| | | | Wednesday, October 2, 2024 | | The marathon is over, and I hope you walked away a champion. If you did, you did better than me, as I ultimately fell just short in a couple of the leagues where I still had a chance to take down an overall title. I'm planning on writing a bit of a 2024 recap where I go through what I got right, what I got wrong, and where I think the state of Fantasy Baseball stands heading into the offseason, but that won't be a few more weeks. | | Because first, I want to take a look ahead at 2025. Yes, I know it's way too early for rankings, but I do like to establish a baseline set of expectations to begin the offseason that I can compare to as we go on. Scott White has already begun the process of ranking 2025 as well, touching on catcher, first base, and second base here, and he goes deeper on each position and gives his thoughts on each player, so you should make sure to check that out. | | I'm not going as deep yet because I want to get an overview down on digital ink before that. Over the next few weeks, I'll be going through each position myself, reviewing 2024 and looking ahead to 2025, along with offering some way-too-early sleepers, breakouts, and busts right here in your inbox. | | And I'll be here all offseason long, whether you're getting ready to make some moves in your Dynasty league or just getting a head start on the competition for 2025, the FBT Newsletter and podcast will be here to help all offseason. | | Now, let's get to those way-too-early rankings: | | | | Way-too-early 2025 Rankings | | | | Oh, before we start, I guess I should point this out: There are going to be some big-name players you won't see in the below rankings, because I'm not ranking DH-only players yet. They'll be included in top-300s when those come out, but for now, I'm leaving them off to the side. | | But those DH-only players are actually going to be a big storyline in 2025, because around half the league will likely be drafting one next year. Shohei Ohtani is obviously a first-rounder and probably the first overall pick in every league, but we also have to account for Marcell Ozuna, Kyle Schwarber, and Brent Rooker, who were all top-20 hitters in Fantasy this season. But they'll probably all fall to a point where they will be nice values in drafts next year, and I'm probably going to plan on having one on every one of my teams. | | Yeah, it hurts your flexibility at points in the season -- though at least Schwarber and Rooker could conceivably gain eligibility, as both played five or more games in the outfield this season. But if there are roughly six DH-only players worth starting at any given point -- Joc Pederson, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen, Masataka Yoshida, and J.D. Martinez all qualified for "worth starting" status, as did Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Manzardo, while Eloy Jimenez could be a viable bounceback candidate -- that means half of a 12-team league is in the same boat. At this point, how much does it really make sense to discount those DH-only guys? | | A little bit, to be certain. But if I can get a hitter like Brent Rooker outside of the top-100 in my drafts next year, I'm certainly not going to pass on it just because he is DH-only. And I think those kinds of discounts could be plentiful for 2025. | | And one other note here that applies to all of these rankings: We're six months out from the start of next season, so don't hold me to any of these. There's a lot of offseason left and a lot of research to do between now and next February when draft season really starts to kick off. So, while I stand by these rankings for now, consider pretty much all of them to be relatively weakly held positions. I reserve the right to change my mind! | | | | Catcher | | Despite the emergence of guys like Shea Langeliers and the further establishment of William Contreras and Yainier Diaz as legit stars, the catcher remains pretty messy for Fantasy. I would feel pretty good about any of the first six as my starter in a one-catcher league, but after that, there are still a lot of questions here. The biggest one for me might be, "Will Francisco Alvarez ever live up to the hype? | | William Contreras, MILAdley Rutschman, BALWill Smith, LAD Cal Raleigh, SEASalvador Perez, KC Yainer Diaz, HOU Shea Langeliers, OAKJ.T. Realmuto, PHIWillson Contreras, STL Austin Wells, NYYFrancisco Alvarez, NYMLogan O'Hoppe, LAA | | First base | | No, I don't think you should use Salvador Perez as your first baseman in 2025. Obviously, I don't. But we rank players where they are eligible and would slot in for the overall rankings, hence Perez's inclusion here. And that's fine by me, because I think first base is an 11-man position right now, and I'm really not sure who I would rank if I went beyond the top 12. Rhys Hoskins? Jake Burger? Alec Burleson? Yeah, the pickings outside of that top 11 are pretty slim. | | Vladimir Guerrero, TORFreddie Freeman, LAD Bryce Harper, PHIMatt Olson, ATL Pete Alonso, NYM Josh Naylor, CLESpencer Steer, CIN Vinnie Pasquantino, KCChristian Walker, ARITriston Casas, BOS Cody Bellinger, CHCSalvador Perez, KC | | | | Second base | | And second base might be worse! If we were ranking every position against every other one -- as we will once top-300 rankings are due -- I'm not sure Luis Garcia would definitely be a top-10 option at any other position except catcher. I like him, but it's still not clear he's an everyday player, and this was by far the best season of his career. There's room to grow with him and a few others here, but we'll need several players to step forward (and for the trio of over-30 guys in the top four not to step back) for this not to be the weakest