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Ideally, the top players at every position in Fantasy Baseball are going to give you well-rounded production. What separates the deepest positions like outfield and shortstop from the weaker positions like first base and second base is how quickly the four- or five-category production runs out.
At second base, it runs out extremely quickly. Ketel Marte won't steal many bases, but he should be a standout in the other four; Jose Altuve won't drive in many runs, but he'll be at least a plus in the other four; Ozzie Albies and Marcus Semien probably won't help you much in batting average, but you should get solid production everywhere else. After that? Well, we've run out of our sure bets, haven't we?
And that's the key problem at second base. You can find useful players here at pretty much any point in the draft, especially if you're looking for batting average or steals. But since the juiced ball era came to a semi-official end in 2022, finding power at second base is increasingly difficult to do. And, because power is so tied to other measures of run production, finding runs and RBI at second base is tough, too.
- Position Strategies: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
- Position Previews: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
- Position Tiers (v. 2.0): C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
That's the real, literal weakness of the position. In 2024, only four players who primarily played second base had even four homers; only three scored 90 runs, and only two drove in even 80 runs. Compare that to steals, where you had five 30-steal 2B and 10 with at least 20. And even at batting average, we had four hit at least .280 (min. 400 PA), seven who hit at least .270, and 12 who hit at least .260.
Second base is, outside of the top tier especially, a position of specialists. You probably won't find the centerpiece of your lineup here, but you might find some nice complementary pieces to fill in the gaps in your roster. And it's a position with surprising depth, too, with plenty of options worth considering (and maybe even getting excited about!) in the 18-24 range of the rankings.
Who you pick at second base may not determine the fate of your season, but with the right approach, it could help put you over the top.
One thing to note before we get into the meat of this position preview piece, and it could be another reason to be optimistic about the state of second base: We could get a ton of high-end players gaining 2B eligibility early in the season. Jazz Chisholm sounds like he's going back to second base for the Yankees, for example, and he would be right there with Ketel Marte as the top player at second base ... unless Mookie Betts gains eligibility there. The Dodgers have said they plan on having him start at shortstop, but with the signing of Hyeseong Kim, the best alignment might be Kim at short and Betts at second; they could also play Tommy Edman at shortstop if Andy Pages or James Outman takes the center field job in Spring Training.
Additionally, Matt McLain is returning to second base after missing all of last season for the Reds amid shoulder and rib injuries. There's also potentially an outside chance Cubs top prospect Matt Shaw could gain 2B eligibility if Nico Hoerner has to miss time to open the season while recovering from elbow surgery, and there's even some talk of Isaac Paredes moving to second base if top third base prospect Cam Smith forces his way onto the roster.
Which is to say, this position could look a whole lot better about a week into the season than it currently does. I'm not sure that should dramatically change your perception of the position, but you could choose to look at it with a rosier tint.
When the only knock on a player is that they "can't" stay healthy, then when they finally do stay healthy, there's going to be a ton of value there. Marte has long been one of the best hitters at 2B, and while we shouldn't expect a repeat of 2024 exactly, he's always had this kind of upside when he can stay on the field (something he's done for at least 130 games three seasons in a row).
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He's not the guy he once was, and you have to wonder how long he can keep this up before the bottom falls out. A spike in his strikeout rate two years ago hasn't derailed him yet, but can he afford to lose much more bat speed? On the other hand, there was a clear decline in Altuve's skill set last season, and he still managed to hit .295 with 20 homers and 22 steals. As long as you aren't expecting superstar production from him, Altuve is still an extremely valuable starting option. And, here's a fun, unexpected bonus: Altuve is moving to the outfield this season, which will give you a little added flexibility when setting your lineups after the first week or so of the season.
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Albies' two worst seasons have coincided with a league context where the ball didn't seem to be traveling as far, and given his limited raw power (especially as a left-handed hitter), it's fair to be skeptical about how he'll fare in a context without the juiced ball. Of course, his two worst seasons have also come when he has been limited to fewer than 100 games due to fluky-seeming injuries, which complicates any attempt to analyze his play. If you aren't expecting 30-plus homers from Albies, I think you won't be disappointed with what he gives you. It's not superstar production as much as solid five-category work.
