Top 150 Hitters for Fantasy Baseball 2026 – Week 18

• As a reminder, these rankings are geared toward a standard, daily, 12-team H2H redraft league, which 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.
• These are not best ball or draft and hold rankings. The 12-team redraft format with daily moves is the fundamental opposite of that. Pure volume plays are not valued as much here as in those no-move formats.
• I take rankings like this more as art than science. Every person’s rankings are influenced by their biases, strategic philosophies, risk assessments, and projections. It’s why no two rankings are ever exactly alike. My way of evaluating and ranking players has worked well for me, but it might not be an excellent fit for you. I can’t possibly predict your team’s specific needs, your leaguemates’ 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 leave a comment.
• 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 I’ll add them once those eligibilities are earned. 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 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.
• 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 with tools such as our PLV Hitter Attributes (available to PL Pro members). I also use various projections (some free, some I buy) and dollar value generators.
• Positional eligibility, specifically multi-eligibility, is neat but isn’t a huge factor in many 10- and 12-team leagues anymore due to the prevalence of multi-eligible players. It’s more valuable in deeper contests like the NFBC or in leagues with limited roster moves (draft-and-hold leagues, transaction limits/costs, extremely short benches, etc.). Still, the value is fairly situational and context-dependent.
• Similarly, 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.
• Regardless of true talent, anyone talented enough to make it to the big leagues can be brilliant or putrid for 50 to 100 at-bats. 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 will be valid until it’s over, though track record, scouting, and trends can give us hints.
• One of the most difficult things to account for in these rankings is the dynamic between low-ceiling players with clear roles and players with higher ceilings who lack a clear path to playing time. I try to note this in the blurbs as much as I can.
• THIS IS NOT A TRADE CHART. Trade charts need to account for “market” value, which is largely perception-based.

 

Read The Notes

 

If you’d like input on a player or have any feedback, your best bet is to contact me on Bluesky (@scottchu.pitcherlist.com), X (@ifthechufits), or Reddit (u/ChusephEsquire)

I also host an AMA in the r/fantasybaseball subreddit every Friday (starting sometime in late March) with Nate Schwartz, 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.

For additional insight, also check out the Hacks & Jacks podcast! This is a hitter-focused pod with me, Brett Ford, and occasional special guests.

 

Tier 1 

 

• No changes here, but every week that goes by, I get more and more of an itch to have Yordan Alvarez and James Wood potentially own this tier by themselves.

 

Tier 2

 

• Welcome back, Nick Kurtz! It was good to see him play a full game yesterday after getting hit by a pitch on Wednesday. Kurtz will continue to be a streaky player as long as he struggles with making contact, but his elite power and decision-making will keep the bottom from falling out and the hot streaks are well worth the wait.
• Strikeouts continue to be an issue for Pete Crow-Armstrong, but the elevated walk rate is helping offset that issue. I expect PCA to sport a .250-.260 batting average going forward instead of the .285 he’s given us so far, but the power, speed, and counting stats can continue to be elite.
• Drake Baldwin is back to the leadoff spot in Atlanta, which hurts his RBI upside but replaces it with runs scored upside. The offense as a whole has been a bit up and down, but leading off in front of some of the best hitters in the game is an excellent place to be.

 

Tier 3 

 

• CJ Abrams is changing my mind, in large part because over the last week or two he’s found the highs he had earlier this season, which is an outcome I did not expect. After a scorching hot start, Abrams had been on a mostly-downward trajectory from late April to early July, but did start to trend upward right before the Break (though the rolling xwOBA was barely above average). Since the Break; however, he’s found the highs that we hadn’t seen for nearly three months.

  I am not an immovable man, as I’ve also gained new confidence in players like Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jordan Walker when they recovered from slumps and returned to previous highs. Showing an ability once is cool, but returning to it is a much taller task. Seeing Abrams do that makes me far rosier on his floor; though if you can move him for a Tier 2 hitter, I’d still do it.

• It’s been a quiet month for Kyle Schwarber, but there’s nothing terribly concerning about this downturn. He should bounce out of this like he has all the other slumps in his career. Resist the urge to bench him, especially in weekly or semi-weekly lineups, because when he gets hot it will happen fast.