non-catcher position by a mile. | | Ketel Marte, ARIJose Altuve, HOU Ozzie Albies, ATLMarcus Semien, TEX Jordan Westburg, BAL Luis Garcia, WASNico Hoerner, CHCBrice Turang, MIL Xander Bogaerts, SDBrandon Lowe, TB Luis Rengifo, LAA Jackson Holliday, BAL | | Third base | | Third base is a bit better, but I don't exactly feel great about players outside of the top seven here. Bregman is an especially tough player to figure out because it seems like his value is dependent on that short porch in Houston, and he's heading into free agency as a soon-to-be 31-year-old. Since 2020, he has a .356 wOBA at home compared to a .335 mark on the road, in large part thanks to more power at home. I'm not saying his production would just collapse away from Minute Maid Park, but it would make what looks like a somewhat fringe-y Fantasy skill set even more precarious. | | Jose Ramirez, CLERafael Devers, BOS Austin Riley, ATLManny Machado, SD Jazz Chisholm, NYY Royce Lewis, MINJordan Westburg, BALAlex Bregman, HOU Mark Vientos, NYMAlec Bohm, PHI Eugenio Suarez, ARI Junior Caminero, TB | | Shortstop | | I struggled with who to put in the final spot here as much as basically any other position. I'm defaulting to the idea of a Bichette bounceback -- he's just 27 next season and was a consistently .800s OPS bat before a completely lost 2024 season. I don't know if we can bet on the steals ever coming back (just 10 over the past two seasons), but I do think it's reasonable to bet on the bat looking a lot better, likely somewhere besides Toronto, as he enters his final year of team control. I'll bet on a contract-year Bichette, sure. Do I have him too low? | | Bobby Witt, KCElly De La Cruz, CIN Gunnar Henderson, BALMookie Betts, LAD Francisco Lindor, NYM Trea Turner, PHICorey Seager, TEX C.J. Abrams, WASOneil Cruz, PIT Willy Adames, MIL Zachary Neto, LAABo Bichette, TOR | | Outfield | | Outside of the top 15 or so, outfield is pretty wide open. We're a long way from it mattering still, but my preference might be to make sure I have three of the top 20 or so here because I'm not sure there's much that separations 25 and 45 at this point. So, if you think someone from that range is ranked too high or too low, fear not: I probably agree! | | Aaron Judge, NYYJuan Soto, NYYMookie Betts, LAD Ronald Acuna, ATLKyle Tucker, HOU Yordan Alvarez, HOU Fernando Tatis, SDCorbin Carroll, ARI Julio Rodriguez, SEAJarren Duran, BOS Jackson Chourio, MIL Jazz Chisholm, NYYJackson Merrill, SDLuis Robert, CHW Michael Harris, ATLChristian Yelich, MIL Anthony Santander, BAL Oneil Cruz, PITTeoscar Hernandez, LADBryan Reynolds, PIT Brenton Doyle, COLJames Wood, WAS Mike Trout, LAA Wyatt Langford, TEXRiley Greene, DET Jurickson Profar, SDSteven Kwan, CLE Lawrence Butler, OAK Ian Happ, CHCCody Bellinger, CHCSpencer Steer, CINRandy Arozarena, SEA Seiya Suzuki, CHCAdolis Garcia, TEX Tyler O'Neill, BOS Brandon Nimmo, NYMCedric Mullins, BAL Ceddanne Rafaela, BOSColton Cowser, BAL Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC Nick Castellanos, PHITommy Edman, LAD Heliot Ramos, SFParker Meadows, DET Kerry Carpenter, DET Evan Carter, TEXVictor Robles, SEAAlec Burleson, STL | | Starting pitcher | | I think there's an obvious top five, and I think this order is pretty obvious. I'm sure many folks out there will rank Skenes higher than Wheeler, given his dominant rookie season, but I just can't bring myself to move him ahead of Wheeler, who has a 2.94 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over the past five seasons while cementing himself as arguably the league's pre-eminent workhorse ace. Skenes is incredible, but we don't quite know how he'll hold up to 170-plus innings, and Wheeler's ceiling is pretty high, too! | | Tarik Skubal, DETZack Wheeler, PHI Paul Skenes, PITCorbin Burnes, BAL Chris Sale, ATL Gerrit Cole, NYYDylan Cease, SD Logan Gilbert, SEAGeorge Kirby, SEA Pablo Lopez, MIN Spencer Strider, ATLYoshinobu Yamamoto, LAD Framber Valdez, HOULuis Castillo, SEA Shota Imanaga, CHC Aaron Nola, PHIZac Gallen, ARI Logan Webb , SFMax Fried, ATLJustin Steele, CHC Bailey Ober, MINHunter Greene, CIN Tyler Glasnow, LAD Blake Snell, SFHunter Brown, HOU Spencer Schwellenbach, ATLCarlos Rodon, NYY Tanner Bibee, CLE Grayson Rodriguez, BALBryce Miller, SEA Sandy Alcantara, MIAFreddy Peralta, MIL Sonny Gray, STL Joe Musgrove, SDLuis Gil, NYY Shane McClanahan, TBJack Flaherty, LAD Kodai Senga, NYM Jared Jones, PITBryan Woo, SEA Spencer Arrighetti, HOUSeth Lugo, KC Kevin Gausman, TOR Cristopher Sanchez, PHIYusei Kikuchi, HOU Nick Lodolo, CINJacob deGrom, TEX Jesus Luzardo, MIA | | Relief pitcher | | The one you'll notice here is Jobe, who I slotted in at 12 to draw attention to the fact that he is likely to be by far the most interesting SPaRP option for 2025. I wrote about Jobe before his brief, season-ending cup of coffee, but he's the top pitching prospect in baseball and looks like he should have a rotation spot waiting for him in Detroit next spring if he doesn't completely implode this postseason. If he isn't in the rotation, then the top SPaRP for 2025 will probably be Bowden Francis, whose upside is a bit tougher to figure out despite his incredible run to close out the season. | | Emmanuel Clase, CLEEdwin Diaz, NYM Josh Hader, HOUDevin Williams, MIL Ryan Helsley, STL Mason Miller, OAKRaisel Iglesias, ATL Jhoan Duran, MINAndres Munoz, SEA Robert Suarez, SD Kirby Yates, TEXJackson Jobe, BOS | | | | | | | | Golazo Network | | UEFA Champions League | Free live matches of the UEFA Champions League return to the CBS Sports Golazo Network, our 24/7 network dedicated exclusively to global soccer coverage, today at 3 PM ET with Dinamo Zagreb vs. Monaco!
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