Fantasy Baseball Today - Our Favorite Targets at Each Position in 2026 Drafts! (2/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: February 28, 2026Frank Stampfl and Chris Towers reveal their favorite targets at each position for 2026 Fantasy Baseball drafts! We give out one for each infield spot, three outfielders, five starting pitchers and two... relief pitchers. 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
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Favorite targets at each position for 2026 drafts up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome in to FBT Express on Saturday, February 28th.
I am Frank Sample joined by Chris Towers.
Let's take a look at our favorite targets at each position, Chris, and we are factoring in everything.
Value, skills, where you have to draft this player, and we will start off at Catcher.
Who is your favorite to draft this season?
For me, it's Francisco Alvarez, whose price has gone up.
He's around the 170th pick in the month of February in NFBC drafts.
I think he mostly figured it out after his demotion to AAA last season.
He hit like 12 homers in 26 games or something down there.
Came back here, came back to the majors with a new batting stance.
And it was a 940 OPS after he was recalled.
And that's despite playing through injuries to his thumb and pinky, I believe.
So I think Alejandro Kirk might have just figured it out.
Sorry, Francisco Alvarez might have just figured it out.
And might just be a 25 to 30 homer guy in 2026.
My favorite to draft is the same as every other person drafting right now.
It's Ben Rice if his ADP is actually 67.
But in some other drafts, you'll see him go as a top 50 pick.
And if he goes that early, then I'm just going to wait a little bit.
And I'll opt for the old Wiley Vet, Salvador Perez.
around pick 100. Let's move over to first base. Chris, who's your favorite to draft here?
It's a pretty easy pick with Rafael Devers for me. I just, I think, especially in those NFBC drafts,
he's just being so undervalued. He's dropping to like the fifth round in the 12 team points
league, maybe the sixth round occasionally. I think him and Pete Alonzo are basically the same guy.
The concerns about Devers are that he's playing half his games in Oracle,
Park, tough place for left-handers to hit.
Even if you just did take what he did at Oracle Park and stretch it over a full season,
it was like a 237 batting average.
Okay, that's not very good.
37 homers, 90 runs, 90 RBI.
That's basically your pretty typical Pete Alonzo season outside of 2025.
So, Rafael Devers is one of the most obvious values in any position.
I agree with you completely.
He is my favorite to draft as well.
The ADP on Fantasy Pros is 39, but there are drafts where he slips much,
much further than that.
If I'm looking at a late round name,
the hitter I love this year,
Sal Stewart, like him as a corner infielder
or a utility grab there with South Stewart.
Let's take a look at Second Base.
Who is your favorite to draft at Second Base?
It's been Luke Kishol all spring.
I really like the skill set.
I think he's a 40 steel guy.
I think he's going to hit for a good batting average,
and I think there's 15 homer pop here.
Lately, though, I'm starting to get Ozzy Albee.
as my favorite second baseman.
He's being drafted pretty close to what he did last season,
and he has the potential for so much more.
This is a guy who's a top 40 pick most of his career.
Couldn't hit lefties early on last season as he was recovering from wrist surgery.
He started to feel better in July.
He said he started to feel better in July,
and then he started to hit a lot better before that fractured hamate bone that ended his season.
Maybe there will be lingering issues from that that limit him,
but I kind of think Ozzy Albee should just be drafted 50 spots higher than where he's going.
Yeah, I don't want to have the same answer for every one of these, Chris,
but Ozzy Albi is the ADP of 138.
I do like the potential for a bounce back there.
I like a bounce back for the entire Braves lineup.
I know we've said that for a few years now, but they still have a lot of talented options.
If I miss out on Albies, there's actually a lot of depth at this position.
I don't mind going for like a boring guy, Bryson Stott, somebody like that.
Marcus Simeon is also on that list for me.
Let's move over to third base.
Who is your favorite's draft there?
I'm worried we're going to make it three for three on agreeing
because everybody loves Kazuma Okamoto's value.
No, I have a different answer.
Okay, good.
He signed for $60 million with the Blue Jays.
It sounds like he's going to play every day somewhere.
They've talked about, you know,
potentially outfield, potentially second base,
potentially first base,
in addition to his primary third base obligations.
He was arguably the best hitter in Japan last season and over the last couple of seasons.
He's had a 40 homer season.
He's hit for a very high batting average.
