Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Projecting the First Round for 2026 Drafts! (9/18 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Let's take a crack at the first round of 2026 drafts up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome in to FBT Express on Thursday, September 18th. I am Frank Stamble, joined by Scott White, who currently has an article out on the website, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. Scott wrote about the top two rounds. Today, we're focusing on just the first round. So let's start up top. Your top three picks for next season, Scott.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Aaron Judge. Showe O'Tani and Bobby Wood Jr. still finds himself in the top three. Yes, he does. And I should note that this is specifically for five by five category scoring or roto leagues, traditional roto. Bobby Witt would be lower

Starting point is 00:00:44 if it was points leagues, for instance, there would be a few change. And if you look at the article, you'll see my first two rounds for points leagues as well. But focusing on roto five by five scoring, Judge Otani Witt. Witt, I think, is the only questionable one here.

Starting point is 00:01:03 It was kind of the first step backward that he's taken in his four-year career, 2025 was, really with regard to home runs. But you look at the underlying data. Not a lot changed there. I think 30 home runs still very much on the table. And I think he's the safest bet of anyone in the entire player pool, probably for plus production across all five categories. So I still have him third behind the obvious top two, Chudgeon Otani. Otani, by the way, like, he did stop running so much in his return to pitching, you know, the first ever 50 Homer 50 steel season. But if you're ranking the all-time great fantasy seasons for hitters, the kind of 50-home or 20 steel season that Otani is having now, would it rank that far behind the 50-homer 50-steel season?

Starting point is 00:01:54 And so even though he lost 30 steals or so, it was actually closer to 40 because he was 59 steals that year. That was just other stratosphere good. And this is still like historic great season for Shohei Otani offensively. He deserves strength too still. All right, 456. Lots of talking points here. Juan Soto, who is in the midst of a 40-30 season.

Starting point is 00:02:20 How much will we run next year? Nobody knows. followed by Jose Ramirez and perhaps the wild card of the first round, Scott, Ronald Acuna Jr. What do you have on this girl? So, Soto, I think, is probably a candidate to rank third ahead of Bobby Witt.

Starting point is 00:02:40 I have him fourth, but you could put him third. I think that would be reasonable. I certainly do it in points leagues. The thing is, with the steals, I don't think it's a fluke. Like there are a lot of content out there about him working with first base coach Antoine Richardson on his base stealing technique, getting a running lead, getting good jumps. Like I think it's legit what he's done stealing bases, but that doesn't mean he's going to keep doing it. It's a choice how much a hitter runs.

Starting point is 00:03:09 And particularly one who already brings so much value offensively is swiping that extra base and all the risks that come with it. Is it worth it for somebody like Soto? That said, he could stand to look. lose some steals and maybe make up it for it with batting average. He's been one of the biggest underachievers in batting average this year. So I think the potential for tradeoff there between steals and batting average, it doesn't make me all that fearful about drafting him forth. I still think Witt is the safer bet for Roto, though.

Starting point is 00:03:43 And then Acuna, yeah, I have him six. So I think the top five is pretty clear in terms of who they are. obviously Jose Ramirez's fifth. So a little bit of a drop up there. I'm going to slot Acuna, who also has major questions with regard to steals. He hasn't run much at all coming back from a second torn ACL. But you'll remember coming back from that first torn ACL in 2022.

Starting point is 00:04:11 There were even bigger questions surrounding him. He did not look right at the plate. He did not feel good most of the year, apparently. So 2022, I know I was among those who faded Acuna pretty hard coming off that season, just wondering if he's ever going to be the same. And what happened to 2023? Arguably the best fantasy season ever. So I would be reluctant to underestimate Acuna.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Yeah, been disappointing with the lack of deals. But that was the very season he came back from a torn ACL. How is next year going to look? I think it's going to look a lot more comfortable for him. All right. let's take a quick break. We'll get through the rest of the first round right after this. Welcome back in FBT Express. Again, Scott's top six players in the first round for next season, Aaron Judge, Shohei Otani, Bobby Witt Jr., Juan Soto, Jose Ramirez, and Ronald Dukunia.

