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3. Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Royals<\/p>\n
In what can fairly be termed an off year, Witt still led the majors in hits and doubles and was the seventh-most valuable hitter for 5×5 leagues. The Kansas City lineup has an upgraded feel to it, with eight of its primary starters expected to be league average or better. Witt likely hasn\u2019t peaked yet, about to enter his age-26 season.<\/p>\n
4. Juan Soto, OF, Mets<\/p>\n
Announcer Keith Hernandez has said for years that any ballplayer could probably steal 15 bases or so if he merely put in the effort. Soto took it a step further, leading the National League with 38 swipes in 42 attempts, after seven full seasons of station-to-station baseball. Even if Soto\u2019s steals take a reasonable step back, he\u2019s a multi-category monster entering his age-27 season. The timing could be right for his first MVP year.<\/p>\n
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Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season<\/a><\/p>\n 5. Tarik Skubal, SP, Tigers<\/p>\n His last two seasons have been remarkably similar, although Skubal was less unlucky with wins last year. The voters didn\u2019t seem to mind \u2014 he\u2019s been the runaway Cy Young winner in the AL two straight seasons. Starting pitchers are the running backs of fantasy baseball \u2014 you always worry about health risks, but if you land on the right ones, you probably rule the world. The top of this position should be considered in any first round.<\/p>\n Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings<\/p>\n 6. Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez, 3B, Guardians<\/p>\n He keeps cranking out near-identical seasons, and he\u2019s also taken his base stealing up a notch in his 30s. I don\u2019t love the lineup around Ram\u00edrez, but six straight years of durability and production earns him an obvious seat at this table. Third base is also not a deep fantasy position<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n 7. Corbin Carroll, OF, Diamondbacks<\/p>\n The batting average has bounced around for his three full seasons, but players with this type of power-speed potential will always demand early fantasy picks. Last season was partially muted by a wrist problem; imagine what Carroll might be able to accomplish if he\u2019s healthy in his age-25 campaign.<\/p>\n 8. Paul Skenes, SP, Pirates<\/p>\n Wins can be fluky for even the greatest pitchers, which is why it\u2019s reasonable to consider something other than wins to fill out your league structure. However you play, Skenes belongs here, sitting on a 1.96 ERA and 0.948 WHIP through 55 MLB starts. Appointment viewing.<\/p>\n An early look at how the first round of 2026 fantasy baseball drafts could play out.<\/p>\n (Henry Russell)9. Elly De La Cruz, SS, Reds<\/p>\n For all the strikeouts, the average hasn\u2019t really been a problem \u2014 his career .255 mark is more than good enough, given how he fills the other categories. And with Elly stepping into his age-24 season, we still have to view him as a player on the escalator.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n 10. Julio Rodr\u00edguez, OF, Mariners<\/p>\n You know you\u2019re a special ballplayer when you hit 32 homers and steal 30 bases and chart as the No. 11 overall hitter . . . and the world collectively shrugs. It would be nice if Rodr\u00edguez played in a more favorable offensive park, but you have to grab these five-category contributors while you can. Rodr\u00edguez cut his strikeout rate to a career low last year, a subtle sign of growth.<\/p>\n 11. Garrett Crochet, SP, Red Sox<\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen this movie before with Chris Sale, the last time the Red Sox plucked a Chicago lefty ace in his prime and reaped instant benefits. Crochet\u2019s first Boston season was much more effective on the road (2.25 ERA, versus 3.02 at Fenway), but his power arsenal is capable of dominating anywhere. If Skubal gets tired of winning Cy Young Awards, Crochet is a logical next pick, readying for his age-27 season.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n 12. Kyle Tucker, OF, Dodgers<\/p>\n Fantasy baseball sages Glenn Colton and Rick Wolf will remind us that it\u2019s somewhat risky to pay up for a fantasy baseball pick who\u2019s starting a big contract and on a new team. It\u2019s also been frustrating to see Tucker navigate injuries the last two years. On the plus side, Tucker is still just 29 and he\u2019s now insulated by the Los Angeles lineup, one of the deepest in baseball<\/a>. And given the star-power in L.A. and the reasonable expectation that the Dodgers are already in the playoffs, it\u2019s not like Tucker arrives in camp with absurd pressure on his shoulders. He\u2019ll be a first-round pick in some leagues and an early-second round pick in others.<\/p>\n Others Considered: Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s a one-man mock draft for the first round, as we look to get those drafting muscles back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2276],"tags":[106,5,1351,141,138,919,1538,38,39,1177,28,920,227,922,916,865,134,3992,2123,2544,29,774,2291,620,101,4,1586,877,921,468,382,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-633008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-aaron-judge","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-bobby-witt-jr","11":"tag-boston","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-chris-sale","14":"tag-corbin-carroll","15":"tag-diamondbacks","16":"tag-dodgers","17":"tag-elly-de-la-cruz","18":"tag-fantasy-baseball","19":"tag-fernando-tatis-jr","20":"tag-francisco-lindor","21":"tag-garrett-crochet","22":"tag-gunnar-henderson","23":"tag-jose-ramirez","24":"tag-juan-soto","25":"tag-julio-rodriguez","26":"tag-kansas-city","27":"tag-keith-hernandez","28":"tag-kyle-tucker","29":"tag-los-angeles","30":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","31":"tag-mariners","32":"tag-mets","33":"tag-mlb","34":"tag-mlb-draft","35":"tag-paul-skenes","36":"tag-ronald-acuna-jr","37":"tag-shohei-ohtani","38":"tag-tarik-skubal","39":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116259746745515209","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633008","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=633008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SM_012726_MLBMockDraft.jpg\"\/)
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