As you may have noticed, we no longer allow comments on the site. I’m grateful to have been able to engage with you all here, and if you have questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter (@ifthechufits), BlueSky (scottchu.pitcherlist.com), or Reddit (u/ChusephEsquire).
- As a reminder, these rankings are geared toward a standard, daily, 12-team H2H redraft league, as that is typically the most popular fantasy baseball format. They will only factor in the five standard categories: Runs, RBI, Home Runs, Batting Average, and Stolen Bases.
- I would recommend not paying super close attention to the specific ranks of each player, and honing in more on the respective tiers that they’re in. Each tier represents a grouping of players that I think could arguably perform at a similar level, and/or carry similar levels of risk in terms of injury concerns or playing time obstacles. If Player X is ranked at No. 55 and Player Y is ranked at No. 65, but they’re in the same tier, it means that I personally prefer Player X, but think there’s a valid argument to be made for Player Y performing just as well.
- I take rankings like this as more of an art than a science. Every person’s rankings are influenced by their own biases, strategic philosophies, determinations of risk, and projections. It’s why no two rankings are ever exactly alike. My way of evaluating and ranking players has worked out well for me over the years, but it might not be a great fit for you. I can’t possibly predict your team’s specific needs, your league mates’ player evaluations, or your current waiver wire, and if I could, it’d be weird. In a bad way.
- This is a safe space for me where I answer to no one but myself…and you if you hit me up on Twitter (@ifthechufits), BlueSky (scottchu.pitcherlist.com), or Reddit (u/ChusephEsquire).
- I’m doing my best to use five starts or 10 appearances as the threshold for positional eligibility. I have not included presumed eligibilities based on likely new positions, but once those eligibilities are earned, I’ll add them in. This is just a maintenance thing, and we will update eligibility throughout the season. Feel free to let me know if I’m missing any!
Ranking Philosophy
To keep things in the same ilk, here are a couple of notes on how I generally evaluate hitters before we dive in:
- In 12-team formats, I just don’t see much value in guys who only provide stolen bases. It’s an important category, especially in Roto, but in shallower formats, there are too many other (and better) ways to get the steals you need without sacrificing production in the other categories.
- If I want to get some insight on whether what I’m seeing is new or if it’s just normal fluctuation, I’d use my favorite tool—the rolling chart, which I’ll also reference as appropriate. You can also get rolling charts from sources like FanGraphs or Baseball Savant. If you have any questions about how to do that or how to read these charts, reach out to me!
- No stat is an island, and they should all be taken in proper context. For ranking purposes, the primary starting points I use are plate discipline, wRC+, quality of contact metrics (also known as Statcast batted ball data), lineup context, and the skills we can measure using tools such as our PLV Hitter Attributes (available for PL Pro members). I also use various projections (some free, some I buy) and dollar value generators.
- Positional eligibility, and specifically multi-eligibility, is neat, but also isn’t a huge factor in many 10- and 12-team leagues anymore due to the prevalence of multi-eligible players. It’s of more value in deeper contests like the NFBC, or in leagues with limited roster moves (draft and hold leagues, transaction limits/costs, extremely short benches, etc.), but even then, the value is fairly situational and context-dependent.
- On a similar note, I don’t penalize players for only qualifying in the utility slot. At most, it is a mild inconvenience if a DH-only player is available at a great value and you already have filled your utility spots.
- Anyone talented enough to make it to the big leagues can be brilliant or putrid for 50 to 100 at-bats—regardless of true talent. Heck, it could even last over a month with no change in potential or skill. It also could be wildly meaningful. We can’t and don’t know which of these will be true until it’s over, though track record, scouting, and trends can give us hints.
- If you’d like input on a player or have any feedback, your best bet is to reach out to me on the website formerly known as Twitter (@ifthechufits) or BlueSky (scottchu.pitcherlist.com) or Reddit (u/ChusephEsquire).