He's got a good approach at the plate.
I think we could see something like the non-Colaroid, Nolan Aronado season.
So when he was like a 25 to 30 homer guy, 260 to 270 batting average, good RBI numbers in that lineup.
I think that's a reasonable hope for Kazuma Okamoto.
I do like Okamoto quite a bit more so as a corner infielder,
but I think a fine fallback option.
For me, it's Michael Garcia, and I get that it's a big price tag to pay.
The ADP is 69.
He's coming off a breakout season.
I think there might be another level that he can get to.
Leading off for the Royals this year,
they're pulling the fences in a little bit there in Kaufman Stadium.
I think the steals could go back up.
It's a good batting average, hits the ball hard.
I do like Michael Garcia quite a bit this season.
What about shortstop?
There is no shortage of options here, Chris.
who is your favorite to draft?
So one of them is a very early guy,
L.A. La Cruz, I'm planting my flag on him
taking a big step forward in 2026,
just because we saw it in 2025.
In the first half of the season,
before that quad injury,
it was the best version of L.A. Dela Cruz
we've ever seen as a hitter.
He was hitting like 280.
His strike rate was down to 24%.
He was on a 30-Homer 40 steel pace
with best RBI and run numbers of his career as well.
And then he played through a torn,
quad and just wasn't any good in the second half. I think that first half told us a lot about
L.A. De La Cruz. I think he's going to surprise some people. This is the first year I've ever
been higher than the consensus on L.A. de la Cruz. If you want someone cheaper, Geraldo Proto
Podomo, I have ranked quite a bit ahead of his ADP as well. Yeah, I don't want to just choose
early round names either here, but I do like the round two, three guys quite a bit. Gunner
Henderson at the one-two turn in a 12-team league. I like his potential for a bounce back. He was
playing through injury last year. The protection in the lineup with Piedel
Monzo there as well. Love that for him.
And Trey Turner, who just seems
annually undervalued, you know,
at the 2-3 turn. It's a good batting
average. NL. Batting
champ last year, only like 304
batting average, but lots of steals.
Run scored. He has one season
in the last seven, I believe, with a
batting average below 295.
Yeah. Or 290, something like that, yeah.
It seems pretty bankable. Let's avoid that
hamstring strain that usually knocks
him out for a couple of weeks, but if he's
healthy, I do like Trey Turner quite a bit.
Let's take a quick break.
We'll be back right after this.
Welcome back in FBT Express, looking at our favorite targets at each position.
Let's move into the outfield, Chris.
Why don't you give me your three favorite to draft?
One early, one middle, one late.
All right, so the early one would either be Wyatt Langford,
who I've talked to myself into quite a bit more than I expected to.
He played through four different oblique injuries last season and still went 22-22.
I think 25-25 is a reasonable expectation for Langford.
and 3030 within reach.
If it's not him, it's Jackson Merrill, who I, again, he was hitting 300 when he had a concussion in mid-June.
He struggled for two months.
Then he had a huge September.
I think he just wasn't healthy.
And I think Jackson-Marrell is going to hit 300.
I think we're going to get 25 homers.
The steals are the big question.
He went 16 for 17, I think his first year.
He didn't steal a base after April last season, but he was dealing with hamstring and ankle stuff.
So hopefully Jackson-Marrell's fine.
middle rounds it's Kyle Stowers
he was like top 20
unexpected Woba last season
his underlying numbers backed up what he did
I wish we had gotten to see
the final two months and what they looked like
if we had gotten to see the final two months
Kyle Stowers might be going 50 spots higher
and then a late round pick
I really like Dalton Varsho and I really like
Dalton Lyle who we talked about on
the mailbag that's coming out on Friday
yeah for me I agree with you on Wyatt
Lankford as an early round name there
Brian Reynolds as the mid-tier name.
I like him as a bounce back.
The expected stats were still good last year.
He still hit the ball hard.
K-rate was up a little bit,
but I like the additions that they made to the Pirates lineup,
and I do think that can help the counting stats there for Brian Reynolds.
And then Josh Lowe.
I just can't quit.
I know the Ray's quit on him.
I will not quit on Josh Lowe.
I'm still holding on to that 20-30 season.
Not sure he gets back to that, but change of scenery,
go to the Angels, let him play every day.
Can he be a 20-20 guy?
