Over here at Fantasy Baseball Today, we're trying to stay focused on the here and now to help you get to your and win your Fantasy championships, but I also know plenty of you out there don't have much to play for. I appreciate you reading if that's the case, and so before we get to a recap of Thursday's action from around MLB, I want to turn my attention to 2025 for a little while. Scott White already did that with his list of 20 bold predictions for 2025, which you should check out here -- because, hey, Scott nailed Tarik Skubal being the 2024 Al Cy Young Award winner in last year's version of the column.
For me, I've started to give my way-too-early rankings for 2025 a look. Over the past couple of days, I've been going through the infield positions to get some preliminary rankings up to date, and it's a tough process, mostly because it's not quite possible to know who, exactly, will be eligible at which positions right now. For instance, we know Mookie Betts will be eligible at shortstop, as he played 65 games there, well clear of the 20 needed to retain eligibility. At second base, it'll be a very close call, with 17 appearances there, though none since mid-August.
At this point, I'm not including Betts in my second base rankings for 2025, and he's one of several big-name, current second basemen who aren't likely to be eligible there in 2025. There are also some pretty significant names at third base who won't be eligible there next season, which means those two could be the clear weak points of the infield.
I'm not done with my rankings for the infield yet, and I haven't even started on the outfield and pitcher positions, but I wanted to highlight a few interesting preliminary player rankings for you this week. Next week, I'll do the same for outfielder and pitcher rankings, and, of course, all of this is very much still malleable; we probably won't finalize any rankings for 2025, even way too early ones, until sometime after the season ends.
And they'll change a ton between then and next year's draft season. But for now, here's a look at the most interesting or notable players at catcher, first base, second base, third base, and shortstop from my preliminary runs:
Five surprises from my first attempt at 2025 rankings
J.T. Realmuto – No. 8 catcher
Realmuto has attempted one steal since coming back from his knee surgery, and if that just isn't going to be part of his game, this might end up being too optimistic, even if it's the lowest he's ranked in nearly a decade. However, he has remained a pretty productive player despite that, hitting .276/.343/.449 since coming back from the injury, with a 20-homer, 90-RBI pace. We'll see how he closes out the season after coming back from a setback with his knee Friday, but at this point, I just can't bring myself to move the likes of Willson Contreras, Austin Wells, or Francisco Alvarez ahead of him. Realmuto is no longer a true difference-maker at the position, but I think he's still a solid starter.
Vinnie Pasquantino – No. 9 first baseman
As Scott noted earlier in the week, Pasquantino was one of the biggest risers in the second half before his season-ending thumb injury, mostly because he just started playing up to expectations. Pasquantino's solid contact skills and plus raw power have long made him someone we expected to be a dominant hitter, but whether because of just bad luck or his big home park, he just wasn't living up to what we knew he could be capable of. But Pasquantino hit .296/.325/.497 after the All-Star break with a 34-homer, 149-RBI pace after the break, and while I do think the Royals are a prime candidate for some regression in 2025, Pasquantino seems like a solid choice as your primary first baseman – and one who might still have a bit of breakout potential.
Luis Garcia – No. 6 second baseman
To a certain extent, this is a reflection of the looming weakness of the position, which will probably be losing Mookie Betts, Xavier Edwards, Spencer Steer, Luis Arraez, and Tyler Fitzgerald, among others who are currently eligible. Garcia is having a solid season, with 15 homers and 21 steals, but he also has just 114 combined runs and RBI, and it's not clear the Nationals view him as an everyday player at this point. His underlying numbers largely back up what he's done this season, but he's also probably a middle infielder in most leagues in an ideal world. But when guys like Brandon Lowe, Brice Turang, Nico Hoerner, and Bryson Stott still look like top-12 second basemen, I'll bet on Garcia, who does at least have the strongest all-around skill set of that group.
Eugenio Suarez – No. 12 third baseman
I genuinely don't know what to do with Suarez at this point, but here's something pretty shocking: He is a top-40 player in all of Fantasy for the entire season right now. Just a few spots in the overall rankings behind Rafael Devers. That's stunning, but when you look at the overall numbers, it actually makes sense – he's tied for sixth among 3B in runs, is fifth in homers, and is fourth in RBI, with a not-totally-harmful .256 batting average. He's cut his strikeout rate to 26.3%, his best mark since 2018, without sacrificing quality of contact, which explains the big bounceback. But it's almost entirely based on his success since July 1 – prior to that, he was hitting just .196/.279/.312 and looked like a complete afterthought for Fantasy. The floor is still incredibly low here, and I'll admit I just don't quite know how to balance that, so I'll just stick him here for now.
Xavier Edwards – No. 12 shortstop
I'll grant that this might just be too aggressive a ranking for a guy with a two-month sample of success at the MLB level, and I'd be a lot more confident with ranking him aggressively if it looked like he was going to retain second base eligibility. That being said, we are talking about a former top prospect who hit .304/.380/.411 in his Triple-A career, so the idea that he might be a legitimate standout in batting average (in addition to speed) seems pretty realistic to me. He has just a 16.2% strikeout rate this season and a 73-steal pace in the majors, and I'm comfortable taking the flier on the upside there over the more boring names who make up the next tier at shortstop.