We are about a third of the way through the season and can feel a little more confident in the data we’ve gathered, including data on players who have done something very different than expected. These rankings will now place more credence in these new trends where appropriate.

As a reminder, these rankings are geared toward a standard, daily, 12-team H2H redraft league, as that is typically the most popular fantasy baseball format. They will only factor in the five standard categories: Runs, RBI, Home Runs, Batting Average, and Stolen Bases.
I would recommend not paying super close attention to the specific ranks of each player, and honing in more on the respective tiers that they’re in. Each tier represents a grouping of players that I think could arguably perform at a similar level, and/or carry similar levels of risk in terms of injury concerns or playing time obstacles. If Player X is ranked at No. 55 and Player Y is ranked at No. 65, but they’re in the same tier, it means that I personally prefer Player X, but think there’s a valid argument to be made for Player Y performing just as well.
I take rankings like this as more of an art than a science. Every person’s rankings are influenced by their own biases, strategic philosophies, determinations of risk, and projections. It’s why no two rankings are ever exactly alike. My way of evaluating and ranking players has worked out well for me over the years, but it might not be a great fit for you. I can’t possibly predict your team’s specific needs, your league mates’ player evaluations, or your current waiver wire, and if I could, it’d be weird. In a bad way.
This is a safe space for me where I answer to no one but myself…and you if you leave a comment.
I’m doing my best to use five starts or 10 appearances as the threshold for positional eligibility. I have not included presumed eligibilities based on likely new positions, but once those eligibilities are earned, I’ll add them in. This is just a maintenance thing and we will update eligibility throughout the season. Feel free to let me know if I’m missing any!

 

Ranking Philosophy

 

To keep things in the same ilk, here are a couple of notes on how I generally evaluate hitters before we dive in:

 

In 12-team formats, I just don’t see much value in guys who only provide stolen bases. It’s an important category, especially in Roto, but in shallower formats, there are too many other (and better) ways to get the steals you need without sacrificing production in the other categories.
If I want to get some insight on whether what I’m seeing is new or if it’s just normal fluctuation, I’d use my favorite tool—the rolling chart, which I’ll also reference as appropriate. You can also get rolling charts from sources like FanGraphs or Baseball Savant. If you have any questions about how to do that or how to read these charts, reach out to me!
No stat is an island and they should all be taken in proper context. For ranking purposes, the primary starting points I use are plate discipline, wRC+, quality of contact metrics (also known as Statcast batted ball data), lineup context, and the skills we can measure using tools such as our PLV Hitter Attributes (available for PL Pro members). I also use various projections (some free, some I buy) and dollar value generators.
Positional eligibility, and specifically multi-eligibility, is neat but also isn’t a huge factor in many 10- and 12-team leagues anymore due to the prevalence of multi-eligible players. It’s of more value in deeper contests like the NFBC, or in leagues with limited roster moves (draft and hold leagues, transaction limits/costs, extremely short benches, etc.), but even then the value is fairly situational and context-dependent.
On a similar note, I don’t penalize players for only qualifying in the utility slot. At most, it is a mild inconvenience if a DH-only player is available at a great value and you already have filled your utility spots.
Anyone talented enough to make it to the big leagues can be brilliant or putrid for 50 to 100 at-bats—regardless of true talent. Heck, it could even last over a month with no change in potential or skill. It also could be wildly meaningful. We can’t and don’t know which of these will be true until it’s over, though track record, scouting, and trends can give us hints.
If you’d like input on a player or have any feedback, your best bet is to reach out to me on the website formerly known as Twitter (@ifthechufits) or in the comments below!

 

Read The Notes

 

These rankings talk about what I generally project for a player, but these rankings are not projections. They include projections but also take into account performance risk, injury risk, team context, ceiling, and floor.

 

Check out the Hacks & Jacks podcast featuring Scott Chu and Brett Ford, which also happened to be a finalist for Best Baseball Podcast of 2021 by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA)!

I also host an AMA in the r/fantasybaseball subreddit every Friday starting around noon ET that lasts through the rest of the day and into the weekend, so feel free to join the fun and ask questions or make comments.

 

Tier 1

 

As long as Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge are healthy, they’re the best player in their league. I might flip them here and there, but when push comes to shove it’s a coinflip.

