Sport: MLB<\/p>\n
Playing in AL or NL-only leagues is a give-and-take. When it comes to our NL-Only Second Base Rankings, player movement did us a favor this offseason. We had multiple players shift leagues, which only served to enhance the player pool.<\/p>\n
What?! Your fantasy baseball league wasn\u2019t hosted on Fantrax last season? Preposterous! Check out what the Fantrax MLB Commissioner<\/a> has to offer and we think you\u2019ll be singing a different tune for the 2026 MLB season.<\/p>\n Depth is certainly relative here. There\u2019s a clear dropoff from Ketel Marte to Brice Turang and Nico Hoerner and then to the rest of the player pool. While there are some options better than others, there\u2019s a matter of preference here as well. Whether it\u2019s speed, power, or batting average, there\u2019s something for everyone.<\/p>\n With that being said, here are our 2026 NL-Only Second Base Rankings.<\/p>\n National League Only Second Base Notes I\u2019ll be the first to admit that I wasn\u2019t a fan of Xavier Edwards last season. He appeared to be too one-dimensional for me, and there were doubts about a repeat. To be fair, that was proven to be correct. However, we now have a legitimate baseline for Edwards, and based on his draft-day cost, it\u2019s all quite reasonable.<\/p>\n In 2024, Edwards stole 31 bases in just 70 games. Last season, he only dropped down to 27 stolen bases, but the problem is that Edwards needed 139 games to do it. The good news is that Edwards didn\u2019t get any slower or forget how to steal bases. That means we have a well-established floor.<\/p>\n Last season, Edwards hit .283 with just three home runs and 43 RBI, but he did score 75 runs. It\u2019s become very clear that the power and quality of contact are simply not there. Out of 479 batted balls last season, Edwards had just four barrels. However, he does such a great job of putting the bat on the ball, 89.2% contact rate, and it\u2019s not all terrible contact, as his soft contact rate is just 16.7%.<\/p>\n Seeing Edwards\u2019 24.4% line drive rate does allow you to hope, but the important thing is his stable skill set. We can count on Edwards to contribute in three categories, and there\u2019s nothing to suggest that he won\u2019t hit his 30 stolen base floor.<\/p>\n Jorge Polanco, New York Mets<\/p>\n We aren\u2019t here to figure out what the New York Mets are doing, but Jorge Polanco will be playing first base this season. From our perspective, the good news is that he\u2019ll likely be in the lineup most days and at a lower-impact defensive position.<\/p>\n Health has been a key variable for Polanco, but it was good news that he stayed healthy last season. Polanco hit .265 with 26 home runs, 78 RBI, and 64 runs scored while stealing six bases. Perhaps more importantly, Polanco\u2019s strikeout rate decreased to 15.6%.<\/p>\n Because he hasn\u2019t had consistent health, Polanco seemingly gets overlooked at times. With a 10.3% barrel rate and 45.8% hard hit rate, there\u2019s nothing to suggest that he won\u2019t have a repeat performance. What also caught my eye, though, was Polanco\u2019s career-high 90.8 MPH average exit velocity.<\/p>\n Brandon Lowe, Pittsburgh Pirates<\/p>\n From a NL-only perspective, there\u2019s a lot to like about Brandon Lowe\u2019s move to the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, everything further as it pertains to Lowe comes down to one thing: health.<\/p>\n If we were able to consistently count on Lowe to remain in the lineup, there would be a lot to feel good about. Instead, it becomes an exercise in replacement value if\/when Lowe is sidelined. Last year, that wasn\u2019t something we had to worry about and the proof was in the results.<\/p>\n Lowe played in the second-most games in his career, 134, and his counting stats followed suit. The second baseman hit 31 home runs to go along with 83 RBI and 79 runs scored. He hit a solid .256, and his 12.9% barrel rate, .221 ISO, 46.4% hard hit rate also backed up his success.<\/p>\n With the Tampa Bay Rays playing away from Tropicana Field last season, we do have to take a closer look at the splits. The good news here is that Lowe hit 15 home runs at home and 16 on the road. His batting average also followed suit, .240 at home and .275 on the road, which bodes well for 2026.<\/p>\n 2026 NL-Only Second Base Rankings<\/p>\n \tRnkPlayerTeam<\/p>\n \t1Ketel MarteARI<\/p>\n \t2Brice TurangMIL<\/p>\n \t3Nico HoernerCHC<\/p>\n \t4Ozzie AlbiesATL<\/p>\n \t5Brandon LowePIT<\/p>\n \t6Xavier EdwardsMIA<\/p>\n \t7Matt McLainCIN<\/p>\n \t8Bryson StottPHI<\/p>\n \t9Otto LopezMIA<\/p>\n \t10Jorge PolancoNYM<\/p>\n \t11Luis GarciaWSH<\/p>\n \t12Brendan DonovanSTL<\/p>\n \t13Tommy EdmanLAD<\/p>\n \t14Marcus SemienNYM<\/p>\n \t15Willi CastroCOL<\/p>\n \t16Luis ArraezFA<\/p>\n \t17Caleb DurbinMIL<\/p>\n \t18JJ WetherholtSTL<\/p>\n \t19Brett BatyNYM<\/p>\n \t20Nasim NunezWSH<\/p>\n \t21Jake CronenworthSD<\/p>\n \t22Nick GonzalesPIT<\/p>\n \t23Jared TrioloPIT<\/p>\n \t24Ha-Seong KimATL<\/p>\n \t25Tyler FreemanCOL<\/p>\n Fantrax is one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites in the fantasy sports industry, and we\u2019re not stopping anytime soon. We are the most customizable, easy-to-use, and feature-rich platform in the industry, offering the greatest fantasy experience for your dynasty, keeper, redraft, and best ball leagues. Fantasy sports doesn\u2019t sleep, and neither does Fantrax, with seasons running 365 days a year. Take your fantasy leagues to the next level now at Fantrax.com<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sport: MLB Playing in AL or NL-only leagues is a give-and-take. When it comes to our NL-Only Second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2395],"tags":[66629,5,1816,778,58,4171,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-537730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-marlins","8":"tag-2026-fantasy-baseball-draft-kit","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-marlins","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-marlins","13":"tag-miamimarlins","14":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115956481143374048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nXavier Edwards, Miami Marlins<\/p>\n