 

Tier 4

 

• Loved seeing Francisco Lindor have a massive game earlier this week, though I’m sure some are disappointed by the overall results they’ve gotten from Lindor since his return from injury. On the bright side, the quality of contact looks great, and he’s been the victim of bad batted ball luck so far. Stay the course, or better yet, see if you can scoop him from an impatient manager for someone who is currently hot but with a lower floor, like Ceddanne Rafaela.
• Welcome back, Ronald Acuña Jr.! The injury risk remains high, and I’m still concerned about the contact ability (which hurts his batting average and runs scored upside), but there’s elite talent here and the batted ball quality looks solid. I’ve been the low guy on Acuña all season, and would be the type of person who looked to a team on the bubble looking for a boost and see if I can trade them Acuña and his lofty projections for a more sure thing, like the currently slumping José Ramírez or Junior Caminero. FOMO is real, and you’ll feel it with a move like this, but a ton of Acuña’s numbers come from four consecutive games in late May (over half of his homers and RBI and four of his steals), and he’s been fairly mediocre across the other 53 games.
• Miguel Vargas isn’t hitting the ball like he was earlier this summer, though he slumped once before and quickly returned to a high level of play. Let’s see how this one plays out.

 

Tier 5 

 

• Jeremy Peña is one of the hottest hitters in the game right now, hitting his sixth home run of the second half on Wednesday while slashing .413/.438/.826 in 48 trips to the plate since the Break. Even with some good luck assisting him, you can strip that away and still get an excellent hitter. We’ve seen a few spikes like this from Peña since the start of last season, and while they don’t last terribly long, the floor remains fairly high when he cools off due to hitting at the top of the order in front of Yordan Alvarez.

 

Tier 6

 

• In his last 34 games, Manny Machado has 11 homers and 51 combined runs and RBI to go with a .297/.389/.609 line, and despite his incredibly slow start, Machado has launched himself back on track to hit 30 home runs and drive in over 90 runners. The overall batting line isn’t all that impressive, but the 34-year-old slugger still seems to have plenty left in the tank, even if it took a while for the engine to turn over.
• Sal Stewart has tapped into more of his power this month, hitting six home runs with three of them coming since the Break. He has yet to fully show us the upside he flashed back in April, but he’s remained a consistent producer for the last month and a half, slashing .265/.313/.517 with 38 RBI in his last 38 games.
• Bad batted ball luck continues to haunt Riley Greene, who has the eighth-best xwOBA over the last 30 days but just the 80th-best actual wOBA. Greene continues to showcase improved plate discipline in 2026, and by most measures, he’s been a better hitter overall this season than last season despite the lower counting stats and home runs. If I were in a keeper league, I’d be throwing offers constantly to the manager with Riley Greene, as I think brighter days are on the horizon. I mean, I’d do that in redraft, too, but especially in a keeper.
• Gabriel Moreno has taken over DH duties when he’s not behind the dish, and has been the model of consistency as a hitter this season. While Moreno lacks raw home run pop, his plus decision-making and contact skills more than make up for it, and his spot in the heart of the order for the D-Backs should allow him to continue to pile up counting stats. We haven’t seen Moreno appear in 100 or more games since 2023, but he should be able to outpace his projections in home runs and RBI for the rest of the season while posting elite ratios (especially for a catcher). In points leagues, you could push him up towards the top of this tier.

 

Tier 7 

 

• Yandy Díaz has just four home runs in his last 52 games, though the fact he leads off combined with his strong ratios have helped fantasy managers accommodate this power outage to some degree. As per usual, this downturn has a strong correlation with his ground ball rate, as shown in the graph below. When the ground ball rate is high, the wOBA is low, and vice versa. This is a normal development for Yandy and nothing to be terribly concerned about, though it can be quite frustrating.

• Andy Pages has yet to recreate the magic he performed back in the first two months of the year, posting a rather lackluster .702 OPS since the start of June (which ranks 128 among 167 qualified hitters in that span) with just five home runs in those 49 games. The saving grace for Pages is that he’s the number two hitter in the best offense in baseball (by wRC+). His 49 combined runs and RBI ain’t much, but it’s a whole lot for a guy who isn’t hitting terribly well. The lineup around him keeps the floor high while he tries to return to his former shine, and even if he doesn’t get quite that good again this season, being even slightly above average as a hitter would reap plenty of benefits.

