100 Facts for 2025 Fantasy Baseball

Every year I scour Fangraphs, various ADP sources, Rotowire’s Auction Value Calculator, and Baseball Savant for 100 interesting facts and pieces of information that impact the coming fantasy baseball season. You can find the 100 facts for 2025 fantasy baseball below.

100 Facts for 2025 Fantasy Baseball

These are facts and statistics without analysis. You can take the information and interpret it how you want, but hopefully, this gives you some guidance heading into your drafts.

1. In 2022, 10 qualified batters were league average or better in all of the following categories – K%, BB%, GB%, AVG, OBP, wOBA, avg EV, Barrel%, HH%, and Hard Contact%. In 2023, no qualified batters met that mark. In 2024 the following players all did it: Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez, Bryce Harper, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Wyatt Langford, and Corey Seager.
2. Among qualified batters, Elly De La Cruz had the largest gap between his BABIP and AVG, with a .359 BABIP and a .258 AVG.
3. De La Cruz also had a 31% strikeout rate, second highest among qualified batters behind Zack Gelof.
4. Two qualified players had a batting average higher than their BABIPs – Jose Ramirez and Anthony Santander.
5. Among qualified hitters, the largest gap between xBA and AVG last season belonged to Maikel Garcia, with a .231 AVG and a .264 xBA. Juan Soto was second.
6. According to xBA, the other top-10 underperformers in AVG were Christopher Morel, Jake Cronenwork, George Springer, Brandon Nimmo, Jake Meyers, Jonathan India, Marcus Semien, and Shea Langeliers.
7. On the opposite end, Ezequiel Tovar and Jose Altuve topped the league in players with a higher AVG than xBA.
8. The other top-10 overperformers in AVG were Michael Busch, Trea Turner, Seiya Suzuki, Daulto Varsho, Brent Rooker, Cody Bellinger, Teoscar Hernandez, and Brendan Rodgers.
9. Of qualified hitters, Varsho’s wOBA outperformed his xwOBA by the largest margin. Top-10 wOBA overperformers who were also AVG overperformers include Turner, Tovar, and Altuve.
10. Juan Soto owns the largest difference between his wOBA and xwOBA with a .463 xwOBA and a .420 wOBA. Morel, Maikel Garcia, Seager, Jesus Sanchez, Salvador Perez, Logan O’Hoppe, George Springer, Taylor Ward, and Julio Rodriguez round out the top 10 in that category.
11. Seiya Suzuki owned a .370 BABIP in 2023, the highest BABIP in the league last season among qualified hitters. This was the highest of his career, higher than last season by 29 points. His career BABIP is .319. Suzuki’s .283 AVG was two points lower than in 2022, when his contact%, K%, LD%, and Pull% were all better.
12. In 2024, Suzuki essentially matched his 2023 season in BB% and hard contact metrics, but added six degrees to his launch angle. His groundball rate improved by 10% down to 33%, and his flyball rate went from 34% to 47%.
13. Suzuki played in 138 games in 2023 and hit 20 homers. He played in 132 games in 2024 and hit 21 homers. Steamer projects Suzuki for 141 games and 22 home runs in 2025.
14. Steven Kwan is the only qualified batter to be top 10 in chase, z-contact, and contact rates. If you expand it to the top 15, then Mookie Betts and Yandy Diaz are included.
15. On the other end, one qualified hitter ranks among the 10 worst in chase, z-contact, and contact rates: Ceddanne Rafaela
16. In terms of Runs Above Average on fastballs, no qualified batter was better last season than Aaron Judge. He also ranked second against sliders, eighth against cutters, and fourth against splitters.
17. Bobby Witt Jr. performed the best against sliders and splitters in Runs Above Average and was fourth best against fastballs.
18. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. performed the best against cutters and third best against sliders.
19. Shohei Ohtani performed the best against curveballs and tied Witt for the best against splitters. He was third-best against fastballs, fourth-best versus sliders, and fifth-best against changeups.