 

Tier 2

 

Elly De La Cruz isn’t stealing as many bases lately, but the walk rate is exactly 10% in May and he’s still a top-20 hitter so far in May despite starting it out with just six hits in his first 49 plate appearances and a .140/.245/.233 line. The low points haven’t lasted long and the strikeout rate peaks haven’t been quite as high as they were in his 2024 slumps.
I’m not worried about Juan Soto yet. Why? Because we’ve seen slumps like this a couple of times and they always work themselves out.

 

Tier 3

 

Oneil Cruz had a rough start to the month, but he keeps walking (his lowest 15-game rolling walk rate this season is about the same as his best rolling walk rates last season) and hitting the ball ridiculously hard. That .231 batting average is sure to climb if Cruz keeps barreling the ball over 25% of the time.
James Wood probably won’t hit 40 home runs this season. Probably. But he totally could.
Welcome back Ronald Acuña Jr.! I’m not going to pay much attention to the plate discipline numbers yet, but it’s nice to see several balls hit over 100 mph. The things I’ll be looking for are an improved zone contact rate (ideally over 80%) and a groundball rate below 50%. If he has those things, the rest should work itself out.

 

Tier 4

 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has an incredibly flat swing path and that makes it tough to hit home runs, especially when over 75% of your hits in the air go up the middle or the opposite way. I get the feeling 25-30 home runs should be the expectation along with almost 100 RBI and good ratios. He’s up in the previous tier in OBP and points, though, probably near the middle.
Gunnar Henderson might finally be heating up, which is nice.
Bryce Harper seems to have avoided serious injury.
Cal Raleigh is the top dog at catcher now and it’s not all that close, at least not so far in 2025.
Pete Crow-Armstrong should stay in the top-30 all season but I remain steadfast in holding off on a tier jump until we see how he responds to adversity. Generally, guys who walk less than 5% of the time and strikeout nearly 25% of the time (closer to 30% lately) are prone to long slumps and I’d like to see PCA break that mold before making that bump.
Austin Riley hasn’t hit a home run since he whacked two on May 4 and is slugging just .275 in that stretch. That said, there’s nothing all that alarming going on besides the poor results so I’ll chalk it up just to being an ugly slump.

 

Tier 5

 

Jackson Chourio looks a bit better of late, but three home runs in his last 40 games doesn’t help us believe in a ceiling over 22-25 dingers this season.
Zach Neto might set new career highs in every category despite missing the first three weeks of the season. The poor plate discipline has me questioning the .282 batting average long term, but he’s hitting the ball more than 5 ticks harder than he did last season and doubled his barrel rate so who am I to nitpick?
William Contreras is struggling a bit with grounders and has lost some oomph on his hits (average exit velocity below 90 mph), but we’ve seen these kinds of struggles from him before and he should break out of it before too long.

 

Tier 6

 

It hurt not to raise Spencer Torkelson up, but he remains inside the top 50 thanks to steady power and continuing to show a double-digit walk rate and a strikeout rate closer to 20% than 30%.
Anthony Volpe’s 10.3% walk rate really helps his floor, and while he doesn’t look like he’ll repeat his 28 steals from 2024, he should be able to push for 20-25 of them and also may clear the 21 home runs he hit in 2023. If Volpe somehow worked his way into the leadoff role, which seems a lot more plausible now than it did at the start of the season, he could move further up these rankings.
Isaac Paredes continues to be a pulled fly ball machine and you should really appreciate this incredible skill he has mastered.
Lawrence Butler is showing some signs of life over the last week and is leading off again.
Is Jose Altuve “back?” No idea. I do know that his month-long slump is finally over (if you’ll recall, he started the season swinging a hot bat as well) and it may just be that the 35-year-old version of Altuve we have today is a bit more volatile than the younger versions.

 

Tier 7

 

Junior Caminero is producing of late, including yet another home run today, though the groundball rate remains over 50% even over the last few weeks, which limits his ceiling. That’s the metric to watch for if you’re trying to figure out whether he’s truly taking a sustainable step forward.
We knew Jung Hoo Lee’s power would be limited, and having just three in his last 104 plate appearances sounds about right. May’s poor ratios are frustrating, but those should turn around in no time and I expect him to finish the year with something like 15 home runs, 10 steals, 160-170 combined runs and RBI, and a robust .280-.290 batting average.
Nothing specific to “worry” about here with Langeliers, just a rankings correction as he had slid up a little higher than anticipated.
Luis Robert Jr. is hitting .190 and might not hit above .220 on the season, but he’ll also hit 20 home runs and steal over 40 bases if this dip in walk rate is temporary.
Signs of life from Bryan Reynolds are nice to see.
Matt Chapman is in a funk, though two doubles today helps. Usually these droughts are accompanied by explosive spurts over two or three weeks, but we haven’t quite seen those yet in 2025.
This is probably the ceiling for Victor Scott II’s ranking unless he gets out of the nine-hole as that would turn him from a one-and-a-half trick pony to a two-and-a-half trick pony.

