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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Top 250 Rest-of-Season Fantasy Baseball Rankings
Below you'll find our consensus rest-of-season rankings. The Yahoo Fantasy analysts will be updating their top 250 players weekly to help you understand the latest values as the season progresses. [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] We've also included our consensus positional rest-of-season rankings at the bottom of this story (click here to jump down to them). Rest-of-season top 250 rankings Consensus Rank Player Position Team 1 Aaron Judge OF NYY 2 Shohei Ohtani (Batter) Util LAD 3 Bobby Witt Jr. SS KC 4 Kyle Tucker OF CHC 5 Elly De La Cruz SS CIN 6 Tarik Skubal SP DET 7 Jose Ramirez 3B CLE 8 Francisco Lindor SS NYM 9 Corbin Carroll OF ARI 10 Fernando Tatis Jr. OF SD 11 Ronald Acuna Jr. OF ATL 12 Juan Soto OF NYM 13 Mookie Betts 2B,SS,OF LAD 14 Jackson Chourio OF MIL 15 Paul Skenes SP PIT 16 Oneil Cruz SS,OF PIT 17 Pete Crow-Armstrong OF CHC 18 Trea Turner SS PHI 19 Zack Wheeler SP PHI 20 Garrett Crochet SP BOS 21 Kyle Schwarber OF PHI 22 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B,3B TOR 23 Rafael Devers 3B SF 24 Pete Alonso 1B NYM 25 Manny Machado 3B SD 26 Gunnar Henderson SS BAL 27 Freddie Freeman 1B LAD 28 Julio Rodriguez OF SEA 29 James Wood OF WSH 30 Chris Sale SP ATL 31 Matt Olson 1B ATL 32 Hunter Brown SP HOU 33 Logan Webb SP SF 34 Teoscar Hernandez OF LAD 35 Jarren Duran OF BOS 36 Jackson Merrill OF SD 37 Yoshinobu Yamamoto SP LAD 38 Jacob deGrom SP TEX 39 Austin Riley 3B ATL 40 Framber Valdez SP HOU 41 Emmanuel Clase RP CLE 42 Mason Miller RP ATH 43 Wyatt Langford OF TEX 44 Corey Seager SS TEX 45 Cal Raleigh C SEA 46 Josh Hader RP HOU 47 Jazz Chisholm Jr. OF NYY 48 Ketel Marte 2B ARI 49 Marcell Ozuna OF ATL 50 Joe Ryan SP MIN 51 Logan Gilbert SP SEA 52 Max Fried SP NYY 53 Dylan Cease SP SD 54 Bryce Harper 1B PHI 55 Seiya Suzuki OF CHC 56 Spencer Schwellenbach SP ATL 57 Brent Rooker OF ATH 58 George Kirby SP SEA 59 Andres Munoz RP SEA 60 Robert Suarez RP SD 61 Josh Naylor 1B ARI 62 MacKenzie Gore SP WSH 63 Byron Buxton OF MIN 64 Freddy Peralta SP MIL 65 Edwin Diaz RP NYM 66 Zach Neto SS LAA 67 Bryan Woo SP SEA 68 CJ Abrams SS WSH 69 Lawrence Butler OF ATH 70 Junior Caminero 3B TB 71 William Contreras C MIL 72 Michael Harris II OF ATL 73 Jhoan Duran RP MIN 74 Tanner Bibee SP CLE 75 Riley Greene OF DET 76 Carlos Rodon SP NYY 77 Robbie Ray SP SF 78 Ryan Helsley RP STL 79 Christian Yelich OF MIL 80 Tyler Soderstrom 1B,OF ATH 81 Luis Castillo SP SEA 82 Cody Bellinger 1B,OF NYY 83 Sonny Gray SP STL 84 Jose Altuve 2B,OF HOU 85 Ozzie Albies 2B ATL 86 Cristopher Sanchez SP PHI 87 Felix Bautista RP BAL 88 Spencer Torkelson 1B DET 89 Will Smith C LAD 90 Steven Kwan OF CLE 91 Bryan Reynolds OF PIT 92 Brice Turang 2B MIL 93 Spencer Strider SP ATL 94 Kris Bubic SP,RP KC 95 Shota Imanaga SP CHC 96 Dansby Swanson SS CHC 97 Jack Flaherty SP DET 98 Bailey Ober SP MIN 99 Bo Bichette SS TOR 100 Kerry Carpenter OF DET 101 Isaac Paredes 1B,3B HOU 102 Paul Goldschmidt 1B NYY 103 Hunter Greene SP CIN 104 Kevin Gausman SP TOR 105 Yordan Alvarez OF HOU 106 Vinnie Pasquantino 1B KC 107 Hunter Goodman C,OF COL 108 Ian Happ OF CHC 109 Eugenio Suarez 3B ARI 110 Mike Trout OF LAA 111 Zac Gallen SP ARI 112 Jeff Hoffman RP TOR 113 Nick Pivetta SP SD 114 Salvador Perez C,1B KC 115 Heliot Ramos OF SF 116 Nathan Eovaldi SP TEX 117 Anthony Volpe SS NYY 118 Randy Arozarena OF SEA 119 Brendan Donovan 2B,3B,SS,OF STL 120 Willson Contreras C,1B STL 121 Jacob Wilson SS ATH 122 Seth Lugo SP KC 123 Jesus Luzardo SP PHI 124 Max Muncy 3B LAD 125 Jeremy Pena SS HOU 126 Andrew Abbott SP CIN 127 Tanner Scott RP LAD 128 Jordan Westburg 2B,3B BAL 129 Trevor Megill RP MIL 130 Geraldo Perdomo SS ARI 131 Nico Hoerner 2B,SS CHC 132 Xander Bogaerts 2B,SS SD 133 Brenton Doyle OF COL 134 Carlos Estevez RP KC 135 Wilyer Abreu OF BOS 136 Nick Castellanos OF PHI 137 Ryan Pepiot SP TB 138 Kodai Senga SP NYM 139 Jackson Holliday 2B,SS BAL 140 Alex Bregman 3B BOS 141 Michael King SP SD 142 Drew Rasmussen SP,RP TB 143 Masyn Winn SS STL 144 Yainer Diaz C,1B HOU 145 Pete Fairbanks RP TB 146 Brandon Nimmo OF NYM 147 Anthony Santander OF TOR 148 Shea Langeliers C ATH 149 Maikel Garcia 2B,3B,SS,OF KC 150 Willy Adames SS SF 151 Camilo Doval RP SF 152 Andy Pages OF LAD 153 Michael Busch 1B CHC 154 Clay Holmes SP,RP NYM 155 Will Vest RP DET 156 Zach Eflin SP BAL 157 Jorge Polanco 2B,3B SEA 158 Jasson Dominguez OF NYY 159 Josh Jung 3B TEX 160 Kyle Finnegan RP WSH 161 Jung Hoo Lee OF SF 162 Alec Bohm 1B,3B PHI 163 Luis Arraez 1B,2B SD 164 Devin Williams RP NYY 165 Xavier Edwards 2B,SS MIA 166 Chase Meidroth 2B,3B,SS CWS 167 Brandon Lowe 1B,2B TB 168 Taylor Ward OF LAA 169 George Springer OF TOR 170 Matthew Liberatore SP,RP STL 171 Jose Berrios SP TOR 172 Logan O'Hoppe C LAA 173 Matt McLain 2B,SS CIN 174 Nick Lodolo SP CIN 175 Trevor Story SS BOS 176 Josh Lowe OF TB 177 Taj