2025 All-Value Fantasy Team: Position Players

With the regular season in the rearview mirror, it's time for a look back. We're going to go position-by-position identifying the players who provided the most value relative to their draft slot. I'll be using RotoWire's preseason ADP numbers and earned auction values.

Catcher: Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies
ADP: 423.1, 25th among catchers
EAV: 2nd among catchers

Honestly, Cal Raleigh should probably be in this space. He earned $43, per RotoWire's earned auction values, which was more than twice the $18 Goodman earned, and finished as the No. 4 overall performer. Raleigh was a top-70 pick, though, while Goodman went undrafted even in many two-catcher leagues, so I'm going with the Rockies catcher here. Goodman has hit for power throughout his pro career, having belted 36 long balls in 2022 and 34 homers in 2023 in the minors. He hit 13 over the boards in 70 games with the Rockies in 2024. So, a power breakout for the 25-year-old wasn't entirely unexpected. However, he also slashed .190/.228/.417 with a 28.6 percent strikeout rate in 2024 and spent a large chunk of the season in the minors. Goodman wasn't even guaranteed regular playing time heading into 2025, but it became clear early on in the season that the Rockies were going to lean on him as their everyday catcher, and he took advantage of the opportunity, to say the least. Goodman's consistency in 2025 really stood out, as he had an OPS below .800 in just one month (May), and that was also the only month when he didn't hit at least five home runs. Additionally, Goodman wasn't a product of Coors Field, as he hit 18 of his 31 long balls on the road and did so in 17 fewer plate appearances.

Runner-up: Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners

First Base: Nick Kurtz, Sacramento Athletics
ADP: 511.5, 45th among first basemen
EAV: 5th among first basemen

The ADP you see above for Kurtz was not an indictment of his talent. Rather, there was simply doubt he would be an impact bat as soon as 2025, just one year after the Athletics took him with the No. 4 overall pick in the draft. As it turned out, Kurtz didn't even need a full year, with the A's deciding he was ready for the big leagues before the calendar flipped to May. Things were a little rocky initially, with Kurtz slashing .208/.259/.299 with only one home run and a 36.5 percent strikeout rate in his first 23 games. He homered four times in his next five contests, only to land on the injured list with a hip issue. After a two-week absence, Kurtz picked up where he left off and never looked back, slashing an absurd .304/.403/.669 with 31 homers and 71 RBI over 89 tilts from June on. That included a historic month of July which featured a 6-for-6, four-homer game. Swing-and-miss issues (30.9 percent strikeout rate) and struggles versus lefties (.197/.261/.423) give Kurtz some things to work on, but the 22-year-old already looks like an elite bat and might be the first first baseman off the board in drafts next season.

Runner-up: Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers

Second Base: Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers
ADP: 120.9, 7th among second basemen
EAV: 1st among second baseman

If you told fantasy managers that used a draft pick on Turang that he would finish with 24 stolen bases, they probably would have presumed he was a bust. After all, the 25-year-old pilfered 50 bags the year prior, and he was essentially a one-category contributor, so those fantasy managers who clicked on Turang's name did so explicitly for the speed boost. Instead, it was the rest of Turang's game that took a step forward, as he saw his average jump from .254 to .288, his home run total go from seven to 18, his RBI total rise from 57 to 81 and his runs total go from 72 to 97. And, while his stolen-base total was more than halved, 24 steals is nothing to sneeze at, turning Turang from a one-category contributor to a true five-category contributor. 10 of Turang's 18 homers came during a monster August, so he didn't provide much power the other five months. However, a swing change that resulted in a nearly 20-point jump in hard-hit rate (29.7 percent to 47.4 percent) suggests Turang is a different hitter rather than a one-year fluke.

Runner-up: Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays

Shortstop: Geraldo Perdomo, Arizona Diamondbacks
ADP: 476.8, 31st among shortstops
EAV: 3rd among shortstops

Perdomo was such an obvious call here that I plugged him in before checking the ADP and EAV numbers. The Diamondbacks shortstop was ignored in most fantasy drafts last spring, and for good reason, as he had played good defense and showed some on-base skills but displayed virtually nothing to make you believe he could be an impact fantasy contributor. Perdomo, though, made strides with his quality of contact, doubling his barrel rate from 3.1 percent to 6.2 percent and upping his hard-hit rate from 25.8 percent to 31.9 percent. Those numbers from 2025 still look pretty lackluster on the surface, but when you make as much contact as Perdomo does, boosting your quality of contact to even just a competent level can make a big difference. The switch hitter was as good as ever from a plate discipline perspective, too, with a strikeout rate in the 95th percentile and walk rate in the 93rd percentile. Some level of regression in 2026 for Perdomo is likely, but he could wind up being a good buy next spring if the skepticism gets too loud.

