Fantasy Baseball Today - 2025 Second Base Recap! Preseason ADP, Top-12 Finishers & More! (10/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

The state of second base seems a little WOOF (2:20). ... Who were the preseason Top-12 in second base ADP (7:25)? ... News (14:31): Francisco Lindor had a minor clean-up procedure done on his elbow. ... Let's get into the Top-12 second basemen from 2025, starting with Brice Turang (21:47). ... Jazz Chisholm turned in a 30-30 season despite missing time (25:35). ... You know exactly what you're going to get from Nico Hoerner (28:55). ... Ketel Marte continues to produce at a high level but you know he's going to miss some time (36:30). ... Jose Altuve appears to be in a graceful decline (40:37). ... Brandon Lowe and Jorge Polanco both stayed healthy and had productive seasons (44:35). ... Ceddanne Rafaela made some improvements this year (52:26). ... Bryson Stott feels like Hoerner with less batting average (54:20). ... Xavier Edwards took a step back in 2025 (55:54). ... We wrap up with an early look at 2026 second base rankings (58:35). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Let's continue on with our position recast. Next up, second base.

Woof. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, October 23rd. I am Frank Stample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we are recapping Second Base. We'll look back at preseason ADP, what went right and wrong, who finished in the top 12, and then an early look at 2026 rankings. Let's begin with the state of second base, and don't let my intro influence you. Scott, what are your thoughts on this position?

Oh, I think Woof is totally appropriate. Buzz your girlfriend, Wolf. that's that's second base for you um and like third base is pretty bad too but what third base has the second base is lacking is like the high end contributors there are two here in jazz chisholm and chisholm also qualifies the third base so he may get drafted to play that um but i would say to the degree you want to play position scarcity game, it would be for those two players. I feel like in the round two, three range of drafts next year,

Catell Marte and Jazz Chisholm. There are good players beyond them, but there aren't many. By the time you get to eight, nine at the position, you're not expecting to draft somebody that you're, could just slot in there and not worry about again. Yeah, I think the biggest thing is there are useful players beyond the top 12 at second base. It's just they are going to come with either no guarantees with someone like, you know,

Luis Garcia or Matt McLean where there is still some theoretical upside or guys like Bryson Stod or Xavier Edwards or Glaber Torres who are fine, but you are making real sacrifices when you slot them in your lineup. And honestly, that's true at the high end of the position too. I mean, not jazz Chisholm and Cate Chisholm, Chisholm, you have to account for, you know, batting average not being great. Marte is not going to steal any bases.

There's some injury risk with both of them. But outside of those two, and maybe Bryce Terang, I genuinely have no idea what to make of the Bryce Terrang power thing and I'm sure we'll talk a lot about that. Yeah. But like even like,

Nico Horner's awesome. I love Nico Horner. You're getting no power from him. You're getting no power and no RBIs. He's a three in a, in a roto league, you're getting three really strong category contributions from him and you're getting nothing else in the other two.

So like even a fairly high end player like Nico Horner, who I think we all think very highly of, and would be, I think, very happy if he's your starting second basement next year. You still know. Depending on the price. Yeah, that's what, the number four player, five player across the board at the position, you're making a big sacrifice with that already. Yeah.

Yeah. It feels like there's a lot of floor players at the position, right? It's just Nico Horner, set it and forget it. You know what you're going to get, kind of. Bryson Stott, very similar player, less batting average. Just looking up and down, it's kind of. of an older position as well, as good as Catel Marte is. He's getting a little bit older. There's Jose Altuve, Ozzy Albies, who we have questions about.

Marcus Semyon is getting older, right? So it's, you know, A, there's a lot of age at the position. There's also, it feels more like a floor position than lots of upside, I guess. I mean, we have a chance at some prospects. I guess we can mention that a little bit later on. But, yeah, it's not great. I mean, even the, like, actual second base prospects, yeah, aren't that good. It's all sort of. Stop guys that we're hoping get moved to second base. We're hoping it's short stops get moved to second base, which will happen.

Like that's, yeah, yeah. When you look at like a top 50 right now, it's like, I don't know, eight short stops and one second basement. But yeah, it's just a- At least some of those second short stops will be second baseman or third basement. Eventually, like no position remains this week for long. And it may be by the time we're doing this process at the end of 2026. It's like, oh, look, a resurgence at second base. It's suddenly a strong position because a lot of those younger players moved there and had big seasons right away. Like, that could happen with like Kevin McGonagall or Coleman Emerson or JJ Weatherhole, whoever you want to pick out.

Alfield was really bad two years ago. But as we're sitting here today, deciding who that's going to be and win is not something I've, feel equipped to do. I do have some context here. A stat, a completely arbitrary stat that maybe only points league players will understand, but second base did not have a single player over 480 fantasy points scored in CBS leagues. For context, first base had five that scored 500 plus, and third base and shortstop each

had four that scored 500 plus. So it's an extremely arbitrary number, but it's just to highlight the lack of high. end talent here at the position that is second base. Let's take a look back at preseason top 12 ADP, according to fantasy pros that included Yahoo, CBS NFBC fan tracks, and RT sports draft. So we had Jazz Chisholm, Catelle Marte, Jose Altuve, Ozzy Albies, Marcus Semyon, Jordan Westberg.

Westberg, by the way, lost second base eligibility. That did not help. Matt McLean, Bryce Terang, Luis Garcia Jr., Zander Bogartz also lost second base. Luis Arise, also lost second base. And Nico Horner. So again, you're seeing another theme that makes this position

a little bit weaker as well. And you didn't even mention the biggest one to lose second base eligibility, which is Michael Garcia. He just wasn't in the top 12 in ADP. Correct. But one of the biggest breakouts at the position who's not at the position anymore.

Yeah. Yeah, no, he's not a second basement for fantasy purposes. So that obviously changes the shape of the position as well because he'd probably be top five for 2026 if he was. Yeah. According to the Fangraphs, Player Raider, six of those preseason top 12 and ADP actually finished top 12 at the position. So 50% hit rate, that's the same amount as catcher.

It's one less than first base. Bigest breakouts at the position, feels like it has to be Bryce Terang, big step forward. Just as a hitter and as a power hitter, so the batting average went up, the power went up. We'll talk about him a little bit later on. Jorge Polanco, maybe a re-breakout, finally stayed healthy again and had a very fine season there.