Bradley SP TB 178 Gleyber Torres 2B DET 179 Matt Chapman 3B SF 180 Tommy Edman 2B,SS,OF LAD 181 Merrill Kelly SP ARI 182 Blake Snell SP LAD 183 Ivan Herrera C STL 184 Yandy Diaz 1B TB 185 Nathaniel Lowe 1B WSH 186 Hayden Birdsong SP,RP SF 187 Roman Anthony OF BOS 188 Ben Rice C,1B NYY 189 TJ Friedl OF CIN 190 Cedric Mullins II OF BAL 191 Luis Robert Jr. OF CWS 192 Michael Wacha SP KC 193 Jake Burger 1B,3B TEX 194 Brandon Pfaadt SP ARI 195 Luis Garcia 2B WSH 196 Kenley Jansen RP LAA 197 Christian Walker 1B HOU 198 Emilio Pagan RP CIN 199 Chris Bassitt SP TOR 200 Adley Rutschman C BAL 201 Josh Smith 1B,3B,SS,OF TEX 202 Alejandro Kirk C TOR 203 Logan Henderson SP MIL 204 Clarke Schmidt SP NYY 205 Kyle Stowers OF MIA 206 Trent Grisham OF NYY 207 Marcus Semien 2B TEX 208 Raisel Iglesias RP ATL 209 Victor Scott OF STL 210 Jac Caglianone 1B,OF KC 211 Jordan Beck OF COL 212 Jonathan Aranda 1B,2B TB 213 Dylan Crews OF WSH 214 Bryson Stott 2B,SS PHI 215 Adolis Garcia OF TEX 216 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. OF ARI 217 Tyler Glasnow SP LAD 218 Carlos Correa SS MIN 219 Ezequiel Tovar SS COL 220 Ryan Pressly RP CHC 221 Austin Wells C NYY 222 Kyle Manzardo 1B CLE 223 Casey Mize SP DET 224 Shane Baz SP TB 225 Tyler Stephenson C CIN 226 Spencer Steer 1B,OF CIN 227 David Bednar RP PIT 228 Jorge Soler OF LAA 229 Lars Nootbaar OF STL 230 Chandler Simpson OF TB 231 Yusei Kikuchi SP LAA 232 Eury Perez SP MIA 233 Shohei Ohtani (Pitcher) SP LAD 234 Jordan Romano RP PHI 235 Jameson Taillon SP CHC 236 Colton Cowser OF BAL 237 Nolan Arenado 3B STL 238 Jonathan India 2B,3B,OF KC 239 Aroldis Chapman RP BOS 240 Cole Ragans SP KC 241 Parker Meadows OF DET 242 Jurickson Profar OF ATL 243 Willi Castro 2B,3B,SS,OF MIN 244 Andrew Heaney SP PIT 245 Daniel Palencia RP CHC 246 Ryan Weathers SP MIA 247 Shelby Miller RP ARI 248 Tyler O'Neill OF BAL 249 Sal Frelick OF MIL 250 Landen Roupp SP,RP SF Rest-of-season positional rankings 2025 Fantasy Baseball Rankings powered by FantasyProsECR ™ - Expert Consensus Rankings
New York Times
5 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Jurickson Profar, Addison Barger and more top fantasy baseball waiver wire adds
Time for the weekly waiver report. Our most added names include a bunch of solid hitters on hot streaks. Here are your most added hitters on Yahoo: I'll actually start with the one name not included, because his 2025 stat line stops after the first four games: Jurickson Profar. He is eligible to return from his suspension on July 2, and if you want him on your team, you'll need to pick him up now. As for which version of him shows up, only time will tell. Last year was his best season by far, and it continued his long pattern of yo-yoing between good seasons and forgettable ones. The big difference in 2024 was his power, so if we see a ball hit over 110 MPH and (after a few weeks) a hard hit rate over 40%, that will hint at him maintaining last year's level. Advertisement We've mentioned many of these names recently, but other than Andy Pages, roster rates still hover in the 20-40% range. As for Pages, the breakout has officially arrived. Go get him if he's somehow still out there in your league. Addison Barger, Nick Kurtz, Gavin Sheets, Ryan McMahon, Alec Burleson, Colton Cowser and Wenceel Pérez all do the large majority of their damage against righties, and tend to sit against lefties. Of those seven, the first three feel the most solid. Barger and Kurtz have serious raw power and enough of a hit tool to back it up, while Sheets seems to be fully earning his batting line. McMahon has a similar Statcast profile to Sheets, but with more walks and strikeouts, and a huge difference in park. Sheets will give you a better average, McMahon does more for power. Burleson is useful enough in deep leagues, but the lack of power leaves me underwhelmed. Cowser has been swinging for the fences since returning from the IL. Baltimore is a nice place for lefty power hitters, and Cowser can do plenty of damage. The average will rise, but you can still pencil in something like the 30% strikeout rate he has last year, so he will hurt you in that category. There's nothing in Pérez's history to suggest he is suddenly one of the premier power hitters in MLB, but he's enjoyed three weeks of that existence. I listed him among the righty-crushers because the Tigers haven't used him much against lefties last year or this one, but he is actually a switch hitter who has raked against lefties the few times he's seen them. The funny thing is he's not actually riding some random BABIP or HR/FB luck. There is no way he maintains an 18.8% barrel rate, but he's worth rostering in most leagues just to see where this goes. While we're discussing inexplicably good Tigers, so much of Javier Báez's profile looks unchanged from last year. Swinging strike rate, K%, BB%, barrel rate, exit velocity, maxEV … all basically the same. And yet, last year he had an unplayable wRC+ of 43, and this