Read The Notes
- These rankings talk about what I generally project for a player, but these rankings are not projections. They include projections but also take into account performance risk, injury risk, team context, ceiling, and floor.
Check out the Hacks & Jacks podcast featuring Scott Chu and Brett Ford, which also happened to be a finalist for Best Baseball Podcast of 2021 by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA)!
I also host an AMA in the r/fantasybaseball subreddit every Friday starting around noon ET that lasts through the rest of the day and into the weekend, so feel free to join the fun and ask questions or make comments.
Tier 1
- As long as Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge are healthy, they’re the best players in their league. I might flip them here and there, but when push comes to shove, it’s a coin flip.
Tier 2
- Who doesn’t love José Ramírez? J-Ram is on a stunning 37-game on-base streak during which he has hit seven home runs and stolen 15 bases while slashing .385/.450/.622. I don’t expect a repeat of the 39 home runs from 2024, but he is on pace to exceed the career high 41 steals he had last season by quite a lot. Enjoy the production from this future Hall of Famer.
- Juan Soto has five home runs and almost twice as many walks as strikeouts in his last 12 games, so I think he’s going to be just fine.
Tier 3
- I said James Wood hasn’t slumped last week, and of course, he hasn’t been very productive in June with a 34 wRC+. That said, his average exit velocity this month is 94 miles per hour, and he’s taking plenty of walks while smacking line drives all over the place. This is pure batted ball luck mixed with a few too many grounders. Absolutely nothing alarming that I see so far.
- It hurts to drop Fernando Tatis Jr. down a tier, but this chart does not inspire confidence in me. Very possible that this is just a bump in the road, but it’s something to take note of.
Tier 4
- Ketel Marte continues to look like the fantasy stud we saw in 2025, so as long as he stays healthy, he can keep sliding upward towards the top of this tier.
- Jackson Chourio doesn’t need to walk to be successful.
- Manny Machado is hitting the ball as hard as ever, and while his .355 BABIP is much higher than usual, it’s mostly an indication of his batted ball quality, not luck.
- Riley Greene continues to have strikeout rate spikes as he works through the necessary adjustments he needs to make with that huge uppercut swing. When he connects, he barrels it up as well as anyone in the league, but Greene’s ability to make contact remains a liability for now.
Tier 5
- I had Brent Rooker well inside the top-20 in the preseason and am excited to see him showing the kind of potential we saw in our research. The growth this season is driven primarily by improved contact ability. Even modest improvements in contact ability for an extreme power hitter like Rooker (or the previously mentioned Greene) can have enormous dividends.
- Maybe Julio Rodriguez is “just” a 25-25 type guy with decent ratios, but I believe he is definitely at least that.
- Zach Neto’s power has slowed down a bit, but the steals have trickled in a little faster, and the strikeouts have come way down.
- In points leagues, I’d probably have Josh Naylor a tier higher due to the number of balls he puts in play. Again, the 31 home runs from 2024 weren’t a likely outcome in 2025, but he should keep hitting .280-.300 and pile up plenty of counting stats for the D-Backs.
Tier 6
- Junior Caminero needed to hit more fly balls, and by Jove, that’s what he did. Whenever that fly ball rate is above 40%, you’re going to see very special results.
- Marcell Ozuna’s hard-hit rate, barrel rate, batted-ball distribution, and other underlying metrics seem pretty fine; he’s just much more passive than in prior years, swinging at pitches in the zone just 57% of the time (77.4% last season, career zone swing rate of 67%). Still, the reports of a hip injury he’s dealing with are going to have an impact on his game; we just don’t know to what extent. The reason I’m not overly concerned (yet) is what I mentioned at the start: the batted ball quality is still strong.
- Teoscar Hernández is a streaky hitter, and that’s probably what this is.
Tier 7
- Corey Seager is slumping hard, but despite the season-long consistency, this is actually a very normal occurrence for him. Nothing about this slump strikes me as unusual, so I anticipate a steep correction soon.