 

Tier 8

 

• Welcome to a small tier of guys who I don’t really know how to deal with right now! Jake McCarthy has slowed down considerably since the Break, with zero home runs, two steals, zero walks, and a .607 OPS. Still, he remains the leadoff man for a team that can flat out score runs when they’re at home, and that’s where they’re headed for the next two series.
• Max Muncy has smacked four home runs since we returned to play, but he’s also hitting just .205. Even his OBP, which is usually robust, has been a paltry .295 in these last 11 games. Still, he hits fourth for the Dodgers and isn’t currently injured, so I think you have to just leave him locked in and see how it all plays out. Make sure you have a back-up plan, though, as today’s game will give Muncy the most appearances he’s had in a season since 2023, so expecting him to get to all 150+ games this season and avoid the IL remains a tall order, especially for a guy with his recent injury history who also happens to be turning 36 in August.
• Kazuma Okamoto was ice cold to start the second half, but has found results in the last week, hitting .320 and slugging .640 in his last six games. The problem? His batted ball quality and plate discipline  numbers are atrocious in this span. He has seven strikeouts to zero walks in those six games, and he’s severely overperforming his expected stats. It’s a small sample, sure, but the metrics suggest he hasn’t really fixed anything yet. Still, the results are there, and he’s hitting third most days for the Blue Jays, so what can we do but keep holding? It’s not like there’s a plethora of quality third basemen out there to take his place on the wire.

 

Tier 9 

 

• Vladimir Guerrero has hit the ball better so far in the second half, and Statcast data suggests he should have a slugging over .400 (though not by much). The fly ball rate is climbing as well, and there’s a non-zero chance that he’s on the verge of a hot streak. It’s been a long season for Vladito fans, and at this point, he’s going to need that hot streak to be scorching if he wants to reach 20 home runs. If he doesn’t hit a home run today, he’ll have more steals than home runs heading into August, which is one of the most unbelievable stats I’ve looked at today.
• Carter Jensen continues to struggle, but the Royals have little choice at the moment to continue leading him off and hoping he works through this spike in strikeouts. If he were to lose that role, he’d take another significant tumble.
• Liam Hicks has an average exit velocity of just 83.9 mph since May 8, which is the fourth-worst mark among qualified hitters in that span. His .283 expected slugging is the second-worst. There’s still plenty of value here in points leagues as he puts a lot of balls in play and avoids strikeouts, but the drop off in production by the Miami offense combined with the poor batted ball quality for Hicks makes him far less attractive than he appeared early in the season.

 

Tier 10

At this point in the ranks, you can start considering aggressive adds/drops based on need and situation in shallow/standard-size 10-12 team leagues, especially in the outfield. 

• I’m impressed by Esmerlyn Valdez’s plate discipline of late, as he’s walked 18.9% of the time in his last 37 plate appearances, and the strikeout rate isn’t too crazy (27.0%). He’s still hitting the ball hard as well, so while I still fear a reckoning based on his poor contact skills, it may not be here quite yet.
• As of right now, the FanGraphs Player Rater has Brandon Marsh as a top-50 hitter on the season, a testament to his fantastic start to the season. He’s already tied his career-high in home runs (16), and is just four runs scored and 13 RBI from tying his career-best marks in those categories as well. That being said, those who have continued to start Marsh over the last month and a half may be growing impatient, and for good reason. In his last 35 games, Marsh is slashing just .201/.252/.373 with a 31.5% strikeout rate and a measly 12 RBI. Sure, his seven home runs are a solid pace, but he’s got just one since July 2, and by one, I mean both home runs and extra-base hits in general.

  So what do we do with a guy who was so unbelievably good to start the season (which was supported by underlying data as real as opposed to luck)? Well, it’d be a lot easier if the Phillies decided to move him down in the order, as cutting him would sting quite a bit less, but he remains near the middle of the order for the time being, with no signs that production is on the horizon. In times like these, I tend to look at the historical record to get a sense for what kind of player Brandon Marsh can be when you ignore the hot start he had during the season, and generally speaking, Brandon Marsh has been a guy who you can stream when he’s hot, but overall provides a fairly lackluster line.

  With that in mind, in a 10-12 team league where I only need three total outfielders, my waiver wire is often chock-full of talent worth chasing. Guys like Heriberto Hernández pop up routinely, and I imagine that many players in Tier 10 and 11 are available at most times. With that in mind, it is OK to consider cutting Brandon Marsh, so long as you’re doing it for a player who meets a specific need on your team and who has both short- and long-term upside. Marsh isn’t without upside of his own, mind you, but with the playoffs fast approaching, it may be time to get aggressive.

