20 must-have fantasy baseball draft picks for 2026
Value. It’s a phrase we use usually on these pages, however what precisely does it imply?
Value is when your opinion on a sure participant rises above that of the room. It’s if you acknowledge uncooked means in a participant that nobody else appears to see. Draft lists and ADP (common draft positions) are a lot helpful instruments, however the very best fantasy baseball managers analysis and in the end formulate their very own, differing opinions on gamers.
Don’t be afraid to go in opposition to the grain. Opinions, even sturdy and out-of-the-norm ones, about gamers are greater than welcome on this sport. Remember, it is your workforce.
What follows represents my strongest opinions on 20 gamers I like — gamers I hope to roster on all of my groups for 2026. They cowl quite a lot of league sorts, however primarily ESPN’s normal points-based format, and embrace 13 American League and 7 National League gamers, 12 hitters and eight pitchers.
He’ll be harder to sneak by your leaguemates after hitting the game-winning house run in Team USA’s World Baseball Classic semifinal victory, however Anthony’s massive hit was once more consultant of the heights of his statistical potential. In the 71 regular-season video games he performed between his June call-up and season-ending indirect damage in September, Anthony was second amongst qualifiers in hard-hit fee (60.7%) and twelfth in chase fee (19.3%), doing so at 21 years of age.
George M. Steinbrenner Field’s pitcher-unfriendly confines wreaked havoc on Baz’s in any other case encouraging, wholesome 2025. There, he surrendered MLB’s worst certified house HR/FB fee (13.5%) and a BABIP that got here in 40 factors greater than on the highway. Escaping the venue, even when for a extra impartial surroundings in Baltimore’s Camden Yards, will work to the right-hander’s profit. Incidentally, he had a 40.5% whiff fee over his first two spring begins.
Often ignored at what was a deep first base pool — seven gamers scored 400-plus and one other six 350-plus fantasy factors in 2025 — Busch is nearer in uncooked expertise to Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson than the likes of Wilson Contreras and Spencer Torkelson. It’s straightforward to miss that Busch completed the yr tenth in Statcast’s Barrel fee (17.6%) and Eleventh in wOBA (.369) — and that is amongst there batting title-eligible, not merely first basemen.
He’s the Yankees’ beginning shortstop, no less than till Anthony Volpe‘s projected return from shoulder surgical procedure roughly one month into the season. Caballero is a sound defender — one who qualifies at 4 fantasy positions — who led the majors in stolen bases in 2025.
However, what actually stands out are his 56 level OBP soar final season, in addition to his 2026 objective of boosting his bat velocity to roughly the league’s 71.7 mph common. He may now not be a one-category speedster.
It’s straightforward to neglect how lofty scouts’ projections have been for this prospect forward of his batting simply .157 in his first style of the majors — the Thirteenth-worst mark by a modern-day rookie with no less than as many as his 232 plate appearances. However, Caglianone’s uncooked energy potential stays monstrous. The Royals’ resolution to herald and decrease the outfield fences at Kauffman Stadium will definitely enhance their breakout prospects, whereas their first spring and WBC homers traveled a mixed 863 ft.
Chourio hasn’t but blossomed right into a celebrity, and but he is the youngest participant in historical past to file a number of 20 HR/20 SB seasons, each taking place earlier than his twenty second birthday. While hamstring points bothered him in the course of the second half of 2025, he in any other case appeared to be discovering his personal on the plate. Since July 1 on (and counting the postseason), he hit .300/.341/.511 with the majors Eleventh-best exhausting hit fee (54.2%). He might be within the first-round dialog for 2027.
My most popular “go cheap” catcher in ESPN normal leagues, Diaz does not seem like a great match for the format resulting from his free-swinging nature. His 3.5% stroll and 43.4% chase (swing fee at non-strikes) charges over the previous three years rank among the many league’s backside 5. But what appeals right here is his catcher/DH twin position, which has earned him the fifth-most plate appearances amongst catcher-eligibles, together with good pop. His 59 homers rank fourth amongst that group, over that very same time span.
Some regression was inevitable final season, after Duran managed one of many loftier plate look totals this century (735), however it’s testomony to his sturdiness that he was in a position to play 157 video games and whole 696 PAs in his follow-up marketing campaign. Fantasy managers do not appear to completely respect his mixture of above-average energy, elite velocity and robust protection from all outfield positions, which give him a fantastic probability at even splitting the distinction between his numbers from the final two seasons.
This child can flat-out hit. In 43 video games of Triple-A ball final summer time, he managed a 58.8% hard-hit fee, which he adopted up with a 58.3% such fee in 20 September video games for the Royals. He has since supplemented these numbers with a 55.0% fee throughout Cactus League play. To put all of it into perspective, solely eight certified hitters managed no less than a 55% fee within the majors in 2025. Jensen is able to deal with an on a regular basis job, and he has one of many place’s highest ceilings.