Big return on investment if you took him in a deeper league. Biggest bust at second base. We definitely had some big letdowns up top with Ozzy Albies and Marcus Semyon, Matt McLean. Chris, in your state of second base article and newsletter, you highlighted McLean as the biggest bust. his ADP was just inside the top 90 picks, and he hit just 220, 18 home runs, 15 steals.

We talk a lot about how hard it is to find edges in fantasy baseball, how there are so few obviously mispriced players in drafts these days. Matt McLean felt like one of the most obviously mispriced players in drafts coming into 2025. I still think there's some room for, like, the reasons that people were excited about him coming into the season, aren't completely gone. Like he still has a little bit of pop and a lot of speed.

He still plays in a great ballpark and what should be a better lineup. There are things to like about him. It was just, it's so weird how players with an injury history tend to get completely discounted unless they are like, unless there are like really extenuating circumstances or they're just elite players. And then Matt McLean had a season ending injury in 2023. missed all of 2024 with two separate significant injuries. And everyone was like, I don't care. This is a borderline elite player who we have to spend a top.

He was like, I was looking in the last three weeks in ADP. He was like a top 75 pick in March drafts and NFBC. That's crazy. This was, this was just, we blew it. I don't know what else to say. I don't understand. Like, I understand what, like, he was good. that we blew it. No, no, no, but like the royal wheat. I know, but I was, I was extremely out on him. I think I ranked him like a hundred and twenty-fifth. So even then I was way too high on him. Yeah. But and that may have been as a community. NFBC phenomenon like NFBC because you have to beat hundreds of. But that should have been the that should be where the guys with injury risk get most discounted and it usually is. Well, that was why the Matt McLean thing felt so weird.

because it was just like everybody was like, it didn't matter that he missed a whole season. You're also incentivized to take the big swing on the player that you feel like has high upside, even if there's a lot of downside there. And McLean did look like a high upside guy as a rookie. But there are reasons to doubt it even then, and that's why we ranked them more conservatively.

I mentioned two other names there as preseason bust. Marcus Semyon and the Ozzy Albies. We'll talk about those guys later on, once we kind of bring up rankings for next season. But, you know, Semyon, mid-30s in terms of his age and might be at the end of the road, Ozzy Albi's bounced back, but then suffered a handmate bone injury

towards the end of the season. So just adds another layer of risk and uncertainty. And again, I think he's maybe the biggest wild card at the position for next season. Again, that was the Ozzy Albies. Big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already.

And just a reminder that you can, Always listen to the audio podcast on Spotify podcast. If you're watching, you can scan that QR code. That will bring you right to the FBT feed on Spotify. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's quickly hit the news and notes before we get back into second base. And it turns out Francisco Lindor underwent minor cleanup surgery on his right elbow shortly after the season ended.

He is expected to be fully ready for spring training. apparently had something similar done after 2023, and it has not affected his production. So assuming we don't hear anything else, and he shows up to spring training, I would just assume all as well with Francisco Lindor. The Guardians have denied Emmanuel Class A permission to play Winterball in Venezuela.

Apparently they denied him permission to play in the Dominican Republic as well. Reminder that Class A is still being investigated for alleged ties to sports betting. We have seen some tweets and whispers that he might not ever pitch in Major League Baseball ever again. That is a real possibility. But as of now, we don't know that to be sure. So still kind of waiting for that situation to unfold.

The Mariners are expected to give top prospect Colt Emerson runway to win an opening day roster spot. He's 20 years old, first round pick back in 2023. And this season in the minors at 285 with 16 homers, 14 steals, an 842 open. P.S. He got six games in at AAA. He's mostly played shortstop in the minors. He's played a little bit of second, a little bit of third. Mariners have a few different options and things that they could do this offseason. J.P. Crawford grades out as a pretty bad defender now and is entering his final year of team control as well. Scott, what do you know about Colt Emerson? And is there any chance he could play second pace? I mean, there's a chance or they could shift. They could shift J.P. Crawford.

referred over to second base if they're not satisfied with his defense at short anymore. You know, since he did advance to AAA, I don't think it's crazy to think he could make the team with a big spring. And you're hanging as Suarez as a free agent? Yeah, so he could play there too if Suarez leaves. Cold Emerson's a huge prospect. He's not considered a final product in terms of power. but he did make a big leap this year. And every other aspect of his hitting profile is great.

And so it would take a big spring, I think, but it wouldn't be the most shocking thing if Emerson did make the team. There's a lot of short stops right on the cusp of the majors right now among the prospects, like guys who have gotten to AA and AAA and AAA. And, you know, maybe, you know, I think like DeVroix, and Sebastian Walcott almost certainly won't be up in the first half,

but like McGonigal, Emerson, a couple other guys like that, could be opening day options. Honestly, hopefully not at shortstop, I think is the, would be the preference because J.J. Weatherholt, too. Third base and second base need the help a lot more. Aiden Miller, another one on the Phillies. He got up to AAA last year too. Yeah.

J.J. Weatherholt, again, with the Cardinals, too. another name. You mentioned Kevin McGonigal. It turns out he has been working at third base in the Arizona Fall League. He's shortstop eligible for now, but you know, he's already trying another position. Caitlin Culpepper and the Twins, it's another one to keep an eye on. Angels pitching prospect and 2025 first round pick, Tyler Bremner is not pitching in fall instructs due to elbow soreness. It's mostly precautionary. His MRI came back clean, but something to watch. The Angels drafted him, I think, second or third overall with the hope of pushing him pretty quickly, but that can't happen if he's

dealing with elbow sorenous. So we'll see what happens there. Some manager updates that Giants have officially hired Tony Vitello as their next manager. He was previously the coach at the University of Tennessee since 2018 and is an interesting hire. He has no professional experience, but was very successful at the college level. Chris and I spoke a little bit about this the other day. He seems like a smart dude, interesting dude. You know, whenever I would watch the MLB draft on MLB network, he would, you know, he was on their kind of panel and breaking prospects down and stuff.

So, yeah, interesting hire there for the Giants. The Angels have hired former Major League catcher Kurt Suzuki as their manager, but in classic Angels fashion, they gave him a one-year deal, which is something we almost never see for managers. And apparently this is because their GM, Perry Manassian, has also just one year left on his deal. and he said, quote, we are tied together. So angels, angel's gonna angel?