 

Tier 11

 

• Dylan Crews has moved into the heart of the order now that Mead is gone, and this offense can score runs. What else do you need?
• Willy Adames has been fantastic in the second half in recent years, and he looks like he’s ready to do it again.
• I’m still not a huge believer in Ty France as a top-100 hitter, but the opportunity is there as he hits in the middle of the order for the Padres. Keep in mind that Ty France has been average a LOT more often than he’s been good over his career, so while he’s an excellent guy to plug in for the moment, he’s also a guy I’d be offering to folks anywhere I could if I needed an upgrade at a different position.
• Domonic Canzone is on fire again and has more playing time now than he did earlier this season. He’s got solid matchups on the horizon with the Twins and Tigers going across the country (and possibly without a few of their best players once the Deadline is over, or at the very least, their motivation), so keep him locked into your lineups. If he can return to the heights we saw earlier in the season, there’s plenty of more room for him to rise in these ranks.
• My faith in Jac Caglianone remains low, especially with the rise in grounders. I know some folks are looking to buy low, and I’d be tempted to let them in exchange for something a little safer, even if the upside is lower.

 

Tier 12

 

• Trent Grisham still leads off against righties and is starting against most lefties, so it’s not as though there isn’t an opportunity to succeed here. He’s been ice cold out of the Break, and if he has another bad week, we might see the Yankees start shuffling the lineup a bit. If he is able to lock in, though, he’s got top-100 upside.
• Luis Lara has earned more playing time of late and has piled up the stats over his last four starts. Lara is unlikely hit a bunch of homers, but his line-drive approach and plus speed makes him dangerous in points leagues and anywhere you need some ratio help and/or speed.
• Vaughn Grissom flashed a bit earlier this summer and after a lull in both performance and playing time, he finds himself back in the middle of the order for the Angels while swinging a hot bat. He’s eligible all over the infield and should continue to draw starts as the Angels continue their endless rebuild, so feel free to plug him in to fill some holes while you wait for an injured player to return or just while you wait for a higher upside play.
• Willi Castro is hitting well, can play anywhere, and heads home for a week. Easy streamer.
• Kody Clemens is doing just enough to stay on rosters, but again, the decision-making and ratios have been pretty awful lately so don’t be too attached.
• Mickey Moniak has power and should get at least four starts over the next six games in Coors.
• Steven Kwan isn’t hitting for any power, but he’s hitting the ball plenty and can help you with runs and ratios if needed.

 

