Each fantasy baseball season has its own quirks, and 2025 was no exception. Here are the biggest takeaways that managers can make from the recently completed campaign, along with some advice on how to utilize these takeaways during 2026 drafts.
Catcher was deeeeep
Recap: Baseball’s most demanding position is enjoying a renaissance. While Cal Raleigh and his AL MVP quest were dominating the headlines at the catcher position, there were plenty of players who were racking up noticeable stat lines of their own. A total of nine catchers tallied at least 20 home runs, and four reached the 30-homer benchmark. Ten catchers drove in at least 70 runs, and seven scored at least 70 times. There were even six catchers who hit at least .275 with more than 375 at-bats.
Looking ahead: Thanks to the emergence of the likes of Hunter Goodman, Agustin Ramírez, Ben Rice, Ivan Herrera and many more, there are more appealing catchers than available lineup spots in 2026 one-catcher leagues. For this reason, managers who miss out on drafting Raleigh should be fully committed to selecting their catcher in the final rounds of their draft. They will still come away with someone who has top-five potential at this premium position.
Elite closers weren’t worth the trouble
Recap: At the reliever position, there were a few top 2024 finishers who came from the early rounds of drafts — namely Edwin Díaz, Jhoan Duran, Josh Hader — who finished 42nd, 57th and 55th at the position, respectively. But most of the valuable relievers were afterthoughts in the draft process. Of the 17 relievers who finished as top-100 overall players, 12 were drafted after pick 100. Remarkably, six of the 17 hurlers opened the season on waivers in nearly every league.
Looking ahead: After the reliever position enjoyed a remarkably consistent season in 2024, we were reminded this year that it is an inherently volatile position in fantasy due to the combination of small sample sizes, high-pressure situations and frequent injuries. Managers may prefer to spend multiple middle- or late-round draft picks on relievers, rather than grabbing a star closer in the early rounds.
The ROI (return on investment) for aces was terrific
Recap: Sure, there were some injury-related misses among the elite fantasy starters, but that would be true of top players at any position. The overall symmetry between draft-day value and actual production was impressive this year, as the top-three fantasy finishers (Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, Garrett Crochet) were among the initial four pitchers selected in drafts. The fourth member of that group, Zack Wheeler, was so good that he still ranks 14th in value despite making his last start on August 15. The other top-12 2025 pitchers are listed here (in order), with their Yahoo ADP in parentheses: Bryan Woo (133), Nathan Eovaldi (195), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (52), Hunter Brown (106), Freddy Peralta (96), Cristopher Sánchez (164), Carlos Rodón (150), Max Fried (84), Jacob deGrom (55).
Looking ahead: There are two main takeaways for 2026 drafters. First, although pitchers sometimes suffer long-term injuries that tend to skew our impression of them, they are sound investments in the early rounds of drafts. The second takeaway is that managers must invest in the pitching position early if they want to get an ace. After all, only two of the hurlers listed in the previous paragraph were available past pick 150. Wise managers will plan to take at least four starters in the initial 12 rounds of their draft.
Projecting steals is a fool’s errand
Recap: Of the 10 players who finished atop the steals leaderboard last year, just two of them repeated their top-10 finish in 2025. If we expand the sample size, of the 24 players who reached the 30-steal plateau in 2024, only seven returned to that benchmark this season.
Looking ahead: Stolen bases are different than stats that are accumulated at the plate, as there is a choice involved with attempting to swipe a bag. Players often increase or decrease their aggressiveness on the basepaths over periods of time due to several factors, such as the manager’s game plan or personal injuries. For this reason, managers shouldn’t get carried away with projecting specific steals totals heading into a season. It may be a better plan to ensure that they leave the draft with a few players who are typically willing to swipe bases, knowing that these players could finish with anywhere from 20-40 steals. After all, we can’t be any more confident that José Caballero will repeat his league-leading total of 49 than we were that Elly De La Cruz would steal 67 bags for a second straight year (he finished with 37).
Pitchers on good teams get wins
Recap: Sure, this seems obvious, but pitcher wins were correlated to team success to an unusual degree in 2025. Of the 20 pitchers with at least 13 wins, 15 play for a team that made the postseason. And of the other five, four were on a team that remained in the NL Wild Card race until the final week of the season. Only Joe Ryan worked for a team that won fewer than 78 games.
Looking ahead: Once the Big Three of Skubal, Skenes and Crochet are off the board, fantasy managers will need to choose their staff ace from a deep pool of similarly skilled hurlers. Since wins are an important part of the equation (especially in roto formats), eliminating the pitchers who play for losing clubs may be a good place to start. That would include the likes of the aforementioned Ryan and Eury Pérez, and it may also include Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach, depending on the manager’s faith that the Braves will turn things around.
In fact, the information regarding wins could be a reason to rank Skenes behind Crochet. After all, Skubal and Crochet averaged 15.5 wins this year while playing on postseason teams, while Skenes racked up just 10 victories. And few analysts expect the Pirates to improve to a great degree next year.
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