When preparing for your fantasy baseball drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy baseball rankings compared to average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable players below.
- 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit
- Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings
- Fantasy Baseball Projections
- Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft Simulator
2026 Fantasy Baseball Draft Advice
| RK | PLAYER NAME | TEAM | POS | BEST | WORST | AVG. | STD.DEV | ECR VS. ADP |
| 13 | Gunnar Henderson | BAL | SS3 | 10 | 20 | 13.8 | 1.6 | 6 |
| 45 | Cole Ragans | KC | SP13 | 28 | 63 | 47.6 | 4.2 | 7 |
| 53 | Austin Riley | ATL | 3B4 | 35 | 79 | 57.5 | 9.3 | 11 |
| 55 | Joe Ryan | MIN | SP15 | 51 | 86 | 59.8 | 6 | 12 |
| 58 | Jackson Merrill | SD | CF1 | 48 | 90 | 60.9 | 10.5 | 8 |
| 65 | Spencer Schwellenbach | ATL | SP18 | 53 | 88 | 65.4 | 6.6 | 16 |
| 66 | Dylan Cease | TOR | SP19 | 52 | 107 | 69.2 | 14.1 | 10 |
| 68 | Jesus Luzardo | PHI | SP20 | 59 | 99 | 70.4 | 6 | 12 |
| 71 | Vinnie Pasquantino | KC | 1B10 | 43 | 87 | 73.5 | 9.6 | 7 |
| 73 | Kyle Bradish | BAL | SP21 | 45 | 142 | 74.8 | 8.7 | 10 |
| 75 | Corey Seager | TEX | SS10 | 58 | 93 | 75.4 | 8.5 | 7 |
Spencer Schwellenbach quietly took another step forward in 2025, pairing a 3.09 ERA and 0.97 WHIP with elite control (4.1% BB%) and strong contact suppression (.217 BAA, .618 OPS against). His batted-ball profile improved year over year, featuring a higher ground-ball rate (47.1%) and a sub-3% HR rate, helping him outperform league averages despite only modest strikeout totals. He did miss time due to a small elbow fracture, but the injury is now fully healed and not expected to limit him going forward. With 2026 projections pointing to a full workload and stable ratios, Schwellenbach profiles as a high-floor SP3 whose efficiency, command, and improving run prevention make him a dependable fantasy asset rather than a flashy strikeout arm.
If you’re looking for candidates for Comeback Player of the Year, Austin Riley should probably be on it. Riley’s age-28 season was cut short by an abdominal injury that cost him almost one-third of the season, sapped his power, and caused his strikeout rate to jump to 28.6%. It was his second injury-shortened year in a row, but the underlying metrics suggest the bounceback is coming. Riley still had an elite 15.2% barrel rate and 50.2% HardHit rate, and his xSLG was 30 points higher than actual. Assuming he is able to return to the player he was from 2021-2023, expect another 30 home runs and 90 runs/RBIs. He should be the fourth third baseman off the board, and you can get him much later than the other three, making him a borderline early-round sleeper candidate.
Vinnie Pasquantino showed us the power we’d been hoping for in 2025, hitting 32 home runs and driving in 113. He barrels the ball well (10.8%), and he offers a decent batting average in the .265 range. Batting behind Bobby Witt Jr. and the seemingly ageless Sal Perez will never be a bad thing for counting stats. If you wait until the middle rounds, Pasquantino is in the last of the tier to be a true anchor at first base in 2026.
What is Fantasy Baseball?
Fantasy baseball is an online game where participants act as managers of virtual baseball teams based on real-life Major League Baseball (MLB) players. The performance of these players in actual games determines the results in the fantasy league. It’s a blend of skill, strategy, and a little bit of luck, akin to the real-world decisions team managers must make.
Basic Strategy for Fantasy Baseball Success
1. Understand Your League’s Format and Scoring
Before drafting your team, it’s essential to understand the scoring system and rules of your specific league, as this will influence your drafting and management strategy. Knowing whether you’re in a points-based, category-based, or head-to-head league will guide you in selecting players whose strengths align with the scoring system.
2. Drafting Your Team Wisely
A solid draft is the foundation of a successful season. Here are a few tips for the drafting phase:
- Balanced Team: Ensure you have a balanced team with a mix of power hitters, average hitters, speedsters, starting pitchers, and relievers.
- Position Scarcity: Be aware of the depth of talent at each position. Some positions, like shortstop, may have fewer high-quality players, making it beneficial to draft a top player at that position early.
- High-Floor Players: Early in the draft, focus on players with a proven track record of consistency.
- Upside Picks: In the later rounds, look for “upside” players. These are athletes who have the potential to outperform their draft position.
3. In-Season Management
- Stay Active: Constantly look for ways to improve your team through waivers, trades, and free-agent pickups.
- Mind the Matchups: Pay attention to player matchups, platoon splits, and ballparks. Starting a pitcher in a hitter-friendly park, for example, can be risky.
- Injury Management: Stay on top of player injuries and have backups ready for your key players.
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