The off-season is the most important time of year for fantasy baseball writers and analysts. As the community starves for information, we are entrusted to provide information in an easy to consume way. Every analyst and writer produces tons of content to help fantasy baseball managers gain an edge. The past two seasons, I created a list identifying a group of “my guys” just before the start of the new year. These are guys who I am trying to draft in every league possible. While 2023 went well, 2024 had some bumps in the road. Sean Murphy, Spencer Torkelson, and Jorge Polanco were all major misses. However, Ezequiel Tovar, Gunnar Henderson, Riley Greene, and Brandon Nimmo were all solid selections that helped fantasy managers. In 2025, we are shooting for a perfect board! Keep reading to see who are the my guys for this upcoming season.
2025 Fantasy Baseball My Guys
Catcher: Willson Contreras, STL
Catcher is one of the more unique positions in fantasy baseball. Production is obviously important. That is a given for any position in fantasy baseball. However, availability and accumulation are the true keys. Due to the physical demand of the position, catchers play less frequently than other everyday regulars. This makes the catchers that get into the lineup 130+ times a season all the more valuable. Even if their offensive talent falls short of elite, their ability to accumulate stats creates significant fantasy value. That is exactly what Willson Contreras is set up to do in 2025.
Contreras has been a top-tier fantasy option for much of his Major League career. In nine seasons, Contreras owns a career wRC+ of 121. He has hit 20+ home runs five different times in his career. Through two seasons in St. Louis, Contreras’ production has been inconsistent. Injuries limited him to just 84 games last season, but his production when healthy was certainly valuable. He hit 15 home runs in 358 plate appearances which would have put him on pace for another 20+ homer season if he had stayed healthy. In drafts, Contreras is going as the fifth catcher off the board. No small price to pay, but one that will certainly pay off for fantasy managers.
The key to Contreras’ fantasy success in 2025 will come from his position change. The Cardinals are using Contreras at first base in 2025 in an attempt to keep him healthy. This will allow Contreras to stay in the lineup on an everyday basis and accumulate more counting stats. For fantasy managers, they will be able to play a first baseman in their catcher slot. This is a huge advantage. Contreras will play more often than other catchers and should provide fantasy managers with the ability to roster just one catcher.
Despite his age, Contreras is an excellent option for fantasy baseball in 2025. This is not only a case of a positional advantage, but also just a very good baseball player. Contreras hits the ball extremely hard and barrels it up frequently with great bat speed. His high walk rate provides a stable floor and his expected stats point to a player primed to succeed again in 2025. Contreras may not be the flashiest pick, but he is the catcher I am targeting the most for this season.
First Base: Tyler Soderstrom, ATH
While you have to pay up for Willson Contreras, Tyler Soderstrom is a guy you can take extremely late in drafts. Soderstrom is currently going as the 1B24 in drafts down at pick 286. This is incredible value for a player who fantasy baseball managers should expect big things from in 2025. Soderstrom has been my CI pick in several leagues while even moving away a guy like Bryce Harper in my dynasty league to make room for Soderstrom to enter the lineup. That is the kind of calling my shot confidence I have in Soderstrom to take the next step in 2025.
This is not the first time that Soderstrom has been mentioned in one of my articles this off-season. The first time was in the first base sleepers article released back in January. There are several reasons for predicting Soderstrom’s breakout. The first is prospect pedigree. Soderstrom was the Athletics’ first-round pick a few years ago and has put up significant power numbers in the Minor Leagues. In his first full professional season, Soderstrom crushed 29 home runs and followed that up with 24 in 2023. Soderstrom hit at every level of the Minor Leagues which should give fantasy managers confidence in his ability to develop at the Major League level.
However, prospect pedigree and Minor League performance are not everything. We have to see the results. Soderstrom struggled in his first taste of Major League action but started to settle in nicely last season. His hit tool has been the biggest concern since his prospect days, but Soderstrom adjusted his approach at the plate halfway through last season. This led to a reduced strikeout rate and significant improvements to his offensive production. Now, the Athletics are going to be playing their home games in a Triple-A ballpark that is extremely hitter-friendly. Soderstrom’s offensive production has a chance to take off in 2025.
