Rest of Season Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Greene Machine

Once this weekend is complete, just over 20 percent of the Major League Baseball season will be complete. Is that enough to completely change the opinions we had heading into the season? That is often a tricky question to answer. Let’s look at Pete Crow-Armstrong as an example. Before the season, I ranked him outside my top 100 overall. He is currently performing at a top-10 pace in 5 x 5 leagues.  Do I think he will finish the year as a first-round player? No, I do not. But do I still think he should be outside the top 100? Probably not. So, how do I project him going forward? I will attempt to answer these questions with my rest-of-season fantasy baseball rankings for the 2025 season.

Crow-Armstrong is not the only player to make a similar leap after the first month and change of the year. I have given Cincinnati Reds ace Hunter Greene a similar bump compared to my preseason ranking. I am kicking myself on Greene because I mentioned him in my “Most Drafted Players” column and pointed out he could be a top-10 starting pitcher this season if he continued his ascension and cut his walk rate. Then I went and ranked him outside my overall top 100. So maybe, on some level, my current ROS ranking of Greene is an overcompensation. I don’t think it is, but time will tell.

Of course, the ROS arrow is not pointing up for everyone. It seems absurd now, but I ranked Crow-Armstrong below Jake Burger before the season. Burger had an abysmal April, so much so that Texas demoted him to Triple-A earlier this week. Situations like these are tricky when it comes to rest-of-season rankings. He could return to the Majors in a couple of weeks and resemble the player he was last year. Or he could spiral and remain in Triple-A well into the summer. For now, I ranked him outside the top 300 overall. Burger may be worth keeping in deeper leagues with long benches. But most fantasy managers may not have that luxury. As bad as Burger has been, teammate Joc Pederson has arguably been worse. At least he was a late-round pick, so his downfall is less painful to absorb.

In my last rankings update before the season began, I bumped up Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara. That has not worked out. Alcantara enters May with an 8.31 ERA and 1.65 WHIP with a career-worst 15.8-percent strikeout rate. His 1.7-percent K-BB rate is lower than that of players like German Marquez, Cal Quantrill, and Jack Kochanowicz. Yikes. There is still time for him to turn things around, but I did drop him quite a bit compared to his preseason ranking. There is also a possibility of being overly optimistic because I have him on three teams.

One thing to remember regarding ROS rankings is that I treat these as if the season is starting tomorrow. In other words, you cannot bank Crow-Armstrong’s nine home runs and 12 stolen bases. Or Greene’s four wins and 55 strikeouts. That is what makes this a bit of an inexact science. But that is part of the fun and often makes for great debate. So, who are some players that I am too high or too low on going forward? Feel free to sound off in the comment section below.

Rest of Season Fantasy Baseball Rankings