1 week ago 8

Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Middle Infield (2B, SS) tiers for 2025 drafts

We’re moving along with the Shuffle Up series — my version of tiered rankings — for the new fantasy baseball draft season. The dollar values you'll see below are unscientific in nature but reflect how I see the clusters of talent for players who qualify in the middle infield (second base, shortstop or both).

Have some disagreements? Good, that’s why we have a game. I welcome your reasoned disagreement over at X (@scott_pianowski) or on Blue Sky (@pianow.bsky.social).

Shortstop is a deeper position for fantasy purposes, and it also has more star power at the front. There's a good chance your Utility Middle (if required) will be someone with that SS tag.

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Second base is an average depth position; not overflowing with right answers, but likely more deep than first base and third base. Of course, this is my perception talking — it's possible you view the market differently than I do. Again, that's what the game is.

The Big Tickets

$44 Bobby Witt Jr.
$40 Elly De La Cruz
$40 Gunnar Henderson
$38 Francisco Lindor
$35 Mookie Betts
$35 Trea Turner
$31 Corey Seager
$30 Ketel Marte

If you want to select Witt first overall, you won't receive any argument from me. He's capable of leading the A.L. in any of the five roto categories we use in our game, and he's merely entering his age-25 season. The offense around Witt is also on the upswing.

De La Cruz got better at everything last year. More walks, fewer strikeouts, better slash line. He led the majors in both steals and attempts, so he's a blast on the bases. De La Cruz is entering his age-23 season and he plays in a glorious hitter's park. Shoot for the moon, gamers.

Henderson was a five-category overlord in his age-23 season and his Baseball Savant page is full of delicious sliders pushed to the right. He's already a perfect player and a perfect fantasy pick. The Baltimore park adjustments are to left field, which ostensibly won't help Henderson that much, as a left-handed hitter. But maybe it gives the lineup more buoyancy. It's fun to go after players still on the escalator.

These are the floor seasons for Betts, as he no longer runs aggressively (though the efficiency is there) and the loaded Dodgers have the luxury of being careful with any player who's dinged up during the year. Los Angeles has given us a top-five scoring offense for seven straight seasons, which underscores how appealing any slot in the LAD lineup is — especially those at the top. Betts qualifies at second, shortstop and outfield, which pushes his salary a buck or two. But understand you're thinking more safety with this pick, not dreaming of a career year.

They say it's impossible to be underrated in New York but maybe Lindor qualifies. He just had his best OPS+ season and would have won MVP had Shohei Ohtani not broken baseball in Los Angeles. The New York lineup is probably the deepest in the majors, 1-to-9. Don't you love it when a high floor is tied to plausible upside? And never lose sight of this simple fantasy truth: we want star players, at peak ages, tied to the best offenses. It's as simple as that.

Legitimate Building Blocks

$27 Ozzie Albies
$27 Marcus Semien
$25 José Altuve
$21 Oneil Cruz
$16 Jordan Westburg
$15 Willy Adames
$15 Matt McLain

Albies was one of several Atlanta hitters to get hurt last year, and he was no prize when on the field — a mediocre .251/.303/.404 slash came out to a 95 OPS+, below league average. But the Braves are content to park him in the first or second spot in the order and it's likely most of this offense will rebound in 2025. A rebound isn't just plausible, it's worth betting on.

Volume was the driver of Semien's value last year, as most of his efficiency metrics were headed in the wrong direction. That's the type of stuff we expect in an age-33 season. But he's missed just 14 games in his last seven seasons, and while anyone can get hurt, those players who have taken care of themselves through the years deserve the benefit of the doubt. The Rangers never moved Semien off his leadoff perch last year even through some lean months, and that provides a sturdy floor as we plan for 2025.

At first glance, Altuve's 2024 haul doesn't look that bad, but it was a notable drop from the 2023-24 levels — he lost 125 OPS points and was far less productive in the second half. Now we step into an age-35 season and Altuve's surrounded with the worst Houston lineup in probably a decade. Here's where you'd rather be a year early as opposed to a year late — I'm reluctant to pay the sticker.

Adames has been on the underrated page for years, but that ADP is no giveaway. The park change might not look like much, but look at the home-run column. And of course, we always worry about a player in the first year on a big contract when he's changed teams. It's nothing personal, Willy, it's just business. We'll revisit in 2026.

Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down

$13 Luis García
$13 CJ Abrams
$13 Nico Hoerner
$12 Bo Bichette
$12 Bryson Stott
$12 Ezequiel Tovar
$12 Brice Turang
$11 Anthony Volpe
$10 Xander Bogaerts
$10 Gleyber Torres
$10 Masyn Winn
$10 *Zach Neto
$10 Tommy Edman
$10 Dansby Swanson
$9 Luis Arráez
$9 Andrés Giménez

You can cut Bichette some slack for the messy 2024 season, as calf and finger problems cost him about half the season. Then again, his production when he was playing was awful; if he wasn't a name player with lofty expectations, he might have been benched. The best news for a Bichette comeback is the health card — he had September surgery on his finger and the Blue Jays confirm that Bichette will not be limited in spring training. So long as you wait until 100 picks or so before you consider Bichette, you have my permission to speculate here.

Neto would be in the high teens (at least) if not for offseason shoulder surgery; the Angels claim he's ahead of schedule, but there's no guarantee he'll be ready for Opening Day (and I'd probably bet against it). It's no fun to fade Injury Optimism, but it's often right. I'll need a lot of positive news flow before I make any major Neto changes on the 2025 board.

Volpe's batting slot needs to be monitored carefully because he could lose $3-$5 of salary value if he slides to the bottom third. He's still trying to figure out what his profile is as a hitter — he walked less last year but he also improved his contact rate. There was a slight dip in slugging. His excellent defense protects his spot in the lineup, and we can feel confident projecting 25-30 steals. Development isn't always linear, so we have to take the bumps as they come.

Stott is probably a better fantasy player than real-life hitter, because for our purposes that exquisite 75-for-85 steal clip over the last three years pays the bills. Stott's career slugging is merely .381, but he's made it to double-digit homers in 2-of-3 seasons and his career .256 average is probably neutral or better for most leagues. This is probably as good as it gets as he enters his age-27 season, but he's mildly underrated.

Some Plausible Upside

$8 Jeremy Peña
$8 Xavier Edwards
$7 Jackson Holliday
$7 Jonathan India
$7 Brandon Lowe
$7 Maikel García
$7 Colt Keith
$7 Zack Gelof
$7 Carlos Correa
$5 Luis Rengifo
$5 Brendan Donovan
$5 Ceddanne Rafaela
$5 Willi Castro
$5 Thairo Estrada
$4 Jake Cronenworth
$4 Trevor Story
$4 Tyler Fitzgerald

The Marlins are tearing it all down and rebuilding yet again, but it was hard to unsee what Edwards did in 70 electric games last year (.328 average, 31-for-35 on the bases). He doesn't offer any power but he'll probably slot leadoff and run as much as he wants. His current ADP looks like a steal; I could see that bumping 1-2 rounds as we get more into the teeth of draft season.

García is primarily a third baseman but he hits like a middle infielder — puny .332 slugging, but a dreamy 37-for-39 on steals. Don't take that .231 average at face value — his Statcast metrics suggest he should have batted .260. We do have to dock him a couple of bucks for the low projected lineup slot — right now it looks like he'll be No. 8 to start. But that doesn't mean García has to stick there.