 

Tier 8

There is a TON of attrition out of this part of the list due to the number of players who fell 20+ spots, making the net change for everyone in this tier 10 or higher.

This hot streak from Taylor Ward has been much longer than the previous ones, and while that doesn’t make it permanent, showing he can have extended bursts of power helps raise the ceiling. Even if he has two extended droughts this season, the path to 30 home runs is easy to see.
Tommy Edman did not pick up where he left off, and the longer we go without seeing it, the more he may creep back down the list.
Chandler Simpson won’t steal 100 bases and could easily end the season with zero home runs, but he’s done enough to prove to me he can slap his way to a high batting average to go with 50 steals. Unless he retakes the leadoff spot, though, he counting stats will be terrible, and Simpson has an uphill battle for that job as the Rays value OBP and Simpson, for all of his contact ability, does not walk.
Logan O’Hoppe will continue to be a streaky power-hitting catcher due to the plate discipline, but the highs are higher and more frequent so far than I expected.
Over half of Iván Herrera’s home runs still come from that single game at the beginning of April, but he’s still hitting the ball hard, playing every day, and hitting in a premium spot in the lineup.
I know Ian Happ missed a lot of May with injury, but a .237/.343/.322 line isn’t going to get it done. He’s a tier higher in OBP leagues, but remains a high-floor, low-ceiling type.

 

Tier 9

 

Ugly slumps from Nick Castellanos are par for the course. The dip in ranking actually comes from a recalibration of his ceiling and likely outcomes, as it seems more and more likely that the 33-year-old outfielder is going to fall short of 20 home runs.
I held out hope that Tyler Soderstrom would show us something like what we saw early in the season, but with one home run in his last 36 games and a .633 OPS in May, it’s hard to keep hoping for him to show us a reason to move him back into the top 75, much less the top 50.

 

Tier 10

For those of you in standard 10- and 12-team leagues, this is where you’ll start finding your replacement level at certain positions, particularly outfield and the middle infield.

I know most of it happened in Coors, but Ezequiel Tovar is hitting .395/.435/.628 since coming back from the IL and just an 18.8% strikeout rate in those 48 plate appearances. Tovar has shown signs that he’s overcome some of his deeper flaws from 2024 and he just might return similar value that he showed in 2024 in 2025.
Luis Arraez would be two tiers higher for points leagues but in category leagues, he’s really just providing a boost in a single category and I’m having a hard time truly placing a value on it.
Yainer Diaz looked awfully good for a few weeks but has a 60 wRC+ over his last 47 plate appearances, albeit with an average exit velocity of 93.3 mph. This might be a bumpy ride all season and I’m not sure whether I want to be on it.
I know you want answers on Anthony Santander and if anyone had them, you’d get them. All we know is that he’s not able to find the barrel right now and these issues are extremely difficult to pinpoint and can be resolved seemingly at the drop of a hat. Is it this injury that’s been hampering him?
Brandon Lowe is smoking hot and, well, that’s kind of the player he is. This ranking represents something closer to what Lowe can be if he handles his next slump better than how he did to start the season. If you’ll recall, this was a guy with a .581 OPS through April and was being platooned. I’m all for guys who run hot and cold, but the cold has to be less frigid than that to stay inside the top 100.

 

Tier 11

 

Ben Rice has huge upside with all that thunder in his bat and the fact they seem willing to lead him off, but he’s in an unpredictable timeshare at the moment and news of Giancarlo Stanton going on a rehab assignment only complicates this further.
Jasson Domínguez also stands to possibly lose playing time with Stanton’s return, though that may not be until July (and considering Stanton’s history, perhaps not at all).
Jackson Holliday’s excellent decision-making and contact skills make him well-suited to the leadoff role and it’s a very exciting development for him in both real life and fantasy.
Cedric Mullins is no longer the leadoff guy and I think Holliday has the skills to keep the job. The impending return of Colton Cowser also hurts Mullins as it likely puts him into even more of a timeshare.
Wilyer Abreu is very streaky. If you remember that, it will help you understand what’s going on.
Ryan O’Hearn goes on stretches like this and they can last quite a while, so scoop him up if you haven’t already.