I don't know. Well, there was also, I don't know if you guys saw it today. There was something about like, you said Kikuchi said that the air conditioning in their workout room was broken all year. And then Paramanassian was like, no, no, it wasn't. And they were like, are you saying he's lying? He's like, it wasn't broken.

I don't know what you're talking about. It's just like, I don't know. Some organizations just can't help but be bad. and the angels are one of them. I'm kind of surprised because Kurt Suzuki was a hot name for the managerial openings, which there are still a lot of. So I'm kind of surprised he jumped at this particular opportunity, but I'm sure he knows more about his managerial prospects than I do.

Lastly, and perhaps the most important manager update, Scott White has made his managerial debut, leading his kids little league team to victory. Some are calling him a modern day Bobby Cox. Scott? Oh, you're too kind. You're too kind. But no, like it was actually pretty gratifying

because as I mentioned last week, the actual manager was reluctantly thrust into the role. He wasn't there this past Saturday. He had a work thing. So I was called on to lead the truth. groups who did not appear to have a clue what they were doing on defense the previous week. We had half an hour before the game to get some practice time in. I lined them up, showed each of them what to do if the ball came to them.

And they actually did it, Frank. They actually did it. We played some good defense. We prevented the team from scoring the maximum number runs in two of the three innings. We got three outs instead. and we came away with the win and it was immensely gratifying, I have to say.

I might have to do more of this. Run Prevention 101. Look at Scott, teaching defense. The Ron Washington School of Defense. Here we go, Scott, teaching the little kids. I love it. That's great, man. It's so cool that both your kids play on the same team together.

And obviously you get to coach them for at least one week, but you know what? You led them to victory, Scott. I say that you've earned yourself another chance at managing. So let me know how it goes. Maybe a Wally Pip situation. Yeah. Among managers.

I don't know what the managerial equivalent if that is. Let's do it. I hope it works out, man. All right, let's get into the top 12 second baseman from this past season. This is according to the Fangraphs player Raiders. So this is for Roto slash category leagues. I will also mention fantasy points per game as well for those who play in points leagues.

The number one second baseman was Bryce to rank. He averaged three fantasy points per game. That was tied for fourth at the position. he improved dramatically as a hitter. He sacrificed some strikeout rate, but he hit the ball harder, which led to more power. It led to a higher batting average,

better expected stats. The tradeoff here was less steals. So Solon bases went from 50 to 24 year over year. Now, Scott, we're left trying to figure out, A, what kind of player Terang will be in 2026, and B, how much we trust the gains he made this past season. And I want to stress, these were big gains.

Massive. Rather shockingly, he improved, Bryce Terang improved both his average exit velocity and max exit velocity by about four miles per hour from the previous year. So his average exit velocity was 75th percentile. Like he was genuinely hitting the ball like you'd expect a power hit or two.

He just wasn't angling it properly until August. And August is when he hit 10 home runs. More than half of the 18 home runs. Yeah, 10 of the 18 home runs came in that meant the loan. He kind of gave back some of that in September. Didn't maintain the high

pull air rate that he showed in August, but you got a taste of it. You know, I think that's something he can work on. Tarrang certainly hits the ball hard enough to deliver that kind of power, as I said. The steals, you pointed out, Frank dropped from 24 after being at 50 the previous year, but there's no reason he can't get some of that back either.

I mean, those extra home runs, you'd think maybe that would take away some stolen base opportunities, but not 26 of them. So, like, we may have a legitimate 20-homer 40 steel guy here in Bryce Terrang at a position that desperately needs it. And it's hard not to rank him optimistically, given his youth and given the need for that at this position. I just really struggle with the fact that it was 10 homers in August, no more than two in any other month. Now, months are completely arbitrary measures of time. It may not matter at all. And you are generally better off just looking at the whole season and saying he hit 18 homers, nothing in the underlying data looks fluky.

He's probably just an 18 homer guy moving forward. I just, I'm having a mental block with that one with the, just because it was so heavily, like it was just four weeks where he went bonkers. And then after that, outside of that, he was just the same guy he was last year. But it's, but the underlying numbers. Yeah. The exit velocity pointed to this possibility all season. And August is when he finally put it together. He was the biggest gainer and bat speed of any qualified hitter.

And that started immediately. That was one that I know. I remember seeing that like four days into the season that Bryce Turing was swinging the bat harder. And so I mostly buy it. There is just that little, little part that's like, I don't know if I can fully buy it. But this is one that I'm going to guess there's going to be a decent amount of skepticism around anyway to the point where he'll probably be priced reasonably enough that the risk is. baked in. The number two second baseman was Jazz Chisholm.

He averaged 3.2 fantasy points per game. That was third at the position. He went 30-30 in just 130 games. He missed some time with an oblique injury. He's really leaned into the fly ball approach in Yankee Stadium. It definitely has worked out for fantasy. Still has an extensive injury history, but he's entering a contract year in 2026 sometimes, guys.

Just find a way to stay healthy. If you want to dream with jazz, I mean, we could get a third. 35, 35, we could push 40-40 here in 2026. His first 162 games with the Yankees, I believe he went 40-40. Yeah, yep. And he has stayed healthier the past two seasons. I think there have still been a couple of injuries each time.

Last year it was the elbow. This year, I think he missed about a month with an oblique. But, you know, one IL stint per season is, an improvement for jazz chisholm. So, yeah. I would say he's hopeless that he stays healthy this year and has a huge season. Yeah. Without considering the best case scenario, which, you know, six years into his career,

we probably shouldn't be chasing that best case scenario for jazz chism anymore. I would just say back to back years of a combined 60 plus homers and steals at this position. Or even if you wanted to draft Chisholm. at third base at that position is pretty awesome. Oh, yeah. You got to safeguard against the batting average, but he seems like a player, left-handed hitter. He really took to playing at Yankee Stadium,

higher pull air rate this year, and has maximized his power output there. I think he's, I think, I feel as comfortable drafting jazz chisholm now is probably, ever have wouldn't want to do it before round three in a 12-team context which you might have to might have to in a roto league especially and at points league he's definitely a guy who loses something but actually three point two points per game was still very good oh yeah it's still very good but i you know i probably flip-flop my top two i yes for sure flip-flop my top two i go chisholm