year he's near-star level at 126. So what's changed? His BABIP, first of all, has gone from .220 to .340, bringing his average up 100 points with it. His HR/FB% has doubled to 16.7%. He's chasing a little less and making more contact in the zone. Like Pérez, he's pulling a lot, aiming for homers and doubles down the left field line. He will cool off, and he's capable of some ugly cold streaks, but he's made himself deep-league relevant and playable for now in 12-teamers. Advertisement Cam Smith shook off a rough first month, and now we're seeing what he can do with his top-notch tools. Get him now if you still can. Michael Toglia came back from the minors and hit three homers in two games. That puts him on pace for over 100 homers for the rest of the season, which is pretty good. In all seriousness, if he's tamed the strikeout issue to the point his power and speed can play, he can be a huge boost in the second half. Cam Smith (OF, HOU) — See above Evan Carter (OF, TEX) — Sure, there's some volatility here, but that comes with huge upside. He's still one of the fastest players in MLB, with enough power and contact to dream on a monster season. I mentioned Carter, Kyle Stowers (OF, MIA), Sal Frelick (OF, MIL), and Jo Adell (OF, LAA) last week. I'm still interested in all of them (in that order, with tweaks depending on your needs). Ryan O'Hearn (1B/OF, BAL) — Another righty-masher. He may cool off a bit, but what he's doing looks mostly sustainable. Nick Kurtz (1B, ATH), Ryan McMahon (3B, COL) — See above Rhys Hoskins (1B, MIL) — He has gone cold, but I still like him long term as a slugger who won't hurt you too much in batting average. J.P. Crawford (SS, SEA) — The power and speed are both unexceptional, but he's been hitting very well and should be good for counting stats from the leadoff spot. Jeff McNeil (2B, NYM) — There isn't enough raw power for me to buy his recent homer surge as a new level, but, like Crawford, he has plenty to offer despite not being a big contributor in homers or steals. He should have plenty of guys on base in front of him to make use of those contact skills. Alejandro Kirk (C, TOR) — He doesn't have the power of some other catchers, but he's a legitimately good hitter. Advertisement Agustín Ramirez (C/1B, MIA) — The average should rise, he has power, and he plays every day. Carlos Narváez (C, BOS) — Playing a little over his head, but the power is real. Jordan Beck (OF, COL) — Mentioned last week. I remain a fan. Jesus Sanchez (OF, MIA) — Another righty-masher with huge power. The park and the lineup drag him down, but in the right matchups, he's very dangerous. Matt Wallner (OF, MIN) — Again with a guy who crush righties. Wallner also has serious power, and the average should be more in the .240-range going forward. Not a ton to get excited about down here, but we'll see what we can do. The upside play is Brady House (3B, WAS), who we'll get to below. Nolan Schanuel (1B, LAA), Carlos Santana (1B, CLE), and Ty France (1B, MIN) all continue to provide boring but solid production and are at least deep-league fillers. Of those, I lean France for the power upside, but Schanuel is your guy if you want a high average and the occasional steal. Brooks Lee (3B/2B/SS, MIN) has similarly middling power and contact with good positional versatility. Colt Keith (1B/2B, DET) has the tools to be a great player, but he's been losing playing time as the Tigers get healthy. Hyeseong Kim (2B/SS/OF, LAD) — More playing time is on the horizon, and Kim looks like he'll contribute plenty of average, speed, and runs. Otto Lopez (2B/SS, MIA) — Plenty of speed, decent power, and x-stats that say his batting average should be at least last year's .270 instead of this year's .230. Max Muncy (2B/3B, LAD) — He has started to hit in the past couple of weeks. Still more of a deep-leaguer for me, but he can contribute across the board if he gets going. Dillon Dingler (C, DET) — Nice high average with decent power and a good lineup. Advertisement Victor Caratini (C, HOU) — Deep leagues only, but hey, he plays most days and isn't terrible! Christian Moore (2B, LAA) — I have my doubts the 22-year-old is ready to be a difference-maker right away, but if you need power, he's a decent speculative add. Where I'm less certain is if he'll make enough contact to take advantage of it. He carried a high swinging strike rate and strikeout rate through the minors, and due to the Angels' aggressive promotion, he has spent all of 79 games in the minors since being drafted eighth overall last year. Brady House (3B, WAS) — House has a similar power-and-strikeouts profile, but I trust him more because he's had more time in Triple A. He appears to have the job in Washington until further notice. Grant Taylor (RP, CHW) — Another aggressive promotion. He put up comical strikeout rates in Single and Double A. For fantasy purposes, he's a deep league saves dart throw and ratio helper, but in most leagues you can find a