The joys of fantasy baseball, especially during draft season, is constructing your team to ensure you hit certain targets or numbers at the various offensive categories your league is scored on.

Beyond that, certain players impact multiple categories, many of whom go in the very early rounds, and then you have your one-trick ponies who will largely do one thing, and one thing only for your fantasy baseball teams.

 

 

 

Whether it’s cheap speed, cheap power, or a cheaper power/speed guy, it’s important when diving into your 2025 fantasy baseball prep to find the guys at various ADPs or positional tiers who can provide the needed statistical help for your fantasy baseball squad.

Using 2025 fantasy baseball ADP and 2025 fantasy baseball projections, we are going to uncover our fantasy baseball categories strategy for some guys going after the first couple of rounds in drafts that can impact one, or multiple categories for your team.

2025 Fantasy Baseball Category Contributors: Single

Michael Toglia, Colorado Rockies

The 26-year-old 1B/OF for the Rockies should serve as the team’s everyday first baseman after he swatted 25 home runs with a .456 SLG across 116 games last year. Despite hitting .218, an 11.8 percent walk rate pushed his OBP to .311, and he even went 10-for-11 on stolen base attempts.

He was never a big runner at the minor league level, so I’d expect his stolen base total to be in the 6-8 range in 2025, but the power is legit, and when he makes contact, it’s hard, loud contact. He posted a .503 xSLG last year, which was the 18th-best mark last season amongst players with at least 450 PA.

There’s a lot of swing-and-miss in his game, and a high strikeout rate will keep his batting average below .240, but there’s immense power potential with Toglia. Oh, half of his games are played at Coors Field, which certainly isn’t a bad thing.

Eugenio Suarez, Arizona Diamondbacks

It was a tale of two halves for Suarez in 2024, as he opened the year by hitting just .216 with an 87 wRC+ through his first 92 games, nearly losing his starting spot. Then, over the final 65 games of the season, Suarez went on to hit .307 with 20 home runs, a 153 wRC+, and .942 OPS! He went from nearly being pulled out of the lineup, to not being able to leave the lineup! 

Suarez isn’t getting any younger, but he’s hit 30 or more home runs in three of the last four seasons, and his 101 RBI in 2024 pushed him past the century mark for the first time since 2019. I don’t expect Suarez to hit .256 like he did last year, but he’s an excellent source of power at the hot corner, who may give you some runs and RBI in an intriguing Arizona offense. 

At the end of the day, when selecting Suarez in your drafts, you are drafting him for one thing, and one thing only, and that’s power. He may only hit .230-.240, but if he can get you 30 home runs for the fourth time in his last five seasons, fantasy managers will take that to the bank.

Luis Arraez, San Diego Padres

Arraez is as much of a one-trick pony for fantasy baseball as you’ll ever find. He’ll give your team a great batting average, and honestly, that’s about it. Sure, he’ll score some runs, and hit a home run or steal a base every now and again, but you draft Arraez to boost your team’s batting average. 

He’s hit .300 or better in all but one of his six big league seasons, and he has a career .323 average across 2,858 plate appearances. He has first base and second base eligibility, which gives fantasy managers some flexibility, so that’s a nice touch as well. 

Honestly, his batted ball profile is underwhelming, in terms of barrel rate and hard-hit rate, but he makes a ton of contact (93.1 percent contact rate for his career), and there’s virtually no swing-and-miss in game. 

I am slightly concerned about his increasing O-Swing rate the last couple of seasons, but nonetheless, he’s an elite contributor in the batting average department, and after that, there’s not much else from a fantasy perspective.

 

 

 

Nolan Gorman, St. Louis Cardinals

I’ll apologize in advance, FAmily… I can’t quit this guy, so you are on this ride with me. While Gorman was able to somewhat control the strikeouts at the minor league level, that hasn’t quite yet happened at the big league level, and last year’s 37.6 percent strikeout rate was the highest of his career. 