 

Tier 12

 

As you can see, I am still very concerned about Matt McLain. He’s now hitting at the bottom of the order and hasn’t walked since May 16th.
Kyle Stowers has kept the strikeouts to a reasonable level, but the home runs have slowed down and I remain very concerned about that oppressively low zone contact rate (76.9%), especially for a guy who swings as often as he does and who gets pitches in the zone as often as he does.
I’m getting awfully tired of the extreme highs and lows with Willy Adames.
Welcome back to the land of the ranked, Max Muncy! He’s sitting against lefties, but at third base and at this point of the rankings, that’s fine. At least he’s batting fifth or sixth when he’s playing.

 

Tier 12

 

Do you HAVE to drop Mark Vientos? No, but there might be a third baseman out there who is worth scooping.
Welcome to the Show, Marcelo Mayer! Rookies usually start quite low in the ranks, and that’s because these stories often start slow even when the player ends up being great. The third base eligibility is nice, though, and Bregman’s extended absence gives Mayer a bit of staying power for the time being.
The injury to Miguel Amaya opens up more playing time for the hot-hitting Carson Kelly, and it might be the catching streamer you’ve been waiting for.
Daulton Varsho is extremely volatile, and I don’t really buy into the swing change narrative, but he’s playing most of the time and has enough power to be interesting.
Remember when Royce Lewis was unbelievably good? It was longer ago than I thought.
Trent Grisham still leads off but isn’t playing every day and has done very little with the bat over the last few weeks. The opportunity keeps him ranked, but if he starts hitting at the bottom of the order again he’ll drop off.
Colt Keith isn’t an everyday guy right now but the bat is hot enough to be streamable at second base.
I’m not a huge believer in Austin Hays as I think his aggressive approach and limited skills make him far too streaky over the long term with the droughts far too severe, but he’s hot right now and that makes him streamable. Note, though, that despite the hot streak he’s still a well-below-average hitter in May (86 wRC+ this month).
Cam Smith is a full-time player again, and has an OBP-driven .867 OPS over the last 14 games, but that may change when Yordan returns.
Even with the recent hot streak, Austin Hays‘ May wRC+ is 86. This is a very streaky hitter who will frustrate you often, even in a better home ballpark. He’s a streamer in 10-12 teamers, but streamers get ranked too.
Carlos Narváez hits the ball hard, but over the last few weeks the common indicators of luck/heat (such as HR/FB% and BABIP) plus the odd distribution of batted balls (mostly oppo or up the middle) has be skeptical this keeps going. This is a streamer to me, and much of the juice is likely already squeezed. But I’ve been wrong before so I can squeeze him on the back of the list to hedge my bets.

 