more established commodity for that purpose. Hayden Birdsong (SFG); Ryan Yarbrough (NYY); Brandon Walter (HOU); Ben Brown (CHC) Birdsong has looked good as a starter so far. He's figuring this out on the fly, but the arsenal is great and his home park helps contain the damage. Presumably, he'll stick in the rotation as long as he's performing after a certain trade you may have heard about. Yarbrough has tinkered with his pitch mix to favor the slower, bendier stuff, and it's been working. He's gotten the K% up to a workable 22% (which would be the best of his career over a full season), and SIERA and xERA, which factor in contact quality, say he has actually deserved better than his ERA. You're forgiven for not knowing about Walter, a Red Sox prospect who took a step back in 2023, missed all of 2024, and is now suddenly pitching like an ace for the Astros. It's too early to know what we're looking at here (or even if he keeps a rotation spot), but the stuff is legit, and he's worth picking up now. One more great start and the hype train will leave the station. Advertisement Brown has been giving up a lot of hard contact, which has undermined his strong strikeout and walk numbers. I'd tread carefully for now, but strength of contact rates for pitchers fluctuate a fair amount, and he's worth keeping an eye on. I'm trying to not repeat myself too much, but I'm still in on Chad Patrick, Cade Horton, Landen Roupp, and Jose Soriano, who looked great against the Yankees. Edward Cabrera (MIA); Michael Soroka (WAS); Bryce Elder (ATL); Lucas Giolito (BOS); Ben Casparius (LAD) Cabrera has looked good after a shaky first month, and he may have found a better version of his kitchen sink approach. He won't pick up a lot of wins — he doesn't always make it through five innings and the run support is subpar, but the ERA and K% are some of the best you'll find at this depth. Soroka is the sort of passable arm you may be looking for at this depth. He is throwing more in the zone this year, which has cut his walk rate, but may be contributing to a higher hard hit rate. Expect a mid-4s ERA and a 22% K-rate. While we're on boring-but-effective NL East pitchers, Elder is exactly that. The 20% K rate is fine in deeper leagues, and the sinker-heavy approach produces lots of grounders. SIERA and xFIP give him a sub-4 ERA. Giolito flashed better velocity in his dominant start against the Mariners (six shutout innings, 10 Ks). The optimistic take is he's shaking off the rust after missing last year and will start to see better results. We'll need to see him do that for another couple of outings before calling it a new level, but he's at least worth monitoring for now. Casparius' role is constantly in flux, but he's been a value whether he's starting, relieving, or bulk relieving (when he has a great shot at getting a win). He showed potential control issues in the minors, but so far he has kept the walk rate tidy and paired that with great stuff. Advertisement Shelby Miller has the job in Arizona, is pitching well, and is somehow there for the taking in a majority of leagues. Tommy Kahnle is likely to be the primary ninth-inning option in Detroit while Will Vest is out, and he will continue to get saves here and there when Vest returns. Calvin Faucher has righted the ship for now, and is the closer in Miami. (Photo of Jurickson Profar: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
New York Times
8 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Five bats fantasy baseball managers can actually drop, based on projections
If you stick closely to projections (as I do) and play a lot of keeper leagues (as I do), you take the long view on hitters most of the time. They'll come back around and play to the talent levels they've shown before, of course, why wouldn't they? Projections look at the sum of a player and put together the good times and the bad times and produce the most likely outcomes, and usually, those are about as rosterable as they were when you acquired the player. Advertisement But sometimes even the projections move enough on a player that we should recalibrate our feelings. If you've lost the projection systems, you've lost your last defender. To see which players have seen their projections move the most, I took preseason OOPSY projections from Jordan Rosenblum and compared them to his rest-of-season projections. Here are the 15 players who have seen their projections move downward the most compared to preseason expectations. I've listed them along with their Yahoo roster rates. There are already some obvious flaws with this approach. There are the hitters who might have taken a haircut but are still projected among the best hitters in the game, like Juan Soto, Mike Trout, and Gunnar Henderson. Nobody is advocating dropping these players. League average OPS is .712, and they're all 100-plus points clear of that, even with their reduced projections. There are also hitters here who will provide fantasy