- Jacob Wilson doesn’t hit the ball hard, but that high-level hit tool is helping him find gaps and make the most of his limited power. While Wilson is good at squaring up on the ball, he hits very few barrels due to his lack of pop and lower launch angles, so I expect the home run numbers to slow down a bit and would be surprised if he hit more than 15. Still, this is a batting-title quality stick who could be a more fantasy-friendly version of Luis Arraez.
Tier 8
- Salvador Perez is heating up, though I never dropped him THAT far to begin with, so I don’t have a lot of room to push him up either. He might get to tier 7 or the bottom of tier 6 if he goes nuts.
- This is a fairly small tier, and what they all have in common is that they either had a slow start or have slowed down quite a bit lately, and I’m trying to figure out if they belong in the tier above or the tier below. By the All-Star Break, I imagine this current version of tiers 7, 8, and 9 will be condensed into two.
Tier 9
- Iván Herrera was on an extended home run drought but has popped a couple already in June and should be a set-and-forget catcher the rest of the way. Herrera may or may not be the elite catcher we’ve seen at times this season, but he’s at least a very good one.
- Adley Rutschman is full of talent, and signs of turning it around make me very happy. Since May 16, he’s slashing .282/.360/.462 with an average exit velocity of 93.4 mph and plenty of balls in the wait. This is a guy with top-five catcher ability and upside, so keep him locked in. This would not be a time to sell.
- Ian Happ has four home runs and 14 combined runs and RBI in his last seven games, so I suppose he must be feeling a bit healthier now.
Tier 10
For those of you in standard 10- and 12-team leagues, this is where you’ll start finding your replacement level at certain positions, particularly outfield and the middle infield.
- Kerry Carpenter’s bat has been very quiet for the last 18 games outside of that three home run explosion at the beginning of June, though he’s still hitting the ball hard and mostly doing the right stuff at the plate, so I’m chalking this up as a normal slump for now. Still, he’s a platoon bat, and the tolerance we can have for extended slumps is quite minimal in shallower formats.
- Bo Bichette has been much better than I anticipated in 2025, looking much more like the 2023 version of himself than he did at any point in 2024. The 2021 and 2022 versions of Bichette are likely not coming back, but the guy who can hit about 20 home runs with a solid batting average and counting stats is still in there, it seems.
- If we weren’t constantly afraid of a Byron Buxton slump or injury, he’d be at least a tier higher.
Tier 11
- It’s going to come in waves for Eugenio Suárez, but the highs look like they’ll be more than good enough for us to suffer the lows, especially considering the challenges of finding replacement third basemen.
- Welcome back to the list, Jordan Westburg. Westburg is highly aggressive early in the count, and that can lend itself to streakiness if he’s even just a little off in pitch recognition or with his contact, but he seems locked in coming off the IL.
Tier 12
- Bryson Stott has been one of the worst fantasy contributors over the last week or two and has sat against two lefties in a row. Further, he hasn’t had a successful stolen base since May 27, going 0-2 since then, and has just a single extra-base hit since May 18. Second base doesn’t have a lot of high-ceiling options, so I’m not necessarily saying to just let him go, but we might be getting to that point soon.
- Ozzie Albies had just one steal and one home run in May and has one of each so far in June, and unfortunately, our PLV data doesn’t suggest things are turning around. The upside we’ve seen in past years keeps him ranked, but he continues to tumble the longer he goes without showing us anything to hang our hats on.
Tier 13
The net change for most players in this tier is roughly +10
Carlos Correa was inadvertently left off the list after he was activated from the IL. He would fall in this tier.
- Welcome back, Nick Kurtz! As with most rookies, it’s going to be a bit of a bumpy ride at times, but good things have been brewing, especially in the power department.