20. Alec Burleson performed the best against changeups.
21. Zack Gelof was the only player last season with a negative Run Above Average on every single pitch he faced.
22. Bryan De La Cruz saw the third most sliders last season, among qualified hitters, and performed third-worst against them. Dansby Swanson, Trea Turner, and Brendan Rodgers also saw a significant amount of sliders while also ranking among the 10 worst against them.
23. Daulton Varsho saw the most cutters last season and performed third-worst against them.
24. Oneil Cruz saw the most curveballs last season and performed the second worst against them. Others who faced similar struggles include Elly De La Cruz and Leody Tavares.
25. Ian Happ saw the fifth most changeups and performed third-worst against them. Leody Tavares saw the seventh most and performed tenth worst against them.
26. Since 2021, two, qualified hitters have reached 20 home runs and 20 steals in each season: Jose Ramirez and Randy Arozarena.
27. Jose Ramirez has been remarkably consistent during that time frame, finishing with between a .279 and .282 AVG in three of those seasons.
28. Since 2021, Arozarena’s AVG has dropped in each season, from .274 in 2021 to .219 in 2024.
29. Trea Turner missed out on a 20/20 season in 2024 by one steal; otherwise, he would be included. Bobby Witt Jr. and Julio Rodriguez likely would also be included if they had started their professional careers in 2021 instead of 2022.
30. Since 2022, 9 players have 100 or more home runs. In order from most to least, they are Judge, Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, Matt Olson, Santander, Yordan Alvarez, Soto, and Marcell Ozuna.
31. Judge also leads baseball in Runs, RBI, ISO, OBP, wOBA, wRC+, and fWAR during that span. He also ranks second in BB% and third in AVG.
32. Additionally, Judge also tops the league in average exit velocity, barrel rate, and HardHit rate since 2022.
33. Aside from Judge, Ohtani is the only other batter to rank in the top 10 of total runs, RBI, home runs, AVG, OBP, wOBA, wRC+, and fWAR since 2022.
34. Other than Judge, the only other players to rank top-10 in average EV, Barrel%, and HardHit% since 2022 are Ohtani, Alvarez, Schwarber, and Giancarlo Stanton.
35. Since 2022, nobody has played in more games than Matt Olson. Since 2021, that title belongs to Marcus Semien.
36. Three qualified players had a higher hard contact rate than medium contact rate last season: Judge, Schwarber, and Gunner Henderson.
37. Three players did it in 2023, but nobody repeated last season.
38. Judge was the only player to do it in 2022.
39. In 2021, five players did it, and in 2019, 47 players did it.
40. The highest cumulative batting average in baseball since 2021 belongs to Luis Arraez, who has a .321 AVG, 10 points ahead of Freddie Freeman’s .311 AVG.
41. Among the 106 players with at least 1800 PAs since 2021 (an average of 450 PAs per season), Arraez has the fewest homers and the 18th fewest RBI
42. Eugenio Suarez leads the league in strikeouts since 2021. He had the 10th most in 2024, the second most in 2023 and 2022, and the eighth most in 2021.
43. Among qualified batters, only Adolis Garcia ranked top-10 in most strikeouts by a batter in each season from 2021-2022. Schwarber did it in three seasons. 27 different players landed in the top 10 of most strikeouts between 2021-2024, with six players showing up in the rankings in multiple seasons.
44. The worst AVG since 2021 belongs to Austin Hedges at .171. Hedges, Martin Maldonado, Joey Gallo, and Taylor Walls all sit under the Mendoza Line since then.
45. Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, and Steven Kwan were the only players to have a higher walk rate than strikeout rate in 2024. Soto is the only player in baseball to have done this in each season since 2021.
46. Judge’s 236 wRC+ against lefty pitchers last season led qualified hitters. The only other player with a wRC+ over 200 against LHP in 2024 was Tyler O’Neill. Judge was also the best against RHP, with Yordan Alvarez, Soto, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. all ranking top-10 against both lefty and righty pitchers, along with Judge.
47. According to Fangraphs’ baserunning metric Bsr, Corbin Carroll was the best baserunner among qualified hitters in 2024. He was also number one in 2023.
