Top 200 Hitters For Fantasy Baseball 2025 – PL Pro Early Access

Scott Chu's Top 300 Hitter Rankings are published annually in mid-February and we are giving a bonus to our readers for an early release of his Top 20 hitters, while giving thanks to our PL Pro subscribers, who get a peak at Scott's rankings across the Top 200 and detailed analysis for his Top 125 hitters. This article will be free for all in mid-February with write-ups for all 300 hitters.

Get PL Pro Yearly for $40 off here with promo code HITTERS2025

Before diving into our latest fantasy baseball rankings for 2025 drafts, let's hit on a few points:

• 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.
• These are not best ball or draft and hold rankings. In fact, the 12-team redraft format with daily moves is the fundamental opposite of that. Pure volume plays are not valued nearly as much here as they would be in those no-moves formats.
• 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 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 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.
• 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 Bluesky (@scottchu.pitcherlist.com), X (@ifthechufits), or in the comments below!

 

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.

 

I also host an AMA in the r/fantasybaseball subreddit every Friday (starting sometime in late March) 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

 

1. Shohei Ohtani (DH, LAD) — Fun fact: Shohei Ohtani is the only player to finish in the top-5 fantasy hitters in both 2023 and 2024. Little needs to be said here. In daily leagues where Ohtani is one player, he is in a tier of his own. This ranking is just for hitter Ohtani, technically, where I can see some sort of argument for one of the other two guys in this tier if you're somehow worried about additional injury risk or something because he'll be throwing (I am not worried about this at all, for what it's worth). Those in OBP leagues might have a slightly tougher decision, as the gap between Ohtani and Judge in that format was pretty slim in 2024, but I'd probably still go with Ohtani.

The one somewhat plausible impact of pitching would be a possible decrease in stolen bases, as you might argue that they'll be more timid about giving the green light to Ohtani if they need him to be a starter. That said, they seemed happy to give the green light while he was recovering from an injury. Stealing over 50 bases again is a long shot, but 30 or more should be more than feasible. He stole 20 or more twice on an Angels team that was among the most conservative in baseball, with 26 in 2021 before the rule changes while also tossing 130.1 innings that season.

 

2. Aaron Judge (OF, NYY) — Judge is obviously a powerhouse, and I wouldn't begrudge you if he was at the top of your personal rankings over Ohtani (even if I disagree). He had two rough slumps: one in April and another in the first half of September, and both were due to high groundball rates (and to a lesser extent, a lot of strikeouts) that were quickly corrected. Sure, they were ugly, but anyone who doubts Judge's ability to correct course and be the best pure hitter in baseball for extended stretches is out of their mind.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the loss of Soto might chop a handful of RBI off his totals, but after hitting 144 in 2024 he had plenty to spare without losing any real value. The Yankees offense should be quite good when all is said and done and Judge will be at the heart of it.

 

3. Bobby Witt Jr. (SS, KCR) — Witt Jr. followed up his top-10 finish in 2023 with a top-three finish in 2024 in his age-24 season, improving his walk rate while maintaining plus contact ability and increasing his power (especially with respect to turning singles extra-base hits, going from 69 XBH in 2023 to 88 in 2024).

So where does Witt Jr. go from here? I think the plate discipline and ratios are very repeatable, including the gains to walk rate, and he does major damage to all pitch types so the batted ball quality will likely remain superb. Sure, the BABIP spiked to .354 after consecutive seasons of .295, which can be explained by him adding two ticks to his average exit velocity and nearly three percent to his barrel and hard-hit rates. Also, it's important to remember that even without all those gains he was a top-seven hitter in 2023.

It's insanely difficult to be a top-five hitter in back-to-back seasons, but Bobby Witt Jr. has all the tools to make it happen.

 

Tier 2

 

4. José Ramírez (3B, CLE) — To be honest, I had completely forgotten about J-Ram's somewhat sluggish start, in part because he quickly corrected it by hitting 11 home runs in May. Despite posting the lowest season-long walk rate we've seen from him since 2016, J-Ram tied a career-high in home runs (39) while setting new career highs in runs (114) and stolen bases (41) and a second-best mark in RBI (118).

Ramírez's pull-heavy profile with plenty of fly balls helps offset some of the fairly pedestrian numbers we see from Statcast, but it's interesting to see that his production came with two big spikes: a home run spike in May (11) and a stolen base spike in August (14). Those were his best months for home runs and stolen bases in his long career (respectively) and expecting players to repeat bursts like that is something I tend to avoid.

Even if J-Ram doesn't get to 80 combined home runs and steals, he should continue to be the safest bet at third base on the board. Since his breakout in 2017, Ramírez has finished as a top-three third baseman every year except for one (a somewhat injury-shortened 2019).