- Luis Robert Jr. hit his first home run since May 2, but is on a bit of a stolen base drought, which I suspect is due to the steep decline in walks since April. And look, I get it, I continue to rank a guy who has a 52 wRC+ since the start of May, and you are MORE than ready to cut him. I won’t (and can’t) stop you, but if you do it, keep him on your watch list. He still hits the ball hard, and since May 1, he has a 92.3 mph average exit velo and a 49.3% hard-hit rate, plus a 10.7% barrel rate, and his decision-making skills and power are still there despite the results. There remains a not insignificant chance he finishes the season with 20 home runs and 30 steals, albeit with garbage ratios, and that is worth something in many situations.
- Welcome to the big leagues, Roman Anthony! He is the most highly-regarded prospect we’ve seen debut on the hitting side this year, and the injury to Abreu should give Anthony time to solidify his role for the Red Sox. Anthony was ripping the ball in triple-A, posting an average exit velocity of 95 mph, though he was only putting 24.8% of his batted balls in the air and has posted low fly ball rates throughout his minor league career. This can be a difficult adjustment to make in the big leagues due to the dramatic improvement in command and stuff from opposing pitchers, but it’s not impossible. I’ll be following that fly ball rate closely, hoping it gets over that 30% mark, before pumping him up into the top-100.
- Welcome back to the list, Marcelo Mayer! We’re seeing Mayer sit against lefties, but also seen him settle down at the plate a bit lately, take more walks, and hit the ball hard. Those are the right first steps.
- Jo Adell seems to make the back of the list every year, and for now, we should be treating this like a hot streak. This streak does happen to be a bit hotter than the one we saw early last year, though one difference is that he’s sustained a rolling zone-contact rate above 80% all season, a feat he has never really accomplished for this long at any point prior. Contact is Adell’s biggest weakness, and as I mentioned earlier, players with big power can see big swings in their production with even modest improvements in contact. The icing on the top, at the moment, is it comes with improved decision-making! I’d say this is a breakout watch, which, like a tornado watch, means all the conditions are here for a breakout.
- Welcome back to fantasy relevance, Christian Encarnacion-Strand! CES exploded off the injured list with three consecutive games with a home run followed by three games with multiple strikeouts, but as of right now he is hitting fourth for the Reds behind a hot TJ Friedl and superstar Elly De La Cruz, so there’s a great opportunity to pile up stats if he can tap into all the potential we saw when he debuted. It’s also worth noting that starting next week, the Reds will have three of four series in their very hitter-friendly home ballpark. There’s an opportunity here to get a power surge going.
Tier 14
- I have said many times that I am very worried about Marcus Semien, and I cannot deny that he is doing his best to make up for lost time over his last 11 games, hitting four home runs and swiping three bags with a .459 batting average. Will he have a 41.9% line drive rate and 40% home run to fly ball rate for very long? Absolutely not, but could he regress back to a player who is still very fantasy relevant? Yes, that is a real possibility.
- Parker Meadows has talent and an opportunity to be an everyday player who leads off against righties, but it’s a job he will have to fight to keep. The glove will keep him in the lineup nearly every day, but his spot in the order is very dependent on his production.
- Brenton Doyle looked like he was turning things around in his homestand near the end of May, but it didn’t last and this may be his last week on the list.
- Kristian Campbell has strung as few hits together of late, though he’s been shoved to the bottom of the lineup presumably until he is able to show some consistency.
- Cam Smith is showing that he’s good enough to be in the majors, but the high strikeout rate and lack of power (his last home run was on April 18) suggest the breakout might not be as impending as we’d like. A good starting point for him might be finding a way to get that first pitch strike rate down from his current 69.7%, which is the 11th-highest mark among the 244 hitters with at least 150 plate appearances in 2025.
Taxi Squad
Players are listed in no particular order. This list is not every interesting guy out there, but a running list of players who either almost made the list or have been topics of interesting conversation.
NEW FEATURE: I will put blurbs in bold if they are new to the Taxi Squad or if there’s a significant update to their note.
Catcher
- Carlos Narváez (C, BOS) — Streaming catcher with a little bit of upside.
- Tyler Stephenson (C, CIN) — Streaming catcher, best against lefties.
- Ryan Jeffers (C, MIN) — Hitting first or second lately, but sitting more.