Through 315 games at the MLB level, Gorman has a 34.1 percent strikeout rate, and .222 batting average. He does have 60 home runs and a .435 SLG though, and with the Cardinals committed to maximizing ABs for its young talent, Gorman is worth a late round flier for some cheap power. 

Back in 2023, he posted a .478 SLG with 27 home runs across 119 games, and he has a lot of what you want to see for predicting power output (fly balls, hard contact, etc.). The team seems intrigued by the idea of giving him 550+ ABs in 2025, and if the team were to move Nolan Arenado, the thought of Gorman picking up 3B eligibility is enticing. 

However, he has 2B eligibility, which is where you’ll want to play him because that position is so shallow, but he’s cheap power in the final rounds of your draft.

Jung Hoo Lee, San Francisco Giants

Last year, Jung Hoo Lee was a top 55 or 60 outfielder off the board in drafts, and after playing in just 37 games in his first year in the MLB, he’s now nearly being drafted outside of the top 70 outfielders.

The early returns from Lee last year were fine, as he hit .262 with a miniscule 8.2 percent strikeout rate, showing that he is going to be an elite bat-to-ball guy with San Francisco. Lee’s power output is likely capped in the 8-12 range, and his stolen base total is likely around there, but I truly believe he’s going to be an above average source of batting average for fantasy teams in 2025.

He’s going to hit in the top half of the San Francisco lineup and play every single day for the Giants, and his batting average floor is likely around .275. HIS FLOOR! Draft Jung Hoo Lee to boost your team’s batting average.

Victor Robles, Seattle Mariners

Robles’ 2019 season is very clearly an outlier, and don’t expect Robles to hit .307 this year like he did in 2024 as a member of the Nationals and Mariners. Things really did turn around for him coming to Seattle, and that provides some optimism for Robles heading into 2025.

He’s going to play everyday for the Mariners, likely open the year as the team’s leadoff hitter, and give fantasy managers stolen bases galore. If his strikeout rate creeps back into the twenties like it was earlier in his career, his batting average is going to come down a bit, and I wouldn’t expect much power from Robles in Seattle.

He’s not overly cheap in drafts, but he should give fantasy managers 30+ stolen bases this year, and that will be his claim to [fantasy] fame in 2025.

 

 

 

2025 Fantasy Baseball Category Contributors: Multi

Luis Robert, Chicago White Sox

A hip flexor issue cost Robert nearly two months of the 2024 season, and while a career-high 33.2 percent strikeout rate pushed his average down to .224, he still managed to hit 14 home runs and steal 23 bases across 100 games. 

Another injury for Robert and a horrible supporting cast in Chicago has Robert’s ADP rather suppressed, but he has top-25 overall fantasy potential, as we saw in his 2023 season where he hit 38 home runs, stole 20 bases and slashed .264/.315/.542. 

Projections are looking quite favorable for Robert in 2025, and as long as he can stay healthy, we are going to look back on Robert’s ADP and wonder how in the world he slipped in drafts. For his career, here are his numbers prorated to 162 games or 650 PAs:

  • .267/.316/.474, 30 HR, 92 R, 84 RBI, 23 SB

There’s always the potential for him to get traded during the year, and going anywhere else – literally anywhere else – would be an improvement to his fantasy value. Robert is one of my favorite targets in drafts this year, as one trip to the IL already seems baked into his price, and at his best, he can contribute across all five offensive categories.

Matt McLain, Cincinnati Reds

We were robbed of seeing McLain in 2024 due to his shoulder issue, but he’s healthy heading into 2025, and early returns in the spring have been impressive. He’s arguably my favorite target at fantasy’s worst position (2B), but he also has shortstop eligibility to give fantasy managers a little extra versatility. 

Half of his games are played in the hitter-friendly confines of Great American Ball Park, and back in 2023 he amassed a .290/.357/.507 slash line with 16 home runs and 14 stolen bases in just 89 games. He does a pretty good job of staying in the zone and doesn’t have a ton of swing-and-miss in his game, so I would expect his strikeout rate to be closer to 25 percent in 2025 than the 28.5 percent he put forth in his rookie season. 