Runner-up: Trevor Story, Boston Red Sox

Third Base: Eugenio Suarez, / Arizona Diamondbacks/Seattle Mariners
ADP: 148.1, 10th among third basemen
EAV: 3rd among third basemen

Junior Caminero was the exciting, young breakout star at the position and out-earned Suarez by $3. Suarez, though, was taken more than 50 picks later in drafts, so I have to give him the nod here. Suarez reached the 49-homer mark in 2025 for the second time in his career, and he set new career highs with 118 RBI and 91 runs scored. Dating back to July 2024, Suarez has launched 73 home runs, a total which trails only Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber. Out of those five, Suarez has easily the fewest plate appearances (982). Suarez also collected a career-best 47.6 percent hard-hit rate in 2025 and his 14.3 percent barrel rate was his highest in three seasons. It wasn't all rainbows and lollipops with Suarez. He slashed .189/.255/.428 with a 35.9 percent strikeout rate after being traded back to Seattle at the deadline, and his chase rate also spiked to 31 percent in 2025. The 34-year-old is an impending free agent, and where he lands could have a major say in how early he'll be selected in fantasy drafts next spring.

Runner-up: Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays

Outfield: George Springer, Toronto Blue Jays
ADP: 227.6, 47th among outfielders
EAV: 4th among outfielders

When the Blue Jays signed Springer to a six-year, $150 million contract prior to the 2021 season, they probably didn't think they'd get his best season in the fifth year of the deal. After slashing just .220/.303/.371 with Toronto in 2024, the 36-year-old Springer hit a robust .309/.399/.560 with 32 home runs, 84 RBI, 18 stolen bases and 106 runs scored in 2025. Springer set career highs across the board with his hard-hit rate (47.6 percent), barrel rate (16.1 percent) and average exit velocity (90 mph), and his 28.4 percent flyball rate was easily his highest in four seasons. He also continued to be a very efficient base stealer, swiping 18 bags in 19 tries, and his sprint speed held steady in the 64th percentile. Nothing looks fluky about Springer's performance when you look under the hood, but a 36-year-old boosting his OPS by nearly 300 points naturally draws skepticism. Something else to consider with Springer is that he might be trending toward full-time designated hitter status, as his starts at DH (80) easily outpaced his starts in the outfield (51), and his defensive metrics have bottomed out.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
ADP: 150.2, 40th among outfielders
EAV: 6th among outfielders

Crow-Armstrong was the belle of the fantasy ball for the first four months of the season, slashing .272/.309/.559 with 27 home runs and 29 stolen bases across 106 contests. Unfortunately, PCA cratered in the final two months of the season with a .188/.237/.295 batting line, four long balls and six steals over his final 51 games. That fabulous first four months was plenty enough to land him in this section, though, as Crow-Armstrong had a 30-30 season while topping 90 in both the RBI and runs categories. What PCA eventually learned is that it's very difficult (impossible?) to produce consistently when you're carrying a 41.7 percent chase rate. We'll see in 2026 if Crow-Armstrong is able to adjust back after the league adjusted to him. Working in his favor is that he's such an excellent center fielder, he's going to be in the lineup every day to accumulate stats even if there continue to be peaks and valleys.

Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
ADP: 223.5, 49th among outfielders
EAV: 7th among outfielders

"If he could just stay healthy" is a phrase synonymous with Buxton, and in 2025 he mostly did just that, accruing a career-high 542 plate appearances across 126 games. With good health came plenty of good production, with Buxton reaching career highs in home runs (35), RBI (83) and runs scored (97). He also rediscovered some aggressiveness on the basepaths, going a perfect 24-for-24 in stolen-base attempts. Buxton's batted-ball data is usually eye-popping and that was no different this season, as he ranked in the 96th percentile in hard-hit rate (53.8 percent) and barrel rate (17.6 percent) and the 92nd percentile in average exit velocity (92.5 mph). Buxton has never been able to stack healthy seasons together, so it would be silly to expect that to happen in 2026 in his age-32 campaign. However, everyone is aware of that fact, so it should be baked into his draft-day cost.

Runners-up: Andy Pages, Los Angeles Dodgers; Tyler Soderstrom, Sacramento Athletics; Jo Adell, Los Angeles Angels