- Francisco Alvarez (C, NYM) — Can’t roster him in single-catcher formats right now.
- Dillon Dingler (C, DET) — Still hot, and more playing time than I expected.
- Keibert Ruiz (C, WSN) — Points league catcher.
- Sean Murphy (C, ATL) — Playing time is gone. Drop.
- Dalton Rushing (C, LAD) — Dynasty only.
- Carson Kelly (C, CHC) — Not exactly making great use of the extra playing time. Just a streamer.
First Base
- Spencer Horwitz (1B/2B, PIT) — May not rebound to his Toronto numbers as quickly as I hoped
- Carlos Santana (1B, CLE) — OBP streamer who somehow still has something in the tank. What a career.
- Andrew Vaughn (1B, CWS) — The ceiling was never that high, but my goodness have the White Sox wasted a young player with mismanagement and baffling decisions.
- Pavin Smith (1B/OF, ARI) — Streamer against soft righties.
Second Base
- Travis Bazzana (2B, CLE) — Will be out for two months or more with an oblique strain. Likely a September call-up at this point.
- Trevor Story (2B, BOS) — Ratios are too bad to stomach.
- Curtis Mead (2B/3B, TBR) — Mostly plays against lefties.
- Hyeseong Kim (2B, LAD) — Will be very exciting when he has anything close to a regular role.
- Jorge Polanco (2B/3B, SEA) — Streamer with a little pop.
- Kody Clemens (2B, MIN) — The hot streak was cool but I’d be surprised if you got anything close to that over the next two weeks.
- Jonathan India (2B/3B/OF, KCR) — Deep points league only.
- Gavin Lux (2B/OF, CIN) — The hot streak was incredible but also relatively short in the grand scheme of things.
- José Caballero (2B/3B/SS/OF, TBR) — Speed streamer.
- Matt McLain (2B, CIN) — The strikeout issues and move to the bottom of the order and being benched a few times a week is just too much.
- Ernie Clement (2B/3B/OF, TOR) — Points league streamer.
- Andrés Giménez (2B, TOR) — Not batting ninth anymore, viable in points leagues.
- Nick Gonzales (2B, PIT) — Has pop and improved his strikeout rate a bit, but need to see him playing every day before I can rank him.
- Otto Lopez (2B, MIA) — Stole a pair of bases and hit a pair of home runs recently, though he’s struggled to sustain success.
Third Base
- Joey Ortiz (3B/SS, MIL) — Does just enough in four of the five hitting categories to be relevant. If this list were for OBP, he might crack the end of it.
- Connor Norby (3B, MIA) — Swings hard and misses often. Chasing the hot streaks is a dangerous game.
- Gabriel Arias (3B, CLE) — He’s an aggressive hitter with extreme contact issues in the zone. It’s a tale as old as time and almost always turns out the same way (a streamer when hot and a drop when not).
- Caleb Durbin (3B, MIL) — Needs to turn a lot of those fly balls into liners as he does not have the pop to get those flies out of the yard very often.
- Dylan Moore (2B/3B/SS/OF, SEA) — Streaky utility man.
- Willi Castro (2B/3B/SS/OF, MIN) — Streaky utility man.
- Royce Lewis (3B, MIN) — Piled up some hits, but only playing every other game. Too many types of risk here for anything but deep leagues.
Shortstop
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa (2B/3B/SS, PIT) — Hits for a decent average and might steal 20 bases.
- Brooks Lee (2B/3B/SS, MIN) — Not enough production to consider despite being eligible everywhere.
- Jordan Lawlar (SS, ARI) — Back in triple-A.
- Trey Sweeney (SS, DET) — Cooled off in a big way.
- Zach McKinstry (2B/3B/SS/OF, DET) — Striking out a lot of late and not walking, which is not great for a player who has a very low ceiling.
- Tyler Fitzgerald (SS/OF, SFG) — Streaky hitter with major contact issues.