Rank	Hitter	Team	Position	Change
1	Shohei OhtaniT1	LAD	DH	-
2	Yordan Alvarez	HOU	OF	-
3	James Wood	WSH	OF	-
4	Nick Kurtz T2	ATH	1B	+UR
5	José Ramírez	CLE	3B	-
6	Ben Rice	NYY	C, 1B	-
7	Elly De La Cruz	CIN	SS	-
8	Pete Crow-Armstrong	CHC	OF	+2
9	Drake Baldwin	ATL	C	+3
10	Junior Caminero T3	TB	3B	-2
11	CJ Abrams	WSH	SS	+9
12	Jordan Walker	STL	OF	-3
13	Kyle Schwarber	PHI	OF	-2
14	Hunter Goodman	COL	C	-1
15	Jackson Chourio	MIL	OF	-1
16	Brice Turang	MIL	2B	-
17	Matt Olson	ATL	1B	-
18	Corbin Carroll	ARI	OF	-
19	Francisco Lindor T4	NYM	SS	+3
20	Ronald Acuña Jr.	ATL	OF	+UR
21	Pete Alonso	BAL	1B	+2
22	Bryce Harper	PHI	1B	+2
23	Julio Rodríguez	SEA	OF	-4
24	Miguel Vargas	CHW	1B, 3B	-9
25	Willson Contreras	BOS	1B	-
26	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SD	OF	-
27	Randy Arozarena	SEA	OF	+1
28	Michael Harris II T5	ATL	OF	+2
29	Otto Lopez	MIA	2B, SS	-
30	Ketel Marte	ARI	2B	+1
31	William Contreras	MIL	C	+1
32	Dillon Dingler	DET	C	+1
33	Wyatt Langford	TEX	OF	+5
34	Jeremy Peña	HOU	SS	+9
35	Bryan Reynolds	PIT	OF	-1
36	Alec Burleson	STL	1B, OF	+4
37	Manny Machado T6	SD	3B	+16
38	Freddie Freeman	LAD	1B	-2
39	Seiya Suzuki	CHC	OF	+5
40	Rafael Devers	SF	1B	+7
41	Sal Stewart	CIN	1B, 3B	+8
42	Trea Turner	PHI	SS	+8
43	Zach Neto	LAA	SS	-8
44	Riley Greene	DET	OF	-3
45	Jackson Merrill	SD	OF	+11
46	Gabriel Moreno	ARI	C	+13
47	Yandy Díaz T7	TB	1B	-10
48	Luis García Jr.	WSH	2B	-9
49	Brandon Lowe	PIT	2B	-3
50	Jazz Chisholm Jr.	NYY	2B, 3B	+2
51	Kevin McGonigle	DET	SS	-6
52	Andy Pages	LAD	OF	-10
53	Ozzie Albies	ATL	2B	+11
54	JJ Wetherholt	STL	2B, SS	+1
55	Munetaka Murakami	CHW	1B, 3B	+3
56	Gunnar Henderson	BAL	SS	-8
57	Mookie Betts	LAD	SS	-6
58	Sam Antonacci	CHW	2B, OF	+4
59	Ceddanne Rafaela	BOS	2B, OF	+7
60	Jonathan Aranda T8	TB	1B	-3
61	Xavier Edwards	MIA	2B, SS	-7
62	Jake Bauers	MIL	1B, OF	+12
63	Luis Arraez	SF	1B, 2B	+10
64	Max Muncy	LAD	3B	+7
65	Jake McCarthy	COL	OF	+2
66	Ryan O’Hearn	PIT	1B	+6
67	Kazuma Okamoto	TOR	3B	+8
68	Isaac Paredes T9	HOU	3B	+8
69	Josh Naylor	SEA	1B	+9
70	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	TOR	1B	+9
71	Caleb Durbin	BOS	2B, 3B	+9
72	Mike Trout	LAA	OF	+11
73	Wilyer Abreu	BOS	OF	+8
74	Carter Jensen	KC	C	-11
75	Kyle Tucker	LAD	OF	+7
76	Teoscar Hernández	LAD	OF	-7
77	Cole Carrigg	COL	OF	+12
78	Liam Hicks	MIA	C, 1B	-13
79	Nick Gonzales	PIT	2B, 3B	+7
80	Esmerlyn Valdez T10	PIT	OF	+10
81	Brandon Marsh	PHI	OF	-20
82	Bo Bichette	NYM	3B, SS	+3
83	Brandon Nimmo	TEX	OF	+4
84	Royce Lewis	MIN	3B	+11
85	Jake Burger	TEX	1B	+9
86	Nasim Nuñez	WSH	2B, SS	+5
87	Heriberto Hernández	MIA	OF	+23
88	Jo Adell	LAA	OF	+19
89	A.J. Ewing	NYM	OF	+15
90	Carson Benge	NYM	OF	-22
91	Ivan Herrera	STL	C, DH	+2
92	Chase DeLauter	CLE	OF	+4
93	Colson Montgomery	CHW	SS	-5
94	Tyler Soderstrom	ATH	1B	+3
95	Ian Happ	CHC	OF	-11
96	Tommy Edman	LAD	2B, OF	+3
97	Nico Hoerner	CHC	2B, SS	+40
98	Dansby Swanson	CHC	SS	+5
99	Ezequiel Duran	TEX	1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF	+20
100	Bryson Stott	PHI	2B, SS	+17
101	TJ Rumfield	COL	1B, 3B	-1
102	Chandler Simpson	TB	OF	-1
103	Salvador Perez	KC	C, 1B	+20
104	Jacob Wilson T11	ATH	SS	-6
105	Bryce Eldridge	SF	1B, DH	+10
106	Dylan Crews	WSH	OF	+28
107	Willy Adames	SF	SS	+21
108	Chase Meidroth	CHW	2B, SS	+27
109	George Springer	TOR	OF	+27
110	Ty France	SD	1B	+22
111	Alex Bregman	CHC	3B	+16
112	Gleyber Torres	DET	2B	-10
113	Daylen Lile	WSH	OF	-5
114	Geraldo Perdomo	ARI	SS	-8
115	Travis Bazzana	CLE	2B	+1
116	Dominic Canzone	SEA	OF	+33
117	Jac Caglianone	KC	OF	-25
118	Joe Mack	MIA	C	-6
119	Garrett Mitchell	MIL	OF	-10
120	Brooks Lee	MIN	2B, 3B, SS	-9
121	Ryan Jeffers T12	MIN	C	+3
122	JJ Bleday	CIN	OF	-8
123	Jung Hoo Lee	SF	OF	+8
124	Michael Busch	CHC	1B	-6
125	Trent Grisham	NYY	OF	-20
126	Christian Yelich	MIL	OF	-1
127	Cal Raleigh	SEA	C	-5
128	Ernie Clement	TOR	1B, 2B, 3B, SS	+11
129	Heliot Ramos	SF	OF	+14
130	Jasson Domínguez	NYY	OF	+15
131	Christian Walker	HOU	1B	+17
132	Luis Lara	MIL	OF	+UR
133	Vaughn Grissom	LAA	1B, 2B, 3B	+UR
134	Willi Castro	COL	1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF	+UR
135	Kyle Stowers	MIA	1B, OF	+12
136	Jacob Young	WSH	OF	+UR
137	Kody Clemens	MIN	1B, 2B, OF	+4
138	Joc Pederson	TEX	OF	+UR
139	Mickey Moniak	COL	OF	+UR
140	Cole Young	SEA	2B	+UR
141	Cooper Pratt	MIL	SS	+UR
142	Jarren Duran	BOS	OF	+UR
143	José Caballero	NYY	2B, 3B, SS, OF	+1
144	Jose Altuve	HOU	2B, OF	-15
145	Luis Robert Jr.	NYM	OF	-12
146	Steven Kwan	CLE	OF	+UR
147	Luke Keaschall	MIN	2B	-9
148	Mauricio Dubón	ATL	2B, 3B, SS, OF	-18
149	Eugenio Suárez	CIN	3B	-36
150	Brayan Rocchio	CLE	2B, SS	-29

