Fantasy Baseball Early ADP Analysis: Top-10 Picks, Pitchers Aplenty, and the Relief Pitcher Debate

The MLB season is closing in quickly, so fantasy baseball drafts will ramp up in the weeks to come. Today, let's start looking over average draft position data, first taking a broad look at things.

We will break things down by position in the days/weeks to come.

Fantasy baseball average draft position data can be found on FantasySP!

Top-10 Picks

The top fantasy pick on average so far is Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani.

That's no surprise, as the two-way star is hard to argue against. Even if your leagues separate him into two players (pitcher and hitter), Ohtani is still a good option. As a hitter, he has a claim for the top spot still, while as a pitcher, he drops down a bit.

I think Ohtani is the pretty clear No. 1 fantasy pick. He was the top-scoring player in points leagues last year, and I think he will replicate that feat in 2026.

In the No. 2 draft slot right now is New York Yankees' Aaron Judge. 

Again, that's a pretty clear cut choice in my eyes. Judge was the No. 2 fantasy player overall last season, and I have him in that same slot again in 2026.

New York Mets' Juan Soto and Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. are the Nos. 3 and 4 draft picks on average right now. Cleveland's Jose Ramirez is pretty close to Witt as well, and is the No. 5 overall pick on average.

I have Witt at No. 3 and Soto at No. 4, but those two are pretty interchangeable in my eyes. I have Ramirez sixth for the upcoming season.

Soto was the No. 3 fantasy hitter last season, while Ramirez took fourth. Witt finished ninth. While all three of those hitters are great options, it was Detroit pitcher Tarik Skubal who scored the third-most fantasy points last season.

Skubal isn't even the first pitcher on the ADP list though - that honor belongs to Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes. The Pirates' young phenom was the No. 3 fantasy pitcher last season, behind Skenes and Boston's Garrett Crochet.

In the early ADP data, Skenes is the sixth overall fantasy player taken, with Skubal in seventh and Crochet in eighth. I have Skubal fifth on my list, with Crochet in eighth and Skenes in ninth.

All three pitchers are certainly worth high-end picks in my eyes, but it's definitely risky taking players who only perform once every five days. An injury, even a short-term one, could decimate their fantasy values.

Skubal has the highest upside in my eyes as the best pitcher in the game. Crochet and Skenes aren't far behind Skubal, and all three are still worth top-10 picks I think.

After the run of pitchers, Arizona's Corbin Carroll and Los Angeles Dodgers' Kyle Tucker are the ninth and 10th players taken in fantasy drafts on average.

Carroll was the No. 14 fantasy hitter a season ago, and factoring pitchers, he ranked a little lower than that overall. He's got a great fantasy upside though, which is why he ranks so highly. I have Carroll ranked seventh for the upcoming year, but he's safely in my top 10.

Tucker was not part of my top-12 picks. I made that list before he signed with LA, but even after the move, I'm not that high on Tucker.

He's battled injuries the past couple seasons, which definitely downgrades him in my eyes. Tucker's numbers simply haven't been top-10 pick worthy, so I think fantasy owners are reaching if they take him in the top 10. I'd have him closer to 15, and maybe even 20.

Other Pitchers Going Early

Aside from the two-way star Ohtani and the three-headed monster of Skubal, Crochet and Skenes, there's seven other pitchers being taken in the top-30 picks.

LA Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the No. 15 overall fantasy player taken on average. He's going around pick 16 on average.

San Francisco's Logan Webb (25.2 ADP), Seattle's Bryan Woo (25.6), Philadelphia's Cristopher Sanchez (25.6), Seattle's Logan Gilbert (25.8), Houston's Hunter Brown (27.2) and New York Yankees' Max Fried (30.4) are the other pitchers ranked inside the top 30. 

In other words, if you miss out on Skubal, Skenes or Crochet, there's more than enough other pitchers to consider within the first three rounds. 

When Should Relievers Be Taken?

It's always a big question/debate on where fantasy relief pitchers should be taken.

So far, the top fantasy reliever is LA Dodgers' Edwin Diaz. He's going around pick 41 on average. San Diego's Mason Miller (43) and Seattle's Andres Munoz (46.2) are other relievers being picked in the top 50.

When the first relievers start being picked, usually other fantasy owners panic, and that leads to fantasy relievers being taken too early.

Things are trending that way in the first look at the ADP data. Eight other relievers are being taken in the top-100 picks right now.

Just to prove my point, let's use last year as an example. 

Aroldis Chapman was the top fantasy relief pitcher in points leagues last season, finishing 18th among pitchers (starters or relievers). He scored 382 fantasy points (according to ESPN scoring).

Thirty-five fantasy hitters scored more than 382 points. So, Chapman finished 53rd in fantasy points.

I think the 50s are the picks where I'd really start to consider fantasy relievers. Anything earlier than that and you won't get back a ton of draft value out of them.

We'll get into that more when we cover relievers. And again, be sure to check back in the days/weeks to come for more ADP analysis as the 2026 fantasy baseball season closes in!