given his bottom 13th percentile sprint speed, but everything else appears ultra safe, cementing one of the highest production floors on the board. Keep in mind Soto is still just entering his age-27 season.

The veteran shortstop has traditionally been a slow starter throughout his MLB career, but he came out of the gate hot in 2025 with an .886 OPS through his first 41 games. Lindor cooled off after that, however, and posted a .208/.278/.379 slash line in the next 74 contests before again catching fire in August and September. All told, he finished the regular season with 31 homers, 31 steals, 86 RBI, 117 runs and a .267/.346/.466 slash line in 732 plate appearances. Despite the in-season ups and downs, it was another highly productive campaign for Lindor, who has batted between .254 and .270 in each of the past four seasons while averaging 30 homers and 27 stolen bases during that span. Now entering his age-32 campaign, Lindor should push for another 30-30 season in 2026 and has plenty of upside for run production while batting atop a strong Mets lineup. He underwent a cleanup procedure on his elbow early in the offseason but should be ready to go for the start of spring training.

Carroll endured a disappointing 2024 campaign after being named the National League Rookie of the Year the prior season, but he bounced back in 2025 to deliver a career-high .884 OPS. The 25-year-old also posted career highs in homers (31) and RBI (84), along with 32 stolen bases and 107 runs scored. Carroll missed some time in the middle of the season due to a chip fracture in his wrist, but he still played in 143 games and was one of seven players to post a 30-30 season. In addition to the offensive production, he was one of the better defensive outfielders in MLB with plus-8 Defensive Runs Saved and plus-10 Outs Above Average. The increased power output appears to be sustainable since Carroll doubled his barrel rate to 14.5 percent and improved his hard-hit rate nine points to 49.9 percent in 2025. Now entering his fourth full MLB season, Carroll is a safe bet to deliver a third straight 20-20 campaign and has a realistic chance of repeating the 30-30 performance.

Schwarber exploded for a career-high 56 homers during the 2025 regular season, most in the National League, while driving in 132 to lead all of baseball. He was also fifth in MLB in walks with 108, made his third All-Star team and finished as the runner-up for MVP. Only Aaron Judge has more home runs than Schwarber over the past four seasons, and he's now cleared the century mark in both runs and RBI each of the last three years. Strikeouts have always held down his batting average, though Schwarber's finished in the .240s the last two seasons after dipping below the Mendoza Line as recently as 2023. After testing the waters in free agency for a short period of time, Schwarber ultimately agreed to return to Philadelphia, signing a five-year, $150 million deal in December. A liability in batting average and requiring the UT spot in fantasy, Schwarber carries immense appeal regardless thanks to his elite power and run production.

Whether fair or not, De La Cruz's 2025 season will be remembered by fantasy players for one thing above all: a 74-game stretch from late June to mid-September in which he hit just one home run. He still reached 22 homers for the season despite that power outage, but as a whole it was a step backward from his excellent sophomore campaign with the Reds. De La Cruz once again led the league in errors, leading to questions about his future at shortstop, and while he finished seventh in MLB in steals with 37, that was down from 67 the year prior. He showed improvement with his strikeout rate, although he gave back some of those gains in the second half as his struggles mounted (28.2 K%, .666 OPS after the break). De La Cruz is an incredible athlete playing in a band-box park who's already established a sky-high ceiling entering his age-24 season, but there is now a new wave of questions surrounding him; did he simply bottom out down the stretch or was it indicative of something more? Will he make the next round of adjustments? Could a positional change affect his hitting?

Freeman reflected back on his 2024 season and liked it so much, he replicated most of it in 2025. It is uncanny how similar many of his statistics are between the two seasons. He remains a five-category producer from first base, although his days of stealing double-digit bases are essentially over due to his age and the ankle concerns from 2024. He has now hit 20-plus homers in each of the last nine full seasons of baseball while driving in at least 70 runs and scoring at least 80 runs in each of those seasons. He hasn't hit below .275 since 2012 and has hit .295 or better in nine of the last 10 seasons. His 114.1 mph maxEV, 10.4 Barrel% and 45.7 HardHit% were all up from 2024 and in line with his career norms. The closest thing to a red flag is that Freeman's 13.4 percent swinging-strike rate and 20.4 percent strikeout rate were abnormally high, so he appears to be sacrificing a little contact for bat speed. Freeman has two more years on his contract with the Dodgers, and while age-related decline could come at any point for the 36-year-old, that possibility is sufficiently factored into his redraft cost.

The veteran outfielder was sidelined for nearly the first two months of 2025 while finishing up his rehab from ACL surgery, and he hit the ground running with three homers in his first eight contests after making his season debut in late May. Acuna also missed some time midseason due to a calf strain but returned for the final six weeks of the campaign with no apparent issues. Acuna ended up playing in 95 games and totaled 21 home runs, nine stolen bases, 42 RBI and 74 runs scored with a .290/.417/.518 slash line. The steals total is particularly notable given that Acuna tallied 73 stolen bases during his last full season in 2023, but it's not a major surprise that he was limited on the basepaths in his first year back from knee surgery. Availability remains a bit of a concern since the outfielder has played 100 games in a season just twice in the past five years. Acuna is entering his age-28 campaign and could be one of the top fantasy players in baseball in 2026, but he'll need to stay healthy and ramp his activity on the basepaths back up.

Olson has played in all 162 games in each of his four seasons with Atlanta, averaging 36.5 home runs and 108.8 RBI per year since making the jump to the National League. His reliable presence has propped up a lineup that has been without stars like Ronald Acuna and Austin Riley for long stretches and has seen dramatic fluctuations in performance from players like Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris. While he had impossibly large shoes to fill in replacing Freddie Freeman in Atlanta, Olson has exceeded all reasonable expectations since leaving Oakland, making two All-Star teams while adding a third career Gold Glove in 2025. Entering his age-32 season, Olson has the longest active consecutive games streak in MLB and one of the longest of the modern era, which provides drafters with peace of mind. His strikeout rate has steadied at around 25 percent, a totally acceptable level given his immense power from the left side of the plate. Olson boosts his OBP with a walk rate that has reached double digits six years running.

Turner fell short of 20 homers for the first time in a full season since 2019, managing just 15 long balls in 639 regular-season plate appearances, but he won his second career batting title in 2025, settling at .304. Best of all for fantasy managers, Turner added 17 steals to his 2024 total, with the 36 thefts last season representing the third-highest total of his illustrious career. He did that despite missing most of September with a hamstring strain. At 32 years old, Turner is not old enough to warrant the Ageless Wonder title, although he may earn it if he continues swiping bags at this rate into his mid-30s. The hamstring issues both of the past two seasons provide reason for skepticism, but Turner ranked at the very top of the sprint speed leaderboard last season and there is no reason to think the steals will dry up overnight, so long as he stays on the field. Availability remains the biggest concern, but Turner has surged past 600 plate appearances four of the past five seasons. He should continue to bat first or second for a top-five offense in the National League.

Marte continued to be the most productive second baseman in baseball during 2025, with his 145 wRC+ leading qualified players at the position for a second straight year. The 32-year-old's run production (87 runs and 72 RBI) was a bit depressed since he played in just 126 games due to a hamstring injury that sidelined him for most of April, but he still clubbed 28 homers with a .283/.376/.517 slash line while posting a career-best walk rate (11.8 percent). Marte's batting average bottomed out at .240 in 2022, but he's hitting .283 over the past three years and is averaging nearly 30 homers per season. Marte is typically good for one stint on the injured list, but he's still averaging 137 games played across the past four seasons. That's worth keeping in mind as he enters his age-32 campaign, but Marte is still a safe bet to be one of the top second basemen in MLB again in 2026.

Machado saw his homer total decrease for a fourth straight campaign in 2025, though his 27 long balls still gave him 10 straight full-length seasons with at least 25 homers. The veteran third baseman was more active on the basepaths with his highest number of steals (14) since 2018, while his .275/.335/.460 slash line was almost exactly what he posted in 2024. Machado produced an .855 OPS across his first four years with San Diego, but over the past three years he has a .792 OPS. His 123 wRC+ in 2025 still ranked fourth among qualified third basemen, but it's worth noting the drop-off as he heads into his age-33 campaign. His durability remains a strength, as Machado has missed 12 games or fewer in 10 of the past 11 seasons. Additional regression doesn't appear to be imminent given his 51.4 percent hard-hit rate and 12.9 percent barrel rate last season, so Machado is a safe bet for another strong season in 2026, even if he isn't quite the MVP-level contributor he was earlier in his career.

Betts won a third straight Silver Slugger in 2024 in his first season working as a full-time shortstop, but he took a step back during the 2025 regular season with a .258/.326/.406 slash line in 150 games. He clubbed 20 homers during his age-32 campaign for the eighth time in his MLB career, though his eight stolen bases are the first time he's failed to reach double digits since playing just 52 games as a rookie in 2014. Betts batted leadoff or second for the Dodgers all season, which helped him rack up 82 RBI and 95 runs scored, but it was still the least productive year of his career. Betts struggled defensively at shortstop the previous two years, but he found his footing in 2025 and finished with plus-17 DRS and plus-5 OAA. He'll have single-position eligibility in 2026 after making just one appearance in the outfield. Betts' hard-hit rate dropped to a career-low 35.8 percent, though a .258 BABIP, .276 xBA and .435 xSLG indicate he may have deserved some better offensive results. Now entering his age-33 campaign, Betts has a decent floor for counting stats given Los Angeles' elite lineup, but he no longer appears to be the player that was a consistent MVP candidate.

