Before we get to anything else this offseason, I want to take a look ahead at 2025. Yes, I know it's way too early for rankings, but I do like to establish a baseline set of expectations to begin the offseason that I can compare to as we go on. Scott White has already begun the process of ranking 2025 as well, touching on catcher, first base, and second base here, and he goes deeper on each position and gives his thoughts on each player, so you should make sure to check that out. 

I'm not going as deep yet because I want to get an overview down on digital ink before that. Over the next few weeks, I'll be going through each position myself, reviewing 2024 and looking ahead to 2025, along with offering some way-too-early sleepers, breakouts, and busts right here in your inbox. 

And I'll be here all offseason long, whether you're getting ready to make some moves in your Dynasty league or just getting a head start on the competition for 2025, the FBT Newsletter and podcast will be here to help all offseason.

Now, let's get to those way-too-early rankings: 

Way-too-early 2025 Rankings

Oh, before we start, I guess I should point this out: There are going to be some big-name players you won't see in the below rankings, because I'm not ranking DH-only players yet. They'll be included in top-300s when those come out, but for now, I'm leaving them off to the side. 

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But those DH-only players are actually going to be a big storyline in 2025, because around half the league will likely be drafting one next year. Shohei Ohtani is obviously a first-rounder and probably the first overall pick in every league, but we also have to account for  Marcell Ozuna, Kyle Schwarber, and Brent Rooker, who were all top-20 hitters in Fantasy this season. But they'll probably all fall to a point where they will be nice values in drafts next year, and I'm probably going to plan on having one on every one of my teams.

Yeah, it hurts your flexibility at points in the season -- though at least Schwarber and Rooker could conceivably gain eligibility, as both played five or more games in the outfield this season. But if there are roughly six DH-only players worth starting at any given point -- Joc Pederson, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen, Masataka Yoshida, and J.D. Martinez all qualified for "worth starting" status, as did Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Manzardo, while Eloy Jimenez could be a viable bounceback candidate -- that means half of a 12-team league is in the same boat. At this point, how much does it really make sense to discount those DH-only guys?

A little bit, to be certain. But if I can get a hitter like Brent Rooker outside of the top-100 in my drafts next year, I'm certainly not going to pass on it just because he is DH-only. And I think those kinds of discounts could be plentiful for 2025. 

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And one other note here that applies to all of these rankings: We're six months out from the start of next season, so don't hold me to any of these. There's a lot of offseason left and a lot of research to do between now and next February when draft season really starts to kick off. So, while I stand by these rankings for now, consider pretty much all of them to be relatively weakly held positions. I reserve the right to change my mind! 

Catcher

Despite the emergence of guys like Shea Langeliers and the further establishment of William Contreras and Yainier Diaz as legit stars, the catcher remains pretty messy for Fantasy. I would feel pretty good about any of the first six as my starter in a one-catcher league, but after that, there are still a lot of questions here. The biggest one for me might be, "Will Francisco Alvarez ever live up to the hype? 

  1. William Contreras, MIL
  2. Adley Rutschman, BAL
  3. Will Smith, LAD
  4. Cal Raleigh, SEA
  5. Salvador Perez, KC
  6. Yainer Diaz, HOU
  7. Shea Langeliers, OAK
  8. J.T. Realmuto, PHI
  9. Willson Contreras, STL
  10. Austin Wells, NYY
  11. Francisco Alvarez, NYM
  12. Logan O'Hoppe, LAA

First base

No, I don't think you should use Salvador Perez as your first baseman in 2025. Obviously, I don't. But we rank players where they are eligible and would slot in for the overall rankings, hence Perez's inclusion here. And that's fine by me, because I think first base is an 11-man position right now, and I'm really not sure who I would rank if I went beyond the top 12. Rhys Hoskins? Jake Burger? Alec Burleson? Yeah, the pickings outside of that top 11 are pretty slim. 

