2026 Fantasy Baseball: AL Third Base Rankings

The 2026 AL-Only Third Base Rankings are pretty impressive. Jose Ramirez, Junior Caminero, and Jazz Chisholm are all strong starts to your roster build. Beyond that, there are some legitimate options, but also some questions that need to be answered.

We’ll get to some of those questions below as two additions to the player pool, from Japan and Korea, do help with roster construction. There’s also the issue of playing time in Houston with Isaac Paredes and the injury history of Royce Lewis. That’s among other options, as we also need to keep an eye on the health of Jordan Westburg after an early-season injury.

Let’s jump right into our AL-only third base rankings in preparation for the 2026 fantasy baseball season.

American League Only Third Base Notes

Munetaka Murakami, Chicago White Sox

Of the two additions to the player pool this season, Munetaka Murakami comes with more buzz and higher expectations. A portion of that is because he’s just 26 years old and had a monster season in Japan. The problem is that it came in 2022. And there are also some causes for concern.

In 2022, Murakami hit .318 with 56 home runs and 134 RBI in what was a career effort. It’s not like Murakami was a scrub in the two years that followed, but there was also a steep decrease.

That’s not to say we are going to complain with a .256 average, 31 home runs, and 84 RBI in 2023, followed by .244/33/86 in 2024. But Murakami did take a step back from his career year. There were some concerns about pitchers figuring Murakami out, but before getting injured last season, he was on a torrid pace. In 56 games, Murakami had 22 home runs and 47 RBI to go along with an insane .390 ISO.

Had Murakami stayed in Japan, that would certainly have generated a great deal of optimism. However, there is a clear adjustment period when facing major league pitching for the first time. There are also some concerns about Murakami adjusting to facing greater velocity. As it is, he’s had some struggles making contact over the past three seasons.

Murakami had a strikeout rate of between 28.1% and 29.5% to go along with a contact rate of between just 63.9% and 66.2%. He did have a walk rate of between 15.1% and 17.2%, but there are some real concerns here. He will receive regular playing time and 20 home runs and 75 RBI represent a solid floor. Just keep an eye on the batting average.

Kazuma Okamoto, Toronto Blue Jays

An elbow sprain limited Kazuma Okamoto to just 69 games last season, but he does come to Toronto with momentum on his side. Okamoto hit .327 with 15 home runs and 49 RBI in what was a strong send-off from Korea. The third baseman had a .271 ISO while showing strong plate discipline skills with both a walk and strikeout rate of 11.3%.

The good news is that the success was not a one-time occurrence. In fact, it was a continuation of a strong career. Between 2018 and 2024, Okamoto had a strong range of 27 and 41 home runs with the ISO to match (.221 to .306). His contact rates were between 75.1% and 78.5% while hitting .278 and .280 in 2023 and 2024.

Now, if only we could bank on a one-to-one translation for Okamoto. It goes without saying that there’s a big adjustment period Okamoto will have to go through. There’s the obvious piece that major league pitching will be more difficult than he’s accustomed to facing. That’s both with respect to velocity and the quality of breaking stuff. Additionally, it’s a whole new league and also an entirely different country.

While we’ll likely see a regression, it’s unclear to what level that will take place. It’s a good sign that we don’t have to worry about strikeouts, and the Blue Jays have made a sizable investment in Okamoto.

Addison Barger, Toronto Blue Jays

Yes, we are going with two third basemen from the same team. Positional eligibility is important here, and Addison Barger will pick it up in the outfield.

After a strong rookie season and postseason, Barger has earned regular playing time. He hit .243 (.255 xBA) with 21 home runs, 74 RBI, and 61 runs scored. He did strike out 24.1% of the time, but that’s on par with today’s game, and it didn’t seem to slow Barger down.

With a .211 ISO, Barger generates solid power. That also came through with his 11.4% barrel rate, 50.9% hard hit rate, and an average exit velocity of 91.7 miles per hour. Barger also showed his peak with a 116.5 mile-per-hour average exit velocity.

For the most part, Barger stays away from the opposite field (21.7%). He might not be a true impact fantasy player or present much more upside than he did last year, but Barger will be a solid contributor. There’s real production here, and the metrics back that up.

For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2026 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.

2026 AL-Only Third Base Rankings