over martay in categories marty over chisholm and points i think both of those are fairly easy to but I think in categories where I rank Chisholm ahead I'm okay if somebody else wants to re-for Chisholm falling back on Marte like at the two three turn somebody else is going for Chisham there okay I'll fall back on Marte I'm okay with that the only difference in a Categories league is that their skill sets are completely different right so it might depend on you know how you want to build out your team or who your first round pick was you know if you take judge with your first pick Jazz might make more sense to get some power. But, you know, if you start Judge Marte, then you're, you're to get some

speed. You're chasing a lot of speed after that. So yeah, I mean, there's a lot of rounds after one and two. So I try not to, I try not to, I try to just take the best two players with the first two rounds and not play the category maximization game. But, you know, others feel differently about that. The number three second baseman was Nico Horner. He averaged 2.9 fantasy points per game that was tied for seventh at the position. There were some concerns coming into the season. He had flexor tendon surgery last offseason, but he produced once again. He has had pretty similar seasons three years in a row. If you average those three seasons out, it's a 284 batting average, seven homers, 91 run scored, 34 steals. Mention this earlier. Feels more like a floor pick.

You know what you're getting with Nico Horner. And that is totally fine. It's just you can't really dream on much more upside with someone like Horner. Last year was the year to draft him. He was outside the top 280p because of that elbow injury. We weren't sure. I mean, he wasn't ready for opening day. He missed two games at the start of the season. So worked out really well.

He played 156. He's going to hit between 275 and 295. He's going to hit less than 10 home runs. He's going to score 90 runs. He's going to steal 30 bases. It's very, very, very. easy to project Nico Horner. It doesn't seem like there's much variation here. He's got a very strong contact profile and very, very little power. And that's fine. You know, there's nothing wrong with having a guy who you know what to expect from him. And especially when it's, you know, runs, batting average and steals, all three of those can be kind of the three harder position or categories to fill in a roto league anyway. So you have to be more conscious of filling those three.

And Nico Horner can help you with that. I feel like he has a chance to be a trap player, if I could coin the term there, a trap player for 2026 in that he is fine. I have him as a top five player for next year. But a lot of that is the context of the position. And I think that same context could end up pushing him up in drafts in a way that he can't.

can't live up to or at least has a very narrow path to living up to i mean 290 in a in a category's league rhodo context 297 batting average like he delivered in 2025 looks a lot better than the 273 mark he delivered in 2024 um and it's it's kind of just happenstance the way the 297 happens instead the 273 so you don't really know what you're getting there if he's a true difference maker a batting average or if he's just pretty good Um, and because he is, he kind of defaults his way into the top five at second base. I think you're going to see him overdrafted in a lot of leagues, just somebody saying, I got to get a good second baseman. He's, he's good, but he's not like, he's not like a difference maker like you'd expect the top five player to position to be.

Top of your head. A hundredth pick? That was my next question. You're pretty good at this, Chris. I will know. Been doing it for a while. I will know by the end of next week. I would guess I would guess I have him outside,

Niko Horner outside of the top 100 in my own personal rankings. So last year there were seven second baseman drafted in top 100. If we see a similar shape, then yeah, I'll probably be out on Niko Horner. Yeah. You hit the nail on the head, Chris. He said the time to draft Niko Horner was last year when his ADP was. around or outside the top 200. You know, if you got to use a top 100 pick now,

how about you just wait 100 more picks and draft Bryson Stott? Something like that. Yeah. Although you're not going to get the batting average, but everything else, you know, might be a pretty close skill set there from Bryson Stott. I mean, it's honestly,

Xavier Edwards might be the con. You're going to get a lot fewer runs, but the stolen bases and batting average are going to be very, very similar for Xavier Edwards. I think I made that comp in my write-up for the top 20. Okay. Yeah, my top 20 at second base, I actually wrote a 30 steel guy for, for Xavier Edwards. A 30 still guy is far less interesting that a 60 still guy, which is what Edwards was on pace to do in 2024, particularly when there's no power to speak up. But from a five by five context, the gap between Edwards and Nico Horner may be overstated here owing mostly to longevity and supporting cast. Yeah, it's, it's 15 to 20 runs and 15 to 20 RBI. It depends if you think you can make up for that. And three or four homers.

That's pretty big, Chris. That's true. That's true. But it just depends if you think you can make up for that with the, I don't know, 80-pick difference, 100-pick difference that there might be between the two of them. I think just right now in October having done no drafts and not having done my overall rankings, I think I'd rather have Xavier Edwards than Nika Horner at cost. It just depends where that cost settles.

Yeah. Because right now, like just looking at my. own rankings, I have Horner 5th and Xavier Edwards 15th. So that's the gap that's being overstated by my rankings. The number four second baseman was Michael Garcia who had himself a breakout season,

one of the biggest returns on investment, but no longer has second base eligibility, so we'll save him for third base. The number five second baseman was you have to wait and see. Let's take a break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. We are recapping

the second base position from this last season. And number five was Catelle Marte. He averaged 3.5 fantasy points per game, which led all second baseman, but he didn't rank there in total points because he missed time. You know, Catel Marte is almost a guarantee to miss some time throughout the course of the season, but when he plays, he is a consistent elite level bat. He is posted an 893 OPS or better two years in a row. But again, he has averaged 25 missed games per season over the last. four years. He's getting a little bit older. He's 32 years old. Regardless, elite four category player and he's even better in a head to add points league where the

replacement value off the waiver wire is so much better. Yeah, this is players like Coutal Marte, who you know are going to miss 25 to 30 games at least, their value fluctuates a lot depending on format. If you're in an NFBC main event, which I know there are only like 700 people who actually play those, but if you are, that's a tough pill to swallow. It's a 15-team league with no IL spots. That can be really, really tough to replace someone. In a 12-team points league, even at second base,

there's going to be someone there for those three or four weeks, and you can slot them in. A lot of people act like the team you draft is the team you're stuck with. And that's not how it actually works. If guys miss time, you get to replace them more often than not. So if anything, if there's an injury discount for Marte, which at this point there probably isn't much of one, just because he's so good at such a bad position.