Devers' 2025 season was a whirlwind. In his very first interview with the press in spring training, Devers indicated he would not be willing to move to designated hitter to accommodate the arrival of Alex Bregman to the Red Sox lineup, saying "third base is my position." While Devers changed his tune and opened the year at DH, he butted heads with the front office again in May when it asked him to replace the injured Tristan Casas at first base, with Devers refusing. Before long, Devers would be gone from the organization, dealt to San Francisco in mid-June in what was essentially a salary dump. Devers totaled 20 homers in just 90 games after the trade, bringing him to 35 for the season, although his overall numbers were down a bit with the Giants as his strikeout rate jumped to close to 30 percent. Ironically, Devers ended up making 28 starts at first base for San Francisco, gaining eligibility there for 2026. He's now in a notoriously pitcher-friendly home park, but Devers, a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger, has already had time to adjust and should be more settled in and comfortable by the start of the upcoming campaign.

Tatis finally produced a full season of results in his sixth year of playing at the big league level. Shoulder injuries and suspensions robbed him of playing time in previous seasons, but Tatis avoided those maladies in 2025 in an effort to get the Padres deep into October baseball. Those aspirations did not materialize, as the Padres were quickly eliminated from the postseason, but Tatis set new career highs in steals with 32 and runs with 111. The increased time on base (.368 OBP) helped both of those marks, as Tatis rediscovered his presuspension plate discipline and got back to accepting the walks to utilize his base-running abilities. The 42 homers from 2021 already were looking suspicious with the hindsight of his PED suspension, but 2025 saw Tatis hit at least 20 homers for a third consecutive postsuspension season as well as for the fourth time in his career. While he seems a little older, he turns 27 over the winter and will once again hit either first or second in the San Diego lineup. A repeat of his 25-25 season absolutely is possible and a 30-30 season is a stretch goal for this profile, but envisioning above and beyond that would be greedy.

Skenes continued to show what all the hype was about upon his arrival to the big leagues, winning his first Cy Young Award in unanimous fashion in 2025 after winning Rookie of the Year in his debut season. The right-hander dominates with an overpowering fastball that averages 98 mph and a wide array of secondary pitches, including the sweeper, splitter, changeup and so on. He now owns a 5.22 K/BB and 1.96 ERA over 320.2 innings in the majors, numbers which put him on an early Hall of Fame trajectory at the age of 23. Skenes alone could not prop the Pirates out of the cellar in the NL Central, and in fact he became the first Cy Young winner with a record of .500 or worse, highlighting the issues here in regards to team context. The park is favorable, however, and Skenes' combination of stuff and command is rivaled by few, making him an obvious first-round candidate for 2026 and potentially the first pitcher off the board in fantasy drafts despite the lingering threat of TJS that is inherent with the game's hardest throwers.

Yamamoto, in his second season stateside, shaved half a run off his ERA, finishing fourth among qualified starters with a 2.49 mark, while nearly doubling his regular-season workload from 90 to 173.2 innings. His 0.99 WHIP, meanwhile, ranked sixth among qualifiers, as he allowed just 113 hits and 59 walks compared to 201 strikeouts. The 27-year-old really shined during the Dodgers' postseason run with a 1.45 ERA and two complete games, including the first complete game in the World Series since 2015, even earning World Series MVP honors. Also a Cy Young finalist in the National League, Yamamoto held opponents under .200 on all three of his top offerings: the four-seamer, splitter and curveball. The split-finger pitch in particular was a standout, and his breakout on the game's biggest stage has thrust Yamamoto firmly into the top five among starting pitchers for 2026 drafts. There is the question of whether he can repeat the workload, and the walks are a tad high for an ace, but nonetheless he projects extremely favorably with the potential to add to his wins total.

Sale won the NL Cy Young Award in 2024 with arguably the best year of his career, but early in 2025 it looked like Father Time may have caught up to him in his age-36 season. The left-hander had a 6.17 ERA in his first five starts, but he quickly found his footing from there and gave up just nine earned runs in his next 10 starts before a ribcage fracture resulted in a two-month absence. Sale returned for the final month of the campaign and pitched well, finishing the season with a 2.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 165:32 K:BB across 125.2 innings. The numbers are comparable to his Cy Young campaign, which is remarkable given how poorly he pitched early on. He can obviously still sling it, but availability is a major concern, especially considering that he turns 37 years old in March. Sale has made more than 20 starts in a season just once since 2019 and hasn't had a 30-start season since 2017, so fantasy managers should expect him to miss time at some point in 2026.

The Brewers' Opening Day starter for the second season in a row, Peralta enjoyed a career year in 2025, leading the NL in wins with 17. He shaved almost a full run off his ERA, lowering it to 2.70 last season. As good as Peralta was, the main differences from past years were a low BABIP (.243, career .264) and a high strand rate (85.5 LOB%). Luck was on his side, but the right-hander also had whiff rates of 35 percent or higher on three of his four pitches. He has now reached 30 starts in each of the last three years, averaging over 200 Ks per season in that span. While he's under contract at a very reasonable $8 million salary for the upcoming campaign, Peralta's name has been mentioned often in trade rumors this winter, as Milwaukee entertains the idea of parting with its ace. It's difficult to imagine him landing in a better situation, but Peralta should be highly sought after no matter where he's pitching in 2026.

Sanchez followed his breakout 2024 campaign with an even stronger effort in 2025. Paul Skenes, in another year, would have been a unanimous choice for NL Cy Young, but Sanchez as well as Yoshinobu Yamamoto peeled away a few votes once everything was tallied. Sanchez was one of just three starters to work at least 200 innings while posting the fifth-best ERA of all qualified pitchers and ninth-best K-BB percentage. He had as many scoreless outings (four) as he had outings in which he allowed four or more earned runs while also striking out 11 or more batters in four other contests. A more stabile Philadelphia bullpen likely would have helped Sanchez win more than just 13 of his 32 starts, but only free agents get to choose their teammates. Sanchez won just two of his final nine starts despite a 2.83 ERA and 61 strikeouts to just nine walks over 57.1 innings, as the Phillies struggled down the stretch. Sanchez has missed one start over the last three seasons and should once again be in contention for the NL Cy Young Award in 2026. Next time someone says the Rays win every trade, remind them the club gave away Sanchez for Curtis Mead, and walk away laughing (or crying.)

Pivetta truthers were finally able to rejoice in 2025, as the enigmatic pitcher finally put together the season prognosticators and fans believed Pivetta could put together on an annual basis. The hurler crossed the country in free agency and found a home in San Diego, where he set career highs in wins, ERA, quality starts, strikeouts and, most importantly, his lowest home run total as a starter. Pivetta has long teased about his potential with strikeouts and control, but command issues in the strikezone along with the unforgiving run environments of Philadelphia and Boston led to too many home runs and annual ERAs over 4.00. Petco Park and the marine layer helped him put it all together, as Pivetta was able to avoid everything that had ailed him in the past. He adjusted his repertoire to include seven pitch types, and now throws at least five different pitches to both righties and lefties. The .235 BABIP and 79 percent LOB percentage are both career bests, so it would be wise to bake in some regression for 2026 and at least look for something halfway between 2024 and 2025 results.

Webb continues to be one of the most reliable starting pitchers in baseball, as he delivered his third consecutive 200-inning campaign in 2025, and he's the only pitcher in baseball to reach that threshold multiple times in the past three years. Across 34 starts last season, he finished with a 3.22 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 224:46 K:BB. The ERA was his best since 2022, and he produced a career-high 9.7 K/9 (up from 7.6 in 2024) while also tying his career high with 15 wins. The boost to strikeouts and the win column was a welcome sight for fantasy managers since those two areas are Webb's weakest. He's entering his age-29 campaign and doesn't offer quite as much upside as other ace-level pitchers given that he's less reliant on strikeouts, but Webb's durability still makes him an elite starting option in an era without many dependable, high-volume arms.

"If you can't beat them, join them." That's exactly what Snell did last winter when he signed a five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers, the team that bested Snell's Rays in the 2020 World Series. A bout of shoulder inflammation put Snell on the injured list two starts into the 2025 season, costing him four months. The left-hander returned to go 4-4 with a 2.41 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 68:18 K:BB over 52.1 innings spanning nine starts down the stretch of the regular season before adding three wins with a 3.18 ERA and 41 more strikeouts over 34 postseason innings. His fastball was more hittable last season, though he only gave up three total homers in his 61.1 regular-season innings. A two-time Cy Young winner, Snell has often missed time due to injury throughout his career, twice reaching 30 starts. More of the same should be expected in 2026 -- both the missed time and the high-level performance when available. A third Cy Young is not out of the question but should be considered unlikely given his injury history and with the Dodgers always prioritizing the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

Injuries once again sabotaged Greene's season, as he hit the IL twice due to groin issues, totaling just 107.2 innings during the 2025 regular season before adding on an additional three innings in the wild-card round. He pitched brilliantly when available, posting a 2.76 ERA and a career-best 0.94 WHIP to go along with a 132:26 K:BB and only two hit batsmen after plunking an MLB-high 19 the year prior. The home-run rate jumped back up to 1.25 HR/9 after he made major strides there in 2024, suggesting the 2024 campaign will end up being the outlier in that regard. Still, despite the groin issues, Greene continued to showcase elite velocity for a starting pitcher, averaging 99.5 mph on his four-seamer, along with excellent swing-and-miss ability, ranking in the 89th percentile or above in Chase%, Whiff% and K%. His home park in Cincinnati doesn't help with the occasional bouts of gopheritis, and he's still mostly fastball-slider, but Greene has now performed at a near-Cy Young level for two consecutive seasons, making good on his prospect promise. Having reached 150 innings only once so far, Greene is still looking to add that final piece of the puzzle.