Rank
Hitter
Position
Change



1Shohei OhtaniT1DH+12Aaron JudgeOF-13Corbin CarrollT2OF-4Kyle TuckerOF-5Bobby Witt Jr.SS-6José Ramírez3B-7Elly De La Cruz3B, SS+28Fernando Tatis Jr.OF-19Juan SotoOF-110Kyle SchwarberT3OF, DH+111Francisco LindorSS-112Rafael Devers3B+113Pete Alonso1B-114Oneil CruzSS, OF+515James WoodOF+516Freddie Freeman1B-117Ronald Acuña Jr.OF+UR18Mookie Betts2B, SS, OF-419Jackson MerrillOF-120Vladimir Guerrero Jr.T41B, 3B-421Gunnar HendersonSS-22Bryce Harper1B+123Cal RaleighC+224Pete Crow-ArmstrongOF+325Ketel Marte2B-126Riley GreeneOF+227Austin Riley3B-1028Julio RodríguezOF+129Jackson ChourioT5OF-730Wyatt LangfordOF+131Jarren DuranOF+232Seiya SuzukiOF+233Zach NetoSS+534Manny Machado3B+135William ContrerasC-936Teoscar HernándezOF-37Brent RookerOF, DH-738Matt Olson1B-139Trea TurnerSS-40Marcell OzunaDH-41Will SmithC+142CJ AbramsSS+143Josh Naylor1B+144Willson ContrerasC-345Cody BellingerT61B, OF+246Paul Goldschmidt1B+347Salvador PerezC, 1B+448Spencer Torkelson1B-49Anthony VolpeSS+750Isaac Paredes1B, 3B+1251Christian YelichOF+752Lawrence ButlerOF+753Jeremy PeñaSS+854Jose Altuve2B+1555Steven KwanOF-256Brice Turang2B+1157Kerry CarpenterT7OF-358Junior Caminero3B+1059Jung Hoo LeeOF-760Dansby SwansonSS+1461Heliot RamosOF+262Shea LangeliersC-1663Luis Robert Jr.OF-1864Bryan ReynoldsOF+1165Matt Chapman3B-1566Victor Scott IIOF+1667Gleyber TorresT82B-168Ozzie Albies2B+269Tommy Edman2B, OF-1470Taylor WardOF+3171Jonathan Aranda1B+1472Chandler SimpsonOF+2573Logan O’HoppeC+1674Maikel Garcia2B, 3B+1275Iván HerreraC+1376Randy ArozarenaOF-1277Adley RutschmanC-78Bryson Stott2B-79Ian HappOF-2280Brendan Donovan2B, 3B, OF-81Geraldo PerdomoSS-82Nico HoernerT92B, SS+1083Lars NootbaarOF+1084Rhys Hoskins1B+1085Andy PagesOF+1786Masyn WinnSS+1287Jacob WilsonSS+888Tyler Soderstrom1B-2889Nick CastellanosOF-1790Josh Jung3B+691Austin WellsC+892Ezequiel TovarT10SS+1493Lourdes Gurriel Jr.OF+1794Luis Arraez1B, 2B-1595Yainer DiazC-2496Anthony SantanderOF-2097Eugenio Suárez3B+1498Agustín RamírezC+1699Brandon Lowe1B, 2B+30100Bo BichetteT11SS-13101Hunter GoodmanC, OF+14102Yandy Díaz1B+2103Vinnie Pasquantino1B+16104Ben Rice1B-31105Jordan BeckOF+16106Jasson DomínguezOF+17107Jackson Holliday2B+30108Kyle Manzardo1B-25109Alec Bohm1B, 3B+16110Xander Bogaerts2B, SS+16111Michael Busch1B+13112Cedric MullinsOF-47113George SpringerOF-23114Josh LoweOF+14115Brenton DoyleOF-15116Wilyer AbreuOF-13117Ryan O’Hearn1B, OF+27118Christian Walker1B-119Matt McLainT122B-28120Kyle StowersOF-15121J.T. RealmutoC+10122Willy AdamesSS-38123Brandon NimmoOF-16124Nolan Arenado3B-4125Adolis GarcíaOF-12126Nathaniel Lowe1B-17127Jake Cronenworth1B, 2B+12128Matt Shaw3B+12129Jake Burger1B, 3B+12130Drake BaldwinC+12131Gabriel MorenoC+12132Javier Báez3B, SS, OF+14133Chase Meidroth2B, SS+14134Max Muncy3B+UR135TJ FriedlT13OF+14136Mark Vientos3B-24137Luis García Jr.2B-21138Trevor LarnachOF-2139Spencer Steer1B, OF-4140Marcelo Mayer3B, SS+UR141Carson KellyC+UR142Daulton VarshoOF+UR143Royce Lewis3B-35144Trent GrishamOF-17145Colt Keith1B, 2B+UR146Austin HaysOF+UR147Michael Harris IIOF-25148Cam Smith3B, OF+UR149Kristian Campbell2B-32150Carlos NarváezC+UR

 

Taxi Squad

Players are listed in no particular order. This list is not every interesting guy out there, but a running list of players who either almost made the list or have been topics of interesting conversation.

NEW FEATURE: I will put blurbs in bold if they are new to the Taxi Squad or if there’s a significant update to their note.

