Fantasy Baseball Player Notes

Paul Skenes lived up to the hype in 2025, overpowering hitters with elite velocity and swing-and-miss stuff while maintaining strong run prevention in his first extended MLB action. Sure, his record was 10-10, and he probably could have been a 20-game winner on almost any other team. His 2026 projections remain aggressive on strikeouts and ratios, and he is expected to pitch almost 200 innings after throwing 187 in 2025. The year-over-year takeaway is how quickly his command stabilized, limiting walks more than expected for a power arm. Skenes profiles as a high-impact fantasy SP1 whose value is driven by dominance rather than volume alone.

The Pirates faced criticism for keeping Bubba Chandler in Triple-A in 2025, but he was promoted in late August. The 23-year-old righty looked like a potential frontline starter He demonstrated his readiness with a 99-mph fastball, 89-mph slider and a 92-mph changeup that generated a 39.6% whiff rate in the majors. Chandler is going to cost you on draft day, as he is one of the darlings of the fantasy baseball world. But if he delivers what is expected, it will be worth paying up in drafts.