It was a tale of two halves for Imanaga in 2025. The Japanese lefty posted a 2.65 ERA and 0.93 WHIP across 12 starts before the All-Star break, though he did also miss nearly two months with a hamstring strain. In the second half, he saw his ERA bump up to 4.70 and his WHIP went up to 1.04. Imanaga continued to regress in the playoffs, posting an 8.10 ERA in two postseason starts. Between his 2024 MLB debut and 2025, he also saw his K/9 dip from 9.03 to 7.28. Imanaga remains a talented pitcher, though perhaps Chicago was worried about his declining performance, as the Cubs declined his three-year, $57.75 million team option in early November before the two sides eventually settled on a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer. Imanaga can still be a positive addition to a big-league roster as well as fantasy teams, but his ceiling might be a bit lower than what he displayed in 2024 and early in 2025.

The 2025 season was an odd one for Senga. He got off to a superb start, collecting a 1.47 ERA and 70:31 K:BB across 73.2 innings covering his first 13 outings. Senga strained his hamstring in that 13th outing, which held him out of action for a month, and he looked lost upon his return, posting a 5.90 ERA over nine starts before being shockingly demoted to Triple-A Syracuse. The smart money is on the hamstring issue throwing Senga's mechanics off and him being unable to right that ship, but even when Senga was healthy early in the season, the strikeouts were down and the control was iffy. The Ghost Fork remained a deadly pitch for Senga in 2025 (.210 xwOBA, 41.8 percent whiff rate), but the league didn't have trouble with the rest of his repertoire. He'll likely be better in 2026 if he can stay off the injured list, but Senga might have peaked in his rookie season.

Schwellenbach made modest improvements to his ERA (3.09), WHIP (0.97) and walk rate (4.1 percent) in 2025, but he was limited to just 17 starts due to a season-ending elbow fracture he sustained in late June. The right-hander was back to throwing before the end of the season and should be healthy to open 2026, but the injury derailed a campaign with high expectations coming off a breakout rookie season in 2024. The encouraging news going forward is that Schwellenbach dealt with a fracture rather than a ligament issue, especially considering that the right-hander already underwent Tommy John surgery a few years ago. He has yet to establish himself with a full season in a big-league rotation, but Schwellenbach has about as much upside as any pitcher with a 3.23 ERA through 38 career starts. If he can stay healthy in 2026, he should be a top-end starter in Atlanta's rotation.

Diaz was his dominant self in 2025, ranking second among qualified relievers with a 1.63 ERA and 38% strikeout rate, while tying for fifth with a 0.87 WHIP. Perhaps his most impressive highlight was an absurd 33-game stretch during which he permitted only 1 ER, posting a 0.27 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 50:11 K:BB across 33.2 innings. Diaz didn't produce as many saves (T-11th) as some of the other full-time closers - he was limited to just five over the final two months as New York crumbled down the stretch - but his stability in the role was among the highest in the league. Given his outstanding performance, the right-hander declined his $18.5M option for 2026, which would have been a $3M pay cut compared to what he earned last year. He also declined the Mets $22.05M qualifying offer, instead signing a 3-year, $69M deal with the Dodgers to set a new record for a reliever based on his $23 million average annual value. Diaz will take over as closer for the two-time defending World Series champs.

Between Minnesota and Philadelphia, Duran established a new career-high with 32 saves. The 28-year-old recorded 16 apiece for both the Twins and Phillies to lead both clubs in the category. Over the final two months of 2025, Duran had an 80% team save share for Philadelphia, which represented a shift in manager Rob Thomson's approach to the ninth-inning. While Duran's strikeout rate rate dipped slightly, he led qualified relievers in groundball percentage thanks to his splitter; a pitch he continues to rely more and more on each season. In fact, it was his primary offering (40 percent usage) in 2025, producing a -11 degree launch angle on batted ball events. He also threw an occasional sweeper (5.6 percent usage) to right-handed hitters, generating a 55 percent whiff rate on the pitch. Duran is favored to open 2026 as the Phillies' primary closer and his upside for 40-plus saves currently has him going as the third closer off the board, on average.

Contreras played through a left middle finger fracture for much of the 2025 season, which may have contributed to his downtick in production. The veteran backstop won the Silver Slugger in 2023 and 2024 but saw his slash line drop to .260/.355/.399 last season, with that slugging percentage being a reduction of over 50 points from the previous two years. He finished with 17 home runs, 28 doubles, 76 RBI and 89 runs, all of which were notable drops from his 2024 production. Despite the injury, Contreras finished third among qualified catchers with 659 plate appearances, and he's likely to have one of the heaviest catching workloads in the league again in 2026. He's entering his age-28 campaign and seems likely to return to his prior level of production once healthy, since Contreras had near-identical OPS's of .825 and .831 in 2023 and 2024, respectively. He'll likely begin 2026 as the No. 1 catcher in the National League.

In a lineup with no less than three future Hall of Famers, Smith tends to get overlooked, but he's been a key piece in the Dodgers' success. The catcher set career highs in several categories in 2025, including batting average (.296) and OBP (.404), earning his third consecutive All-Star selection. He cleared 4.0 fWAR for the third time in five years despite falling short of 500 plate appearances for the first time this decade, as he missed the final few weeks of the regular season with a hairline fracture in his right hand. After being limited to pinch-hitting duties in the wild-card round, Smith returned to slash .276/.364/.414 with a couple home runs during the team's postseason run, including the go-ahead homer in Game 7 of the World Series. Promising youngster Dalton Rushing made his MLB debut in 2025, totaling 41 appearances at catcher (37 starts), but Smith remains the clear No. 1 option behind the plate and a regular middle-of-the-order presence for the best team in baseball. Too bad he can't DH on his off days.

Ramirez burst onto the scene in 2025 with four doubles and three home runs in his first five career games, and 12 extra-base hits in his first 15 games. Traded from New York to Miami in the 2024 Jazz Chisholm deal, Ramirez ultimately totaled 55 extra-base hits as a rookie, tying Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez for the most in team history for a catcher. He also surprised many by stealing 16 bags, most among catchers last season. While he may not be a burner, ranking in the bottom third of the league in sprint speed, the stolen-base element is one he previously displayed in the minors (22 steals in 24 attempts between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024). Ramirez remained efficient on the basepaths in his first major-league season, only getting caught three times in 19 attempts. If his poor defensive grades are any indication, Ramirez won't be playing catcher much longer, but for the time being, he offers a rare profile at the position. The numbers get a scarcity bump in two-catcher leagues.

Baldwin drew high praise from Chris Sale and other veteran members of the Atlanta pitching staff early on in spring training, and an injury to Sean Murphy cemented Baldwin's status as the team's primary catcher to begin 2025. The Madison, Wis. native would go on to slash .274/.341/.469 with 19 homers and 80 RBI across 446 plate appearances, winning NL Rookie of the Year. While his pop times and framing metrics left a bit to be desired, Baldwin graded well in terms of blocking behind the plate. Statcast suggests Baldwin actually underperformed by BA and SLG as a rookie, as his low strikeout rate (15.2%) and quality batted-ball numbers portended slightly better. Assuming Murphy is healthy to begin 2026, the two players will likely split catching and DH duties, with Baldwin having the leg up for playing time as the No. 1 catcher on the depth chart. Entering his age-25 season, Baldwin has shown enough of a skills baseline to be worthy of top-10 consideration at the position.

Every season, one hitter breaks out in Colorado. Nolan Jones did so in 2023 and Brenton Doyle did so in 2024. Few people had Goodman as the 2025 breakout, but the masher was one of the lone bright spots for an otherwise dreadful Colorado club. We knew Goodman had power, as he hit 36 home runs in 2022 and 34 homers in 2023 in the Colorado farm system, but a lot of those home runs came in friendly parks, and his abysmal showing at the big league level in 2024 scared many away. The thing about Colorado is the depth chart is very fluid, which is how these breakouts continue to happen. Goodman got off to a hot start with five homers and a .268 average in the first month of the season and hit between five and seven homers every month but May over the course of the season. He slightly improved his strikeout rate while drawing a few more walks while hitting 18 of his 31 homers away from Coors. His big improvement in batting average was helped by him hitting .307 at home compared to .248 on the road, and by season's end, only Cal Raleigh was more valuable at the catching position than Goodman was for fantasy managers. The thing about these Colorado breakouts is both Jones and Doyle flopped the following season, so it will be interesting to see what Goodman does as a follow-up, as well as who is next in Denver.

Moreno missed more than two months due to a fractured right index finger and was limited to 83 games, the second straight season in which injuries impacted the catcher. When healthy, he slashed .285/.353/.433 with nine home runs, all career highs. Upon his return in mid-August, Moreno was prominent in the Diamondbacks' push for a playoff spot, posting an .863 OPS over his final 30 games. The bat appears to be slowly catching up to his defense, as Moreno enjoyed career bests in barrel percentage (7.1), hard-hit rate (43.4) and exit velocity (90.4 mph). The team re-signed fellow backstop James McCann, and the two were often in the lineup in September with Moreno serving as the DH. With the development of Moreno's offense, he could find more work at DH, which would limit his wear and tear behind the dish. Re-signing McCann gives Arizona a competent defender and allows prospect Adrian Del Castillo to be an emergency third catcher/DH that could lead to more games played for Moreno.

Injuries continue to be a major problem for Alvarez, who missed the first few weeks of 2025 due to a left hand fracture and then suffered a torn UCL in his right thumb in August. The 24-year-old catcher returned from the IL and gutted it out for most of September before undergoing surgery early in the offseason, but the end result was still a 2025 campaign in which he played just 76 games. Despite the limited volume, Alvarez tied his homer total from 2024 with 11 long balls and improved his slash line across the board to a career-best .256/.339/.447, and that type of production is an encouraging development after he posted a .716 OPS across his first two seasons. He should enter 2026 locked in as the Mets' No. 1 catcher and has significant fantasy upside given the offensive improvements last year, but the durability concerns are a major mark on his profile. Alvarez could be a steal for fantasy managers if he's able to stay mostly healthy in 2026, but he's seemingly just as likely to be on the injured list for half the season.