value with their legs, as Matt McLain, Michael Harris II, and, to a lesser extent, Kristian Campbell and Spencer Steer are non-zeroes on the basepaths. And then there are players who nobody had rostered anyway, like Joey Ortiz. Ahem. So let's try this another way. Which hitters have seen their OPS projections drop at least 10 points, but are sorted by the worst OPS projections (minimum 250 projected plate appearances)? Surely these players are not great, and maybe also on the precipice of losing their jobs? Nobody on this list was projected to have a league average OPS, and then they played so poorly that they saw their projections drop further. Speed once again is a complicating factor, but it's still instructive to note that while Parker Meadows has the defensive chops to keep his job despite poor OPS projections, the Miami Marlins just moved Xavier Edwards to second base. He's a sell in keeper formats if he has any value, because legs can only take a player so far. The next problem is that once you scan over to the roster levels, you'll see that nobody was really all-in on these players anyway, with a notable exception or two. Advertisement We still have the stolen base problem. Let's try one last way. Here are the players who have lost the most projected fantasy value since the preseason, using OOPSY in the FanGraphs auction calculator with 15-team Roto 5×5 settings. I've removed players who are currently in the minors or suffering from long-term injury, or who were projected for negative value to begin the season, in order to make this list more useful. This once again has some less-than-useful information. Nobody is still holding on to Orlando Arcia at this point since he lost his starting job and is a utility player, and ownership levels in a lot of the other categories are pretty low. Nobody is dropping Yordan Alvarez despite the change in projected outcomes. But there are also some interesting names on here for those who were holding out hope for players like Brandon Marsh and Lane Thomas — if they are basically underwater in 15-teamers with five outfielders, by sober projections, then there's no reason to keep holding them for the future in most leagues. Let's highlight five bats who have shown up on a lot of these lists but aren't slam-dunk drops at first glance. Recently, Adames has performed a little better, and that coincides with his rolling swing speed finally poking about the 75th percentile for the first time this season. But it's a long swing, and if you judge him instead by swing acceleration (which considers contact point), he just nudged above the 10th percentile. The thing is, we've seen this from Adames before, so it's not too surprising. Many of his numbers seem right in line with what he did in 2023, when he had a .217 average and hit 24 homers (except worse in the power department, really). That year, he was the 20th-best shortstop when all was said and done. Even if he picks it up and ends up near those numbers, the stolen bases aren't going to be there like last year, and maybe there's someone out there who can be better than 20th for you at the position? He's still a $3 player in 12-team leagues with a middle infield slot, according to OOPSY rest-of-season projections, but that's droppable territory if you see something better out there. Of the players highlighted here, McLain is the toughest drop for a couple of reasons, though. First, second base is a really tough position this year. It's only produced six players who would be above-replacement players without the positional adjustment (shortstop has 16), and the lesser-rostered, better-projected second basemen ahead of McLain (Jonathan India, Luis Garcia Jr.) aren't slam-dunk decisions. Second, he's stealing bases and likely to finish the season with at least a shot at a 20-20 season. But the batting average isn't going to be great, and the power, which wasn't supported fully by his batted-ball stats, has not returned (and wasn't helped by a loss of bat speed). If the steals won't mean that much to you, McLain could be a drop in shallower leagues. Advertisement Everything has gone badly for Santander in Toronto. The strikeout rate went up (career-worst), the fly-ball rate went down, the hard-hit rate went down (five-year low), as did his barrel rate (career-worst) and max exit velocity (career-worst). His bat has lost over a mile per hour of bat speed (to the point that it's almost average from the left side), and his swing has gotten flatter in terms of tilt, so he's just pulling balls on the ground now. Jorge Soler, who is rostered in a third of the leagues as Santander, is projected to be better. In the deepest leagues, you just have to hold and hope, but projections have him under $3 going forward in 15-team leagues with players like Alec Burleson and the returning Luke Raley ranked higher. You probably have a better option on your wire versus waiting for him to get healthy. Steer's lack of bat speed this