 

UPDATE: I’ve separated the Taxi Squad and Injured List for my own organization. The Injured List will only focus on players who might actually get ranked on return.

Catcher

• Tyler Stephenson (C, CIN) — Boring-but-safe streamer when he’s at home.
• Alejandro Kirk (C, TOR) — Strong plate skills but no longer plays every day so he’s more of a safe streamer than locked-in regular.
• Francisco Alvarez (C, NYM) — Getting extra playing time against lefties.
• Jonah Heim (C, ATH) — Langeliers being lost for the season will give Heim plenty of volume.
• Eduardo Valencia (C, DET) — He’s got legitimate pop, but playing time and ratios will be volatile.
• Yainer Diaz (C, HOU) — The playing time didn’t materialized like I hoped.
• Keibert Ruiz (C, WSN) — The lack of playing time hurts too much to keep him ranked, but he puts a ton of balls in play and should always be on the points league radar.

First Base

• Spencer Torkelson (1B, DET) —Just let me have this one. If he could make contact at even a below-average (as opposed to abysmal) clip, he’d be quite relevant.
• Coby Mayo (1B/3B, BAL) — Will get more playing time with Alexander out, but nothing more than a desperate power option in deep leagues.
• Andrew Vaughn (1B, MIL) — Barely playing at all.
• Kyle Manzardo (1B, CLE) — Streaky and prone to platooning.
• Nolan Schanuel (1B, LAA) — Points league streamer.
• Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1B/3B, BAL) — Sitting against half of opposing righties makes recommending him tough, especially with just two lefties on the docket over the next two series.
• Paul Goldschmidt (1B, NYY) — Got some hits during a five-game stretch against lefties. Meh.
• Vinnie Pasquantino (1B, KCR) — Pasquantino didn’t hit for any power coming 0ff the IL and can be safely left on the wire.
• Spencer Steer (1B/2B/OF) — I wouldn’t expect him back until September. If you’ve got a full IL, he might be a drop.
• Josh Bell (1B, MIN) — He’s fallen off the deep end in terms of production.

Second Base

• Marcus Semien (2B, NYM) — He’s back and should only be considered in very deep leagues where you just need volume.
• Matt McLain (2B/SS, CIN) — He’s back but he’s a desperation play in 12-teamers.
• Tyler Tolbert (2B/SS/OF, KCR) — 14 of his 24 hits this season come in a total of four games. He’s hitting .185 in the other 42 games he’s appeared in.
• David Hamilton (2B/3B/SS, MIL) — He’s back and running, but also sitting a few times a week.
• Pedro Ramirez (2B/3B, CHC) — Piling up the hits, but it’s mostly batted ball luck. I don’t buy this right now, but he’s a well-regarded prospect so we may see something more real eventually.
• Jackson H0lliday (2B, BAL) — Showing signs of life, and lest we forget, he was once the top prospect in the game.