Kelly got off to a scorching hot start in 2025, which put him squarely on the fantasy radar, though he did fall off as the year went on. The catcher was sporting a 1.347 OPS with seven home runs and 21 RBI through the end of April, and the scintillating numbers forced the Cubs to keep Kelly in the lineup over Miguel Amaya on a regular basis. Not surprisingly, Kelly slowed down with an OPS below .700 in four of the next five months to round out the season. However, Amaya couldn't stay healthy and only ended up playing in 26 games, which allowed Kelly to match his career high of 111 games played as Chicago's clear No. 1 backstop. The veteran is under contract with the Cubs again in 2026, so he should once more have a sizeable role, particularly if Amaya continues to deal with injuries. That will give Kelly some fantasy appeal, though he's a career .229 hitter with a .696 OPS, so the first month of 2025 looks like an outlier and not a preview of what's to come.

Bailey set personal bests with 135 games and 452 plate appearances, catching the fourth-most innings in MLB and leading all catchers with 19 defensive runs saved-nearly double the total of the runner-up. Unfortunately, unless your league rewards defense, that elite glove does little to move the needle. Even with a workload that ranked 13th among catcher-eligible players, Bailey finished just 37th in home runs, 17th in runs, and 14th in RBIs, while posting the sixth-lowest batting average among catchers with at least 350 plate appearances. The core issue is simple: he strikes out too often, and the contact he does make is weak. While some strong defenders eventually carry their hand-eye skills to the plate, Bailey's rising strikeout rate points the other way, leaving him relevant mainly as a volume-driven second catcher in deep formats.

The Cardinals did not set out to have Pages lead them in starts at catcher each of the last two seasons, but that's what happened. In 2025, Willson Contreras made a full-time move to first base and Ivan Herrera spent most of the year either injured or at designated hitter, leaving Pages to shoulder the catching load. He earned a plus-6 in Statcast's Catching Runs and managed to pop 11 home runs across 389 plate appearances, but Pages' .272 on-base percentage and wRC+ of 77 wasn't pretty. The Cardinals' plan, again, is to feature others ahead of Pages at catcher in 2026, but you know what they say about best-laid plans.

Davis is heading down a path former teammate Austin Hedges blazed before him. Davis is now 660 plate appearances into a major league career and has a .181/.262/.294 line to show for it with terrible strikeout rates for the return on investment in his production. His stolen base prevention keeps Davis around because, like Hedges, Davis can throw frozen ropes to the bases. The struggles hitting major league hitting continue to be frustrating as Davis hit .337 in college for Louisville and .290/.407/.529 in over 800 minor league appearances. The bat speed remains for Davis, but the results must still be lost on the side of the road between Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh depth chart at catching includes himself, Endy Rodriguez, and Joey Bart, the last of which is out of options. Unless Bart is dealt somewhere, Davis feels destined for a return to Indianapolis to work on his swing. Something needs to change in a hurry for the chasm between the expectations for Davis and reality grows too far to bridge.

Ruiz's Statcast page looks more like that of a reserve infielder than a strapping catcher. He has one of the lowest strikeout rates in the league-overall, not just among catchers-but his quality of contact is weak. Before last season, he was a fly ball hitter, so he would occasionally power one over the fence. However, last season his ground ball rate spiked to a career-high 47.4 percent, further limiting his power. Slowly hit ground balls combined with third-percentile sprint speed are not a recipe for success. In late June, Ruiz was struck in the head by a line drive while he was in the dugout. The freak accident cost him the season, as he spent the remainder of the year on concussion protocol. Expected to be cleared for spring training, Ruiz is still set to serve as the Nationals' regular catcher despite poor defensive metrics thanks to the eight-year extension he signed in 2023, but while steady playing time will help his counting stats, his overall offensive output is likely to remain modest unless he rediscovers his fly ball tendencies.

Freeman reflected back on his 2024 season and liked it so much, he replicated most of it in 2025. It is uncanny how similar many of his statistics are between the two seasons. He remains a five-category producer from first base, although his days of stealing double-digit bases are essentially over due to his age and the ankle concerns from 2024. He has now hit 20-plus homers in each of the last nine full seasons of baseball while driving in at least 70 runs and scoring at least 80 runs in each of those seasons. He hasn't hit below .275 since 2012 and has hit .295 or better in nine of the last 10 seasons. His 114.1 mph maxEV, 10.4 Barrel% and 45.7 HardHit% were all up from 2024 and in line with his career norms. The closest thing to a red flag is that Freeman's 13.4 percent swinging-strike rate and 20.4 percent strikeout rate were abnormally high, so he appears to be sacrificing a little contact for bat speed. Freeman has two more years on his contract with the Dodgers, and while age-related decline could come at any point for the 36-year-old, that possibility is sufficiently factored into his redraft cost.

Olson has played in all 162 games in each of his four seasons with Atlanta, averaging 36.5 home runs and 108.8 RBI per year since making the jump to the National League. His reliable presence has propped up a lineup that has been without stars like Ronald Acuna and Austin Riley for long stretches and has seen dramatic fluctuations in performance from players like Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris. While he had impossibly large shoes to fill in replacing Freddie Freeman in Atlanta, Olson has exceeded all reasonable expectations since leaving Oakland, making two All-Star teams while adding a third career Gold Glove in 2025. Entering his age-32 season, Olson has the longest active consecutive games streak in MLB and one of the longest of the modern era, which provides drafters with peace of mind. His strikeout rate has steadied at around 25 percent, a totally acceptable level given his immense power from the left side of the plate. Olson boosts his OBP with a walk rate that has reached double digits six years running.

Devers' 2025 season was a whirlwind. In his very first interview with the press in spring training, Devers indicated he would not be willing to move to designated hitter to accommodate the arrival of Alex Bregman to the Red Sox lineup, saying "third base is my position." While Devers changed his tune and opened the year at DH, he butted heads with the front office again in May when it asked him to replace the injured Tristan Casas at first base, with Devers refusing. Before long, Devers would be gone from the organization, dealt to San Francisco in mid-June in what was essentially a salary dump. Devers totaled 20 homers in just 90 games after the trade, bringing him to 35 for the season, although his overall numbers were down a bit with the Giants as his strikeout rate jumped to close to 30 percent. Ironically, Devers ended up making 28 starts at first base for San Francisco, gaining eligibility there for 2026. He's now in a notoriously pitcher-friendly home park, but Devers, a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger, has already had time to adjust and should be more settled in and comfortable by the start of the upcoming campaign.

Harper once again failed to reach the 150-game plateau, having last done so in a full season back in 2019. He has suffered a variety of injuries from one requiring Tommy John Surgery to dealing with a left thumb fracture, a left forearm injury, a left hamstring injury, and, most recently, wrist inflammation, which kept him out most of the month of June. Despite the injuries, Harper remains a five-category producer, although the missed time limits how much he excels in any one of those categories. The 2025 season was more about quantity than quality, because Harper did not excel in any one offensive category as much as he did even in 2024. The wrist soreness was no doubt a factor in the decline at the plate, but his approach and discipline remained intact even if his ability to hit the ball as hard as he normally would waned. There is little reason to believe that 2025 is a warning of a slowdown for Harper, because had he remained on the field as much as he did in 2024, he would have likely exceeded that season's production. He remains one of the better options at first base in fantasy baseball as long as you do not yearn for his pre-Covid production levels.

Contreras opted to stick around in 2025 during the Cardinals' rebuild, and in order to do so he agreed to move to first base. The hope was that a full-time move off of catcher could unlock more offensively from the 33-year-old. It didn't exactly happen, at least from a rate stats perspective, as Contreras' OPS dipped below .800 for the first time in four seasons. However, part of the benefit of not playing catcher anymore meant better health and more playing time for Contreras, who netted career highs in RBI (80), doubles (31) and runs (70). Unfortunately, he no longer has catcher eligibility, and at first base Contreras is more of an average fantasy option, especially when factoring in his pitcher-friendly home park and middling supporting cast.

Busch took a massive step forward, totaling 34 home runs and 90 RBI to go along with an .866 OPS during the 2025 regular season, finishing as a top 10 first baseman in standard scoring. He wasn't done there, however, adding four more long balls in eight postseason games for the Cubs. At 27 years old, Busch shaved five percentage points off his strikeout rate while ranking in the 90th percentile or above in barrel rate, average exit velocity and xSLG, per Statcast. The Dodgers have done just fine since trading Busch to Chicago in January of 2024, but Busch has distinguished himself as more than a spare part in his current organization. Despite middling defensive grades and sizable platoon splits, Busch is expected to remain a near-everyday starter in 2026, sitting against some lefties.

We all know the drill, and the trap. Every season, someone comes out of nowhere and breaks out in Colorado from after pick 500 on ADP charts and we wonder where this came from. There are certain things which point to Crim having a Lloyd Christmas-like chance in becoming that player in 2026. Crim hit .292/.37/.503 in nearly 3000 minor league plate appearances with 124 homers but was waived by the Rangers in late July when the Rockies picked him up. He hit 8 homers between Triple-A and the majors for the Rockies to close the season. The best thing Crim has going for him is that he can hit the ball hard and the Rockies are downright terrible. This is the same organization which gave Michael Toglia 337 plate appearnces before cutting the cord on his time with the club. The Rockies have no reason not to see whether Crim's hard contact abilities can translate into Coors. The first base situation on the club is currently wide open, so there's a chance Crim can take this job and run with it as the Rockies lose another 110+ games.

