Describing any player as a must-draft player is always slightly overstating things. Context is critical. The wisdom of the crowd and average draft position (ADP) have value. Consistently reaching multiple rounds for players is a recipe for a forgettable fantasy baseball season.

Thus, the following players are best described as desirable targets near their fantasy baseball ADP. Of course, the later players go in fantasy drafts, the more acceptable it is to reach a round or more to select them since the opportunity cost is less substantial.

The following must-draft hitters have a wide array of ADPs, but no one has an ADP earlier than 48 overall, making them available to everyone regardless of the draft slot they draw. There is also a mix of position eligibility and statistical contributions among the featured players.

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Must-Draft Hitters

Oneil Cruz (SS, OF – PIT) | Hitter 35/48 ADP

Oneil Cruz was the 42nd-ranked hitter by our value-based ranking (VBR) metric in 2024. Cruz was a 20/20 hitter, with 21 bombs and 22 stolen bases. He also had elite batted-ball data. According to Baseball Savant, among qualified hitters, Cruz was 16th in barrels per plate appearance percentage (9.5%), fifth in fly-ball/line-drive exit velocity (98.5 miles per hour) and first in maximum exit velocity (121.5 miles per hour).

The toolsy youngster hit 14 of his 21 homers in 344 first-half plate appearances. However, according to FanGraphs, Cruz improved from a .246 batting average, seven stolen bases, a 7% walk rate, and 32.6% strikeout rate in the first half to a .277 batting average, 15 stolen bases, a 10.6% walk rate and a 27.1% strikeout rate. He also popped seven homers in 255 second-half plate appearances.

Cruz’s walk and strikeout rate improvements bode well for his batting average. His raw power is elite, providing him with a high homer ceiling. Cruz has a legitimate shot at a 30/30 season with an adequate batting average and helpful totals in runs and RBI.

Brent Rooker (OF – ATH) | Hitter 39/52.6 ADP

Brent Rooker was 11th among hitters in VBR last year. In 614 plate appearances, he erupted for 39 homers, 82 runs, 112 RBIs 11 stolen bases, a .293 batting average, a .365 on-base percentage (OBP) and a .562 slugging rate.

Rooker has hit at least 30 homers in back-to-back seasons, and his 28.8% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate were his best marks in a season with at least 200 plate appearances since debuting in 2020.

Rooker’s batting average exceeded his .266 expected batting average (xBA), but his .562 slugging rate was in the same ballpark as his .557 expected slugging rate (xSLG). Speaking of ballparks, the Athletics will play their home games in Sacramento this season. Sadly, according to the park factors at Baseball America from last June, the ballpark has park factors of 86 for hits, 87 for singles, 85 for doubles, 53 for triples and 80 for homers.

Nevertheless, Rooker played his home games in a pitcher-friendly ballpark in Oakland the previous two years, too. He is an outstanding power source and doesn’t need to duplicate last year’s production to provide value at his ADP.

Lawrence Butler (OF – ATH) | Hitter 52/82.2 ADP

Lawrence Butler faceplanted in his first taste of the majors in 2023, and it was more of the same in his second chance at the beginning of last year. In 121 plate appearances through May 13, Butler had two homers, three stolen bases, a .179 batting average, a .281 OBP, a .274 slugging rate, a 12.4% walk rate and a 29.8% strikeout rate. Butler was demoted to Triple-A and raked after he was recalled to the majors.

Butler’s stats in 330 plate appearances after being called back up:

• 20 homers
• 55 runs
• 50 RBI
• 15 stolen bases
• .291 batting average
• .330 OBP
• .565 slugging rate
• 6.1% walk rate
• 21.8% strikeout rate
• 90.9 mile-per-hour (MPH) average exit velocity
• 11.5-degree launch angle
• 11.8% barrel percentage
• 47.5 Hard-Hit%

Butler climbed to the top of the lineup with his torrid finish. He has the makings of a five-category contributor if his improvements from June through the end of last season stick.

Junior Caminero (3B – TB) | Hitter 69/108.4 ADP

Junior Caminero hit at every level of the minors. After a cup of coffee in 2023, he received a more extensive look last year. In 177 plate appearances for the Rays last season, he smacked six homers with eye-catching batted-ball data.

Among all hitters, Caminero’s maximum exit velocity (116.3 MPH) was tied with Pete Alonso‘s for the 15th-highest. His 97.8 MPH fly-ball/line-drive exit velocity was the 24th-highest — remarkable in-game power for a player who turned 21 years old last July.