year can indeed be most likely attributed to his spring injury to the shoulder, but it's also true that there's no evidence in his rolling swing speed graphs that the joint is feeling any better in recent days. Keeper league players have a harder decision — Steer could use a full healthy offseason, most likely, and any return of bat speed could make him a viable 20-10 guy again — but in leagues playing just for 2025, the four stolen bases aren't enough to hang around for. Christian Encarnacion-Strand projects better and is out there in nearly three-quarters of Yahoo leagues, and if you need some stolen bases, Jake Cronenworth is rostered in fewer leagues and projects better. There are better options than Steer right now in all but the deepest leagues. In 12-team leagues with a middle infielder slot, OOPSY projects Story to be below replacement, which might be surprising at first. He has double-digit homers and steals and has had his moments this year. But the real tragedy of leaving Coors Field behind is that his batting average is no longer buoyed by altitude. Now he strikes out 30 percent of the time and has the batting average to match. It's a bit like McLain — how much batting average do you want to pay for your 20/20 season — but at a position where there are more options. Even if you want power and speed, Masyn Winn and Ezequiel Tovar might be able to help you without hurting in batting average as much. Looking at roster rates, though, Story has probably already been dropped in most leagues where he should have been, and is a tentative hold in the deepest leagues. (Photo of Willy Adames: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Baseball: Updated starting pitcher tiered rankings as we near halfway point of the 2025 MLB season
We're almost halfway through the fantasy baseball season and starting pitcher values are always critical to our success. So here's another Shuffle Up for you to audit. Pitchers are the sirens of fantasy baseball, forever teasing and misleading us. Most pitchers, even the best of them, are constantly tinkering with their approach, their arsenal, their mechanics. And of course, throwing a baseball is a very unnatural act, so you never know who's the next pitcher to need downtime — or a lost season. Advertisement You want to make the fantasy baseball gods laugh? Rank the pitchers. [Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all] And that's what the Shuffle Up series aims to do. What's below is a set of salaries that reflect how I would price the starting pitching market if I were entering a fresh draft today, or considering pickups or trades. What's happened to this point is merely an audition. The salaries are a combination of stats to this point, observations, gut feel and special sauce. You'll have many disagreements, of course, because that's why we have a game. I did a courtesy rank of injured pitchers at the bottom, but I will not discuss or debate that part of the list. Everyone can decide for themselves what a hurt pitcher is worth. The Big Tickets $35 Tarik Skubal $31 Paul Skenes $30 Zack Wheeler $28 Garrett Crochet $28 Hunter Brown $28 Max Fried $23 Joe Ryan $23 Logan Webb $22 Bryan Woo $22 Jacob deGrom $22 Yoshinobu Yamamoto $22 MacKenzie Gore $22 Carlos Rodón $20 Logan Gilbert $20 Freddy Peralta $20 Framber Valdez $20 Chris Sale Advertisement Skubal was the unanimous Cy Young winner in the A.L. last year (you'll probably drink for free with the "Who was second?" question) and yet somehow, he's better this year, moving up his strikeout rate and dropping his walk rate by about 41%. He's walked nine freaking guys all season, which is just silly (only five since the second week of April). Lefties are particularly helpless against Skubal, slashing .156/.177/.169 against him with zero home runs. Detroit has to be a little nervous over its ace, as Skubal can be a free agent after the 2026 season and he's represented by super agent Scott Boras. Brown certainly belongs in this company, as he's fifth in fWAR over the past calendar year. He's improved in the key areas this year — more strikeouts, fewer walks, slight dip in home runs allowed. He's even added a tick to his fastball. The Tigers have to be kicking themselves over Brown, who pitched at Wayne State in Detroit and lasted until the fifth round of the 2019 draft. Imagine a rotation with Skubal and Brown at the top of it; the Tigers could have had it fairly easily. We can't take that Fried 1.89 ERA at face value — batted-ball contact says the true number should be 3.35. But Fried has elite walk and ground-ball rates, and his home-run rate is always outstanding. The recent dip from the Yankees might also help Fried fantasy managers, improving the chances of New York needing to win games all through September. Advertisement Gore's breakout is legit, with the best strikeout rate among starters in the majors and the second-best strikeout minus walk percentage. Washington's done a horrible job