Four players hit 50 or more home runs this past season. Los Angeles Dodgers DH/SP Shohei Ohtani and New York Yankees OF Aaron Judge were the top picks in most every fantasy draft, while Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber and Seattle Mariners C Cal Raleigh were eighth-round selections in ESPN ADP. These fellows were terrific in 2025 and we surely appreciate their efforts, but they all were on fantasy rosters to start the season.
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On the other hand, Arizona Diamondbacks SS Geraldo Perdomo and Boston Red Sox SS Trevor Story both went undrafted in almost every ESPN standard league. It is hard to quantify the value for a player when a fantasy manager adds him to their roster during the season and the player performs alongside the most productive options in the sport. Hurray for Schwarber and Raleigh, but Perdomo and Story were nearly as important — and at a mere fraction of the investment cost.
Perdomo, 25 and rostered in barely 1% of leagues entering the season, drove in 24 runs over the first month, adding seven stolen bases, and quickly became a fixture on fantasy teams. He was signed to a contract extension by the Diamondbacks prior to the season, a seemingly odd move considering that top prospect Jordan Lawlar is also a shortstop. Perdomo played in 161 games and hit .290 with 20 home runs, 100 RBI and 27 stolen bases, earning the No. 13 spot on ESPN’s Player Rater.
Story, 32 and a bit more rostered in standard leagues (but still outside of the top-300 options), at least had a history of production, but that was long ago when he played with the Colorado Rockies. Raise your hand if you gave up on this fellow because he played in only 26 games during the 2024 season. He had reached 100 games and 400 PA in only one of the past five campaigns entering 2025. Few expected much as Story entered his age-32 season. As with Perdomo for the D-backs, I thought prospect Marcelo Mayer would handle most of Boston’s shortstop duties.
Instead, Story delivered five home runs and six stolen bases during March/April, intriguing many potential investors. He struggled in May, though, hitting .158 with a .432 OPS, and many of those managers moved on. That was a mistake. Story’s magical season surprisingly got back on track, and he hit at least .278 in each of the final four months. He finished at .263 with 25 home runs and 31 steals over a stunning 157 games. He was No. 23 on the Player Rater.
Perdomo and Story are the easy choices for their respective league’s top hitter awards for fantasy baseball, based on a combination of production and investment expense. There simply wasn’t much of any expense for players who weren’t productive during the 2024 season but became five-category stars. They will rightfully be coveted players for the 2026 season.
Other MVP hitter candidates
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Chicago Cubs: This precocious talent, in his second full MLB season, was arguably the NL MVP leader at the All-Star break, as he was hitting .265 with 25 home runs and 27 stolen bases, in addition to playing fantastic defense. He was right there with the top options on the Rater… then the second half happened. Crow-Armstrong still finished 22nd on the Rater with the first 30/30 campaign in Cubs history. Since he was a 20th-round pick in fantasy, on average, that indeed is awesome return.
George Springer, OF, Toronto Blue Jays: Springer, 36, hit .220 with 19 home runs during the 2024 season. His .674 OPS was the lowest mark of his excellent career. This isn’t quite like the Perdomo/Story situations, where fantasy managers showed feeble interest. Springer was a 16th-round choice in ESPN ADP, in the range of fellow outfielders Nick Castellanos, Adolis Garcia and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Those fellows did not hit .309 with 32 home runs and 18 steals. Springer did and ended up No. 10 on the Rater, a shade better than Mariners OF Julio Rodriguez!
Editor’s Picks
Brice Turang, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers: Turang stole 50 bases during the 2024 season, making him more valuable in roto/categories leagues than in standard points formats. He hadn’t done much else offensively over his first two seasons, hitting just 13 home runs over more than 1,000 PA. Turang was relatively disappointing for fantasy the first four months this season — and then he hit .343 and mashed 10 home runs in August. Where did that come from? It didn’t continue in September, but still, Turang, picked in the range of Crow-Armstrong so late in drafts, ended up hitting .288 with 18 home runs and 24 steals, the No. 31 player.
Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins: Buxton entered the 2025 season having hit more than 400 times in only one of his 10 MLB seasons. Things didn’t figure to change in his age-31 campaign, but surprise, surprise, they did! Buxton enjoyed the best season of his fantasy career, hitting 35 home runs and stealing 24 bases without being caught. Buxton started the season rostered in only 20% of ESPN leagues. Will everyone bet against Buxton again in 2026?
Honorable mention: Maikel Garcia, 3B, Kansas City Royals; Andy Pages, OF, Dodgers; Zach Neto, SS, Los Angeles Angels; Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics; Jeremy Pena, SS, Houston Astros; Tyler Soderstrom, 1B, Athletics; Sal Frelick, OF, Brewers
2025’s fantasy LVP hitters
Yordan Alvarez, OF, Astros: Alvarez, the No. 11 pick and ninth among hitters in ESPN ADP, started off slowly, hitting .219 with a .670 OPS, but things got worse when he soon fractured his right hand and missed nearly four months. Alvarez returned in the final week of August and produced nicer numbers, but then his season ended due to a badly sprained ankle in September. Alvarez, a noted slugger of more than 30 home runs for four consecutive seasons, hit just six in his 48 games. There are no asterisks for injuries in fantasy. Alvarez finished outside the top 140 outfielders on the Player Rater.
Adley Rutschman, C, Baltimore Orioles: Brewers C William Contreras was the No. 25 pick on average, which seemed to be a tad too early, even for single-catcher formats. Catchers get hurt, and their offensive numbers fluctuate. Contreras played hurt this season, but he still ended up as a top-5 fantasy catcher. Rutschman, however, selected just a few spots after Contreras (and before Manny Machado and Elly De La Cruz!), did not produce. He missed a month due to an oblique strain, but didn’t hit before that… or after. Rutschman hit a sad .220 with nine home runs and finished as the No. 39 catcher on the Player Rater.
Dishonorable mention: Anthony Santander, OF, Blue Jays; Marcus Semien, 2B, Texas Rangers; Austin Riley, 3B, Atlanta Braves; Ozzie Albies, 2B, Braves; Marcell Ozuna, DH, Braves (a disappointing season for the Braves, obviously); Nolan Arenado, 3B, St. Louis Cardinals; Alec Bohm, 3B, Phillies; Bryan Reynolds, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