Starting point is 00:05:02 That brings us to 7, 8, and 9. We have Kyle Tucker, Corbyn Carroll, and Terrick Scoobel, our first pitcher here off the board. Kyle Tucker, by the way, he's also an interesting player for next season. Obviously, rough second half, playing through injury, ending the season with the season with this calf injury and he's a pending free agent. So a very interesting player for this offseason. Kyle Tucker, yes, very interesting. I would say that if anything, you want to see him get out of Wrigleyfields. His splits there have not been very good this year and it is kind of, the fence has kind of an unusual shape where it's especially deep in the corners. So it may be that Kyle Tucker is more afflicted by that than other batters. But,

Starting point is 00:05:47 You know, for as rough as the end of his season was, he's going to end up with about his usual numbers adjusting for time missed, obviously. He got off to such a good start with the Cubs, and it's kind of balanced out. Again, I think leaving Wrigley would be better for his fantasy value. But, you know, we'll see where he goes. I may have to adjust him from seventh, depending on where he winds up.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Corby and Carol 8th, and then Terrick Scoobled, the first pitcher 9th, like you said. I feel like the top three at starting pitcher, Terrick Scoobel, Garrett Crochet, and Paul Skeens. It's so clear. And then it's so murky after that. So I think the advantage those three provide is going to make me more open to taking them than I have been to taking top pitchers in recent years. They all haven't proven it a couple times over now. And again, it's just such a big advantage.

Starting point is 00:06:42 I'm not sure I'd take any pitcher in round three even, much less two. once Terrick Scuba, Garrette, and Paul Skeins are off the board. This seems like a drop-off in the hitter ranks after Tucker and Carol. That's where I'm willing to take Scuba. Well, you mentioned the name a few times here, but Garry Kroche is your number 10 player, followed by Julio Rodriguez and Ellie Dealer Cruz. So, Julio did his usual kind of rough first half

Starting point is 00:07:08 and then just came on gangbusters here in the second half, and the overall numbers are great. Ellie DeLer Cruz has kind of done the opposite, where he's scuffled in the second half, perhaps related to this quad injury that he's been playing through, but I still think there is sky high potential in terms of power and obviously lots of speed from Ellie De La Cruz. Yeah, De La Cruz, he kind of did what we were hoping he'd do

Starting point is 00:07:30 for the first three months of the year. Got the strikeout rate down, got the batting average up to the point. It was more of a strength than a weakness. But just the production completely stopped for him midway through the year, probably related to health, the quad injury, as you point out, Frank. So I'm giving him a partial pass for that. I think I'm ranking him 12th in part because I can afford to rank him 12th. There's not going to be the same fervor for drafting elite de la Cruz as poorly as bad.

Starting point is 00:08:02 As poor as his bad, what am I trying to say? As poorly as his second half went, there's not going to be the same enthusiasm for drafting Elie de la Cruz as there was this past year. We do know the story with Julio Rodriguez by now. We know better than to take his second half. numbers and project them over the next full season. But the numbers are very good. First round caliber, certainly for Roto leagues.

Starting point is 00:08:25 I also want to point out, so again, Scoobel, 9th, Garrett Crochet, 10th. He doesn't quite make the first round, but Paul Skeins would be 13th. He kicks off my second round. And again, those are the only three pitchers that I'm willing to draft in even the first three rounds. So I think it's much more likely I'll wind up with one of them than it's been the past couple years in terms of the very first pitchers going off the board. And again, if you want to see Scott's second round for next season, you can find that on the website, cbosports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to our full-length podcast, Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere else podcasts are found.

Starting point is 00:09:12 Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.

Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - Projecting the First Round for 2026 Drafts! (9/18 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.