 

Catcher

Tyler Stephenson (C, CIN) — And just like that, the DH starts are back, though most of this production was against lefties, with extreme struggles against righties (58 wRC+, 46.4% strikeout rate). I’m avoiding unless he sees some lefties.
Ryan Jeffers (C, MIN) — Hitting first or second lately, which is interesting, and the plate discipline is strong.
Bo Naylor (C, CLE) — Power streamer with some good matchups on the horizon.
Francisco Alvarez (C, NYM) — You wonder if he could have found a groove without all these injuries the last two seasons.
Alejandro Kirk (C, TOR) — Points league catcher.
Dillon Dingler (C, DET) — Still playing a lot, though he never walks and the power has dried up a bit, but .310 batting average is nice!
Keibert Ruiz (C, WSN) — Points league catcher.
Sean Murphy (C, ATL) — Playing time is gone. Drop.
Dalton Rushing (C, LAD) — Dynasty only.

First Base

Spencer Horwitz (1B/2B, PIT) — Deep leagues only until we see the walks come back. Still expecting a .260-.270 hitter with a .350-.360 OBP when all is said and done.
Carlos Santana (1B, CLE) — OBP streamer who somehow continues to have something in the tank. What a career.
Andrew Vaughn (1B, CWS) — The ceiling was never that high, but my goodness have the White Sox wasted a young player with mismanagement and baffling decisions.
Michael Toglia (1B/OF, COL) — If I can’t trust him in Coors, then I just can’t trust him.
Nolan Schanuel (1B, LAA) — Would be in Tier 11 in points leagues, maybe even Tier 10 if strikeouts were harshly penalized.
Ryan Mountcastle (1B, BAL) — Bats second or fourth most days, which is worth something, but not as much as you’d hope right now.
Pavin Smith (1B/OF, ARI) — Turned back into a pumpkin, though he’s always an OK play for deep leagues and DFS if it’s a weak righty on the mount.

Second Base

Travis Bazzana (2B, CLE) — Mill be out for two months or more with an oblique strain. Likely a September call-up at this point.
Trevor Story (2B, BOS) — Hitting .151/.213/.183 over his last 32 games with a strikeout rate over 30%. Droppable everywhere.
Curtis Mead (2B/3B, TBR) — Technically on an eight-game hitting streak with three home runs, a steal, and a 1.266 OPS, though it’s across 20 calendar days. Three of those home runs are in his last four games, yet he still rides pine. If that kind of stretch doesn’t give you playing time, what possibly could?
Marcus Semien (2B, TEX) — May has been worse than April. If I had him in a 15-teamer, I’d be watching the wire for a second baseman. 
Hyeseong Kim (2B, LAD) — Despite manager claiming he’d play “3.5 times per week” the playing time evaporated. Droppable in most 10-12 teamers.
Jorge Polanco (2B/3B, SEA) — Back to a platoon thanks to a .475 OPS in May.
Kody Clemens (2B, MIN) — The hot streak was cool but I’d be surprised if you got anything close to that over the next two weeks.
Jonathan India (2B/3B/OF, KCR) — Deep points league only.
Luisangel Acuña (2B, NYM) — Only plays against lefties.
Gavin Lux (2B/OF, CIN) — The hot streak was incredible but also relatively short in the grand scheme of things.
José Caballero (2B/3B/SS/OF, TBR) — Speed streamer.

Third Base

Abraham Toro (1B/3B, BOS) — Playing first base most days, though he’s rarely good for more than a few weeks at a time and is well below-average for fantasy.
Joey Ortiz (3B/SS, MIL) — Does just enough in four of the five hitting categories to be relevant. If this list were for OBP, he might crack the end of it.
Connor Norby (3B, MIA) — Swings hard and misses often. Chasing the hot streaks is a dangerous game.
Gabriel Arias (3B, CLE) — He’s an aggressive hitter with extreme contact issues in the zone. It’s a tale as old as time and almost always turns out the same way (a streamer when hot and a drop when not).
Caleb Durbin (3B, MIL) — Needs to turn a lot of those fly balls into liners as he does not have the pop to get those flies out of the yard very often.
Addison Barger (3B/OF, TOR) — The swings and misses are piling up, which is annoying since it’s been all right-handed starters for over two weeks.
Dylan Moore (2B/SS/3B/OF, SEA) — Streaky utility man.

Shortstop

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (2B/3B/SS, PIT) — Hits for a decent average and might steal 20 bases.
Brooks Lee (2B/3B/SS, MIN) — Moved to the heart of the order and has just eight RBI to show for it in 16 games thanks to a 46 wRC+.
Jordan Lawlar (SS, ARI) — Not playing. Maybe gets a few starts with Marte being ill, but then heads back to the pine.
Trey Sweeney (SS, DET) — Swinging a hot bat with modest pop and speed with much improved plate discipline.
Zach McKinstry (2B/3B/SS/OF, DET) — Striking out a lot of late and not walking, which is not great for a player who has a very low ceiling.
Tyler Fitzgerald (SS/OF, SFG) — Streaky hitter with major contact issues.

