Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft, 3.0: Fred Zinkie’s full results from his 2 favorite picks to have in 2026

There are two drafts slots that I like this fantasy baseball season, and they have one thing in common — they both involve picking one slot away from a turn. Yes, picks 2 and 11 are my favorite ones in a 12-team league. Let’s map out each of these two spots, which will include some tips on how a smart manager can manipulate the team that is picking on the turn.

Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season

Please note that this is a plan for a head-to-head categories league.

Pick 2 Strategy

Round 1 (2^nd overall): Shohei Ohtani, UTIL, LAD— This is the best slot in the draft, as there is no wrong answer between Aaron Judge and Ohtani. Starting your roster with one of those players provides a massive advantage over the competition.

Round 2 (23^rd overall): Cristopher Sánchez, SP, PHI — If a top hitter falls unexpectedly far, I’ll wait one more round on a starter and allow the manager on the turn to choose their ace. If not, I’ll happily draft Sánchez, whom I prefer over Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Round 3 (26^th overall): Trea Turner, SS, PHI — With a 50-homer player on my roster, it makes sense to grab a balanced contributor who leans slightly toward the stolen bases and batting average categories.

Round 4 (47^th overall): Cole Ragans, SP, KC — You’ll start to notice a trend, as I will draft one hitter and one pitcher on most turns. In this case, Ragans stands out over the remaining hurlers, which makes him my first choice. A healthy Ragans will produce 200 strikeouts and stellar ratios.

Round 5 (50^th overall): Maikel García, 2B/3B/SS/OF, KC — This may feel like a reach, but I love García’s skill set and position flexibility. Drafting someone who is eligible at four positions gives me plenty of flexibility in future rounds.

Round 6 (71^st overall): Cade Smith, RP, CLE — The top tier of closers ends at this turn, when Smith and Jhoan Duran come off the board. Smith’s skills rival those of any relievers, with his lack of experience being the only reason that he lasts this long.

Round 7 (74^th overall): Kyle Bradish, SP, BAL — I’m going to deviate from my rotation of hitters and pitchers for one turn, as I prefer to use a stars-and-scrubs pitching plan. I’ll make up for it on the next turn, but I see a big drop from the starters available on this turn and those available late in Rd. 8.

Round 8 (95^th overall): Michael Busch, 1B, CHC — Fantasy managers are sleeping on Busch, who has an excellent chance to repeat his stellar 2025 season (34 HR, 90 RBI). And after drafting Turner and García, I have room for a pure slugger.

Round 9 (98^th overall): Christian Yelich, OF, MIL — Managers aren’t giving Yelich much credit for a 2025 season in which he produced 29 homers, 16 steals and 103 RBI. Having outfield eligibility in Yahoo formats (he’s UT-only on some sites) makes him more desirable.

Round 10 (119^th overall): Jo Adell, OF, LAA — There is a small chance that Adell leads the American League in home runs. I’m not saying that will happen, but there are only four players on AL rosters who topped his total (37) last year.

Round 11 (122^nd overall): Nathan Eovaldi, SP, TEX — On a per-inning basis, Eovaldi is the best remaining pitcher. I avoid him in deep leagues with barren waiver wires, but in Yahoo formats, I can replace the right-hander if he suffers an injury.

Round 12 (143^rd overall): Luis Robert Jr., OF, NYM — My interest in Robert is similar to that of Eovaldi — the player is a boom-or-bust option who can be replaced from the waiver wire if that happens. Finally on a good team, Robert showed his upside when he produced 38 homers and 20 steals in 2023.

Round 13 (146^th overall): Emmet Sheehan, SP, LAD — The sky is the limit for Sheehan, who finally has a secure rotation spot and produced a 2.82 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 10.9 K/9 rate last year.

Round 14 (167^th overall): Kazuma Okamoto, 1B/3B, TOR — I’m excited about Okamoto’s rookie season and expect him to soon hit in the heart of Toronto’s lineup. He should be a balanced fantasy contributor.

Round 15 (170^th overall): JJ Wetherholt, 2B/3B/SS, STL — Still chasing upside, I’ll go with a talented rookie who seems set to make the Opening Day roster and has 20-20 potential.

Round 16 (191^st overall): Ryan Walker, RP, SF — There is little competition for saves on the Giants, and Walker has looked good this spring.

Round 17 (194^th overall): Drew Rasmussen, SP, TB — After taking two hitters on the previous turn, it’s time to double-up on pitchers. Sure, Rasmussen won’t lead the league in innings, but his 150 frames will be great ones.