The second time Soderstrom appeared in my articles was a league-winning piece released back in February. Soderstrom’s ADP combined with his upside creates significant value. Take Willson Contreras for example. He is a player I am targeting everywhere but also a guy who will require using a sixth/seventh-round pick to get. Soderstrom can be taken far later in drafts but still holds elite upside. This is a league-winning type of pick. Soderstrom has plenty of risk in his profile, but that is more than baked into his ADP. He is an easy selection late in drafts and is a great first baseman to target.
Second Base: Matt McLain, CIN
Is this the year that the Reds put everything together? Last year was supposed to be their year led by young stars in the field. Injuries to several of their young players derailed that plan, including one to Matt McLain. Fantasy baseball expectations were high for McLain coming off a fantastic rookie season. Now, there is more skepticism surrounding his profile creating value in his draft price. Fantasy managers should be buying the dip in price, and I am all in on McLain for 2025.
After starting 2023 in the Minor Leagues, McLain set the fantasy world on fire. In 89 games, McLain hit 16 homers and stole 14 bases. The Reds were happy to bat McLain toward the top of their lineup and he averaged 4.5 plate appearances per game. At this pace, McLain’s 140 game pace would have been 25 home runs and 22 stolen bases. Since 2017, the only rookies to hit 25+ home runs and steal 20+ bases were Julio Rodriguez in 2022 and Corbin Carroll in 2023. If McLain would have been given the chance to start the year in the Major Leagues, he would have been in elite company. The view on him entering 2025 should be no different.
McLain has the elite combination of tools you look for in a fantasy asset. Back in 2023, McLain’s sprint speed ranked in the 90th percentile. On top of that, he also barreled up the ball 10.8% of the time. While his batted ball data does not suggest that he will turn into an elite power slugger, his home ballpark aids in his home run output. Cincinnati is the third most homer-friendly ballpark for right-handed hitters to play. McLain is a safe bet for 20+ homers in 2025, health permitting.
Any concern with his plate discipline is built into his draft cost. Strikeouts are going to be part of McLain’s game, but he also does plenty to offset the risk to his batting average. McLain is patient at the plate. He is willing to take walks and has a good understanding of the strike zone. He also hits a ton of line drives. His sweet spot percentage in 2023 was 39.6%. This combined with the aforementioned ballpark helps to keep his BABIP up and his batting average stable. Going as 2B6 at pick 92 is a steal for the value that McLain can provide. He already has dual eligibility at second and shortstop, plus there is a chance he gains outfield eligibility later on this season. Drafting McLain will be a decision fantasy baseball managers will not regret.
Shortstop: Zach Neto, LAA
I was very excited to write this one about Zach Neto. Then, the news of his lack of availability for Opening Day came out, and I began to second guess the choice. So, let’s preface this. If you are taking Zach Neto, you will need to make sure you have another shortstop on your roster for Opening Day. Carlos Correa and Trevor Story are great options that you can take later on who will be starting at shortstop for their teams on Opening Day. Their availability in May is up in the air, but by then Zach Neto will be around to rescue your fantasy team. Neto remains a great draft pick and a prime target of mine. This shoulder injury is not expected to keep Neto sidelined for long and if anything it is only making his draft price more affordable.
One of the flaws of the fantasy baseball community is an overreliance on the Baseball Savant percentile rankings. When you pull up Neto’s page, there is a lot of blue. The result is fantasy managers fading him in drafts expecting regression. This is not necessarily the case. For starters, Neto hit 23 home runs last year. His barrel rate is nothing spectacular, but it is still above the Major League average at 8.4%. Neto has a great feel for his pull-side pop. His pull rate was over 50% last year. He ranked 38th in baseball in pulled flyball percentage helping his power to play up more than his batted ball data suggests.
Neto’s speed is also an obvious plus. Neto stole 30 bases last year and could easily steal 25+ again in 2025. He has great sprint speed and has already shown a strong willingness to run. The biggest concern with Neto is his batting average. Neto his .249 last season. Strikeouts and batted ball distribution make it unlikely that Neto ever turns into a high-average hitter, but it is important to remember that 2024 was Neto’s first full Major League season. He was just drafted out of college in 2022 and has already accumulated 932 plate appearances. 24 for the entire 2025 season, there is reason to believe Neto still has room to grow.
