Fantasy Baseball Rookies: Konnor Griffin, Trey Yesavage, Nolan McLean

Rostering rookies in fantasy baseball is a roll of the dice. Sometimes you can hit it big, but other times you crap out completely. Let’s look at a few of the top rookies in this fantasy baseball draft class: Konnor Griffin, Trey Yesavage, and Nolan McLean.

Fantasy Baseball Rookies | Top Players to Draft (2026)

Konnor Griffin (SS – PIT)

The unanimous top prospect in the game is Konnor Griffin.

There are rumors of a contract extension between Griffin and the Pirates. If that happens, he will be the Opening Day shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. If the extension doesn’t happen, fantasy managers will be in limbo waiting for his inevitable call-up. When that does happen, Griffin is likely to hit the ground running. As a teenager in his first professional season, he had 117 runs, 21 home runs, 94 RBI, 65 stolen bases, and batted .333 with a .415 on-base percentage. Those are the types of numbers that have fantasy managers salivating for his future.

Tatsuya Imai (SP – HOU)

The premier Asian pitcher to make the transition to Major League Baseball this offseason is Tatsuya Imai.

Imai signed a three-year contract with the Astros for $54 million. It was quite a bit less than what was anticipated earlier in the offseason. His final season in Japan included a 1.92 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 178 strikeouts over 163 innings. My personal favorite way to compare Asian pitchers coming to MLB is to look at ERA-, which is standardized to 100 for the league. His last season was a 64. For comparison purposes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s last season was a 39, and Kodai Senga’s was a 61.

Trey Yesavage (SP – TOR)

Trey Yesavage showed his immense upside during the Blue Jays’ World Series run.

Yesavage made three starts at the end of September last season. Two of three starts were fine, but it’s really two of his postseason starts that have fantasy managers excited. His postseason included 11 strikeouts over five innings against the Yankees. In Game 5 of the World Series, he struck out 12 Dodgers in seven innings. Not every postseason appearance was at that level, but those seem to have stuck with drafters as he is going inside the top 150 on average per FantasyPros ADP.

Nolan McLean (SP – NYM)

Still technically rookie-eligible, Nolan McLean is going off the board as a top-30 starting pitcher according to FantasyPros ADP.

McLean already has 48 big league innings, so he’s likely to lose his eligibility in his first start of the season. Those 48 innings came with 57 strikeouts, a 2.06 ERA, and 1.o4 WHIP. It wasn’t that he was getting lucky either, as he had a 2.97 FIP and 3.56 xERA. Considering he peaked last season at 113 innings, the question will be how many innings he is able to pitch this season. When he is out there, I expect him to be very effective.