 

5. Elly De La Cruz (3B/SS, CIN) — 2024 was nothing short of a massive success for Elly De La Cruz. Sure, he struck out over 30% of the time again, but the improvement to his walk and ground ball rates made that 31.3% strikeout rate a lot easier to swallow. As long as ELDC is not the worst decision-maker in the league, he has a chance to be an elite fantasy producer due to his power and speed.

Points leaguers likely need to move De La Cruz down a tier as most of those leagues don't value steals at nearly the level category leagues do, but everyone else should be very excited about what another offseason to learn and mature can do for this dynamic athlete. As the ranking suggests, I expect a step forward to be more likely than a step backward.

 

6. Juan Soto (OF, NYM) — What changes with Soto being a Met for the next million 15 years? Well, very little in terms of what we can expect from him. Soto will keep being an absolute monster at the dish with incredible plate discipline, 35 home run pop, a ton of counting stats, and a handful of steals.

While the Mets don't have an Aaron Judge to pair with Soto behind him, they DO have Francisco Lindor ahead of him (a massive improvement over the Yankees' rotation of leadoff guys), which should help Soto make up for some of the lost runs scored through RBI.

 

7. Kyle Tucker (OF, CHC) — Tucker was on absolute fire before going down with what seemed like a never-ending leg injury. He had 19 home runs and 10 steals in 60 games (including the game where he went down with the injury) with more walks than strikeouts and a hefty 176 wRC+. While he took days off following his return in September, he still looked like an absolute stud, slashing .365/.453/.587 with four home runs in his last 18 games.

While an 18-game sample wouldn't normally command much attention, this one is valuable because it helps us feel a lot more comfortable with Tucker's overall health and the potential repeatability of the surge we saw last season. I don't normally project career highs for players with a track record, but the incredibly high floor plus the gains in plate discipline and fly ball rate suggest the Kyle Tucker we got a glimpse of in 2024 is coming back in 2025.

As for the move to Wrigley, I suppose we could see a couple of balls that would have left Minute Maid turn into doubles, but the impact of the park change isn't enough to alter how I view his floor or upside in 2025. The team context is more important (and more interesting) as the Cubs and Astros scored almost the same number of runs in 2024, albeit with very different strategies. The Cubs were (and likely will be) MUCH more aggressive on the basepaths than Houston, and Tucker seems likely to slot into the two-hole of the lineup. I think the stolen base floor is a little higher in Chicago than it was in Houston, and the counting stats should be at least as good as they were in the past and possibly even better, depending on what other moves the Cubs make.

 

8. Gunnar Henderson (SS, BAL) — Gunnar's legendary first half was followed by a second half that was merely good, mostly from bouts of inconsistency down the stretch evidenced by very up-and-down performances, particularly in the power department. There was nothing fraudulent about Gunnar's first three months where he hit 26 total home runs that I can see, and while I don't expect 26 home runs over a three-month period, I think a more balanced performance is more than reasonable to expect.

I think 30-35 home runs with another strong season of counting stats and ratios are very much on the table. The stolen bases were sort of erratic over the year, but 15-18 seems about right for someone with his athleticism being locked in at the top of a young roster with upside.

 

9. Mookie Betts (2B/SS/OF, LAD) — Mookie missed most of the summer after being hit on the hand with a 98-mph fastball, but when healthy he posted a 141 wRC+. The power we saw in 2022 and 2023 never quite kicked in, though he was still on roughly a 25-home run pace, though it's worth noting that Mookie's power often comes in extreme spikes followed by extended periods of being above-average (see below). With time and health, I think at least one or two of those extreme spikes would materialize and get him to 30+ home runs to go with those huge counting stat totals and fantastic ratios.

 

10. Yordan Alvarez (OF, HOU) — Make it four consecutive seasons with over 30 home runs and 85 RBI. The counting stats were a bit low for Yordan, though that's primarily due to the baffling lack of offense in Houston to start the year in 2024 (this dude had 30 hits and just four RBI in May). If we knew he'd play 150 games, I think he'd be at least three spots higher, if not more. He's just that good when he's on the field.

Fun fact: Yordan's worst 50-game wRC+ of his career is 114, meaning at his absolute worst, he's still 14% better than the MLB average.

 

11. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B/3B, TOR) — I admit I thought Vlad Jr. was on the decline after watching that rolling chart point down through 2022 and 2023 and into the start of 2024, but Vladito turned it on in the second half and showed us a spike in power we hadn't seen since his breakout in 2021. Guerrero Jr. always kept the bat-to-ball ability, but grounders were crushing his upside until he found a way to break their spell in the summer. A Vlad who puts the ball in the air (as in line drives plus fly balls) more than 60% of the time is an extremely dangerous hitter. Heck, possibly even a top-five hitter. The floor is quite high regardless, really, but that second half showed us that the 40-home run power in his 2021 campaign may not have been a fluke after all.