- Javier Báez (3B/SS/OF, DET) — Versatile but production is mostly bad.
Outfield/DH
- Evan Carter (OF, TEX) — Super hot right now but not huge believer in the underlying skills. Streamer until he cools off.
- Will Benson (OF, CIN) — If you blinked, you missed it.
- Isaac Collins (OF, MIL) — No longer playing with enough regularity for 12-team consideration.
- Jesus Sanchez (OF, MIA) — Power streamer with a tough home park and poor supporting cast.
- Emmanuel Rodriguez (OF, MIN) — Triple-A strikeout rates above 30% are extremely troubling, even if they come with an OBP well above .400.
- Mike Yastrzemski (OF, SFG) — The definition of a replacement-level fantasy outfielder in 12-teamers.
- Gavin Sheets (DH, SDP) — Playing more but still a streaky power bat.
- Michael Conforto (OF, LAD) — Droppable in mixed leagues.
- Jorge Soler (OF, LAA) — Power streamer.
- Chandler Simpson (OF, TBR) — Let’s see how long he needs to “work on his defense.” To Tampa’s credit, Simpson was not playing that well in center, but whatever.
- Adolis García (OF, TEX) — Being benched to work on mechanical issues is a dramatic move for a guy I really thought could be back on track in 2025. Bold move, let’s see how it plays out.
- Denzel Clarke (OF, ATH) — Trevor Hooth likes him, I guess. Very deep league streamer for now.
- Jerar Encarnación (OF, SFG) — Would be ranked with an everyday role. Huge power upside but hasn’t been able to put it together for any extended period.
- Lane Thomas (OF, WSN) — He’s hitting near the top of the order, but that may just be against lefties as the Guardians have faced a TON of them lately.
- Cedric Mullins (OF, BAL) — Playing in both games coming off the IL helps, but I worry about the role and the performance, which has been unsteady, on an offense that’s still struggling to find its groove.
- Kyle Stowers (OF, MIA) — The contact issues have caught up to him in a big way.
IL Stashes
Players are listed by position and not by projected value.
- Miguel Amaya (C, CHC) — Droppable in redraft if your IL is full,l as he’ll be out for at least a month.
- Shea Langeliers (C, ATH) — Expected to miss four to six weeks with an oblique injury.
- Bryce Harper (1B, PHI) — More issues with the wrist issue he played through last year. I’m expecting him to be out at least a month, if not two.
- Ryan Mountcastle (1B, BAL) — Not holding in 12-teamers.
- Ha-Seong Kim (2B/SS, TBR) — Looks quite bad on rehab right now and the EV is down over five ticks from 2024 (82.1 mph).
- Alex Bregman (3B, BOS) — Hopefully he’s back by August. Bummer.
- Mark Vientos (3B, NYM) — Well, keeping him on your IL is easier than keeping him on your bench.
- Matt Chapman (3B, SFG) — They’re hoping this IL stint only lasts a month.
- Ezequiel Tovar (SS, COL) — Yet another core injury on the left side. Mild oblique strains usually put guys on the IL for about four to six weeks.
- Giancarlo Stanton (DH, NYY) — Just appeared in his first rehab game.
- Victor Robles (OF, SEA) —May be out until September. Drop.
- Yordan Alvarez (OF, HOU) — No, I can’t tell you what the heck is happening in Houston, but he’s a hold.
- Dylan Crews (OF, WAS) — Still not doing baseball stuff.
- Daulton Varsho (OF, TOR) — Not holding in 12-teamers if my IL is already full of ranked players.
- Jordan Walker (OF, STL) — Not holding in 12-teamers if my IL is already full of ranked players.
- Anthony Santander (OF, TOR) — Trying to hold if I can, as perhaps this is the reason for the exceptionally long slump?
- Austin Hays (OF, CIN) — Not holding in 12-teamers if my IL is already full of ranked players.
- Wilyer Abreu (OF, BOS) — Slumping for about a month and now has more competition when he returns. Not a hold for me in shallow leagues.
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