Last year was a big win for those in dynasty leagues betting on Stewart's high-end hit tool eventually unlocking above-average or better power. He closed the year hitting 15 home runs in 56 games across Triple-A and the majors, logging a .315 ISO in the International League and a .291 ISO in MLB as he logged career-best groundball rates below 38 percent at each stop. He has been a remarkably strong hitter throughout his pro career, logging strikeout rates below 18 percent, a batting average over .275 and a wRC+ over 125 at every minor-league stop en route to his big-league debut Sept. 1. He slashed .255/.291/.545 with a 5.2 percent walk rate and 25.9 percent strikeout rate. His xSlash of .296/.412/.651 and 52.5 HardHit% portend a strong sophomore campaign, as he'll likely strike out less and walk more in his age-22 season. Stewart, who enters the year eligible at first base, can play third, second and first, although it's possible he gets a good deal of run at designated hitter in 2026. He has stolen between 10 and 17 bases each of the last three years in the minors, but he didn't attempt a steal in the majors and is an average runner at best.

A pair of second-half injuries limited Smith to just 87 games, including only eight appearances after July 5. He was productive when healthy, though his performance represented a step down from the previous season. In 2024, his success was more skill-supported compared to last year, when he required an inflated .377 BABIP to offset a career-high 31.9 percent strikeout rate. As has been true throughout his career, Smith rarely faced left-handed pitching, with 92 percent of his plate appearances coming against right-handers. After trading Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez at last season's deadline, the Diamondbacks are reshaping their lineup, leaving Smith to compete for playing time at first base and designated hitter. While he has been productive in back-to-back seasons, relying on a third straight year carries risk unless he can rein in the strikeouts, as another BABIP spike is unlikely.

Marte continued to be the most productive second baseman in baseball during 2025, with his 145 wRC+ leading qualified players at the position for a second straight year. The 32-year-old's run production (87 runs and 72 RBI) was a bit depressed since he played in just 126 games due to a hamstring injury that sidelined him for most of April, but he still clubbed 28 homers with a .283/.376/.517 slash line while posting a career-best walk rate (11.8 percent). Marte's batting average bottomed out at .240 in 2022, but he's hitting .283 over the past three years and is averaging nearly 30 homers per season. Marte is typically good for one stint on the injured list, but he's still averaging 137 games played across the past four seasons. That's worth keeping in mind as he enters his age-32 campaign, but Marte is still a safe bet to be one of the top second basemen in MLB again in 2026.

Hoerner hasn't embraced a slugging mentality like many MLB players have in recent years, but he still has a place in fantasy lineups. That's largely due to his speed, as Hoerner swiped 29 bases in 2025, and he now has 103 steals over the past three years. The infielder has also been a consistently good contact hitter. He batted .297 last year and is a career .282 hitter. The Cubs don't always put Hoerner atop the order, opting instead to roll with Michael Busch regularly in 2025, at least against righties. However, Hoerner profiles as a traditional leadoff option, and his ability to get on base, tally steals and score plenty of runs makes him an intriguing player from any spot in a strong Chicago lineup. Drafting Hoerner means looking for power elsewhere, but the 28-year-old has plenty of fantasy appeal heading into 2026, and his outlook would get a boost if he manages to bat first most days.

Turang's main fantasy value in 2024 came from steals (50) while also providing a solid batting average (.254) and runs (72), but he was a much more well-rounded contributor last season. The second baseman posted a .288/.359/.435 slash line with 18 home runs, 24 stolen bases, 81 RBI and 92 runs in 156 games in 2025, with the power output being especially surprising after hitting just seven long balls the previous season. That power production was mostly limited to one month, however, as he caught fire in August with 10 homers and a .343 average. Still, Turang made significant strides in quality of contact and improved his hard-hit rate nearly 18 points to 47.4 percent and his average exit velocity over four ticks to 91.1 mph. The improved contact may have been due to taking harder swings (his bat speed went up more than four mph to 70.7 mph), though his strikeout rate also increased almost six points to 22.8 percent. The increased swing-and-miss was certainly worth the tradeoff for more power, and it positions Turang to potentially becoming one of the most productive second basemen in MLB. Even if he doesn't become a regular 20-homer guy, he'll still offer a ton of fantasy upside as a speedster with a high average, especially if he can get his steals back up to his elite production in 2024.

Albies could at least partly blame his disappointing 2024 season on injury. He didn't have that excuse in 2025, however, and he was even worse, finishing with just a .671 OPS and wRC+ of 87. After reaching the 30-homer mark in each of his previous two full seasons, the 29-year-old hit only 16 long balls across 667 plate appearances before his year ended with a fractured hamate bone during the final week of the season. Albies' batted-ball data has always been underwhelming, but his hard-hit rate (30.7 percent), barrel rate (4.9 percent) and average exit velocity (87.5 mph) in 2025 were all easily his lowest over the past three campaigns. He'll be recovered from hamate surgery well ahead of Opening Day, and Albies should be too young to be entering a decline phase of his career. That would seem to point to a bounce-back year in 2026, but it's hard to believe that with conviction for a guy who has disappointed in three of the last four seasons.

Garcia burst out in 2024 with 18 homers, 22 steals and a .762 OPS, but he was unable to maintain that production last season. The second baseman finished 2025 with a .252/.289/.412 slash line, which was about a 30-point drop in each category, though he still provided decent power and speed production with 16 homers and 14 stolen bases. Garcia's .701 OPS last year was much closer to the .690 mark he posted across his first four seasons, and it's possible that one season ends up being an outlier. However, Garcia delivered career bests in hard-hit rate (45.8 percent) and barrel rate (9.0 percent) last season, leading to a .284 xBA and .460 xSLG that are much closer to his 2024 numbers. Those figures indicate he could be due for some positive regression, especially since he also had the highest average exit velocity (90.2 mph) and worst BABIP (.270) of his career. Garcia doesn't have a super high ceiling and could provide middling numbers again in 2026, but he has 20-20 potential if he maintains his quality of contact and gets more favorable batted-ball luck.

Edwards showcased his upside in 2024 with a .328 average, 31 stolen bases and an .820 OPS over 70 games, but he was unable to fully translate that success into a full season last year. He finished with a .283/.343/.353 slash line in 139 games during 2025, and he actually saw a drop in his stolen base production (27) despite having more than twice as many plate appearances. His power was unsurprisingly minimal with three homers and a .070 ISO, and he ranked bottom 11 in qualified batters in both average exit velocity (86.8 mph) and hard-hit rate (29.4 percent). Edwards' elite speed offsets some of the weak contact, but he still likely deserved worse results with a .262 xBA and .329 xSLG. His poor defense at shortstop (minus-3 DRS and minus-4 OAA) prompted a position change, and he fared much better at second base with a plus-12 DRS and plus-9 OAA. Edwards will have dual-position eligibility in 2026, but fantasy managers should be wary about expecting too much from the 26-year-old, whose only real upside comes in the form of his average and stolen bases.

Donovan got off to a terrific start last season, slashing .329/.390/.469 with four home runs and three stolen bases through the first two months. He then suffered a turf toe injury in early June that nagged at him, and a groin strain in the second half was blamed on compensating for the toe issue. The 29-year-old wound up hitting a pedestrian .251/.321/.381 over the final four months before eventually being shut down late in the year after the groin issue resurfaced. Donovan then had offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia. His final numbers in 2025 were right in line with his career norms, but it's fair to wonder if injury prevented Donovan from his best offensive season. Even if that were the case, Donovan is mostly a batting average specialist for fantasy purposes, as he doesn't run and his power is limited.

Edman spent much of the 2025 campaign dealing with an ankle injury, limiting him to 97 regular-season games. The versatile veteran has now missed over 175 contests due to injury over the past two seasons combined, which has sapped much of his fantasy relevance. When he was healthy last year, Edman struggled to a career-low .656 OPS, though he did tie his career-high mark with 13 long balls. Edman may have been the victim of some bad luck, as his .274 xBA was much higher than his actual .225 mark, and a squared-up rate in the 88th percentile suggests he frequently made the most of his swings. Still, with a hard-hit rate in the 34th percentile and an average exit velocity in the 24th percentile, Edman is unlikely to ever be a major source of power, so it's very concerning for his fantasy value that he managed just three stolen bases last year. Edman underwent offseason ankle surgery, and the hope should be that the procedure helps him both stay off the injured list and take flight on the basepaths more often. Depending on the Dodgers' offseason moves, Edman could open the season as the starter at second base or in center field.

Driven by an improved strikeout rate and a career-high barrel rate, McNeil produced his highest wRC+ since 2022, though the results were uneven. Despite setting a career high in walk rate, he scored the fewest runs of any full season in his career. Once relied upon to stabilize batting average, McNeil's BABIP is trending downward, finishing at a career-low .253 last season. As a fly ball hitter, he can still reach double-digit home runs, but his overall offensive output remains modest. His high contact rate keeps him on the fringe of mixed league relevance. Defensively, he remains adequate at second base, but his limitations become more apparent in the outfield. If he remains with the Mets, he could settle on the busier side of a first base platoon, though his bat would trail most regulars at the position.