I’m biased, because he’s one of “my guys” this year, but McLain is in a position to join the 20/20 club this year, and impact all five offensive categories for your fantasy team. If he can stay healthy, would it really be that crazy to see McLain go 20/20 with a .260ish batting average, 80+ R, and 80+ RBI in one of the best offensive environments in Major League Baseball?

Xavier Edwards, Miami Marlins

In just 70 games for the Marlins last year, Edwards hit .328 with a .397 OBP and 31 stolen bases! He’s always had a plus-hit tool, and he’s very opportunistic on the base paths. 

You won’t get any power from Edwards, but he has an excellent feel for the strike zone and getting the bat to the ball. He’s valuable in both AVG and OBP setups, thanks to his willingness to take a walk, and there’s no reason Miami shouldn’t let him run rampant on the base paths. 

The Miami lineup isn’t the most impressive to say the least, but Edwards will serve as the team’s primary leadoff man, and he should be excellent for your fantasy team in terms of his average, OBP, and stolen base totals.

 

 

 

Zack Gelof, Athletics

Ask most fantasy managers about Gelof’s 2024 season and they’ll tell you that it was a bit of a disappointment, or a “let down” campaign. Well, Gelof was just 24 years old in his first full season at the big-league level, and sure, he hit just .211, but he did hit 17 home runs and steal 25 bases. 

His swinging strike rate pushed north of 17 percent, and his below average contact rate overall elevated his strikeout rate, in turn, cratering his batting average. He has an altered stance for the 2025 season, and at the end of the day, we have a 25-year-old infielder who has managed to hit 31 home runs and steal 39 bases in his first 207 games at the MLB level. 

The second base position is arguably the worst position in fantasy baseball this season, and Gelof is an intriguing power/speed option who comes at a suppressed price following last year’s season.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs

After hitting 10 home runs, swiping 27 bags, and slashing .237/286/.384 in his first extended look at MLB pitching, I’m bullish on a big year from PCA in 2025.

With time, I believe he’ll move up to the top of the order, and after a slow first half of 2024, he closed out the year with seven home runs, 10 stolen bases, and a .262/.310/.425 slash line. 

His strikeout rate dipped to 22.5 percent during that stretch, and you’ll see in the graph below, courtesy of FanGraphs, the steady improvements he gradually made in terms of increasing contact and staying in the zone more.

Ideally, he’d draw more walks to be more useful in OBP formats, but he’s going to play a ton of baseball for Chicago in 2025, and his elite defensive prowess will help keep him in the lineup. There’s some budding power with PCA, but his prowess on the basepaths is where fantasy managers should be excited.

Back in 2023, PCA hit 20 home runs and stole 37 bases in 107 games across AA and AAA, and in the Windy City in 2025, he could flirt with a 20/30 campaign. A more conservative projection is 15/25 or 15/30, making him an attractive target at ADP, especially if he hits closer to .260 than .230.

Josh Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays

Lowe served two different IL stints for oblique issues last year, limiting him to just 106 games. He couldn’t replicate the success of his 2023 season, but he did manage to hit 10 home runs and steal 25 bases last season. He closed out the year strong, hitting .257 with five home runs and going a perfect 15-for-15 on stolen base attempts.

Compared to his 2023 season, most of his batted ball profile numbers remained similar, but a big jump in his strikeout rate brought most of his numbers down. A healthy Josh Lowe can establish a rhythm at the dish, and it wasn’t too long ago where he was a member of the 20/30 club with a .292 average and 130 wRC+.

He’s not great against left-handed pitching, but he’s in the prime of his career, and I don’t think it will take long for him to take advantage of the short porch in his home park for 2025. A fully healthy Jose Lowe could push for 25/30 membership this season while hitting .260+.