But any injury discount you can get, I think is worth taking on a player like this. Yeah, and honestly, I think that's one of the keys to being successful in head-to-head points, like a standard CBS head-to-head points league is knowing that the, roster you draft is unlikely to resemble the roster you finish with and leaning into that with some of those by making riskier investments in higher impact players which could tell marty in a points league especially you don't at this position you don't get higher impact than that uh i just wanted to say you know we're kind of making one of the same knocks on katel marty is is what we said for jazz chisham and like those are those are the two clear

standouts at second base, too, that you're, because of the way the rest of this position breaks down, you might be inclined to reach for in the name of position scarcity. But this is, it adds to the danger that you expect each of them to miss 15 to 25 games. At least. At least. Yeah. And so that, that makes it riskier. I also wanted to say for Ctele-Marté, kind of similar to what I would.

was saying for Nico Horner. First half, Catele-Marte hit $290. Second half, he hit $276. That's not a big difference just on its own, but that range for Cattel-Marte, is he a 270 hitter or is he a $2.95 hitter? Because you can't really predict where he falls within that range, that's part of the reason I think he has to,

categories leagues rank behind Chisholm. And the difference between... For sure, we'll give you the steals. Yeah, the difference between 290 and 270 matters. It's also like, what, eight hits over the course of a season? Like, like, I think what you're saying is the difference between 270 and 290 is often not a matter of skill. Right. It's just stuff happens in baseball.

But it makes a difference for how impactful the guy is in that category. I mean, either way, I could tell Marte is going to be a plus for batting average, but, you know, it might make half a round's difference if you're expecting 295 versus you're expecting 275. The number six second baseman was Jose Altuve. He averaged 2.8 fantasy points per game. That was tied for seventh at second base. He's getting older. There's no doubt. He's mid-30s in terms of age now. But still productive. 265 batting average, 265 batting average, 26 homers, 10 steals. The 265 batting average has lowest in a full season throughout his entire career. He only had one month with an OPS over 750. Al-Tuvee, Scott, clearly in decline, but it's mostly been a graceful decline to this point. Is he clearly in decline?

Like, there are some signs to suggest he's in decline. The batting average and stolen bases, they dropped to a level where we're not used to seeing them from Jose Al-Tufe. The power was fine. A lot of the underlying indicators were fine. And we've seen him drop off as a base dealer before and come roaring back. So it's harder to make that case for a 35-year-olds that he's going to regain that. But it also is just one season that's out of step, out of step with the others and in a way that's not where there aren't any major red flags apart from just his age and apart from the surface level numbers.

So I'm pretty confident ranking Niko, or I'm sorry, ranking Jose Altuvei fourth at this position for next year. I've always been somebody who, I've long been somebody who's considered him undervalued in fantasy and tend to draft Jose Altufe a lot. I think you'll be able to draft him at least a couple rounds later in 2026. And that is a price I am still eager to sign up for. In fact, I'm going to guess he'll be my most drafted second basement again because if he ends up getting faded like I think he will, that'll be a much more appealing price tag to me, Jose Al Tuvei in round six, let's say, than Jazz Chisholm or Cate at the two-three turn. What I would say is Jose Al-Tufe is always going to be a guy who overperforms his expected stats. That's just, that's baked in for his career in the stack cast era. He's got a 336 ex-Woba and a 366 X-Waba.

That's over, I don't know, 7,000 plate appearances, something like that. Like, there's a huge number. It's clearly a skill he has. But the last two seasons, the ex-Woba's gone from 331 in 2023, 316, 306. I think he's on a glide path now. And, you know, when a plane runs out of fuel, it can stay in the air for a while. it's going to crash at some point and it's mostly a question of

you know does it make it to an airport runway does it find a nice open field or does it start to to careen I don't know how planes work do the rudders go I don't know whatever

the point is at some point I think it's going to get pretty ugly I don't think we're there yet and I think it's likely to continue you to be a relatively gradual decline. But I'm not expecting him to bounce back to hit $290 again this year. You know, I surprise you if he did. No, no, but I'm drafting him as if he's going to hit $265, 270.

I wouldn't expect the steals to bounce back either. I mean, just at his age and the spread speed has fallen off too. 25 homers, 10 to 15 steals, that's still great. And I agree that there's a decent chance that he ends up getting pushed down enough that it just doesn't matter. That, you know, we start to... That's what I'm expecting. He was 61 in 80P in NFBC league's last year. I would expect something like 80 now.

And that feels like a perfectly fine price to pay for what Jose Altuva is now. All right. The number 7 and 8 second base, so I'm going to pair these two together and give each of you one of them to talk about because they're pretty similar. They're both big injury risks. They stayed healthy. They had productive seasons. Brandon Lau and Jorge Polanco. Brandon Lau managed to play 134 games.

He hit 31 homers, 83 RBI, a 785 OPS. Still hits the ball hard. Not sure if he's going to be on the raise. I feel like every offseason we hear he's going to be traded. And it hasn't happened yet, but maybe this will be the offseason that happens. And Jorge Polanco managed to stay healthy as well. 138 games played. Hit 265, 26 homers in 821.

OPS. He has a player option this all of season. My guess is he will become a free agent. We'll see if he's back with Seattle. He actually hit pretty well there. So not sure that I'm opposed to Polanco going back to the Mariners. Chris, why don't you kick us off, talk about Brando Lau, and then Scott, you could pick it up with Jorge Polanco. I mean, with Loud, there's really not much to say. He just did what he did the previous two seasons, but stayed a little healthier. Yeah. Instead of playing around 100 games, he played around 135 games. and got to 30 homers. That's who he is.

You know, he's not, you know, you go back to that 2021 season when he had 39 homers and 863 OPS and 2020, he had the 960. Like, he's not that guy. He's not like a legit elite power hitter. But he's the best power hitter at second base, I think. And whether he's on the raise or not doesn't really matter to me. I think he's going to be a very good power hitter, no matter where he lands.

If anything, you know, Tropicana, not a great place to hit. Steinbrenner obviously was a great place to hit. I think it's possible he gets a park upgrade out of this, at least relative to Tropicana if he's traded. So I can't say you pencil him in for 30 just because this is another guy you do expect to miss some time. But it's going to be a 35 homer pace. And it's just a question of how many games do you get out of him? And I would guess there's still going to be a pretty decent discount on Brandon Lowe, given the injury history.