Despite his youth, Caminero didn’t sell out for power, recording an entirely reasonable 21.5% strikeout rate. Caminero’s ADP will explode if he tears the cover off the baseball in spring training. He’s a compelling upside pick, even an entire round ahead of his ADP.

Players don’t always develop linearly, but when the light goes on for a wunderkind like Caminero, it can look like Vladimir Guerrero‘s 2021 breakout.

Luis Arraez (1B, 2B – SD) | Hitter 106/172.8 ADP

Batting average isn’t a sexy category, and I suspect gamers don’t value it as much because they believe it’s volatile and batting average on balls in play (BABIP)-driven. While batting average is volatile, it’s not entirely unpredictable. Luis Arraez is an annual threat to win his league’s batting title.

He’s a career .323 hitter. His .294 batting average in 479 plate appearances in 2021 was his lowest mark. Arraez has a career 6.8% strikeout rate. He had a 4.3% strikeout rate last year. His ability to put the ball in play at a high rate is crucial for his high batting averages, and he sports elite line-drive rates.

The Zeile consensus projection for Arraez in 2025 is an MLB-high .310 batting average. Arraez is the ideal target to help boost a fantasy team’s batting average. However, he might not be a one-trick pony anymore. Arraez scored 83 runs last year and should help fantasy squads in the runs category as San Diego’s projected leadoff hitter.

Arraez might also move the needle for stolen bases. In his first 536 games and 2,186 plate appearances in the Majors, he had 11 stolen bases and was caught stealing 10 times. Arraez stole zero bases in 33 games and 148 plate appearances last year for the Marlins before swiping nine in 117 games and 524 for the Padres. He was caught stealing only three times with the Friars.

Arraez’s newfound stolen-base acumen is a massive development for his fantasy upside. He’s already a steal as the 106th batter selected after finishing as the 57th-ranked hitter in VBR in 2024.

Heliot Ramos (OF – SF) | Hitter 121/204.2 ADP

Heliot Ramos was the poster child of a post-hype breakout in 2024. He was the 19th pick in the first round of the 2017 MLB Amateur Draft and had prospect fanfare early in his professional career.

However, Ramos struggled in the upper Minors for a couple of seasons before putting it together in 2023. His Triple-A success in 2023 didn’t follow him to the Majors, but Ramos figured it out at the MLB level last season.

Ramos’ 2024 stats in 518 plate appearances:

• 22 homers
• 54 runs
• 72 RBIs
• 6 stolen bases
• .269 batting average
• .322 OBP
• .469 slugging rate
• 7.1% walk rate
• 26.1% strikeout rate
• 120 wRC+

Among qualified hitters, Ramos was tied for 13th in barrels per plate appearance percentage (9.7%), tied for 22nd in fly-ball/line-drive exit velocity (96.1 MPH) and had a 10.4-degree launch angle. Ramos is just 25 years old and was the 84th-ranked hitter in VBR last year. His ADP north of 200 is baffling.

Thairo Estrada (2B – COL) | Hitter 191/371 ADP

Thairo Estrada was rock-solid for the Giants from 2021 through 2023 before playing so poorly in 2024 that he was outrighted to Triple-A in late August after going unclaimed on waivers. In 1,203 plate appearances from 2021 through 2023, Estrada had 35 homers, 45 stolen bases, a .266 batting average, a .307 BABIP, a .320 OBP and a .416 slugging rate. He averaged approximately 17.5 homers and 22.5 stolen bases per 600 plate appearances.

Estrada has a golden opportunity to rebound in MLB’s most hitter-friendly home ballpark. The Rockies signed Estrada, and he’s projected to be their starting second baseman this season. Coors Field has park factors of 1.317 for runs, 1.194 for singles, 1.250 for doubles, 1.825 for triples and 1.193 for homers.

According to Baseball-Reference, in 102 career plate appearances at Coors Field, Estrada has hit four homers and stolen three bases with a .348 batting average, a .406 OBP and a .565 slugging rate. Estrada is a no-brainer dart throw for cheap exposure to Coors Field.

Matt Wallner (OF – MIN) | Hitter 203/287.5 ADP

Matt Wallner is an acceptable pick in 14-team leagues with five outfielders and weekly lineup changes. However, he’s featured in this space as a must-draft hitter in leagues as shallow as 12-team formats with daily lineup changes. Wallner is the classic strong-side platoon hitter as a left-handed batter who primarily faces righties.

