Fantasy Baseball Player Projections for the Rest of the Season: Plenty of Available Assets Out There at Each Position

Yesterday, I looked at the current MLB standings for each division, along with the wild card races, then gave my projections for how things would go in the playoffs.

Today, I wanted to offer up some player projections for the rest of the season, with help from the FantasySP Rest of Season Rankings page.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including waiver pickups, projections, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant.

Top-End Players

It's no surprise to see Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge leading the list for the rest of the season. Ohtani is currently projected for three more fantasy points, and both players are 35+ points ahead of anyone else.

In leagues where Ohtani picks up pitching and hitting stats, he is likely going to outscore everyone else for the rest of the season, unless a hitter or pitcher goes on a crazy run. In time, Ohtani could overtake Judge as the top fantasy player, but we're not there yet.

Jose Ramirez, Kyle Tucker, Juan Soto, Bobby Witt Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Chourio round out the top-10 fantasy hitters for the remainder of the season.

Those are all big-name players, and were before the season too. The only surprise of that group is Chourio. He's probably the cheapest trade option in that bunch, and could really be a big boost to your fantasy team.

Switching over to pitching options, Zack Wheeler is the top-projected fantasy asset at 253 points. Tarik Skubal is at 243 points, while Hunter Brown is at 230 points.

I'm personally a bigger fan of Skubal over Wheeler, but would be thrilled to have any of those three guys on my fantasy team. They are all elite, and can help power fantasy teams to greatness.

Paul Skenes, Max Fried, Robbie Ray, Framber Valdez, Joe Ryan, Jacob deGrom and Sonny Gray round out the top-10 list of fantasy starting pitchers.

Most of those guys are near the top of the fantasy leaderboard right now, but some, like Ryan and Gray, might be a bit easier to acquire in a trade.

Catchers

It's no surprise to see Cal Raleigh atop the catcher list for the rest of the season rankings. He's way ahead of second-place catcher William Contreras as well.

A lot of fantasy owners want to sell high on Raleigh, but I don't think you'll be able to replace him at catcher, and getting additional players outside another catcher likely isn't going to match what Raleigh can bring at the catcher slot. I'm more inclined to just keep rostering Raleigh this season and hope he keeps delivering monster numbers.

After Contreras, rookie Agustin Ramirez is the next catcher on the rest of the season rankings. He's followed by Alejandro Kirk, Yainer Diaz, Salvador Perez, Will Smith, Ryan Jeffers, Hunter Goodman and J.T. Realmuto.

There's some waiver wire options among that group, and if you've been struggling with your catchers, taking a chance on one of those guys makes a ton of sense. It's interesting to see Smith ranked as low as he is - that suggests he's a sell-high trade candidate right now.

First Basemen

Guerrero leads the first base position, and he's 31 points ahead of anyone else. He's been trending up, and is a great guess for who leads the position the rest of the season.

After Vladdy, Matt Olson, Freddie Freeman and Pete Alonso check in. Those are all elite fantasy talents. Alonso has led the position in fantasy points so far, so the rest of the season projections are saying it's a good time to sell high on him.

Luis Arraez, Vinnie Pasquantino, Yandy Diaz, Nolan Schanuel, Michael Busch and Jonathan Aranda round out the top-10 first baseman on the rest of the season rankings. 

There's some underrated fantasy assets in that bunch, but I want to highlight Schanuel. He's widely available in fantasy leagues and is really underrated in fantasy baseball leagues. Schanuel is one of those players I'd suggest adding, and in time, you'll see just how valuable he can be.

Second Basemen

A bit surprisingly, Nico Hoerner leads the second base position, ahead of Ketel Marte by nine points. I like Marte, and have as the top 2B all season, but this shows how underrated Hoerner is, and what kind of fantasy help he can provide. Hoerner should also be pretty affordable to acquire in a trade.

Gleyber Torres is next, followed by Brice Turang, Brendan Donovan, Otto Lopez, Ozzie Albies, Luis Garcia Jr., Marcus Semien and Jonathan India.

Most of those guys are already owned in most leagues, but a few should be available if you are struggling with second basemen so far. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is another second base option that I really like, as is Jackson Holliday.

Third Basemen

Jose Ramirez is the top third baseman, and that should surprise nobody. He's 45 points clear of anyone else.

Manny Machado is second, while Eugenio Suarez is third. Junior Caminero and Maikel Garcia round out the top five. Suarez has been a fantasy surprise this season, but the rankings suggest he's going to keep performing and to buy into him instead of trying to sell high.