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Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, Fantasy drafters are abandoning Semien after one bad season. Maybe that'll be the right call, but I can't bring myself to get too worked up about it. Semien still makes a ton of contact and still does an excellent job consistently lifting the ball to the pull side. He's as good a bet for 100-plus runs as you'll find, and if the batting average bounces back to the .255 range, he's going to be a fine value at his current cost.
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Westburg is about 85% as good as Gunnar Henderson at pretty much everything, and Henderson figures to be a first-round pick for the next half-decade or so, so there's a lot to like about Westburg. He's a plus athlete who hits the ball hard in the air, and while his plate discipline isn't great, he makes enough contact (and does damage when he does) to overcome that. And with the left field fence being moved in at Camden Yards, his job gets even easier this season. He could be a top-40 pick this time next year.
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There's a lot to like about what Garcia did as a 24-year-old, as he tapped into his plus raw power and took advantage of Washington's willingness to let everyone run en route to more than doubling his career steals total. However, he's still likely to be just a platoon bat, which makes his price prohibitive, especially if there's any regression from his one-year breakout as a hitter.
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Even in his big breakout season, Turang was basically a one-category player, providing replacement-level production or worse in pretty much every category except steals. And he completely collapsed in the second half of the season, hitting .220/.277/.287. His speed and defense should keep him in the lineup more often than not, but he also might be a total drag on four of your five categories, making him viable only in specific team builds.
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Bogaerts got off to a tough start to the season and then went on the IL with a shoulder injury in late May, so it might have been reasonable to assume he was just done as a Fantasy contributor at that point. However, from the time he came back to the end of the season, Bogaerts hit .292 with an 18-homer, 24-steal pace. Rumors of Bogaerts' demise have been greatly exaggerated.
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The biggest problem with Hoerner as of early February was that we didn't know when he's going to be able to play after having flexor tendon surgery in October. But it sure sounds like the team plans on having him in the lineup for Week 1 of the Fantasy Baseball season -- he won't travel to Japan for the two-game opening series, but will play in games while the team is away with the hope of being in the lineup for the second Opening Day. And that could make him a huge discount in drafts over the final few weeks. Hoerner is a potential standout in three of five categories, but there's a chance this injury just limits him all season, to be fair.
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With the move from Tropicana Field to George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Rays are moving from one of the toughest hitter's parks in baseball to one that should play at least as average – and potentially even better, especially for a left-handed power hitter like Lowe. Yes, he may just be a platoon bat, and yes, he has had a lot of trouble staying healthy in recent years. But even amid two very injury-riddled seasons, Lowe has continued to put up 30-homer, 90-RBI paces over the past two seasons. When he's on the field, he's going to be the single best source of power at the position, and you won't have to pay that kind of price for him.
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Rengifo battled through a wrist injury for a while before ultimately undergoing surgery that ended his season, and it robbed us of some much-needed proof of what sure looked like a breakout season otherwise. Rengifo's batting average was probably never going to be sustainable (he had a .262 xBA), but if his near-50 steal pace was at all legitimate, this is still a profile worth getting excited about. Rengifo figures to hit near the top of the Angels lineup, and if he can hit around .270, he could be an impactful Fantasy option, with the potential for 15 homers and 90 runs. And if he's a 30-plus steal guy, that's a really solid skill set; if he's a 40-steal guy, he might be a top-five 2B.
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Gimenez hasn't come close to repeating his 2022 season since. In fact, he's taken a step back in each of the two seasons since, and he no longer seems like a good bet to contribute much in batting average despite his solid contact skills. It basically makes Gimenez a speed specialist, though one who could hit .280 if some things go right for him. He's kind of the poster child for the lack of reliable options outside of the top-10 at this position, and without a ton of upside even if things go right, he should hardly be a priority add. He is someone you settle on – and the same is true for Bryson Stott.
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A year ago, Holliday was pretty close to the consensus top prospect in baseball, an unusually mature 20-year-old with an elite approach at the plate, plus contact skills, and developing power. I don't want to write him off as a 21-year-old, but it's fair to say 2024 really didn't go as planned. The approach at the plate was still more or less fine – he swung at the pitches he should have, more or less, and did decent damage when he made contact. The problem is, those "plus contact skills" were nowhere to be found, as his 34.1% whiff rate in the majors was nine points higher than the average. Being overwhelmed as a 20-year-old in the majors doesn't mean Holliday can't become an impact player, but it certainly makes it harder to project an immediate impact. With an Opening Day job pretty much guaranteed at this point, Holliday is well worth the late-round flier in all leagues.