So I expect to once again draft a decent amount of Brandon Lowe. He was so cheap this year. Yeah. 213.1 ADP. It was laughably cheap. And he'll go up significantly from that. But I don't think he's going to push inside the top 100 or anything. I would guess, I don't know, 150-ish.

for Brandon Lowe, maybe a little higher than that? I think that's probably reasonable, and I'll probably draft a decent amount of him. Yeah. Because he's my sixth second basement for next year. I said Horner 5th, and I doubt I'll have him in my top 100. But it is funny that he'll go twice as early, basically,

as last year. And nothing really changed for Brandon Lowe. It's just, oh, we're reminded that he could stay healthy again. And he played 27 more games, which is not nothing, But it's not like a huge difference. Yeah. Yeah.

It's crazy. It's crazy how undervalued he was probably will be more appropriately valued. So that's Brandon Lau. Jorge Polanco. You've signed me with him, Frank. And we were just saying Jose Altuvae, this disappointing version of Jose Altuve that we got in 2025, finished 70,

first overall. Well, Polanco had basically the same season. What was a disappointing season for Jose Al Tuvei was kind of a best case scenario for Polanco. But I don't even know that it is truly the best case because he was limited early this year. I think it was an oblique injury that prevented him from hitting from the right side. He's a switch hitter.

And so he was in and out of the lineup a lot early on, ended up playing in just 130. But hit 26 homers, had an 821 OPS. The underlying numbers back it up. Expected batting average 276. Expected slug 476. There's a lot of red on that stat cast page for Jorge Polanco. He also cut way down on his strikeouts. He had his best season in a while and expected to enter free agency as he turns down a player option.

so you know he'll have a chance to to maybe go like obviously he's been a postseason hero for the Mariners maybe they want him back but if they don't you know maybe he ends up at a better ballpark I think there are a lot of reasons to see the glass half empty here like I said it was polanco's best season in a while he's 32 he's had some propensity for injury in recent years but he seems like kind of the last hope looking at rankings for next year you know there are some second baseman I rank ahead of him but we haven't talked about yet just because they didn't play very well in 2025 but by where I expect Polanco to go at second base he's going to be kind of the last

I'm not going to say the last hope for Plus production here, but realistic. The last bet among those who showed it recently, you know, that you're not counting on a big step forward

for him to do it. Do you think Jorge Palanka goes ahead of Jackson Holiday next year? No. I rank him ahead of Jackson holiday? Yeah, no, I did too. Franks just says no.

No, there's no way in ADP that it will play out there. Yeah, I think the ADP will be holiday ahead of Palant. Yeah. I don't think it should be, but I think it will be. You don't think enthusiasm for holiday has waned enough

that you think people still keep making that bet? He went 1717 and he's like just entering his age 22 season next year. I think it's totally reasonable to expect another step forward next season. And I think a lot of people will think of it that way as well. And it's not a knock on, it's not a knock on Polanco. He had a great season. And we know that he's a productive player when he's healthy. It's just we haven't seen a lot of that health in recent years, man.

Polanco. It was a 690 OPS for general. Oh, yeah, no. He wasn't actually that good. I think it's going to be more about Polanco being underrated than anything else. I think Polanco is going to be a back half of the 100s kind of guy. And that's fair. Like, I don't think you should draft them according to the numbers he just put up, which was like I said, very much in line with what Jose Altuve did.

but I don't know it's a lot of wishful thinking beyond Palanco Polanco himself you could say is wishful thinking but it's everyone after him is wishful thinking too or just you're settling for mediocrity

I also just want to mention the roller coaster that was Jorge Palanco's season his first month was tremendous he had a 1226 OPS in April from May through June a two month stretch he had a 503 OPS I mean that was a completely unusable

player for fantasy probably wound up on a bunch of waiver wires again. Then from July through September, final three months, an 899 OPS and he was really, really useful during that span. So just a roller coaster ride of a season there for Jorge Polanco. We don't have much time left. So here's what I'm going to do. We have three more players left to talk about. I'll give you guys a minute each to talk about each of these players. The number nine second baseman was Seidon, Raphael. He actually has second base and outfield eligibility for next season. Only 2.5 fantasy points per game. That's not a surprise given his plate discipline.

He did improve a lot. He also just still doesn't walk at all, but the strikeout rate took a huge step forward this past season. He actually took off in the middle of the season and then just kind of scuffled his way to the end, the final two months of the year. Chris, I feel like we still should expect these wild swings in production, just given the crazy chase rate.

and plate discipline from Seidon-Rof-Elele. Homeless Man's Peacre Armstrong is Seidon-R-Raphael. I think he is... I don't think he's very good, personally. I think he's a useful MLB play. Just because he's a great defender. A really good baseball player. Like, his defensive versatility, his base rolling...

That will keep him all in the field. He does a lot of things well. I just think as a hitter, he's still pretty overmatched. and he's had to I don't know he does a little bit of like the pulling the ball in the air when he's right but it's just the plate discipline is so bad

the quality of contact is still pretty mediocre I don't have a lot of interest in him for fantasy I think I'd rather do Jackson Holiday than Saddam Raphael actually I have holiday ranked ahead as well yeah I have more faith in that working out Saddamo Raphael, again, he improved the strikeout rate and he improved his quality of contact. So he's still like 25 years old.

He could take another step forward and maybe we see a little bit more consistency out of him. Like there's an outside chance he can go 20-20 next season and hit 250 and that's like a decent fantasy player. But it might be pretty empty too. He's not going to get on base. The counting stats might not be great either from Raphaela. The number 10 second baseman was Bryson Stott, 2.6 fantasy points per game. mentioned this earlier. He's kind of like Nico Horner just with a worse batting average.

Scott, you know what to expect here. It's 250 to 260, 12-ish home runs, 25 to 30 steals. Solid player, Bryson Stott. It feels more like a middle infielder than a starting second basement for fantasy. Yeah, I would say so. Stott is the sort of player

who in head-to-head leagues, traditional ones without a middle infield spot, probably not even worth drafting. In leagues, like a, standard roto with the middle infield spot, probably going to be started for somebody every week. And so it's just, you know, you said there are a lot of high floor players at this position. He's kind of, Bryson Stott's kind of the epitome of that because you know he's going to give you a useful number of steals, a not unuseful number of home runs, but the Phillies tend to sit him against lefties,

and that really drags down his upside. The number 11 second baseman was Luis Arise. He no longer has second base eligibility. He's first base only. And we won't talk about him here. We'll save it for another podcast. But definitely a player worth talking about and have no idea what his market

is going to look like this offseason because the batting average has taken a step back two years in a row and not sure what else. Literally the only skill he has. Yeah. Not sure what else he provides outside of that. He's a really, really bad defender too. So we'll see if Luis Arise

even has a starting job. season. The number 12 second baseman was Xavier Edwards. He has both second base and shortstop eligibility for next year. 2.7 fantasy points per game that was tied for 12. And he fell off quite a bit from his half season sample in 2024. What we wanted most from Edwards was steals. He gave us just 27 and 139 games. The rate in which he ran came way down. He had a seal every 2.3 games in 24. That was every 5.1 games this past season. So it more than doubled the frequency in which you got a stolen base from Xavier Edwards. So Chris, the biggest thing here is if he's not giving you 40 plus steals, can the hits at home run and RBI outweigh what he's going to give you in, you know, batting average in steals, basically?