 

12. Freddie Freeman (1B, LAD) — In Freeman's first 100 games of 2024, he was on pace for about 26 home runs and over 200 combined runs and RBI. An injury and a bit of a slump later and we wound up seeing Freeman's worst combined run and RBI totals since 2017 with just 22 home runs. The home run power has fluctuated throughout his career, with the range of outcomes being somewhere between 21 and 31 over the last four seasons, but the 81 runs and 89 RBI make very little sense considering his .282/.378/.476 in the heart of one of the most explosive offenses in baseball.

I think we just have to acknowledge that Freeman is more of a mid-20s home run guy but there is no way we see such low counting stat totals again if he stays healthy. I am expecting double-digit steals and well over 200 combined runs and RBI to go along with exceptional ratios and one of the highest floors in the game.

Fun fact: 2024 was the first time Freeman missed more than four games in a season since 2017. He's only missed more than 15 games in a season twice since his first full season in the majors back in 2011 (2015 and 2017).

 

13. Fernando Tatis Jr. (OF, SDP) — Performance-wise, there are no doubts about Tatis. While we still didn't see the same bombastic performance we saw in 2021, Tatis hit the ball extremely hard, and in his 102 healthy games, he showed 30-35 home run power and the speed to steal 15-20 bags given the opportunity. He also maintained a strong 21.9% strikeout rate on his way to a .276 batting average.

Of course, injuries are a significant concern here. Tatis missed 60 games in 2024 and has been injured for at least 20 games in each of the last four seasons (technically, some of that missed time comes from an 80-game suspension from 2022-2023, but he was also recovering from a wrist injury at the time and would have missed significant time without the suspension). The one bright spot on the injury front is that the time he missed in 2024 did not seem to impact his performance. As you can see in the chart below, Tatis returned just as strong as he was before the injury in every respect.

The 162-game upside for Tatis is that of a top-five fantasy hitter who gives you juice in all five categories. Notably, when he missed over 20 games in 2023, he still finished as a top-35 hitter, and his ridiculous 2021 led to him finishing as the sixth-best hitter despite missing over 30 games. I am all for going after the upside in 12-team formats, especially if he slips to the start of the second round in your draft. If you have to roster five outfielders, I could see Tatis ranked as high as tenth (which is where I had him originally until I talked myself into two of the three top first basemen).

 

14. Bryce Harper (1B, PHI) — We finally got more than 140 games from Bryce Harper again, and since 2018, playing at least 140 games means at least 30 home runs. Like Freeman, I am unsure why or how the counting stats ended up so low for Harper, who hit a ton and got on base with extreme regularity for a very good offense. Starting in July, Harper's run and RBI totals stayed shockingly low even though the Phillies were a top-10 offense. July can be explained by injury and a slump, but his counting stats remain suppressed in August and September despite a 143 wRC+. From August 15 to September 5, Harper had 19 hits and just three RBI while batting third.

Again, like Freeman, I suspect the low counting stats were more a product of bad luck than any kind of degradation of skill or supporting cast, so as long as Harper stays healthy he should get to 30 home runs and 200 combined runs and RBI. Of the three first baseman in this tier, he's definitely the most likely to hit 35 home runs given a full season; however, he's also definitely the most likely to miss more than 20 games, so I've ranked him at the bottom of this little cluster. If you're less risk-averse or you're in a shallow league where the replacement level at first base is quite high, I could see you moving him up one or two spots.

 

Tier 3

 

15. Francisco Lindor (SS, NYM) — Yet another fantastic season for Lindor. He kept the gains in fly ball rate from 2023 while cutting down on the pop-ups and posting a career-high barrel rate and hard-hit rate. He hit home runs and stole bases consistently all season long, and from June through the end of the season he never posted a negative weekly fantasy value (per FanGraphs Player Rater).  The addition of Soto will certainly help his runs scored totals, though it may marginally reduce his stolen bases. Regardless, this is an extremely high-floor player who is a pretty good bet to get another season of 60 combined home runs and stolen bases (or at least close to it).

 

 

16. Corbin Carroll (OF, ARI) — It was a tale of two halves for Carroll, who was cut by more than a few 12-team managers due to the fact he hit just two home runs with a .213/.305/.315 line and a 76 wRC+. Those who were able to weather the storm received rich dividends, though, as Carroll notched 37 extra-base hits over his final 76 games of the season from July 1 onward, including 20 home runs and a 139 wRC+.