The fact that Neto is going outside of the top 190 picks is outrageous. Neto just went 20/30 last season. His first full professional season. Neto even hit 10 home runs in his final 204 plate appearances. That is a pace of 30 home runs in a full season. A guy with 30/30 potential and room for growth going as late as Neto does not make any sense. Neto finished as the ninth-best shortstop in fantasy last season. Even with some regression, he will still outperform his ADP. He is an easy selection and certainly a player to target.
Third Base: Eugenio Suarez, ARI
The strategy last season was to target third base early. This worked out quite nicely with Gunnar Henderson taking another step forward. There was a thought about going with Austin Riley this year, who I believe is being very undervalued in drafts. However, there is another third baseman who is being undervalued going much later in drafts. Eugenio Suarez put up monster numbers during the second half of last season but is not being given the recognition he deserves. He is a great player to target and is the third baseman I am going after the most in fantasy baseball drafts.
2024 did not get off to the best start for Suarez on his new team. Suarez seemed primed to see some positive regression to his home run total in 2024 but that took some time. At the end of June, Suarez was slashing .196/.279/.312 with only six home runs. He was dropped by many fantasy managers and it seemed his best days may be behind him. Then, everything switched. July forward, Suarez was one of the best hitters in Major League baseball. He slashed .312/.357/.617 with a 162 wRC+. Suarez hit 24 home runs during that span to give him his third 30+ homer season in four years. His 600 PA pace from July forward was 44 homers. The only players in baseball to post a higher wRC+ than Suarez July forward were:
- Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr, Yordan Alvarez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Brent Rookier, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Lawrence Butler, and Francisco Lindor
That is a pretty elite group of hitters to be mentioned with. The only two players with more home runs were Judge and Ohtani. Suarez was not just good. He was elite. This is not the first time we have seen production like this from Suarez. Before he was viewed as a power-only third base option, Suarez was supposed to be an elite third base option for years to come. In 2018, Suarez hit .283 with 34 home runs and followed that up with 49 homers and a .271 average in 2019. The wheels started to fall off after that, but Arizona has helped Suarez to return to form. This is not a hot streak or a fluke. Suarez is back and fantasy managers need to wake up.
Suarez is one of the easiest picks to make. His draft price completely ignores his elite second-half production. He is currently going as the 3B14 in drafts outside of the top 150 picks. Behind players like Matt Chapman and Luis Rengifo. Suarez is the player to draft if you are looking at third base. Fantasy baseball managers should expect his success to carry over from 2024 to 2025.
Outfield 1: Jackson Merrill, SDP
Drafting Jackson Merrill is going to require significant draft capital. Sometimes, you may not even be in a position where drafting him is a viable option. However, for those drafting at the back of the first round/early second round, and those in dynasty/keeper formats, Merrill is a player to put at the top of your target list. If not for Paul Skenes, Merrill would have been an easy vote for National League Rookie of the Year. He is primed to take an even bigger step forward in 2025.
The second-year breakout is a big deal for fantasy baseball. Sometimes hitters struggle to gain their footing at the Major League level and find their stride in their second season. Other times, a good rookie season can propel a player into star status in his second season. That is the expectation for Jackson Chourio who is currently being drafted as the OF9 at pick 17. Maybe Merrill is not flashy enough to put himself in that conversation, but he certainly should be. Merrill checks all of the boxes. Big prospect pedigree, strong Minor League numbers, great speed, plus contact skills, developing power, early success in the Major Leagues, and improving numbers as his sample size grows. What more could fantasy baseball managers ask for?
Merrill’s 2024 season can be broken down into two parts. Through the month of May, Merrill was gaining his footing at the Major League level. He was learning how to play a new position, and figuring things out. He hit .280 in the early months but his power output was underwhelming with just three home runs. Then, Merrill exploded. From June 12 forward, Merrill crushed 21 home runs. His 600 PA pace over that timeframe was 37 home runs. He hit .307 over that span with a barrel rate of 14.8%. Merrill turned into one of the game’s elite hitters. Add in the plus speed previously mentioned and we have a fantasy star.
During his prospect days, the development of Merrill’s game power was the biggest question. He had the physicality for it, but high ground ball rates prevented him from posting eye-popping numbers. Now, that issue is nonexistent. Merrill elevates and launches balls with elite hard-hit rates. There is no reason to believe he cannot continue getting even better. A 30-home-run, 20-steal season is certainly in the cards. I am drafting Merrill everywhere that I can. Also, for those of you into sports betting, his home run line sits at ~22.5. That is free money if Merrill stays healthy in 2025.