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Arraez is a one-of-one player. Nobody makes contact like this guy, and there isn't a better bet for batting average in the entire majors. The problem is, that's pretty much all he does. He hit four homers last season. He stole a career-high nine bases, which was good for 124th in baseball; his career-high 83 runs were 39th. In specific team build, Arraez can be a fine pick, but unless you really, really need batting average help, he's not much use.
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Even as a middle infielder, I'm not particularly interested in Torres this year. I could have been talked into the potential for a bounceback season, especially after he hit .292/.361/.419 after the All-Star break in 2024. But once he signed with the Tigers, my interest level pretty much disappeared. Per BaseballSavant.com's data, he would have hit 143 games if he played every game of his career at Yankee Stadium, including 17 last season; at Comerica Park, it would have been 104 homers for his career, and just nine last season. This was just about a worst-case scenario for Torres' Fantasy value.
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As a fallback option, I kind of like India this season. I think he's going to struggle to hit for much power – per that same BaseballSavant.com data, India would have hit half as many homers at Kauffman Stadium compared to the Great American Ballpark – but I think he could be extremely useful in other ways. He should hit for a useful batting average – he had a .266 xBA last season, and Kauffman actually boosts batting average almost as much as GABP, thanks to a huge outfield that allows for tons of doubles and triples to fall in – and he's likely going to hit leadoff ahead of a very good top of the Royals lineup. It's hard to find runs in the later parts of your drafts, but I think India is a pretty good bet for 90-plus if he stays healthy.
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I've never gotten as excited about Morel as some in the Fantasy community, but there's no question that he still brings significant upside to the table. Even in a down year, he still had 21 homers and eight steals last season, after all. Playing for the Rays always comes with playing time concerns, and he'll need to hit better than .196 to matter either way. But if he can get back to being more like a .250 hitter, we saw how high the ceiling can be in 2023, when he had 26 homers and six steals in just 107 games. As a late-round flier, you can certainly do worse.
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Look, I'm not totally opposed to the idea of giving Vaughn Grissom another chance, something the Red Sox are reportedly at least considering ahead of Spring Training. And if Grissom comes out in Spring Training and wins the job, hey, more power to him. But let's be honest: The Red Sox absolutely cannot afford to be complacent about the second base spot in their lineup, because it was an absolute disaster in 2024 – their second basemen collectively had just a 45 wRC+, the worst mark by any team at the position since the 2021 Orioles. If the Red Sox want to be serious about contending in 2025, they can't have a black hole in the lineup like that again. The good news is, they have a viable backup plan now in case Grissom looks overmatched again. And, frankly, Campbell should probably just be the Plan A at this point. He doesn't have a long track record, but he just put together one of the most impressive seasons by anyone in the minors in 2024, hitting .330/.439/.558 while getting all the way to Triple-A and more than holding his own. He's a universal top-20 prospect (at least), and while I can see the case for giving him a bit more time in the minors to prove it was 100% for real – he only played 19 games at Triple-A and only 75 above A ball – Campbell might be the team's best option for the keystone right now. It shouldn't be long before we see him there one way or the other.
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Westburg barely cracks the top five of the most hyped Orioles prospect debuts over the past four years, but he established himself as a player worth getting excited about in 2024, and there's room to grow. At the risk of oversimplifying, Westburg is kind of a lesser version of Gunnar Henderson, combining a well-rounded skill set with tools that aren't quite as loud as Henderson's but which still should lead to big production. Especially now that the Orioles are moving the fences in left field back in, after a multi-year experiment that saw it become arguably the toughest place in baseball for right-handed hitters to homer. The park should play much closer to average, at least, and that'll only help Westburg, who was on pace for 25 homers before a late-July hit-by-pitch left him with a broken hand that cost all but six of the final 53 games of the season. One trick we'd like to see him borrow from Henderson: Turning his 91st percentile sprint speed into something like 20-plus steals, the way Henderson went from 10 to 21 in his second full season. The path to a truly impactful season from Westburg is trivially easy to see.