Outfield/DH

Alexander Canario (OF, PIT) — Getting a lot more playing time and has enough pop to be interesting. Worth a scoop in deeper leagues.
Will Benson (OF, CIN) — If you blinked, you missed it.
Isaac Collins (OF, MIL) — Not much power but slaps the ball a bit and plays four or five games a week.
JJ Bleday (OF, ATH) — Little for him to learn in the minors so ignore any gawdy triple-A stats. Should be back up soon but only a consideration in deeper OBP leagues for now.
Eli White (OF, ATL) — Casualty of the return of Acuña.
Jesus Sanchez (OF, MIA) — Power streamer with a tough home park and poor supporting cast.
Roman Anthony (OF, BOS) — He’s the top prospect in a top-heavy Boston system and should get a chance to play at some point this summer.
Emmanuel Rodriguez (OF, MIN) — He’s possibly the most passive hitter I’ve ever seen, and it’s tough to make that work in the majors (especially if you have contact issues), but he hits the ball hard and has a lot of buzz right now.
Jordan Walker (OF, STL) — Hit the ball in the air for a moment, but it’s coming back to the ground and the strikeouts were abhorrent. 
Mike Yastrzemski (OF, SFG) — The definition of a replacement-level fantasy outfielder in 12-teamers.
Gavin Sheets (DH, SDP) — A platoon bat with power and contact issues. There are a lot of these guys in the league and he is certainly one of them. All of his stats are essentially from a single night.
Michael Conforto (OF, LAD) — Droppable in mixed leagues.
Jorge Soler (OF, LAA) — Batting third is cool but the lack of walks and increased strikeouts are brutal.

 

IL Stashes

Players are listed by position and not by projected value.

Miguel Amaya (C, CHC) — Droppable in redraft if you IL is full as he’ll be out for at least a month.
Nick Kurtz (1B, ATH) — Tragic, considering he was white-hot over the last week. Should be back in June. Injuries have been part of the story for Kurtz so far, as he had a shoulder injury in college and a hamstring injury last year.
Thairo Estrada (2B, COL) — Should be the everyday guy again when healthy, and while it ain’t exciting, it’s honest work.
Andrés Giménez (2B, TOR) — Should be back in early June, but not a must-add on return.
Ha-Seong Kim (2B/SS, TBR) — On a rehab assignment. No idea what role he steps into, but it’s likely a timeshare with Lowe raking and Caballero still doing enough to get starts.
Nick Gonzales (2B, PIT) — Rehab on pause after being hit on the hand.
Alex Bregman (3B, BOS) — Hopefully he’s back by August. Bummer.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (3B/OF, NYY) — Should start a rehab this week and be back in early June.
Mike Trout (OF, LAA) — Must hold. Hoping he’s back in the next 2 weeks or so.
Parker Meadows (OF, DET) —Looking good on rehab so far, though his role upon returning is unclear and I expect a timeshare to start.
Giancarlo Stanton (DH, NYY) — Going on a rehab soon.
Colton Cowser (OF, BAL) — Should be back within a week or so, though he may return to a platoon and likely won’t be leading off anymore.
Victor Robles (OF, SEA) —Likely out until July. In leagues with a tight IL, he’s possibly a drop.
Jonny DeLuca (OF, TBR) — Moved to 60-day IL. Droppable everywhere.
Matt Wallner (OF, MIN) — You don’t NEED to stash him if your IL is full, especially if it’s a format that only requires three outfielders (or four if it’s a 10-teamer).
Lane Thomas (OF, CLE) — Not a must-hold at this time.
Byron Buxton (OF, MIN) — Concussion protocol. Seems to be progressing well, but these things aren’t always linear.
Yordan Alvarez (OF, HOU) — Alvarez is one of the league’s best hitters and will be worth waiting for.
Dylan Crews (OF, WAS) — Obliques are tricky, but there’s enough raw talent here to justify holding him even with a shallow IL, assuming you don’t have it packed with guys like Seager, Alvarez, Trout, Acuña, or Jazz.
Ramón Laureano (OF, BAL) — Droppable unless your IL is wide open.

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