It's easy to speculate that the shoulder injury that sapped his power in the latter part of 2023 continued to trouble him in 2024. I don't normally give too much attention to these theories since we have very little direct feedback from players and teams about this sort of thing, but it is worth noting in the chart below that the steep drop that happens in 2023 begins at the exact same time as the injury.

Regardless of the cause, it was fantastic to see Carroll remind us why he was the top prospect in baseball just two years ago and believe he can threaten 30 home runs or more in a full healthy season with over 30 home runs and much better ratios than we saw last season. There's risk for sure, as the injury may not actually explain the slump to the degree I've assumed and the D-Backs roster looks a LOT weaker than it did at the end of the season (especially if Eugenio Suárez can't find that late-season magic), but I'm already pretty close to talking myself into moving him into Tier 2.

 

17. Austin Riley (3B, ATL) — Like several of his teammates, Riley was slow out of the gate with a putrid .618 OPS and just three home runs through 53 games. Then suddenly, without warning, he hit a home run in three straight games, kicking off a 57-game stretch where he absolutely mashed: 16 home runs, a .942 OPS, and an average exit velocity of 95.6 mph. Unfortunately, a 97-mph sinker smacked Riley on the wrist, ending his season.

Riley has consistently been a hitter with plus decision-making skills and plus-plus power, and his 2024 was an odd departure from that. In his early-season struggles, the decision-making was there, but the power was gone. When he got hot, Riley showed the power we expected but ditched the decision-making (see the chart below).

I'm not overly concerned about the dip in decision quality, mostly because the expected results were there and our model is agnostic to an individual player's ability and how he's being attacked, but it was interesting to see the change in approach. If nothing else, it tells me that Riley doesn't necessarily need to always make great decisions to deliver results due to his strength. I'm expecting a return to 35 or more home runs, though the ride might be a bit rockier than we thought it could be last offseason.

 

18. Rafael Devers (3B, BOS) — Devers is about as consistent as they come. From 2021 through 2024, he's averaged 31.5 home runs, 90.5 runs scored, 96 RBI, and a .873 OPS per season and has logged at least 600 plate appearances in five straight full seasons. Devers was on track to possibly set new career highs in multiple categories as he had 25 home runs and 144 combined runs and RBI through his first 100 games, putting him on pace for 40 home runs and 233 combined runs and RBI with a .304 average and .381 OBP, but he faded hard down the stretch, hitting just .189/.282/.294 with three measly home runs over the remainder of the season.

We learned in late September that Devers had been battling soreness in both shoulders which ultimately got him shut down, and that the issues were exacerbated in late July on a diving play in Colorado. This lines up pretty well with the drop-off in production, and thankfully Devers has been given ample time to rest and recover. A healthy Devers should, at the very least, get back to those averages I referenced above, and what we saw for the first half of the season suggests that the ceiling may be even higher.

 

19. Ronald Acuña Jr. (OF, ATL) — The consensus top overall pick in 2024 drafts certainly didn't live up to the extremely lofty expectations we had after his phenomenal 2023. I don't really need to say much about Acuña's upside, as the thing that will truly set his value on draft day is the floor.

At this moment, it does not sound like Acuña will be ready for Opening Day and will miss at least the first month of the season, if not slightly longer. For most players, that kind of timeline would push them well outside the top 20, but in the standard format used for these rankings (12 teams, three outfielders, two utility) the replacement level at outfield is incredibly high. That, combined with the extreme talent of Acuña makes it tough to push him too far down.

If you started your draft with a couple of pitchers, players who already carried injury or performance risk, or a player who already loads up the stolen base column, you might consider pushing Acuña down your list a little bit. Ditto if you're in a deeper format or don't have an IL spot. However, if you're in a position to take on some risk, there are few gambles that can pay off as handsomely as a healthy, locked-in Acuña as he has the talent to be a top-five overall fantasy contributor even with the missed time.

 

20. Marcell Ozuna (DH, ATL) — Ozuna did a full repeat of his shocking 2023 in 2024 and there's little reason to doubt he can do something similar in 2025. Technically, Ozuna's power faded a bit down the stretch compared to his early season fireworks display, but as the chart below shows, the "fade" merely brought him down to the 80th percentile. If that's what a slump looks like, then sign me up.

 

21. Brent Rooker (OF, OAK) — I was not silent regarding my skepticism towards Rooker coming into 2024. Rooker's 30-home run 2023 was extremely streaky. It was largely fueled by two extremely hot stretches at the beginning and the end of the season, with a lot of red flags over in the summer plus a ton of strikeouts. The Rooker we saw in 2024, though, was incredibly consistent, posting a wRC+ over 100 in each month of the season and a wRC+ over 140 in four of the six months.