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  1. Vladimir Guerrero, TOR
  2. Freddie Freeman, LAD
  3. Bryce Harper, PHI
  4. Matt Olson, ATL
  5. Pete Alonso, NYM
  6. Josh Naylor, CLE
  7. Spencer Steer, CIN
  8. Vinnie Pasquantino, KC
  9. Christian Walker, ARI
  10. Triston Casas, BOS
  11. Cody Bellinger, CHC
  12. Salvador Perez, KC

Second base

And second base might be worse! If we were ranking every position against every other one -- as we will once top-300 rankings are due -- I'm not sure Luis Garcia would definitely be a top-10 option at any other position except catcher. I like him, but it's still not clear he's an everyday player, and this was by far the best season of his career. There's room to grow with him and a few others here, but we'll need several players to step forward (and for the trio of over-30 guys in the top four not to step back) for this not to be the weakest non-catcher position by a mile. 

  1. Ketel Marte, ARI
  2. Jose Altuve, HOU
  3. Ozzie Albies, ATL
  4. Marcus Semien, TEX
  5. Jordan Westburg, BAL
  6. Luis Garcia, WAS
  7. Nico Hoerner, CHC
  8. Brice Turang, MIL
  9. Xander Bogaerts, SD
  10. Brandon Lowe, TB
  11. Luis Rengifo, LAA
  12. Jackson Holliday, BAL

Third base

Third base is a bit better, but I don't exactly feel great about players outside of the top seven here. Bregman is an especially tough player to figure out because it seems like his value is dependent on that short porch in Houston, and he's heading into free agency as a soon-to-be 31-year-old. Since 2020, he has a .356 wOBA at home compared to a .335 mark on the road, in large part thanks to more power at home. I'm not saying his production would just collapse away from Minute Maid Park, but it would make what looks like a somewhat fringe-y Fantasy skill set even more precarious. 

  1. Jose Ramirez, CLE
  2. Rafael Devers, BOS
  3. Austin Riley, ATL
  4. Manny Machado, SD
  5. Jazz Chisholm, NYY
  6. Royce Lewis, MIN
  7. Jordan Westburg, BAL
  8. Alex Bregman, HOU
  9. Mark Vientos, NYM
  10. Alec Bohm, PHI
  11. Eugenio Suarez, ARI
  12. Junior Caminero, TB

Shortstop

I struggled with who to put in the final spot here as much as basically any other position. I'm defaulting to the idea of a Bichette bounceback -- he's just 27 next season and was a consistently .800s OPS bat before a completely lost 2024 season. I don't know if we can bet on the steals ever coming back (just 10 over the past two seasons), but I do think it's reasonable to bet on the bat looking a lot better, likely somewhere besides Toronto, as he enters his final year of team control. I'll bet on a contract-year Bichette, sure. Do I have him too low? 

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  1. Bobby Witt, KC
  2. Elly De La Cruz, CIN
  3. Gunnar Henderson, BAL
  4. Mookie Betts, LAD
  5. Francisco Lindor, NYM
  6. Trea Turner, PHI
  7. Corey Seager, TEX
  8. C.J. Abrams, WAS
  9. Oneil Cruz, PIT
  10. Willy Adames, MIL
  11. Zachary Neto, LAA
  12. Bo Bichette, TOR

Outfield

Outside of the top 15 or so, outfield is pretty wide open. We're a long way from it mattering still, but my preference might be to make sure I have three of the top 20 or so here because I'm not sure there's much that separations 25 and 45 at this point. So, if you think someone from that range is ranked too high or too low, fear not: I probably agree!

  1. Aaron Judge, NYY
  2. Juan Soto, NYY
  3. Mookie Betts, LAD
  4. Ronald Acuna, ATL
  5. Kyle Tucker, HOU
  6. Yordan Alvarez, HOU
  7. Fernando Tatis, SD
  8. Corbin Carroll, ARI
  9. Julio Rodriguez, SEA
  10. Jarren Duran, BOS
  11. Jackson Chourio, MIL
  12. Jazz Chisholm, NYY
  13. Jackson Merrill, SD
  14. Luis Robert, CHW
  15. Michael Harris, ATL
  16. Christian Yelich, MIL
  17. Anthony Santander, BAL
  18. Oneil Cruz, PIT
  19. Teoscar Hernandez, LAD
  20. Bryan Reynolds, PIT
  21. Brenton Doyle, COL
  22. James Wood, WAS
  23. Mike Trout, LAA
  24. Wyatt Langford, TEX
  25. Riley Greene, DET
  26. Jurickson Profar, SD
  27. Steven Kwan, CLE
  28. Lawrence Butler, OAK
  29. Ian Happ, CHC
  30. Cody Bellinger, CHC
  31. Spencer Steer, CIN
  32. Randy Arozarena, SEA
  33. Seiya Suzuki, CHC
  34. Adolis Garcia, TEX
  35. Tyler O'Neill, BOS
  36. Brandon Nimmo, NYM
  37. Cedric Mullins, BAL
  38. Ceddanne Rafaela, BOS
  39. Colton Cowser, BAL
  40. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC
  41. Nick Castellanos, PHI
  42. Tommy Edman, LAD
  43. Heliot Ramos, SF
  44. Parker Meadows, DET
  45. Kerry Carpenter, DET
  46. Evan Carter, TEX
  47. Victor Robles, SEA
  48. Alec Burleson, STL