Kirby is the uncommon pitcher with pinpoint management, a high-90s fastball and a dirty slider able to producing elite whiff charges. Typically, pitchers have two of the three, if that, however he is not even garnering top-10 fantasy attraction on the place after what was a disappointing 2025 on the floor.
Remember this: Kirby has a 3.32 FIP and 1.09 WHIP over the past three seasons, to not point out a 6.87 Okay/BB ratio that is second-best amongst pitchers with no less than 50 begins in that point.
Again, with the teachings of endurance concerning prospects’ adjustment to the majors, Lawlar hasn’t really obtained a prolonged probability at this degree, due each to the presence of Eugenio Suarez (2024-July 2025) in addition to his personal hamstring points final summer time. Now experimenting in middle area, Lawlar appears to be discovering his personal in Cactus League play, hitting 4 house runs with a 46.2% hard-hit fee to date. He’s a traditional instance of a post-hype fantasy sleeper.
Speaking of sturdy springs, McLain’s is among the uncommon examples of 1 that is completely related to his draft-day valuation. Thanks largely to his utilizing a one-quarter inch lengthier bat, as a method to tackle his struggles masking the outer-third of the plate, he is main all spring hitters in batting common (.553) and residential runs (6), together with producing seven hits on pitches on the outer-third. Always go the additional buck for the participant who has made actionable adjustments.
Getting McLean for $17 in my Tout Wars 12-team, NL-only draft was the one higher-cost (learn: $10-plus) acquisition I used to be not anticipating to make, however because it has been the case in a number of of my drafts to date, rostering him was a welcome shock. Though the occasional Jacob deGrom comparisons might sound lofty, McLean’s rookie-year potential is not far off deGrom’s, as he possesses a 95-mph fastball amongst six high quality pitches, with legit, elite Okay choices in each his curveball and sweeper.
Injuries successfully ruined Merrill’s sophomore season, however do not let one down season in that regard scare you off one of many league’s greatest up-and-coming hitters. After recovering from hamstring, concussion and ankle points, he hit .275/.320/.626 with seven house runs over his remaining 24 video games, wanting way more just like the participant who completed second in 2004’s National League Rookie of the Year balloting. With higher damage luck, Merrill ought to rebound to no less than these ranges.
My most popular decide among the many three most outstanding names who came visiting from Japan this winter — Tatsuya Imai and Munetaka Murakami Being the others — Okamoto’s mixture of selectivity (11.4% stroll fee the previous three years in Japan) and pop (.261 remoted energy in that very same time) ought to give him the very best probability at swiftly adapting to US pitching. He’ll bat close to the center of a deep Blue Jays lineup and has a great ability set for points-league play.
If not for the Tommy John surgical procedure that prices him the whole lot of 2024 and the primary two months of 2025, Perez may already be thought of one among fantasy baseball’s premier beginning pitchers. Through 39 big-league begins, his fastball has averaged 97.7 mph, and he has three secondary pitches (slider, curveball and changeup) that generate 40%-plus whiff charges. The solely factor standing in his path to an enormous breakthrough is a possible innings cap (maybe 150).
See: Baz, Shane. Pepiot must also profit from transferring out of Steinbrenner Field, and away from its excessive temperatures and wind currents, however he’ll reap the rewards of the Rays’ return to pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field.
He had a 1.07 WHIP and 28.4% strikeout fee in his 14 begins there in 2024, whereas he surrendered practically twice as many homers at house (17) than on the highway (9) final yr. This might be the yr Pepiot emerges because the Rays’ workers ace.
Cody PonceSP, Toronto Blue Jays
Although the depth of the Blue Jays provides the notion of there not being sufficient room for Ponce, the changes he made final yr within the KBO elevated his ability set to a degree the place he’d be powerful to exclude. He’s now throwing 96 mph (that is a three-tick enhance) together with his fastball and has added a splitter, a favourite amongst Blue Jays pitchers today. Ponce needs to be among the best abroad returnees we have seen, up there with Colby Lewis (2010) and Merrill Kelly (2019).
Another instance of accidents ruining a 2025 marketing campaign, Ragans missed three months resulting from a rotator cuff pressure, which might sometimes be a no-go in my ebook the next yr. But the lefty with filthy stuff rebounded in a large approach upon his late-season return, fanning 18 out of 35 batters over his remaining two regular-season begins. Ragans’ 11-mph distinction between his fastball and changeup, plus his 40%-whiff-rate slider, represents one of many sport’s deepest pitching repertoires.
Taylor’s near-100-mph fastball and elite curveball give him the look of an elite nearer already, besides the White Sox do not seem to need to use him within the position, as a substitute stretching him out for obvious lengthy aid. He’s too gifted to not deal with the entrance or again finish of video games, nonetheless, and concerning the latter, a logical transfer would have the workforce showcasing Seranthony Dominguez for a late-season commerce. Taylor’s scenario jogs my memory fairly a little bit of Mason Miller‘s coming into 2024.