I think that's within reach for Josh Lowe, and he just goes so late in drafts.
I think everybody else is pretty much done with Josh Lowe at this point.
Let's take a look at some starting pitchers.
Why do you give me a rotation of names here, Chris?
Five names that you find yourself drafting quite a bit.
It could be a mix of early, mid, and some late round options.
So I'll start with Sandy O'Conterra, who I just think was himself in the second half.
He's going to pitch a ton of innings.
I think he's being super undervalued.
then I'll go with Kevin Gosman, another old boring guy who I think we saw some real growth in 2025,
a return to him being a more reliable version of himself, including in the playoffs.
Whichever of the second year pitchers is cheapest, that's typically Trey Yassavage or Bubba Chandler.
But I'll take whichever of those guys, I think some of them are technically rookies,
but they all pitched a little bit last season.
I'll take whichever one of them is cheapest.
Chris Bubich is a popular answer on this show for sure.
And Andrew Painter, who is somehow still only 22.
He turns 23 a couple weeks after opening day.
He's getting very positive reviews out of Philly's camp.
I can't wait to see some stackass data.
His prospect shine took a little bit of a hit last season,
but he actually remains very highly ranked,
despite how poorly he pitched at AAA.
People still really believe in the talent.
I will be among those people.
Yeah, the five names for me here. Early on, I do, I love the top three. If I can get one of those guys at the end of the first round. But if I miss out on those, Christopher Sanchez, the improvements he's made the past couple of years, the strikeouts being up last year, pitches for a great team with the Phillies. George Kirby, I like the chance of a bounce back here. And it's just a good discount. You know, a couple of years ago, he was a top 40 pick. Now we're getting him, you know, 20, 25 picks later than that. He pitches for a good team. Great environment to pitch in with the Mariners as well, likely going to provide you a nice.
whip. Nick Lodolo, he's the pitcher I love this season. I think we just saw the breakout,
but he's not really being drafted like that just happened. The strikeouts went up in the second
half. He's got an awesome curveball. And Cincinnati, not a great place to pitch, but they've
actually done really good work with their pitching development there. So I don't really worry
about him pitching for the Reds as much as others might. Chris Bubich, you mentioned Chris,
we all like. I mean, obviously injuries are concerned here, but he goes so late in drafts that
it's worth the upside shot there.
And then McKenzie Gore.
We've been asking for the change of scenery.
We got it.
Texas Rangers.
It's a great ballpark to pitch in.
Much better run support, much better defense behind him as well.
They did lose their pitching coach in the offseason,
but all the other reasons there,
if they can somehow get McKenzie Gore to throw more strikes
and maybe mix in some of those secondaries more,
I think we could finally see McKenzie Gore put it all together this season.
Let's wrap up with relief pitchers, Chris.
favorites to draft, why don't you give me one closer and one SP with relief pitcher eligibility
that we target in a headside points league? Yeah, it'd be Kate Smith as the closer. He's already
being drafted as a top five closer. I think he has best closer in fantasy. Upside. The Guardians
have been a factory that produces 40 save seasons. Emmanuel Class A had three straight. Combined
Emmanuel Class A and Kate Smith's total last year, I think you get right around 40. They will use
their closers to rack up saves.
And Cade Smith might be the best reliever in baseball.
I mean, he has the best fit since making his debut two years ago.
He gets big strikeout numbers.
I think Cade Smith, we could be talking about him as the top closer in fantasy in
2026.
And then Spark Cody Ponce, who made his spring debut on Wednesday.
I wasn't able to watch it because he wasn't on TV.
But I believe he averaged 96 miles an hour with his four seamer.
He got some whiffs.
So I'm, he's a guy coming back from KBO,
put together one of the best seasons in KBO history for a pitcher.
I think Cody Ponce has some upside.
All right, the names for me here at Closer.
I'm going with the Homer pick, David Bednar.
Once he got traded to the Yankees last season,
he was lights out.
You know, did struggle with control the year prior,
but that looks like an outlier to the rest of his career.
And then for the SPARP,
I'm going with Braxton Ashcraft of the Pirates.
He's got two different fastballs, two different breaking balls,
prospect pedigree, some great numbers in the miners before last season.
He got called up and actually looked really good with the pirates last year.
So the SPARP, Braxton Ashcraft, the closer for me is David Bednar.
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