Machado saw his homer total decrease for a fourth straight campaign in 2025, though his 27 long balls still gave him 10 straight full-length seasons with at least 25 homers. The veteran third baseman was more active on the basepaths with his highest number of steals (14) since 2018, while his .275/.335/.460 slash line was almost exactly what he posted in 2024. Machado produced an .855 OPS across his first four years with San Diego, but over the past three years he has a .792 OPS. His 123 wRC+ in 2025 still ranked fourth among qualified third basemen, but it's worth noting the drop-off as he heads into his age-33 campaign. His durability remains a strength, as Machado has missed 12 games or fewer in 10 of the past 11 seasons. Additional regression doesn't appear to be imminent given his 51.4 percent hard-hit rate and 12.9 percent barrel rate last season, so Machado is a safe bet for another strong season in 2026, even if he isn't quite the MVP-level contributor he was earlier in his career.

A player, young or old, is healthy until they are not. Riley was a model of consistency with health his first three full seasons in the majors, as he avoided the injured list from 2021 through 2023. He has, however, made up for lost time each of the past two seasons by missing 110 games with a fractured hand in 2024 and three separate core injuries in 2025, which required him to have sports hernia surgery in August that ended his season. Riley still stings a baseball as well as any hitter in baseball and has power to all fields as a solid four-category producer from the hot corner. Strikeouts limit the possibility of his batting average getting back over .300 as it did in 2021, but his hard contact also helps his batted balls find safe spaces, limiting his batting average floor. The missed time over the past two season has impacted Riley's market value, and he should no longer require a third-round pick to get on your roster, but he retains the ability to produce like a top-30 overall pick if he can avoid the injured list this season.

Chapman's second season with the Giants in 2025 went much like his first, though he was limited to 128 games -- his lowest full-season total since his rookie year -- due to hand issues that required two stints on the injured list. His counting stats took a bit of a hit as a result with 21 homers, nine stolen bases, 61 RBI and 76 runs, while his .231 average and .770 OPS were minor decreases from 2024. Still, the veteran third baseman was fairly productive with 20-plus homers for the fourth time in five years, while his steals total was the second best of his MLB career. Chapman has had a batting average above .250 just once since making his debut in 2017, and that seems unlikely to change as he begins his 10th big-league season. However, Chapman has consistently been a solid source of power and has been more active on the basepaths the past two years with 24 steals, which more than doubled his previous career total.

Muncy missed significant time again in 2025, as he had two separate IL stints and ended up playing just 100 games during the regular season. When he was healthy, however, the veteran first baseman continued to supply Los Angeles with a steady left-handed power bat, smashing 19 homers and driving in 67 runs while registering an .846 OPS over 388 plate appearances. Muncy's on-base skills have always been a big part of his game, and last season he logged a 16.5 percent walk rate, placing him in the 99th percentile leaguewide. The slugger also struck out at a 21.4 percent clip, marking his second-best rate during his tenure as a Dodger. Add in Muncy's three homers -- including a huge one late in Game 7 of the World Series -- and .353 OBP during the postseason and it's no surprise that Los Angeles picked up Muncy's 2026 option despite his recent injury woes. Muncy is now 35 years old and posted a paltry .564 OPS against lefty pitchers last season, so his profile isn't entirely bright. However, he makes for a fine mid-to-late round third-base option in fantasy leagues (especially ones that count OBP) given his place in the heart of a potent Dodgers lineup.

Durbin was acquired by the Brewers from the Yankees last winter and spent the first couple weeks of 2025 in the minors, but he was called up in mid-April and finished third in voting for NL Rookie of the Year. He operated as Milwaukee's primary third baseman and totaled 11 home runs, 18 steals, 53 RBI and 60 runs along with a .256/.334/.387 slash line in 136 games. He showed solid plate discipline with a 6.3 percent walk rate and 9.9 percent strikeout rate, but he ranked in the 12th percentile or worse in barrel rate (4.0 percent), hard-hit rate (26.9 percent) and average exit velocity (85.2 mph). The poor quality of contact resulted in a .255 xBA and .355 xSLG, so he'll likely need to improve in that area to maintain similar power production. Durbin certainly doesn't profile as a prototypical third baseman and is better suited for the keystone, but Brice Turang likely isn't going anywhere as a Gold Glove winner. Durbin should have a chance to reach 20 stolen bases in 2026 but is likely to have a limited fantasy ceiling without improving his quality of contact.

The Cardinals' attempts to trade Arenado last offseason failed, and then Arenado failed to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 season with an even worse showing in 2025. For the second year in a row, Arenado finished with an xwOBA below .300, and his average exit velocity also ranked in the bottom-10 percentile for the second straight year. He remains an elite contact hitter, but not even an 11.2 percent strikeout rate could buoy Arenado's batting average, which tumbled to a career-low .237. A shoulder injury limited Arenado to only 23 games in the second half and likely hampered him before that, but it would be a stretch to assign much blame for Arenado's downfall to that injury. He simply looks like a player who no longer has much juice in his bat in his mid-30s.

While there were definite growing pains during Shaw's rookie season in 2025, there were also plenty of flashes of promise. The young infielder started slowly and was batting just .172 at the end of April, which got him sent back down to Triple-A Iowa, but he was recalled in early May and batted .359 in the month. However, Shaw wouldn't bat above .240 in a month again the rest of the year, which highlighted his volatility as a player just getting his feet wet in the majors. When he did make contact, the 24-year-old displayed an encouraging mix of power and speed, and he finished with 13 home runs and 17 stolen bases. Shaw batted .284 with a .379 on-base percentage across two minor-league stops in 2024, and if he can carry more of that over to the MLB level in 2026, a big step forward is possible in his sophomore campaign, potentially pushing toward 25 homers and 25 steals if everything breaks right.

Questions about his hit tool have always followed House around, and those questions won't go away after the third baseman's poor showing during his first stint in the big leagues. House's wRC+ of 56 represented the sixth-lowest mark out of 309 players to accrue at least 250 plate appearances. He was uber-aggressive - which is nothing new for the young infielder - sporting a 57.2 percent swing rate and a whopping 50.7 percent swing rate at first pitches (the league average was 30.1 percent). A 28.5 percent strikeout rate and 2.9 percent walk rate wasn't pretty, and while House did sport a healthy 46.3 percent hard-hit rate, his 4.3 percent barrel rate and 89.8 mph average exit velocity were less impressive. The big power remains, but it's a low probability that he'll get on base enough for it to matter. Working in House's favor is that he won't turn 23 until June, he's a good defender at third base and the Nationals have time to be patient with him.

Alexander served as a useful utility player that last two seasons and finally got a chance to stick at one position late in 2025, when he was given most of the starts at third base following Arizona's trade of Eugenio Suarez. He made 54 appearances at third, 14 at second and another six in the outfield. The Diamondbacks initially eyed the hot corner for prospect Jordan Lawlar, but Alexander was the better defender, and the team since introduced Lawlar to the outfield in winter ball. It's not certain that Arizona heads into the 2026 season with Alexander as its starter at the hot corner. He doesn't hit like a corner infielder; Alexander slashed .230/.323/.706 with seven home runs and 28 RBI over 74 games (266 plate appearances). His 43.2 hard-hit percentage and 12.8 barrel rate indicate promise, but can that hold up over the long haul? The team may decide that position versatility is Alexander's best feature and shop for a third baseman on the outside market.

The veteran shortstop has traditionally been a slow starter throughout his MLB career, but he came out of the gate hot in 2025 with an .886 OPS through his first 41 games. Lindor cooled off after that, however, and posted a .208/.278/.379 slash line in the next 74 contests before again catching fire in August and September. All told, he finished the regular season with 31 homers, 31 steals, 86 RBI, 117 runs and a .267/.346/.466 slash line in 732 plate appearances. Despite the in-season ups and downs, it was another highly productive campaign for Lindor, who has batted between .254 and .270 in each of the past four seasons while averaging 30 homers and 27 stolen bases during that span. Now entering his age-32 campaign, Lindor should push for another 30-30 season in 2026 and has plenty of upside for run production while batting atop a strong Mets lineup. He underwent a cleanup procedure on his elbow early in the offseason but should be ready to go for the start of spring training.

Whether fair or not, De La Cruz's 2025 season will be remembered by fantasy players for one thing above all: a 74-game stretch from late June to mid-September in which he hit just one home run. He still reached 22 homers for the season despite that power outage, but as a whole it was a step backward from his excellent sophomore campaign with the Reds. De La Cruz once again led the league in errors, leading to questions about his future at shortstop, and while he finished seventh in MLB in steals with 37, that was down from 67 the year prior. He showed improvement with his strikeout rate, although he gave back some of those gains in the second half as his struggles mounted (28.2 K%, .666 OPS after the break). De La Cruz is an incredible athlete playing in a band-box park who's already established a sky-high ceiling entering his age-24 season, but there is now a new wave of questions surrounding him; did he simply bottom out down the stretch or was it indicative of something more? Will he make the next round of adjustments? Could a positional change affect his hitting?

Turner fell short of 20 homers for the first time in a full season since 2019, managing just 15 long balls in 639 regular-season plate appearances, but he won his second career batting title in 2025, settling at .304. Best of all for fantasy managers, Turner added 17 steals to his 2024 total, with the 36 thefts last season representing the third-highest total of his illustrious career. He did that despite missing most of September with a hamstring strain. At 32 years old, Turner is not old enough to warrant the Ageless Wonder title, although he may earn it if he continues swiping bags at this rate into his mid-30s. The hamstring issues both of the past two seasons provide reason for skepticism, but Turner ranked at the very top of the sprint speed leaderboard last season and there is no reason to think the steals will dry up overnight, so long as he stays on the field. Availability remains the biggest concern, but Turner has surged past 600 plate appearances four of the past five seasons. He should continue to bat first or second for a top-five offense in the National League.