Isaac Paredes, Ernie Clement, Caleb Durbin, Alec Bohm and Zach McKinstry are the other top-10 third basemen at this time. Durbin is the biggest surprise among those players and is widely available - deep-league fantasy owners should consider adding him.

Guys like Nolan Arenado, Matt Chapman, Mark Vientos and Jordan Westburg are outside the top 10 but are the big-name fantasy options. The projections are suggesting to sell high on them and look elsewhere for help the rest of the season.

Shortstops

Witt is the top-projected shortstop, followed by Lindor, Elly De La Cruz, Mookie Betts and Trea Turner. If you have any of those guys, you don't need to worry about the shortstop position for the rest of the season.

Geraldo Perdomo, Gunnar Henderson, CJ Abrams, Zach Neto and Willy Adames round out the top 10 at the position. Neto and Adames are a couple waiver wire options, while Perdomo is expected to keep delivering after his great first half to the season. 

Shortstop is an absolutely loaded fantasy position, as we haven't mentioned Dansby Swanson, Xavier Edwards, Xander Bogaerts, Anthony Volpe, Bo Bichette, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Carlos Correa and many others who are really solid fantasy options.

Outfielders

After Judge, Tucker, Soto, Tatis and Chourio, Brent Rooker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ronald Acuna Jr., Cody Bellinger and Steven Kwan round out the top-10 projection list in the outfield.

Those guys are all great fantasy options and owned in all leagues. Some are probably pretty affordable if you are interested in trading for one of them. 

Christian Yelich, James Wood, Jarren Duran, Jose Altuve, Julio Rodriguez, Byron Buxton, TJ Friedl, Lawrence Butler, George Springer and Jung Hoo Lee are ranked 11th-20th. Brandon Nimmo, Andy Pages, Riley Greene, Taylor Ward, Ian Happ, Sal Frelick, Heliot Ramos, Nick Castellanos, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randy Arozarena are ranked 21st-30th.

Most of those guys are already owned in all leagues, but a few are possible waiver pickups. There's some bounceback candidates in there too, like Rodriguez and Lee, so there's buy-low opportunities too.

There's plenty of fantasy outfielders to go around. Guys ranked outside the top 30 that I like include Jackson Merrill, Teoscar Hernandez, Chandler Simpson, Cam Smith, Corbin Carroll, Wyatt Langford, Kyle Stowers, Tyler Freeman, Roman Anthony and Jurickson Profar.

Starting Pitchers

After the top-10 starting pitchers, Cristopher Sanchez, Logan Webb, Jose Berrios, Carlos Rodon, Matthew Boyd, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Crochet, Freddy Peralta, Merrill Kelly and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are ranked 11th-20th.

There's some pricey fantasy trade assets in that bunch, but also some guys who might be available in some leagues, and really affordable in trades in others. 

Yusei Kikuchi, Kevin Gausman, Shane Baz, Bryan Woo, Noah Cameron, Jose Soriano, Ryan Pepiot, David Peterson, Jack Flaherty and Jesus Luzardo round out the top-30 projected starting pitchers.

There's more waiver wire possibilities in that group, and not super expensive trade targets. Trading for these guys might not seem like major moves, but they can take fantasy teams to the next level.

Some names I like outside the top 30 are: Ranger Suarez, MacKenzie Gore, Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob Misiorowski, Andrew Abbott, George Kirby, Shota Imanaga, Mitch Keller, Dylan Cease, Edward Cabrera, Casey Mize, Spencer Strider, Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Houser, Kris Bubic, Reese Olson, and many others.

Relief Pitchers

Unsurprisingly, Josh Hader is the top-projected fantasy reliever for the rest of the season. He'd be my guess to lead the way as well.

Emmanuel Clase, Carlos Estevez, Mason Miller, Robert Suarez, Edwin Diaz, Felix Bautista, Kenley Jansen, Raisel Iglesias and Ryan Helsley round out the top-10 relievers.

There's some possible waiver wire pickups among that group. I'm never a huge fan of trading for fantasy relievers, but some of these relievers might be pretty cheap at this point, if they aren't available on the waiver wire.

Some other fantasy relievers I like are: Devin Williams, Tanner Scott, Andres Munoz, Jeff Hoffman, Trevor Megill, Pete Fairbanks, Will Vest, Daniel Palencia, Camilo Doval and Aroldis Chapman. There's plenty of options available, even some non-closers, which is why I wouldn't trade for a fantasy reliever.