The left-handed-hitting slugger had only 44 plate appearances and an 80 wRC+ against southpaws last year. However, in 217 plate appearances against righties in 2024, Wallner smashed 12 taters with a .275 batting average, a .387 OBP, a .566 slugging rate and a 171 wRC+.

Wallner is an excellent target to start against righties in leagues with daily lineup changes. He’s also a viable deep-league bench bat in weekly leagues to start whenever the Twins are scheduled to face many righties in a given week.

Jonathan Aranda (1B, 2B – TB) | Hitter 222/353.5

There are always boring, reliable veteran hitters available in free agency after fantasy baseball drafts in 12-team leagues or smaller. In larger formats, there’s some value to picking a rock-steady, low-ceiling veteran. Still, since most gamers play in 12-team mixed leagues or smaller, Jonathan Aranda is precisely the type of player to roll the dice on late in drafts.

In 1,043 plate appearances in Triple-A from 2022 through 2024, Aranda had 50 homers, six stolen bases, a .315 batting average, a .413 OBP, a .546 slugging rate, a 147 wRC+, a 12.7% walk rate and a 22.4% strikeout rate.

Sadly, in 190 plate appearances for the Rays from 2022 through 2023, he had just four homers, zero stolen bases, a .212 batting average, .a 311 OBP, a .345 slugging rate, an 88 wRC+, an 11.1% walk rate and a 28% strikeout rate. It looked like Aranda might be the classic Quad-A hitter, too good for Triple-A but not good enough for the majors.

Aranda did his best to shed the Quad-A label last year. In 143 plate appearances for Tampa Bay, he had six homers, a .234 batting average, a .308 OBP, a .430 slugging rate, a 113 wRC+, an 8.4% walkout rate and a 22.4% strikeout rate. His numbers weren’t spectacular.

However, Aranda had a .257 xBA and .518 xSLG. Among batters with at least 50 batted-ball events in 2024, Aranda was sixth in barrels per plate appearance percentage (11.2%) and ninth in fly-ball/line-drive exit velocity (98.1 mph).

Aranda can put a charge into the ball, and had stellar numbers against righties. In 124 plate appearances against right-handed pitching last season, Aranda hit six homers with a .243 batting average, a .269 BABIP, a .315 OBP, a .450 slugging grate, a 120 wRC+,  an 8.1% walk rate and a 22.6 % strikeout rate.

Aranda should have an opportunity to handle the heavy side of a platoon, and his expected stats last year indicate he was unlucky on his batted balls. Finally, Aranda isn’t particularly intriguing where he’s only eligible at first base, but he’s a useful bench bat where he has first and second base eligibility for starting five games there in 2024.

Adrian Del Castillo (C – ARI) | Hitter 260/428.5 ADP

The pickings are frequently slim for second catchers in two-catcher formats. Adrian Del Castillo isn’t a worthwhile selection in single-catcher leagues. Yet, he should have an opportunity to supplant Jose Herrera as Gabriel Moreno‘s backup with a strong spring training, namely defensively. Del Castillo must demonstrate he’s improved his defense to break camp with the parent club since they reportedly don’t plan to utilize him as a designated hitter.

If Del Castillo’s defense is up to snuff to operate as Arizona’s backup catcher, perhaps he could sprinkle in as a designated hitter, too. The organization might not be planning to use him as a designated hitter because it would take away from his defensive development, but their plans could change if his defense is big-league-ready.

Del Castillo’s bat certainly appears to be ready for The Show. In 474 Triple-A plate appearances in 2024, he launched 26 homers with a .312 batting average, a .399 OBP, a .603 slugging rate, a 144 wRC+, an 11.6% walk rate, a 16.9% strikeout rate, a 90.4 MPH average exit velocity and A16.5-degree launch angle.

The breakout catcher’s hot bat carried him to the Majors. In 87 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks in 2024, Del Castillo had four homers, a .313 batting average, a .368 OBP, a .525 slugging rate, a 146 wRC+, an 8% walk rate and a 32.2 strikeout rate.

Del Castillo needed an unsustainable .438 BABIP to offset his high strikeout rate to tally a batting average north of .300.

He’ll need to whittle away at his strikeout rate to fend off BABIP regression. Still, Del Castillo knocked a 26.7% strikeout rate in 424 plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A in 2023 to 16.9% in 474 plate appearances in Triple-A in 2024, providing a reason for optimism about cutting down his strikeout rate in the Majors.

Gamers can cut him if he doesn’t break camp with the Diamondbacks. Nevertheless, it’s prudent to get ahead of using a waiver claim on Del Castillo if he opens the year in the Majors.

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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.