Betts won a third straight Silver Slugger in 2024 in his first season working as a full-time shortstop, but he took a step back during the 2025 regular season with a .258/.326/.406 slash line in 150 games. He clubbed 20 homers during his age-32 campaign for the eighth time in his MLB career, though his eight stolen bases are the first time he's failed to reach double digits since playing just 52 games as a rookie in 2014. Betts batted leadoff or second for the Dodgers all season, which helped him rack up 82 RBI and 95 runs scored, but it was still the least productive year of his career. Betts struggled defensively at shortstop the previous two years, but he found his footing in 2025 and finished with plus-17 DRS and plus-5 OAA. He'll have single-position eligibility in 2026 after making just one appearance in the outfield. Betts' hard-hit rate dropped to a career-low 35.8 percent, though a .258 BABIP, .276 xBA and .435 xSLG indicate he may have deserved some better offensive results. Now entering his age-33 campaign, Betts has a decent floor for counting stats given Los Angeles' elite lineup, but he no longer appears to be the player that was a consistent MVP candidate.

Abrams kept his head on straight in 2025 after ending his first All-Star campaign back in Triple-A -- a disciplinary measure by the organization after he stayed out past curfew in September of 2024. Abrams did, however, spend time on the injured list last season, missing a couple weeks in April with a right hip flexor strain. Despite the missed time, Abrams nearly went 20-30 for the second consecutive year, finishing one home run shy of 20. The sixth overall pick in 2019 and the headliner for Washington in the return for Juan Soto in 2022, Abrams has totaled 6.9 fWAR over his four major-league seasons, a number limited by his rather unfavorable defensive metrics at shortstop. His xBA has hardly budged over the past three years, ranging between .247-.248. Now entering his age-25 season, Abrams' skills seem to have plateaued, at least on paper. Even if there is not another level to come, Abrams has already displayed the type of power-speed combination that is so highly coveted in the rotisserie game.

Adames had a major bounce-back season for Milwaukee in 2024, but his first year in San Francisco last year was an up-and-down affair. The veteran shortstop had a .680 OPS during the first half but got back on track after the All-Star break with an .828 OPS. He failed to put up a second straight 30-20 campaign but still delivered strong numbers with 30 homers, 12 steals, 87 RBI and 94 runs despite a .225 average, which is the second-worst average of his career. Adames has now batted .225 or worse in two of the past three seasons and has a .233 average over the last four years. However, he's clubbed at least 24 home runs in five straight campaigns and has been more involved on the basepaths the past two years with 33 stolen bases while playing at least 85 percent of his team's games since 2019. Adames has the potential to be a quality producer in all five categories with high volume, but fantasy managers will more than likely need to be willing to deal with an underwhelming average in 2026.

Perdomo surprised everyone with his performance in 2025, finishing fifth in all of baseball in fWAR behind Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Bobby Witt and Shohei Ohtani. While Perdomo had performed well and was even an All-Star prior to 2025, even his biggest believers within the Diamondbacks organization could not have foreseen such a season, one that earned Perdomo down-ballot MVP votes. The shortstop smacked 20 homers and stole 27 bases after previously topping out at six and 16, respectively. He also reached an even 100 RBI, more than double his previous career high of 47, while finishing fifth in the NL among qualifiers with a .290 batting average. Perdomo, with his combination of contact skills, plate discipline, defense and leadership, has more than justified Arizona's faith in him amidst previous calls for Jordan Lawlar to take over at short. There are still more skeptics than believers, however; while his fantasy stock has skyrocketed, drafters won't have to pay for anything close to a repeat in 2026.

It was mostly more of the same for Swanson in 2025, which resulted in another solid fantasy campaign for the veteran shortstop. The 31-year-old hit 24 home runs, and he's now reached the 20-homer plateau four times over the past five seasons. He also tallied 77 RBI and posted a .717 OPS, both of which were in line with his typical numbers. Perhaps the most promising aspect of Swanson's 2025 campaign was his career-high 20 stolen bases. Since the start of the 2024 season, he's swiped 39 bases, which is more than he had in the prior three years combined. There are certainly shortstops with higher ceilings, and Swanson isn't getting any younger, but there's still plenty here to like. He plays nearly every day, and as long as Swanson approaches 20 homers and steals again in 2026, he should remain a useful fantasy option with a fairly reliable floor.

Bogaerts posted his worst OPS since 2014 in 2024 and bounced back slightly last season, though his .263/.328/.391 slash line was still underwhelming. The veteran shortstop clubbed exactly 11 home runs for a second straight year and stole a career-high 20 bases, but his counting stats were quite poor with 53 RBI and 63 runs in 552 plate appearances. He has a 100 wRC+ over the last two seasons after posting a 122 mark across the previous nine years, and the downward trend could continue as he enters his age-33 campaign. Bogaerts should provide fantasy managers with a quality average and something around 10-15 homers and steals during 2026, but the low run production leaves him as more of a high-floor, low-ceiling player at this point of his career.

Tovar was a popular sophomore slump candidate in 2024, but he shook that off to post an excellent stat line. Instead, the decline came in 2025, and there were a few causes. First, he had a sluggish start to his season due to injuries. Tovar was originally placed on the injured list in mid-April with a hip injury that sidelined him for almost exactly a month. Just two weeks later, he was sidelined again, this time by an oblique issue, and he didn't return after the All-Star break. Through mid-July, Tovar had only 138 plate appearances. What he delivered from there was mostly encouraging, despite a modest stat line. Tovar managed to cut his strikeout rate to a career-low 25.1 percent clip, but he maintained both his aggressiveness inside the zone and his ability to make contact in the zone. Similarly, his quality of contact was stable, and even slightly improved as measured by metrics such as barrel rate and max exit velocity. Despite that, Tovar struggled to convert his contact into production even in the face a league-average flyball rate due to his inability to consistently pull flyballs - perhaps a product of his oblique injury. The other primary shortcomings are familiar for most Rockies' hitters. Tovar hit only hit .172 with 15 RBI and 17 runs scored across 50 road games. What was different than past iterations of Colorado's lineup was that it remained poor even at Coors Field, limiting Tovar's overall counting-stat production. These latter two things don't look likely to change in 2026, but Tovar should deliver 20-10 production with at least a .250 batting average, assuming a return to health in 2026.

After beginning 2025 as Miami's primary second baseman, Lopez took over for Xavier Edwards at shortstop in May, so he'll have dual-position eligibility for 2026. Lopez batted .270 with 20 steals over 117 games as a rookie in 2024, but he was unable to translate that production into a full season. However, he clubbed 15 homers last season compared to just six in 2024 and still recorded 15 stolen bases. Despite the increase in homers, Lopez's slugging percentage actually dropped nine points to .368 since he hit fewer doubles despite having 161 more plate appearances. His strong defense at a premier position should allow him to maintain a regular spot in the lineup for 2026, and that volume will be critical to Lopez's fantasy upside. The power output could be sustainable given that Lopez underperformed his .421 xSLG, and he should have a decent chance of getting back up to 20 stolen bases in 2026. If he can do that while rebounding his average, the shortstop would be a quality fantasy contributor.

Winn did not take the step forward offensively in 2025 that many were hoping to see, instead watching his production tick down across the board. The question is how much of a role a right knee injury played in his offensive struggles. Winn reportedly began feeling soreness in the knee in late May/early June, and he finished the first two months of the season with a healthy .276/.352/.435 batting line and six home runs. The 24-year-old then slashed just .240/.287/.324 with three long balls the rest of the way before eventually succumbing to meniscus surgery in late September. Winn is expected to be ready to roll for the 2026 campaign, and with health he should bounce back to some degree. He could be more accumulator than upside play, however, as Winn's power has always been middling, and he hasn't been much of a stolen-base threat since Double-A in 2022.

The Mets missed the playoffs, but the first season of Soto's record 15-year, $765 million contract with the club has to be considered a resounding success, at least from an individual standpoint. He smacked a career-high 43 home runs, his second straight season clearing 40, and led all of Major League Baseball in walks with 127 during the regular season. Most surprisingly, Soto tied for fourth in the National League with 38 stolen bases, more than triple his previous career high of 12. The season was not free of adversity, as Soto hit below .220 in May and July, and he had former hitting coach Eric Chavez in his ear trying to get him to be more aggressive. Soto stuck with his approach and in the end was a finalist for NL MVP while earning his sixth career Silver Slugger. The steals seem largely fluky and a return to single digits is even possible given his bottom 13th percentile sprint speed, but everything else appears ultra safe, cementing one of the highest production floors on the board. Keep in mind Soto is still just entering his age-27 season.

Carroll endured a disappointing 2024 campaign after being named the National League Rookie of the Year the prior season, but he bounced back in 2025 to deliver a career-high .884 OPS. The 25-year-old also posted career highs in homers (31) and RBI (84), along with 32 stolen bases and 107 runs scored. Carroll missed some time in the middle of the season due to a chip fracture in his wrist, but he still played in 143 games and was one of seven players to post a 30-30 season. In addition to the offensive production, he was one of the better defensive outfielders in MLB with plus-8 Defensive Runs Saved and plus-10 Outs Above Average. The increased power output appears to be sustainable since Carroll doubled his barrel rate to 14.5 percent and improved his hard-hit rate nine points to 49.9 percent in 2025. Now entering his fourth full MLB season, Carroll is a safe bet to deliver a third straight 20-20 campaign and has a realistic chance of repeating the 30-30 performance.

The veteran outfielder was sidelined for nearly the first two months of 2025 while finishing up his rehab from ACL surgery, and he hit the ground running with three homers in his first eight contests after making his season debut in late May. Acuna also missed some time midseason due to a calf strain but returned for the final six weeks of the campaign with no apparent issues. Acuna ended up playing in 95 games and totaled 21 home runs, nine stolen bases, 42 RBI and 74 runs scored with a .290/.417/.518 slash line. The steals total is particularly notable given that Acuna tallied 73 stolen bases during his last full season in 2023, but it's not a major surprise that he was limited on the basepaths in his first year back from knee surgery. Availability remains a bit of a concern since the outfielder has played 100 games in a season just twice in the past five years. Acuna is entering his age-28 campaign and could be one of the top fantasy players in baseball in 2026, but he'll need to stay healthy and ramp his activity on the basepaths back up.