I think a bigger thing would be can he build on the 75 runs? because if he can, then he's Nico Horner. And that's a good player. If he's a 75 to 80 run guy instead of a 95 to 100 run guy, then it's a lot harder to take a hit in three categories. The steals, I do, I would guess that was just the Marlins hiring a more analytically inclined manager. I want to check they stole 138 bases. this year actually 125 the year before.

He's actually not that fast, though. He's like 75th percent. Yeah, he's slower than you think. He missed time with a back injury. Maybe that's it. It was in May, but I think he also had his best stolen base month in August, so I don't know if that explains it. It could be just he starts running more next year,

and he's back to being a 40-steel guy who hits 285-290, and no cause for concern. But he has very little defensive value. He was definitely better at second base than shortstop. He was unplayable at shortstop. I don't know. I think in a lot of ways he's just a poor man's Nico Horner. I just don't know how likely it is he becomes more than that.

But depending on price, it would be fine. Yeah. I think the steals would. Because Nico Horner's 2530 steals, you know, kind of locked in at that. Xavier Edwards now as a rookie and a half season was on a 60-steel pace. I don't think he's going to be a 60-steel guy, but if he can get to being a 40 steel guy

as opposed to the 27 he had, then that closes the gap on Horner a lot. Let's wrap up with a quick look at early 2026 second base rankings. We'll also have an FBT Express episode that drops Friday morning looking into these rankings as well. For Scott, the top six,

we have Jazz Chisholm, Ketel Marte, Bryce Terang, Jose Altuve, Niko Horner, and Brandon Lau. For Chris, it's Jazz Chisholm, Kutel Marte, Bryce Terang, Niko Horner. So a little bit higher there, Brandon Lau, and then Altuvae, a little bit lower. So it's the same six slightly different order.

It's obviously lacking that. We have two elite players, but then it kind of falls off a little bit there. Is there anything to add? You guys have the same six players here. Yeah, it's basically I have Altuvae, two spots higher, Chris has him two spots lower. And we kind of went over that I anticipate I'll be higher on them than the consensus again.

I think these six, you're at risk of overpaying for. So a lot of the, if I'm thinking about drafting any of them next year, I mean, they're kind of the safe, quote, unquote, six at second base. And so it's just, it's really going to come down to where they priced reasonably or not. and if they're not, then I'm going to take a shot at one or two of the many, many wild cards that follow. The safe six, Spider-Man's worst villains. If we look at 7 through 12 at second base for next season, Scott has Ozzy Albies, Lucchie Palanco,

Haleigh-Palancho, Glaber Torres, Jackson Holiday, and Marcus Semyon. For Chris, it's Luke Keishel, Ozzy Albies, Jorge Polanco, Jackson Holiday, Bryce and Stott, and Marcus Semyon. So only difference here, you know, the order is a little bit different, but Scott has Glaber in his top 12. Chris doesn't. Chris has Bryson Stott in his top 12, and Scott doesn't.

I do want to take a quick look at four names in particular here. Ozzy Albies, Luke Keishel, Jackson Holiday, and Marcus Semyon. Scott, I mentioned this at the top. For me, Ozzy Albee's a huge wild card. He looked like himself in the second half of the season. He said that that wrist was still bothering him in the first half, looked much healthier in the second half, looked like himself,

and then a broken hamate bone to end to finish the season and it's the same hand slash wrist that he had surgery on the year prior. So it just adds a complete unknown factor for next season. I mean, I was preparing to rank Albee's fifth at this position.

Next year, he in the second half, 272, nine home runs, seven steals a 7-69 OPS. That's basically a normal, normal Aussie Albiz season. He provides the explanation of him being hindered by the risk that he had fractured the previous year. It made total sense, but then this broken hamate bone, I mean, that is historically an injury that's known to have even more negative effects on a player when they come back from it than just a fractured wrist would. So if Albies was struggling to get back to full strength from that fractured wrist, how's this going to go with the hamate bone?

It's not a guarantee that his power won't be normal, but it wouldn't be surprising if it hindered his power early on. And Ozzy Albies, when his power is hindered, as much as he tends to put the ball in the air, it doesn't go well. He's got to nothing. Yeah, so he's going to be very risky again, unfortunately, for next year, because of that. fractured handmade bone. It's a real bummer. But with a high, high reward too. And so it's again going to come down to whatever the price ends up being for Allbies,

does the reward outweigh the risk for me. And, you know, if it's around pick 150, probably. But much earlier than that, you know, I might play. it's safe and avoid him. But he's not, you kind of mentioned at the top, Frank, second base is showing its age. Albies is 28.

He'll be 29. It feels like he's 35, though. He's been around a lot. He started very young. Yeah. But like there's still a lot of, a lot of gas in this engine. Okay.

If he can just get past these hand injuries he's had the past couple years, I still think, I still think we're going to get a lot of mileage out of Albee's and family. fantasy. Luke Keishel, a top prospect entering the season, and he impressed in a limited sample, hit 302, four homers, 14 steals in just 49 games. Chris, I love the plate discipline, I love the speed. But there are real questions here about the power. His quality of contact was abysmal.

It was pretty bad in the minor leagues as well. We only have a small sample of that. He kind of looks like for now, and again, he can get stronger and get better. He kind of profiles is like a 2, 70, 80 hitting 10 homer, like 30 steel guy? Does that seem fair to you? In my state of the position piece, I said 275, 15 homers, 40-ish steel seems like an upside. Okay. Maybe take off five homers if you want to be less optimistic, five steals. But like, it doesn't sound that different from Nico Horner.