supporting him with both offense and bullpen help, but that sort of stuff is fluky. The only downside to Gore this year is the possibility that the non-contending Nationals will shut him down at some point in September, but we'll enjoy the continued dominance until then. There's a Cy Young award in his future. Legitimate Building Blocks $18 Dylan Cease $17 Nick Pivetta $17 George Kirby $17 Spencer Strider $16 Robbie Ray $16 Kris Bubic $15 Cristopher Sánchez $15 Spencer Schwellenbach $14 Sonny Gray $14 Ranger Suárez $14 Seth Lugo $14 Jack Flaherty $13 Kevin Gausman $13 Andrew Abbott $13 Jameson Taillon $13 Merrill Kelly Sánchez has a modest 16 wins over his last 45 starts; this year a spike in his walk rate has allowed him a modest 5.7 innings per start. At least there's been an appreciable bump in strikeouts and he's posting the lowest ERA of his career. Sanchez could improve some in the platoon disadvantage, and his plus changeup should be a weapon towards that aim. Advertisement We know Abbott's 1.84 ERA isn't sustainable, but he's better than you think — the batted-ball data suggests a still-excellent 2.92 ERA. Abbott shows control over his outcomes with his heavy fly-ball rate (third among starters over 50 innings), which isn't a bad thing — we want pitchers to show a bias in one way or another with batted-ball events. Kirby and Strider are both difficult to rank after extended absences (a more serious one for Strider, of course), but after watching Kirby strike out 14 in his last turn and Strider whiff 13, we have to take the training wheels off. Strider managers have to pray Atlanta keeps the wild card within reach — the Braves are currently six games below .500 — or else all the major Atlanta pitching could be looking at early vacations in the middle of September. Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down $12 Drew Rasmussen $11 Mick Abel $11 Clay Holmes $11 Noah Cameron $11 Matt Boyd $9 Luis Castillo $8 Eric Lauer $7 Ryan Pepiot $7 Hayden Birdsong $7 Clarke Schmidt $7 Tanner Bibee $7 Shane Smith $7 Grant Holmes $7 Jesús Luzardo Advertisement Castillo's strikeout rate has fallen for the fifth consecutive year, and that's met with a walk increase and his worst WHIP in four seasons. Seattle's home park is hiding some warts, but Castillo has a 4.59 ERA and 1.50 WHIP on the road. The Royals are the kings of finding underrated pitching, with Cameron being another success story. His puddle-jump change will have you thinking of a younger Clayton Kershaw. He's been fortunate with event sequencing, but his Savant-driven ERA is still a tidy 3.07. Birdsong needs to show he can go deeper into games — that's where the wins are — but he's yet to allow more than three runs in any start, and he's still getting a nifty strikeout rate even since moving to the rotation, His fly-ball bias will play nicely in San Francisco, and he should be able to increase his chase rate with experience. I'm not over the moon on Birdsong perhaps, but I'm certainly a believer. Some Plausible Upside $6 Ben Brown $5 José Berríos $5 Zack Littell $5 David Peterson $5 Ben Casparius $5 Casey Mize $5 Michael Wacha $5 Jacob Misiorowski $4 Chris Bassitt $4 Shane Baz $4 Matt Liberatore $4 Bailey Falter $4 Andrew Heaney $4 Ryan Yarbrough $4 Griffin Canning $4 Chris Paddack $4 Bailey Ober $4 Logan Henderson $4 Clayton Kershaw $4 Nick Lodolo $4 José Soriano $4 Tomoyuki Sugano $4 Zach Eflin $4 Zac Gallen Advertisement Wacha has the best infield pop-up rate in the majors, and remember, those plays are guaranteed outs — as good as a strikeout. It's a good thing he gets those because his strikeout rate has been in decline for two years. If the Royals fall out of the playoff race — they're 18.2 to make the playoffs right now, per Fangraphs — Wacha would be a good depth add for a contender. Eflin had a blowup in his last start, which happens sometimes when you're an elite strike thrower like he is. The shame is that he no longer has an elite ground-ball rate to clean up the occasional mess. He's never had elite fastball velocity but this year it's tumbled down to 91.7, which bears watching. Bargain Bin $3 Quinn Priester $3 Chad Patrick $3 Sandy Alcantara $3 Yusei Kikuchi $3 Brady Singer $2 Miles Mikolas $2 Stephen Kolek $2 Randy Vásquez $2 Mitch Keller $2 Tyler Anderson $2 Slade Cecconi $2 Logan Allen $2 Luis Ortiz $2 Hunter Dobbins $2 Brandon Pfaadt $1 Mike Soroka $1 Jake Irvin $1 Brad Lord $1 Patrick Corbin $1 Taj Bradley $1 Justin Verlander $1 Emerson Hancock $1 Luis Severino $1 José Quintana $1 Michael Lorenzen $1 Gavin Williams $1 Davis Martin $0 Mitchell Parker $0 Trevor Williams $0 Jeffrey Springs $0 JP Sears $0 Jack Kochanowicz $0 Germán Márquez $0 Antonio Senzatela $0 Lucas Giolito $0 Brayan Bello $0 Dean Kremer $0 Charlie Morton $0 Cal Quantrill $0 Kyle Freeland Courtesy Injury Ranks — Not for Debate
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: D-Backs-Rockies series ripe with good streaming options this weekend