Round 18 (215^th overall): Carter Jensen, C, KC — There are plenty of late-round catcher sleepers. I’ll narrowly choose Jansen over Samuel Basallo and Francisco Alvarez.

Full Roster for No. 2 pick team

Now it’s time to work my magic with pick 11, which will require a little more creativity.

Pick 11 Strategy:

Round 1 (11^th overall): Garrett Crochet, SP, BOS — I can control whether I grab one of the Big 3 starters (Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and Crochet) or leave them for the manager who picks on the turn. If Skenes and Crochet are both available, I’ll start my draft with a hitter. In this mock, we will assume that Skenes is gone, which makes Crochet an easy choice. The manager with the 12th pick is now locked into drafting two hitters.

Round 2 (14^th overall): Gunnar Henderson, SS, BAL — There are plenty of quality hitters on the Rd. 1-2 turn. At 24 years old, Henderson is an easy bounce-back candidate from a disappointing season.

Round 3 (35^th overall): Yordan Alvarez, OF, HOU — With a career .961 OPS, Alvarez is one of baseball’s five best pure hitters. I’ll take the discount that follows an injury-plagued season. Since there are a few pitchers on this turn that I like, I can take the hitter first and allow the other manager to choose their preferred hurler.

Round 4 (38^th overall): Logan Gilbert, SP, SEA — With outstanding career ratios (3.58 ERA, 1.06 WHIP) and a K/9 rate that jumped to 11.9 last year, Gilbert is being undervalued as a potential top-five starter.

Round 5 (59^th overall): Shea Langeliers, C, ATH — After hitting .328 with 19 homers and 41 RBI in 57 games in the second half of 2025, Langeliers has the best chance of any catcher to surpass Cal Raleigh.

Round 6 (62^nd overall): George Kirby, SP, SEA — T-Mobile Park helps the Mariners starters have a high floor. I expect a bounce-back year from Kirby, who still has stellar ratios (3.58 ERA, 1.11 WHIP) after four seasons.

Round 7 (83^rd overall): Michael Harris II, OF, ATL — Harris didn’t play well last season and was still a 20-20 player. That’s the floor for someone who is still just 25 years old and can turn around a multi-year decline.

Round 8 (86^th overall): David Bednar, RP, NYY — The closer options drop down a tier after Bednar, which means that I’ll grab him on the front-end of this turn, rather than giving the pick-12 manager the option.

Round 9 (107^th overall): Michael Busch, 1B, CHC — In the middle rounds, opinions on players become a bigger factor than ADP, which means that you’ll see more picks from this point forward that match my selections from the No. 2 pick mock.

Round 10 (110^th overall): Luke Keaschall, 2B, MIN — Last week, I chose Keaschall as the hitter I’m most excited to draft this year. I’m expecting 10-15 homers and 35 steals, which fits a roster that already has some sluggers.

Round 11 (131^st overall): Nathan Eovaldi, SP, TEX — As was mentioned earlier, I love Eovaldi in formats that have a fruitful waiver wire.

Round 12 (134^th overall): Andy Pages, OF, LAD — Although it took me a while to move past his poor October performance, Pages is coming off an effective 2025 season and uses his strong defensive skills to start as often as any Dodgers player.

Round 13 (155^th overall): Danny Palencia, RP, CHC — In comparison to my other draft, I’m a bit weaker with my top closer (Smith versus Bednar). I’ll make up for that gap by grabbing one of my favorite second closers. Palencia lacks a long track record but has great skills and plays for a top team.

Round 14 (158^th overall): Dansby Swanson, SS, CHC — Although he won’t post a high average, Swanson should flirt with another 20-20 season.

Round 15 (179^th overall): JJ Wetherholt, 2B/3B/SS, STL — I plan to leave most of my drafts with one of Wetherholt, Konnor Griffin or Kevin McGonigle.

Round 16 (182^nd overall): Drew Rasmussen, SP, TB — Along with Busch, Eovaldi and Wetherholt, Rasmussen shows up in both of my mock drafts.

Round 17 (203^rd overall): Matt McLain, 2B, CIN — In an awful 2025 season, McLain still produced 15 homers and 18 steals. This spring, the 26-year-old has looked much better. He’s also expected to bat second in the lineup.

Round 18 (206^th overall): Abner Uribe, RP, MIL — I expect Trevor Megill to open the season as the Brewers closer, but there will still be plenty of production from Uribe, who is one of baseball’s best relievers.

[Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem: Make your picks for $50K in total prizes]

Full Roster for No. 11 pick team