Tatis finally produced a full season of results in his sixth year of playing at the big league level. Shoulder injuries and suspensions robbed him of playing time in previous seasons, but Tatis avoided those maladies in 2025 in an effort to get the Padres deep into October baseball. Those aspirations did not materialize, as the Padres were quickly eliminated from the postseason, but Tatis set new career highs in steals with 32 and runs with 111. The increased time on base (.368 OBP) helped both of those marks, as Tatis rediscovered his presuspension plate discipline and got back to accepting the walks to utilize his base-running abilities. The 42 homers from 2021 already were looking suspicious with the hindsight of his PED suspension, but 2025 saw Tatis hit at least 20 homers for a third consecutive postsuspension season as well as for the fourth time in his career. While he seems a little older, he turns 27 over the winter and will once again hit either first or second in the San Diego lineup. A repeat of his 25-25 season absolutely is possible and a 30-30 season is a stretch goal for this profile, but envisioning above and beyond that would be greedy.

It wasn't always pretty, but Chourio hit 21 homers and stole 21 bases in his age-21 season, becoming the youngest player in MLB history to record consecutive 20-20 campaigns. Impressively, he did it in just 131 games last season, as a hamstring injury cost him a month in the second half. Chourio returned from the injured list to put up his worst month of the season in September (.200/.262/.337), though he rebounded with a strong postseason performance (.890 OPS) for a Brewers team that reached the NLCS. Milwaukee bet big on Chourio in the form of an eight-year, $80 million extension before he even reached the majors, and that investment is paying off in spades. His 2025 looks like a lateral step in some respects, and there are legitimate holes in his batted-ball and plate-discipline profiles, including a bottom-50th percentile hard-hit rate and a bottom-10th percentile chase rate. However, it's important to remember that not all growth is linear, and the performance level Chourio has established at such a young age should be viewed as an excellent foundation from which he can build.

It took four seasons, but Suzuki finally came through on the power numbers fantasy managers and Chicago fans have been pining for since the slugger came over from the JPL prior to the 2022 season. Suzuki leaned into a heavier elevate-and-celebrate approach as career highs in Pull percentage and FlyBall percentage led to career-best totals in home runs and RBI. The new approach came with the tax of his batting average, which declined nearly 40 points from where it had been the two seasons prior, which simply dropped his batting average down to a league-average level.The trade-off for increased run production was likely worth it to many fantasy managers who also enjoyed Suzuki avoiding the injured list for the first time in his major league career. He now enters the final year of his initial contract with the Cubs, so if you are a believer in contract year magic, especially after watching what Kyle Schwarber just did in his walk year, this is a 2026 target for you. Realistically, his 2025 performance is repeatable, while 40 homers would be a super stretch goal.

Hernandez re-signed with the Dodgers last winter after clubbing 33 homers with an .840 OPS in 2024, but he regressed in 2025 and finished with 25 home runs and a .738 OPS, with the latter mark being the worst since his rookie campaign. He still drove in 89 runs and set a career-best 24.6 percent strikeout rate, but the outfielder scored just 65 times as his walk rate cratered to a career-low 4.8 percent. Hernandez's batted-ball numbers were largely the same as the previous season, with a .260 xBA and and .462 xSLG in 2025 indicating he could be due for some better results in 2026. He has seven consecutive seasons of 20-plus homers (discounting the shortened 2020 campaign), but he's otherwise been a bit inconsistent year-to-year. However, Hernandez has a solid floor for counting stats while batting in the middle of Los Angeles' potent lineup -- especially given his solid .261 average since the start of 2022 -- and he has clear 30-homer, 100-RBI upside.

Wood is sort of like the opposite of Jose Ramirez in that he's not particularly interested in pulling flyballs; Wood posted just an 11.3 Pull Air% last season, per Statcast, compared to 30.9% for Ramirez. At 22 years old, Wood showed that he can make it work his way, punishing baseballs up the middle and to the opposite field. Incredibly, 26 of his 31 home runs for the Nationals last season were to the middle or opposite field, according to Baseball Reference. Similarly, Wood is at the opposite end of the contact spectrum from Ramirez, striking out at a 32.1% clip last season compared to 11.0% for Ramirez. It's unfair to compare any young player to a future Hall of Famer, but if Ramirez is the model of stability, Wood should be viewed as a volatile asset with downside risk, especially after he slumped to a .223/.301/.388 line in the second half. While the holes in the profile are glaring, an argument can be made that there is just as much upside as downside considering what the outfielder has already done at such a young age. The steals boost Wood's appeal, though he has not been efficient on the basepaths in his two MLB seasons (29-for-44).

The veteran Happ has turned into a consistent fantasy performer who can contribute a little bit of something across the board. The 31-year-old outfielder batted just .243 in 2025, which was in line with his career .247 mark, but he reached base at a .342 clip. Happ also chipped in 23 home runs, 79 RBI and 87 runs scored. He topped it off with six stolen bases, which was a step back from the 13 steals he posted in 2024. Happ's ability to get on base, hit for some power and occasionally swipe a bag has made him a regular leadoff option for the Cubs the past few seasons, which has given his fantasy value a boost due to a strong lineup around him, particularly last year with the addition of Kyle Tucker and the emergence of Pete Crow-Armstrong. Happ also rarely misses time, as he's played in 150 games or more each of the last four years. There are certainly more exciting fantasy options on the board, but you should at least know what you're getting with Happ, and there is room for the veteran on many rosters.

Reynolds entered the 2025 season lacking a standout fantasy skill, but he did enough across all five categories to produce early-round value in the outfield. However, his results in 2025 came as a significant disappointment, as he set career-worst marks in every statistical category since he entered the major leagues (barring the 2020 COVID-shortened campaign). The end result was a 99 wRC+ and .315 wOBA. The obvious culprit was a spiked 26.5 percent strikeout rate, though that seemingly came down more to a lack of protection in the rest of Pittsburgh's lineup rather than a decline in skill. Specifically, opposing pitchers weren't afraid to challenge him in the zone, as he saw a career-high 50.9 percent of pitches in the strike zone. Meanwhile, both his swinging strike and called strike rate were within range of his career norms. The other culprit was a flyball rate that continued to decline and hit a career-low 28.5 percent clip. Reynolds made enough hard contact (10.1 percent clip) to avoid being a zero in power production, though his batting average looks more likely to rebound than his home run total moving forward. Don't expect a return to Reynolds' prime years, but a .260 batting average with 15+ home runs and decent counting stats - especially if Pittsburgh upgrades its lineup as is being reported -- is a realistic projection.

Merrill's 2025 was not as much of a sophomore slump as it was a visit to the School of Hard Knocks. Merrill had a rough 2025 with an early hamstring strain that cost him a month, a concussion in mid June that returned him to the injured list for another 10 days, and a left ankle sprain in mid-August that resulted in a third trip to the injured list. Merrill, despite the setbacks, still finished the season with a solid 116 wRC+ and a .264/.317/.457 triple-slash line, but it came in just 115 games. He was pacing to meet or exceed his run production statistics, but the ankle sprain and hamstring injuries essentially shut down his running game, as he attempted just three steals all season after stealing 16 of 19 in 2024. Merrill's increase in strikeout rate also could be written off as being due to the concussion and injury recoveries. His acquisition cost in most leagues should be lower this year because of the injuries, but Merrill's upside remains strong. He does not even turn 23 until a few weeks into the season. Stretch goal: A 25-25 season.

The II in Harris's legal name represents the two seasons he had in 2025. Harris came into the season being drafted inside the top 40, but went into the break hitting .210/.234/.317 and ended up being dropped in some leagues in mid-July. When a player hits rock bottom, he enters survival mode and does whatever he can to keep his job, and Harris made some adjustments to his swing in July that resulted in him being a new man after the break. He went onto hit .299/.315/.530 in the second half with 14 home runs, 33 runs and 42 RBIs, nearly besting all three run categories in the 67 games after the break compared to his meager production in 92 games before the break. Note that Harris's OBP was still rather low for someone hitting that well, because he was as adverse to walks as Atlanta thoroughfares are to smooth-flowing traffic. Harris finished the season with one of the worst walk rates and chase rates of all qualified hitters. His defense keeps him on the field, but his slumps are pronounced. His OPS by month: .614, .608, .426, .850, .885, .635. Proceed with caution or ensure your earlier picks can absorb the ebbs and flows of this streakiness.

The Cruz Missile had a historical launch failure in 2025. Yes, Cruz did hit 20 homers and set a career high with 38 steals on the season, but he also became the first player with 20-plus homers and 30-plus steals to hit below .230 in the history of baseball. He ended the season with a batting average hanging on the Mendoza Line at .200 despite drawing more walks and striking out only slightly more than he had in 2024. A 85-point drop in BABIP was a factor in the 59-point decline in batting average, but even his .317 BABIP from 2022 only led to a .233 average that season. Cruz still hits the ball as hard as any hitter in baseball when he squares up a pitch, but those moments were not as frequent in 2025 as they were in 2024. He did not have any demonstrable changes in his plate discipline, which would help explain this drop in average, but he hit .163 against non-fastballs, so the league fed him those pitch types nearly 60 percent of the time when he was at the plate. He hit .227 against those same pitch types the prior season, so even a halfway return to that success could do wonders for Cruz.