There are plenty of hitters to stream this weekend in fantasy baseball, led by those who are destined to be in the starting lineup often during an expected high-scoring series at Coors Field. There are also a couple players on the Astros who are exciting options, and a pair of Guardians who could make contributions. The pitching options are less enticing, which means that wise managers should rush to the waiver wire to grab the top options from the list at the bottom of this article. Matchups to Target D-Backs @ Rockies Arizona's outstanding offense (4th in MLB in runs scored) should have a field day this weekend, when they face a Rockies pitching staff that has posted a 6.29 ERA when working at hitter-friendly Coors Field. With two of the projected starters throwing from the left side, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (52%) is a great option. Gabriel Moreno (31%) will be a good target if he has recovered from a minor hand injury. On the other side of the same series, the Rockies should score often when they face two starters with an ERA over 5.00 and a relief corps with a 5.39 ERA. Ryan McMahon (34%) and Michael Toglia (19%) are the top Colorado hitters to add, and Jordan Beck (16%) can be considered as well. Mickey Moniak (2%) is a deep-league option. Advertisement Guardians @ Athletics The Athletics have posted a 5.97 ERA at their hitter-friendly home park, which puts Cleveland's hitters in excellent position this weekend. Two of the projected starters will throw from the left side, which makes right-handed hitter Lane Thomas (24%) the top player to add. David Fry (4%) is a better option than he initially appears with catcher eligibility and a spot in the heart of the lineup against lefties. Astros @ Angels Houston should have plenty of baserunners this weekend when they face three starters who each have a bloated WHIP and a relief corps that sits 28th in baseball with a 1.52 WHIP. Cam Smith (20%) and Jake Meyers (8%) have been hitting well of late and should each have a productive weekend. Advertisement Yankees vs. Orioles There should be plenty of offense for the home team when a lineup that ranks third in runs scored faces three unimposing starters and a relief corps with a 4.62 ERA. The Yankees have a crowded outfield, but Jasson Dominguez (51%) and Trent Grisham (22%) should be in the lineup enough to provide fantasy contributions. Dodgers vs. Nationals Once Los Angeles gets MacKenzie Gore out of the game on Friday night, they will be set to produce for the remainder of the series against two mediocre starters and a bullpen that ranks 29th in baseball with a 5.90 ERA. The Dodgers have eight hitters who are rostered in more than 75% of leagues, which means that they won't provide waiver-wire assistance. But this is a good reminder for those in shallow leagues to ensure that Tommy Edman, Andy Pages and Max Muncy are in the starting lineup. Matchups to Avoid Red Sox @ Giants Boston hitters could have a quiet weekend when they visit a pitcher-friendly road venue. The Red Sox face three starters with a sub-4.00 ERA and a bullpen that leads the Majors with a 2.60 ERA. With Rafael Devers in the opposing dugout, Jarren Duran is the only must-start player in this lineup. Advertisement Mets @ Phillies The trio of Zack Wheeler, Mick Abel and Jesus Luzardo could give New York's hitters fits this weekend. Once we get past the Mets top trio of Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso, the other hitters can slide to the bench. Royals @ Padres Kansas City's unproductive offense (29th in baseball with 249 runs scored) could have another quiet weekend when they face two tough starters (Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease) and a bullpen that ranks 6th in baseball with a 3.28 ERA. Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez will remain active everywhere, while Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino will stay in the lineup in some 12-team leagues. Seeking Saves Danny Palencia, Cubs, 43% It's shocking that Palencia is still sitting on so many waiver wires. Sure, Ryan Pressly picked up a save on June 12 after Palencia faced the Pirates' top hitters in the eighth inning, but Palencia has earned the team's past two saves and is clearly being deployed as their top reliever. He could earn another save this weekend, when Chicago's high-scoring offense faces some effective Seattle starters. The end result should be some close games. Seeking Steals Jake Meyers, Astros, 8% The Astros could steal a few bases against the Angels this weekend. Los Angeles has been among the worst in baseball at throwing out would-be base stealers, nabbing just 11.5% of runners. Meyers ranks second on Houston with 11 steals and could reach base often against a trio of unreliable starters and a weak relief corps. Streaming starters In order, here are the best streamers for the weekend, with their start date and Yahoo! roster rate in brackets. Advertisement