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If the Nationals were ever going to give Garcia a chance to truly play every day, wouldn't last year have been the time? They entered the second half of last season nine games under .500 and Garcia still only started 77% of the team's games after the All-Star break – this despite Garcia playing at a higher level than ever before. He started just 15 games against lefties last season and I just don't see much reason to think that's going to change in 2025. If the breakout he enjoyed in 2024 was for real, he could still be worth a top-120 pick, but I think there's plenty of reason to be skeptical – especially about his 22 steals, which were 13 more than his 2023 total despite what remains below average foot speed. With Garcia likely to put you at a deficit in runs and RBI due to his lack of an everyday role, you really need him to be a 20-20-type hitter, and that's no sure bet.
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Second Base Top Prospects
1. Kristian Campbell, 2B, Red Sox
Age (on opening day): 22
Where he played in 2024: High-A, Double-A, Triple-A
Minor-league stats: .330 BA (430 AB), 20 HR, 24 SB, .997 OPS, 74 BB, 103 K
Campbell showed some hitter-ish qualities at Georgia Tech, convincing the Red Sox to take him with a fourth-round pick in 2023, but it's the work they've put in since then -- adding bat speed and, with it, power -- that's turned him into an absolute masher. His rapid ascent last year has him breathing down the neck of other young infield/outfield options like Vaughn Grissom, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu, and he figures to blow past them all sooner than later.
Scott's 2025 Fantasy impact: fighting this spring
2. Travis Bazzana, 2B, Guardians
Age (on opening day): 22
Where he played in 2024: High-A
Minor-league stats: .238 BA (101 AB), 3 HR, 5 SB, .765 OPS, 17 BB, 31 K
Bazzana's professional debut wasn't a flawless one, but the profile remains near-flawless for the top pick in the 2024 draft, highlighted by strong swing decisions, plus exit velocities and opportunistic baserunning. The decision to move on from Andres Gimenez this offseason would seem to suggest that the Guardians expect Bazzana to take flight this year, and it wouldn't be the shock of all shocks if he made a push in spring training.
Scott's 2025 Fantasy impact: midseason hopeful
3. Luke Keaschall, 2B, Twins
Age (on opening day): 22
Where he played in 2024: High-A, Double-A
Minor-league stats: .303 BA (379 AB), 15 HR, 23 SB, .903 OPS, 62 BB, 80 K
Keaschall's domination across two levels last year is all the more impressive when you consider he was playing through an elbow injury that ultimately resulted in Tommy John surgery. It's of little long-term consequence, though, and may only serve to constrain the prospect standing of a player who grades out as about a B in everything, his middling raw power bolstered by his knack for elevating to his pull side.
Scott's 2025 Fantasy impact: midseason hopeful
4. Adael Amador, 2B, Rockies
Age (on opening day): 21
Where he played in 2024: Double-A, majors
Minor-league stats: .230 BA (383 AB), 14 HR, 35 SB, .719 OPS, 62 BB, 88 K
Major-league stats: .171 BA (35 AB), 1 2B, 1 SB, 1 BB, 6 K
Amador was batting .194 on June 9, and yet the Rockies called him up anyway, condemning him to a miserable debut that's only served to tarnish his prospect shine. Turns out the bat-to-ball standout just needed some time to adjust to upper-level pitching, though, because he went on to hit .293 (43 for 147) with seven homers, 10 steals, and a .872 OPS in his final 37 games at Double-A
Scott's 2025 Fantasy impact: midseason hopeful
5. Christian Moore, 2B, Angels
Age (on opening day): 22
Where he played in 2024: Low-A, Double-A
Minor-league stats: .347 BA (101 AB), 6 HR, 2 SB, .984 OPS, 9 BB, 29 K
With his broad shoulders and effortless power to all fields, Moore evokes Yasiel Puig at the plate, and in his first eight games as a professional, mere weeks after the Angels drafted him eighth overall, he looked to be just as meteoric, going 18 for 32 (.563) with six home runs. The strikeouts began to pile up thereafter, which hopefully convinces the Angels to take it slow with him (never their strong suit).
Scott's 2025 Fantasy impact: midseason hopeful