And Luke Keachel's a guy that, given how wide open this position is and given how few sure thing difference makers there are. I think if someone wanted to rank him as high as the number four second baseman, I wouldn't really have a big argument against it. I think it's a reach, but I think it's a reach that is well within his grasp. I think the skill set's great. He did have 19 homers and 162 games in the minors.

45 steals there. His paces so far in the majors aren't that far off. He's kind of just been the exact same guy. in the majors and minors. It's only a 49 game sample size in the majors. Obviously, like you said, quality of contact here, not very good. And he doesn't have the super high pulled air rate to make up for it. So I think you should probably expect 10 homers.

Yeah. Yeah. But he might legitimately be a 40 steel guy. And he's going to get on base a ton. And I like the bat to ball skills. I do not think. it would be surprising if Bryce Tehrang and Luke Keishel had the same season next year. Yeah, no, I think that's fair.

It really comes down to the power. How much power is Keishel going to deliver on? Because he started out hitting, you know, home runs at a pretty good clip. But then, you know, as he stayed up in the majors longer, ended up with just four home runs and 207 plate appearances. And you can understand that looking at the pull air rate and the suspect exit velocities. But then you look at that minor league. track record, he did better at pulling the ball in the air. And that's something that hitters can

improve upon, certainly. It's something young hitters struggle with a lot in the majors, pulling the ball in the air enough to max out their power. So if Keishel doesn't do that, then his upside is probably Nico Horner-like. But if he does do that, then his upside is... Top three? Yeah, I would agree. I think there's a really decent chance. He's a top 50 pick in 2027. I'm really excited about Luke Kishel. I don't think I'm going to be on my own on that one. I think a lot of people are going to be on him.

Let's wrap up with Jackson Holiday and Marcus Semmy and Jackson Holiday improved across the board, especially the plate discipline, which we needed to see. He went 17, 17, and 149 games. Still just 22 years old next season. And Scott, I said this earlier. I don't think I'll be alone in thinking this, But it seems completely fair to expect another step forward for Jackson Holiday.

Yeah, I guess. I guess. Maybe I'm just wrong. I feel like when a player comes up as hyped as Jackson Holiday does and he disappoints as thoroughly as he has twice in a row now, the shine has kind of worn off for fantasy. People are usually, if you try promoting that guy again and fantasy pushing that guy again, you're met with pitchforks and torches,

but maybe Jackson Holiday, given how young he is, will be a special exception, and people will still be seeing the glass half full with them. I mean, you said, yes, he made these improvements. He did make improvements. He went from pretty much horrible at all those things to not very good at all those things.

But he is very young. He does have that top prospect pedigree. I am a very open-minded analyst. to begin with. So it wouldn't take much to convince me, Holiday's going to make another leap. I just wonder how convinced the general public will be of that. He was, I will say he was so much better against breaking balls than he was as a rookie. He was, he had a 168X Wobah and a 39% whiff rate against breaking balls in 2024. It was 305 and 26% in 2025.

Again, like you said, Scott, still pretty bad. You know, he went from horrible at a lot of things to still pretty bad, but, you know, forward momentum. We're looking for some forward momentum. He did that from age 20 to 21. Yeah, that's also. I want to put that in context. Yeah, that's fair. He's played 209 games before turning 22.

He's still younger than a lot of the guys who were drafted this year. Yeah. This is me trying to get in the mind of the average drafter and how they respond to repeated disappointments from hyped. players. It's usually not good. I actually, I rank Holiday 11th at second base for next year. You know, if it was some other position, he might not be in my top 20

but because it's second base, okay, let's chase the upside here. But I don't think of it as a high probability play. We need something to be hopeful here at second base. If you're going to bet on anything,

I'd rather bet on Jackson Holiday's age than Marcus Simeon figuring it out, you know? Chris, take us home. Is Marcus Semyon toast? Um, or what level toast, you know? Is it like completely left it in the toaster way too long? It's just like, it's not edible or?

You're scraping off the burnt parts if you're trying to eat it at this point, I think. That toast never tastes good. Oh, you know, it's done. You should just start over. It's a slice of bread. Yeah, it's a slice of bread. Just draft Jackson Holiday. But to put in the time already, you've given up the piece, you've sacrificed the piece of bread.

Did you guys know? Salvage this toast, but it's, you're not going to get rid of that burnt taste. The little number on the toaster is the amount of time it's going and not just like, I want it three toasted. Is it three minutes? Yeah, it's three minutes. Or three time intervals, whatever that is. But just for me, I was just like, yeah, I want my toast at level three. Yeah.

And that's no. Okay. Um, yeah, he's like a five. on the six levels of toast doneness, I think. A lot of the underlying skill set stuff for Marcus Simeon isn't that different than it was in 2023 when he was still a very good fantasy option. It's just he's 35 and he hasn't done the trick two years in a row now. And so the margin for error for this type of player is always super slim. We've seen that with Ozzy Albies, who is kind of the same guy in a lot of ways as a hitter.

Doesn't really have much power but gets the most out of it by pulling the ball in the air. Now we also saw Marcus Simian missed time with injury. Was it wrist injury? Thumb injury at the end of the season. I think it was a broken foot, right? Broken foot. That makes more sense. Yeah.

So now you can't necessarily pencil him in for the 160 game edge in playing time that he always had that lineup is pretty bad now in a way that I don't think is going to turn around I think we're kind of past expecting the Rangers to be this great lineup and so there's some talk of them selling right yeah so I just look at it all and it's just like this is absolutely just a fallback option for me Marcus simian and top 12 for oh yeah no he's still right behind Yes, barely. But if you want to go Xavier Edwards because you want speed instead, I think that's fine. After that, it's like, well, I think I'd rather just do Simeon than sit on Raphael or Glaber Torres. Just like, Glaver Torres doesn't really do anything all that well. And he was really bad in the second half. He's great in an expected stats league, though. Yeah. But like, even like if the choice is like the 180th pick on Marcus Simeon, and I have no, that's just pulling a number out of nowhere. But if that's that. That's what it ends up being versus my last pick on Matt McLean or Luis Garcia if they get that cheap. I think I'd rather just wait on those guys.

At least they're young and have theoretical upside. I just don't really think there's much upside with Marcus Simian anymore. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into FantasyBase Falls Day. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again next week. Bye-bye.

Thank you.