Starting pitcher

I think there's an obvious top five, and I think this order is pretty obvious. I'm sure many folks out there will rank Skenes higher than Wheeler, given his dominant rookie season, but I just can't bring myself to move him ahead of Wheeler, who has a 2.94 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over the past five seasons while cementing himself as arguably the league's pre-eminent workhorse ace. Skenes is incredible, but we don't quite know how he'll hold up to 170-plus innings, and Wheeler's ceiling is pretty high, too!

  1. Tarik Skubal, DET
  2. Zack Wheeler, PHI
  3. Paul Skenes, PIT
  4. Corbin Burnes, BAL
  5. Chris Sale, ATL
  6. Cole Ragans, KC
  7. Gerrit Cole, NYY
  8. Dylan Cease, SD
  9. Logan Gilbert, SEA
  10. George Kirby, SEA
  11. Pablo Lopez, MIN
  12. Spencer Strider, ATL
  13. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LAD
  14. Garrett Crochet, CHW
  15. Framber Valdez, HOU
  16. Luis Castillo, SEA
  17. Shota Imanaga, CHC
  18. Aaron Nola, PHI
  19. Zac Gallen, ARI
  20. Logan Webb, SF
  21. Max Fried, ATL
  22. Justin Steele, CHC
  23. Bailey Ober, MIN
  24. Hunter Greene, CIN
  25. Tyler Glasnow, LAD
  26. Blake Snell, SF
  27. Sandy Alcantara, MIA
  28. Hunter Brown, HOU
  29. Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL
  30. Carlos Rodon, NYY
  31. Tanner Bibee, CLE
  32. Grayson Rodriguez, BAL
  33. Bryce Miller, SEA
  34. Freddy Peralta, MIL
  35. Sonny Gray, STL
  36. Luis Gil, NYY
  37. Shane McClanahan, TB
  38. Jack Flaherty, LAD
  39. Kodai Senga, NYM
  40. Jared Jones, PIT
  41. Bryan Woo, SEA
  42. Spencer Arrighetti, HOU
  43. Seth Lugo, KC
  44. Kevin Gausman, TOR
  45. Cristopher Sanchez, PHI
  46. Yusei Kikuchi, HOU
  47. Jacob deGrom, TEX
  48. Joe Musgrove, SD

Relief pitcher

The one you'll notice here is Jobe, who I slotted in at 12 to draw attention to the fact that he is likely to be by far the most interesting SPaRP option for 2025. I wrote about Jobe before his brief, season-ending cup of coffee, but he's the top pitching prospect in baseball and looks like he should have a rotation spot waiting for him in Detroit next spring if he doesn't completely implode this postseason. If he isn't in the rotation, then the top SPaRP for 2025 will probably be Bowden Francis, whose upside is a bit tougher to figure out despite his incredible run to close out the season. 

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  1. Emmanuel Clase, CLE
  2. Edwin Diaz, NYM
  3. Josh Hader, HOU
  4. Devin Williams, MIL
  5. Ryan Helsley, STL
  6. Mason Miller, OAK
  7. Raisel Iglesias, ATL
  8. Jhoan Duran, MIN
  9. Andres Munoz, SEA
  10. Robert Suarez, SD
  11. Kirby Yates, TEX
  12. Jackson Jobe, BOS