If you have any specific redraft or dynasty questions, please feel free to ask me on X @fantasyaceball. Please subscribe to the Fantasy Aceball Podcast and my YouTube channel to follow along with all of my fantasy baseball content.
If you have any specific redraft or dynasty questions, please feel free to ask me on X @fantasyaceball. Please subscribe to the Fantasy Aceball Podcast and my YouTube channel to follow along with all of my fantasy baseball content.
Notes: Cal Raleigh played 145 games in 2023 and 153 games in 2024. That alone makes him extremely valuable in any weekly league, as most starting catchers are only going to play around five games per week — 120-130 games overall. Raleigh is also projected to hit third in the Mariners’ lineup, which puts him in a great position to collect counting stats. He has 30+ homers in back-to-back seasons and is coming off a 100-RBI season. Yainer Diaz (who is being drafted as the second catcher in NFBC) has only 39 homers over the previous two seasons and is projected to hit fifth.
Notes: Ivan Herrera should get the majority of reps at catcher for the Cardinals in 2025 with Willson Contreras moving to first base and having a significantly better bat than Pedro Pages. He’s an above-average hitter with more power potential than we have seen so far in the Majors after hitting 15 bombs in his last 110 Minor League games. He is a potential 20-25 home run hitter over a full season, despite playing his home games in a bad park for power (especially early in the season when it’s cold). Herrera has more potential than other catchers such as Keibert Ruiz, Connor Wong and Ryan Jeffers – if he gets the at-bats.
Notes: Nathaniel Lowe is forever a value as I’m pretty sure he was on this same list for me last year. Now he’s moving to a team where he is projected to hit cleanup behind studs CJ Abrams, Dylan Crews and James Wood where he will have plenty of RBI opportunities in a better stadium for hitters than he had in Texas, where he was hitting lower in the order. Lowe has a career 122 wRC+ and started the 2024 season injured, but hit .274/.371/.448 with 14 bombs in the second half. There are players going ahead of him in ADP who may not even get full playing time like Michael Toglia, Yandy Diaz, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Ryan Mountcastle.
Notes: Yeah, yeah… I’m a prospect guy, so I’m way high on the prospect. I get it. If you doubt this, I’m also the guy who hyped Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson for a ton of success. Wyatt Langford was my guy last year and maybe he didn’t pan out 100%, but he finished strong, so the process was right. There’s a good chance Kristian Campbell breaks camp with the Red Sox. He is a legit 20/20 hitter who can bat .280 right out of the gate. He has the same advanced approach Henderson showed as a rookie and has a 20/20 power/speed upside toolbelt. If I’m buying a rookie bat in redraft this year they are Jasson Dominguez, Campbell and Dylan Crews.
Notes: I know Dansby Swanson isn’t the most exciting player in fantasy baseball, but it’s ridiculous he’s not currently being drafted as a starting shortstop in some leagues. He’s going to be hitting fifth in a much-improved lineup and averages around 21 bombs and 15 steals with 80/80-ish counting stats. Zach Neto will likely begin the season on the injured list IL, Rafaela Ceddanne was a less consistent 15/20 guy and others like Bo Bichette, Xavier Edwards, Anthony Volpe, Xander Bogaerts, Jeremy Pena and even Masyn Winn are all in around the same tier but don’t have Swanson’s track record.
Notes: Matt Chapman is coming off what would probably be considered a career season in a contract year, so I understand not betting on a repeat. However, he has had a 110 or better wRC+ in seven of his eight seasons. The Giants have improved their team this offseason by adding Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee will be healthy. Plus Tyler Fitzgerald and Heliot Ramos are locked in for full-time roles, while Bryce Eldridge might debut at some point. The lineup should be improved around him, so there is an expectation of a similar season to last year with fewer steals.
NOTE: My top dynasty buys at outfielder (Lawrence Butler, Jasson Dominguez Heliot Ramos) are three of my biggest in redraft, too. I don’t want to repeat myself, so I’m giving you three new names (but still target Butler, Dominguez and Ramos).
Notes: Riley Greene has one of the better hit tools in the league. At 24, he still has a ton of upside potential. The projections are expecting an injury, so he’s only projected for 140 games, but you can’t predict injuries. Even so, he has made massive power strides in his profile every year of his career. Even in Detroit, he could be a .280 hitter with 30 bombs and 10 steals. He’s a lot safer than Brenton Doyle, Luis Robert Jr., Seiya Suzuki and Anthony Santander.
Notes: Everyone who follows my content knows I love Lars Nootbaar. Nothing has changed in his skillset, the only issue has been health and consistent production once he’s back on the field. Nootbaar should be hitting second or fourth for the Cardinals this year. He finished the season with a strong September, hitting .290/.420/.565 with four homers and two steals. It would be crazy to draft platoon guys like Alec Burleson and Jesus Sanchez ahead of him.
Notes: Drafters are hating on the Cardinals this year and maybe they deserve it after two atrocious seasons for everyone in the entire franchise, but Jordan Walker is still young and the Cardinals have promised him at-bats this year. He is a former top prospect who has shown ridiculous power. He hits the ball very hard and just needs to start lifting it to take off as a potential 30-40 home run threat. The potential is worth buying over guys like Jorge Soler, George Springer, Brendan Donovan and Jung Hoo Lee.
Notes: Shane McClanahan is fully healthy after a full offseason of recovery post-Tommy John surgery. The team has already come out and stated they would like him to pitch around 150 innings this season, which is only 16 innings fewer than his near Tommy John season in 2022. McClanahan has a career 20.9% strikeout-to-walk ratio and 32% CSW%. Have drafters forgotten how good he is? Or are they just concerned about the Minor League stadium? Remember, even though the dimensions of George M. Steinbrenner Field are of Yankee Stadium, the stadium is at sea level and the power will not play the same… also McClanahan is a lefty, which will counter that lefty power advantage.
Notes: This part of the article is both Rays and Shane heavy, but Shane Baz ended the season on a strong note and posted some much better strikeout rates and swinging strike stuff in the Minors and pre-injury. It’s possible after a full offseason post-Tommy John surgery that he regains some of the stuff that looked lost last year, especially early in the season. This is a bit of a gamble, but fScores look into a player’s past three seasons and he had well above-average strikeout stuff before the injury.
Notes: Brandon Pfaadt is one of the rare guys who can pitch a ton of innings and should have some major positive ERA regression after posting a 4.71 ERA against a 3.65 SIERA and 3.58 xFIP. He also finished the season with an 18.8% strikeout-to-walk ratio including only a 5.5% walk rate. Pfaadt had a .315 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) against that should also positively regress and help the WHIP stabilize closer to or even under 1.20.
I have a Broadcast Journalism degree from the University of Missouri and reported sporting news for the local NBC affiliate. I also have a Masters from UCF.
I own and operate multiple construction businesses in South Florida and in my free time write about fantasy baseball and podcast; including creating the fScores.
Find me via the Fantasy Aceball Podcast, here on Fantasy Pros or on FWFB. Twitter @fantasyaceball.
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