Fantasy Baseball Draft Picks to Avoid (2026)

Fantasy baseball draft season is in full swing. Knowing the player pool before your drafts can give you an advantage over your league mates. Each league and fantasy platform has its own tendencies and nuances to navigate. In this article, I’ll explore five overvauled players in CBS Sports fantasy leagues compared to expert consensus rankings (ECR).

Overvalued Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on CBS

Brice Turang (2B – MIL) | CBS ADP: 37/ECR: 50

Brice Turang enjoyed a breakout season where he put up 97 runs, 18 homers, 81 RBI, 24 steals and a .288 batting average. The emergence of power has seen his average draft position (ADP) jump from 117 in 2025 to 45 this year across all formats.

Heading into last year’s drafts, Turang seemed to be no more than a stolen base specialist. Now that we see he can put up a respectable home run total, along with the 50-steal season in 2024, his theoretical ceiling has changed. It’s understandable why his ADP would rise, especially with so few options at second base, but it’s a little too high in CBS leagues.

While Turang delivered five-category production in 2025, it’s not guaranteed he will sustain that level. His career high home runs were seven before 2025, and his expected batting average (xBA) was 26 points lower than his actual average. He also benefited from some luck, ranking second among qualifiers with a .356 batting average on balls in play (BABIP).

Maikel Garcia (ADP of 66) is going 30 picks after Turang in CBS leagues and has a similar skill set.

Kyle Stowers (OF – MIA) | CBS ADP: 98/ECR: 115

Kyle Stowers had a good first season with Miami, finishing with 25 homers and a .288 batting average. He hit the ball extremely hard and had no problems lifting and pulling the ball. As a result, his expected stats all paint a rosy picture, leading to his inflated ADP. However, there are obvious flaws.

His strikeout rate, while improved from previous seasons, was in the bottom 10th percentile. Among qualified hitters, only three were in the bottom 10th percentile or worse in strikeout rate with an xBA in the 50th percentile or better: Kyle Stowers (75th percentile), James Wood (64th percentile) and Ryan Mountcastle (55th percentile).

If you want an outfielder with a lot of power and a high strikeout rate, target Jo Adell 24 picks later.

Trevor Story (SS – BOS) | CBS ADP: 107/ECR: 118

Trevor Story finally put a healthy season together for the Red Sox and played 157 games, his most since 2018. He put up 91 runs, 25 homers, 96 RBI, 31 steals and a .263 batting average. His average exit velocity rose above 90 miles per hour (MPH) for the first time since 2021, and his strikeout rate was sub-30% for the first time since that same year.

There has never been a question about Story’s talent, but his health and strikeout rate have always been a concern. In the three years spanning 2022-2024, Story played a combined 163 games. It’s fair to wonder how his body will hold up after playing so many games in 2025.

Shortstop is a deep position that I hope to have filled before Story is being drafted. Either way, I’m probably staying away from him anywhere in the top 125.