48. Ji Hwan Bae averaged the fastest time from home plate to first base last season. This is his second season in a row with the fastest HP to 1B speed.
49. 75 players improved their HardHit rates between 2023 and 2024. 22 of those players improved it between 2022 and 2023. Of those 22 players, Josh Lowe, Willi Castro, Marcell Ozuna, William Contreras, and Mark Canha improved their HardHit rate between 2021 and 2022 as well.
50. 79 players improved their barrel rates between 2023 and 2024. 24 of those players improved it between 2022 and 2023. Of those 24 players, Francisco Lindor and Tyler Stephenson were the only ones to improve their barrel rate between 2021 and 2022 as well.
51. Of 157 qualified pitchers from 2021 to 2024, only Shohei Ohtani and Chris Sale rank among the top-10 in at least six of the seven following stats: K/9, K%, K/BB, K-BB, ERA, xFIP, and SIERA.
52. George Kirby’s 3.1% walk rate is the lowest in baseball since 2021.
53. Spencer Strider’s 36.9% strikeout rate is the highest in baseball since 2021. His 13.5 K/9 rate ranks highest since then as well.
54. Zack Wheeler and Framber Valdez have the most wins in baseball since 2021 among qualified pitchers, with 55 each. They both also have 30 losses.
55. Nobody has a better ERA since 2021 than Reynaldo Lopez’s 2.66. His xFIP during that span is 3.59.
56. Tyler Glasnow has the lowest xFIP since 2021, at 2.71. He has a 3.25 ERA since then.
57. Wheeler has the highest fWAR among pitchers since 2021.
58. According to Fangraphs, two qualified pitchers had all of their pitches grade positively in 2024. They were Logan Gilbert and Tarik Skubal.
59. If you expand the threshold of innings pitched to qualify to 150, Hunter Green’s ERA would rank fourth. His 10.1 K/9 rate would then rank 11th and his LOB% would rank fourth.
60. Among qualified pitchers, Patrick Corbin’s 5.62 ERA ranked worst last season. He finished with the third-worst ERA in 2023, but didn’t qualify in 2022. If he did, it would mark five seasons in a row where Corbin ranked bottom six in ERA.
61. Corbin also had the worst xERA and the seventh-worst SIERA among all qualified pitchers last year.
62. Among qualified starting pitchers, 18 had a higher ERA than xERA last season, with the biggest gap belonging to Brandon Pfaadt. He had a 4.70 ERA, but a 3.75 ERA.
63. Among qualified starting pitchers, 17 had a higher ERA than xFIP last season, with the biggest gap belonging to Patrick Corbin.
64. Among qualified starting pitchers, the one with the lowest ERA compared to their xERA was Ronel Blanco, whose 2.79 ERA was over a run better than his 3.97 xERA. He also possessed the largest difference between his ERA and xFIP, as well as ERA and SIERA.
65. 20 qualified starters finished with an ERA higher than their SIERA. The pitchers whose ERA was worse than their xFIP, xERA, and SIERA are Corbin, Pfaadt, Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, Bailey Ober, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Jake Irvin, Yusei Kikuchi, Ryan Feltner, Griffin Canning, Miles Mikolas, Logan Gilbert, and Dylan Cease.
66. Four Pitchers were league average or better in K/9, BB/9, HR/9, GB%, and LOB%. They are Zack Wheeler, Tarik Skubal, Chris Sale, and Framber Valdez.
67. Seven pitchers met those marks last season, but none repeated it this season.
68. All four of the pitchers that did it this season also had a sub-3 ERA.
69. Logan Gilbert, Logan Webb, Seth Lugo, and Wheeler were the only starters to top 200 innings pitched in 2024.
70. Five pitchers did it in 2023, including Logan Webb.
71. Nestor Cortes and Bryce Miller possessed among the top-10 highest flyball rates last season, while also possessing among the 15 lowest HR/FB rates.
72. Miller had a career-low .237 BABIP last season, the third-lowest among qualified starters in 2024. He also had a 2.94 ERA, which outperformed his 2023 ERA by nearly a run and a half and ranked eighth-best in baseball last season.