Third Base

• Nolan Arenado (3B, ARI) — The power isn’t there anymore, but he can still provide ratios and RBI at a slightly above-average clip.
• Austin Riley (3B, ATL) — And just like that, he looks bad again.
• Jordan Lawlar (3B/OF, ARI) — This dude cannot catch a break.
• Kyle Karros (3B, COL) — Hurt, but heading home.
• Luis Rengifo (2B/3B, SDP) — Has raked as a Padre, though much of the success is luck-driven.

Shortstop

• Anthony Volpe (SS, NYY) — He’ll be a post-hype sleeper at some point, probably.
• Colt Emerson (3B/SS, SEA) — There’s long-term upside here, but I’m not waiting for it in 2026. He needs to figure out those holes in his swing and make more contact in the zone.
• Kaelen Culpepper (SS, MIN) — Culpepper has been fairly good in triple-A and recently returned from a pair of injuries that cost him most of the summer. The Twins are in need of offensive reinforcements if they want to stay in the hunt, so we could see Culpepper by mid-late August if he seems to be fully healthy.
• Jesús Made (SS, MIL) — Just pointing out that I don’t see Made breaking through in 2026. He hasn’t exactly been a world-beater in triple-A, though his above-average results are an awesome sign for a 19-year-old kid in the high minors.

Outfield/DH

• Kerry Carpenter (OF, DET) — On the IL and droppable.
• Mike Yastrzemski (OF, ATL) — Streaky lefty platoon guy.
• Gavin Sheets (1B/OF, SDP) — Streaky lefty platoon guy.
• Luke Raley (OF, SEA) — Streaky lefty platoon guy.
• Jesús Sánchez (OF, TOR) — Streaky lefty platoon guy.
• Joshua Baez (OF, STL) — Power and strikeouts.
• Dylan Beavers (OF, BAL) — Might be worth a look in deeper OBP formats.
• Lars Nootbaar (OF, STL) — No need to hold here as he has dropped in the lineup and is sitting against most lefties.
• Cam Smith (OF, HOU) — One of these days, he’ll stay on the list.
• Ryan Waldschmidt (OF, ARI) — Hitting decently well but playing time is spotty.
• Daulton Varsho (OF, TOR) — Varsho is notoriously streaky as well as injury-prone, so I’ve always viewed him as more of a disposable streamer in 12-teamers.
• Taylor Ward (OF, BAL) — In deeper formats or OBP, you can justify holding him if you don’t like the waiver options, but I just don’t see any signs that he’s going to go back to being the 2025 Ward, who I was a big fan of.
• Cedric Mullins (OF, TBR) — The steals have dried up, and he doesn’t hit enough to justify holding through it.
• Victor Mesa Jr. (OF, TBR) — Platoon guy with some power upside.
• Henry Bolte (OF, ATH) — Things are getting even worse. He’s a drop everywhere for me.
• Max Clark (OF, DET) — Clark is a well-rounded prospect who has shown fantastic plate discipline and has found a new gear in his last 15 games (five home runs, two steals, and a 1.124 OPS). There should be playing time for him to steal from McKinstry, Baez, Outman, and Vierling to get in against all righties and at least some lefties (if not all of them). I don’t quite rank him yet as outfield is extremely deep in the formats this article focuses on (as you can see with how large this section is), but if you’ve got an open roster spot and want to see if you can catch lightning in a bottle, a top-five prospect is a good place to start.
• Tyrone Taylor (OF, NYM) — Making the most of new playing time opportunities but feels like it’s just a little hot streak.
• Trevor Larnach (OF, MIN) — Has lost a ton of playing time.
• Jake Mangum (OF, PIT) — Still leads off most days and would be ranked in points leagues, but not doing quite enough to keep our attention in category formats as an outfielder.
• Walker Jenkins (OF, MIN) — Jenkins missed a chunk of time early in the summer, and hasn’t found his home run stroke since returning in late June. If he does find it soon, he could scratch and claw his way to some playing time as a leadoff man over Larnach with his plus-plus hit tool.