Outfield 2: Lawrence Butler- ATH
Half of the community is all in on Lawrence Butler. The other half is staying as far away as possible. Lump me in with the group that is all-in because Butler is primed for a massive 2025 season. After a slow start to his Major League career, Butler exploded in the second half. He was a league-winning player for fantasy baseball managers last season. He combines elite power with big-time speed to create an upside that few other players have. Even at his draft price of OF19 at pick 62, he is a prime target of mine in drafts.
Butler’s draft price is expensive. The one thing you do not want to do in fantasy anything is draft a player at their ceiling without seeing their ceiling yet. That seems to be how those avoiding Butler feel. However, 62 is far from Butler’s ceiling. In 125 games last season, Butler hit 22 home runs. 20 of those came from July 2 forward. His 600 PA pace over that span was 40 home runs. Butler also went a perfect 14/14 on the bases July forward giving him a full-season pace of 28 stolen bases. 40 home runs and 28 stolen bases would easily turn Butler into a top-10 fantasy asset.
Oh, and Butler also hit .302 during that stretch of 301 plate appearances. Butler’s struggles early in his professional career boiled down to his hit tool. The strikeouts were too high and the batting average was too low. Well, from July forward Butler struck out just 20.6% of the time while drastically improving his contact rate. His zone contact jumped from 78.5% to 85%. His swinging strike rate dropped from 13.4% to 10.9%. The Athletics are helping their young hitters improve at the plate. Between Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler, there is reason for real optimism ahead of 2025.
Butler is unlikely to repeat the ridiculous pace he was on July forward last season. He does not have to in order to outperform his draft price. If Butler were to provide 30 home runs with 20 steals and a .270 average, he would be considered an elite fantasy baseball asset. That is very well within the range of possibilities especially once you consider his home games will be played in Sacramento. Butler is a stud and is a guy to target as your OF2 in drafts. There is some risk, but the reward could be huge.
Pitcher: Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL
For a guy who was in on Spencer Schwellenbach prior to last season, his ascent and dominance even came as a surprise to me. Schwellenbach was the Braves’ second-round pick back in 2021 but dealt with arm injuries that limited him to just 65 professional innings prior to 2024. After starting the year in High-A, Schwellenbach quickly worked his way to Double-A and then skipped Triple-A entirely en route to the Major Leagues. After pitching 123.2 innings with a 3.35 ERA, Schwellenbach is ready to take the next step into fantasy stardom in 2025.
There are two things that set Schwellenbach apart from other pitchers. First, is his deep arsenal. Schwellenbach threw six different pitches in 2024 at least seven percent of the time. His arsenal features three different fastball variations along with three breaking ball options. Hitters are constantly guessing at what pitch is coming next. On top of his deep arsenal, Schwellenbach also has excellent command of all six offerings. His first pitch strike rate of 67.2% sat 6.2% above the Major League average last season. In 21 starts, he walked 4.6% of the batters he faced. This would have tied Logan Gilbert for fifth best in Major League baseball had he enough innings to qualify.
As with most of the young players mentioned in this article, Schwellenbach showed improvements as his rookie season moved along. After some early struggles, Schwellenbach found his groove. In his final 15 starts, Schwellenbach posted a 2.54 ERA supported by a 3.04 FIP. He worked at least five innings in all but one of those starts and somehow saw his walk rate drop even further to 3.9%. Schwellenbach’s consistency stems from one of the most consistent arm angles in all of baseball. Despite six different offerings, his arm angle only varies by at most five degrees.
At his draft price, fantasy baseball managers need more than just a control specialist. Fantasy managers are confident that Schwellenbach is going to provide good ratios and work a lot of innings. Pitching on the Braves, he should be in line for plenty of wins. However, at pick 97, you need upside as well. Schwellenbach has plenty of that. Schwellenbach struck out eight-plus batters five different times last season. In what was only his second professional season at any level, he generated a 65th percentile chase rate and a 70th percentile whiff rate. Both his curveball and splitter generated whiff rates above 40%. Schwellenbach has plenty of strikeout upside and the potential to become a fantasy baseball ace in 2025.
For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.