73. From August on, four pitchers possessed a sub-2.00 ERA, including Blake Snell, Bowden Francis, Valdez, Miller, and Wheeler. Snell also had the best K/9 rate during that span, while Francis was second best in BB/9 and best in LOB%.
74. According to Fangraphs’ pitch values, the best fastball in terms of runs above average among qualified pitchers in 2024 belongs to Zack Wheeler.
75. Dylan Cease had the best slider, Corbin Burnes had the best cutter, Valdez had the best curveball, Michael Wacha had the best changeup, and Nathan Eovaldi had the best splitter.
76. Among pitchers with at least 350 batted ball events against them – Patrick Corbin was among the 10 worst in avgEV, most 95 MPH+ hit balls, and HH%. If you swap 95 MPH+ balls with barrel rate, then Kyle Harrison fits the bill.
77. Among qualified pitchers in 2024, Chris Sale’s 32% strikeout rate was the best in baseball. He also owned the league’s best K-BB%.
78. For the second season in a row, George Kirby had the best BB% among qualified starters, this time with a 3% walk rate.
79. Cole Ragans and Freddy Peralta ranked among the 10 best qualified starters in K% last season. They also ranked among the 10 worst in BB%.
80. Among qualified starting pitchers in 2024, Kutter Crawford allowed the most home runs, with 34 in 183 innings.
81. Chris Sale pitched in 177 innings, allowing nine homers – the fewest among qualified starters.
82. For perspective, Christopher Sanchez tossed 182 innings and gave up 11 homers.
83. Among pitchers who have tossed at least 450 IP since 2021, Patrick Corbin has allowed the most home runs, with 122 across 679 innings.
84. Tanner Houck has given up the fewest, with 32 across 413 IP.
85. Logan Webb has pitched in 761 innings since 2021, the second most in the league, and given up the 20th most home runs, with 51.
86. In 2021, there were 15 qualified pitchers that had double-digit K/9 rates. In 2022, there were 10. In 2023, there were 10. In 2024, there were 11.
87. One pitcher did it in all four seasons – Dylan Cease.
88. Since 2019, not including 2020, Josh Hader is the only reliever in baseball that has registered double-digit saves in each season.
89. The next point covers the following thresholds for plate appearances for each pitch – 250 for fastballs and sinkers; 150 for sliders, changeups, curveballs; 100 fpr sweepers, cutters. According to those thresholds, there are 3 players who were top 10 in whiff, K, and putaway rates in at least 2 pitches: Garrett Crochet (Fastball/Cutter), Framber Valdez (Sinker/Curveball), and Sean Manaea (Sinker/Sweeper).
90. Last season, I developed a stat called Out% or Out Rate with several other analysts. It measures how many of a pitcher’s pitches results in an out. According to that stat, the most effective out pitch in baseball last season belonged to Sonny Gray. His sweeper had a 32% Out Rate. This means that nearly a third of the time that Gray threw his sweeper, it resulted in an out.
91. For perspective, the average Out Rate on a sweeper was 18.7%, meaning Gray’s sweeper was about 14% more effective at getting outs than league average.
92. Mitch Keller’s sweeper was next best, with a 26.8% Out Rate.
93. Here are the league average Out Rates for other pitches: Splitters – 20.7%, Fastballs – 16.5%, Sinkers – 17.8%, Changeups – 19.4%, Sliders – 18.3%, Curveballs – 16.8%, Cutters – 16.3%.
94. The best splitter in 2024, according to Out Rate, belongs to Justin Martinez at 29.2%.
95. The best fastball in 2024, according to Out Rate, belongs to Greg Weissert at 26.3%.
96. The best sinker in 2024, according to Out Rate, belongs to Zack Wheeler at 25.8%.
97. The best changeup in 2024, according to Out Rate, belongs to Merrill Kelly at 26.9%.
98. The best slider in 2024, according to Out Rate, belongs to Emmanuel Clase at 27.2%.
99. The best curveball in 2024, according to Out Rate, belongs to Mitch Spence at 26.5%.
100. The best cutter in 2024, according to Out Rate, belongs to Valente Bellozo at 21.2%.