4 hours ago 1

Fantasy Baseball Infield Tiers Rankings: We have to accept the reality that Freddie Freeman is no longer top-tier

We just nudged past the halfway point of the fantasy baseball season. It's a fun and useful time to recalibrate the market. Today, we'll look at another chunk of the offensive landscape, the infield. Everyone below has eligibility at first base, second base, shortstop or third base.

What has happened to this point is merely an audition. The goal with this project is to set up a cheat sheet or depth chart at a given position. You could use it for a fresh draft, or for trade and pickup ideas. You can use it to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your own teams.

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The salaries are a combination of data, observation and special sauce. Players at the same number are considered even. The goal is to figure out where the clusters of talent lie.

Injured players are at the bottom, courtesy ranks. Those are not for debate, but I welcome your reasonable disagreement on anything else. Catch me on Twitter or Bluesky, and away we go.

The Big Tickets

$42 Bobby Witt Jr.
$40 Elly De La Cruz
$37 José Ramírez
$34 Trea Turner
$33 Francisco Lindor
$32 Manny Machado
$31 Pete Alonso
$31 Mookie Betts
$30 Ketel Marte
$27 Eugenio Suárez

There's nothing wrong with Ramirez's production — his average and OBP are slightly above career norms, and his slugging is just an eyelash below. But I wonder if the meager support around him is finally taking a toll. He's on a modest pace for 80 runs and 75 RBI, a comment about the Cleveland lineup as a whole. The Guardians rank 29th in average, 29th in OBP, 28th in slugging and 27th in runs. Location matters.

Suarez has earned this real estate with a monster 365-day run. He was a force in the second half of 2024 and he's carried it over to this year; if you look at production over the past calendar year (my friend Steve Gardner loves this conceit), Suarez has 51 homers, 111 runs and 136 RBI (that's tops in the majors). The other three players in that 50-homer club are fantasy royalty; Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Cal Raleigh. Kyle Schwarber just misses, at 48; Juan Soto (41) is the only other player past 40.

Legitimate Building Blocks

$24 CJ Abrams
$24 Bryce Harper
$23 Freddie Freeman
$23 Austin Riley
$22 Matt Olson
$21 Rafael Devers
$21 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
$21 Oneil Cruz
$21 Zach Neto
$21 Josh Naylor
$20 Corey Seager
$18 Junior Caminero
$18 Cody Bellinger
$17 Maikel Garcia
$17 Michael Busch
$16 Bo Bichette
$16 Jose Altuve
$16 Dansby Swanson

It hurts my heart to rank Freeman this low, but we have to accept the current reality. He's in his age-35 season and his ankle requires daily maintenance, both before and after games. The steals, they're all but gone for good. And while Freeman is gutting it out and still has a plus-average, his production numbers have fallen off slightly. His Savant page used to have a bunch of pinned-right sliders; it's not quite as emphatic now. This is not to suggest Freeman isn't a fantasy asset, but he's fairly bumped from the top tier.

Cruz remains an enigma, a category-juice monster who's nonetheless staring the Mendoza Line in the face. Although his chase rate is no longer a problem, he's still striking out in a third of his at-bats. The contact will always be loud with Cruz, but you need more of it. It's also frustrating to see his regular lapses in the field, many of them from a likely lack of effort or concentration. It's his age-26 season, if a step forward was going to happen, this would be the time. I wonder if I misread Cruz's fast start as something it's truly not.

The most critical ability is availability, and Swanson has always checked that box. He missed just 30 games from the previous five seasons, and he's only sat once this year. He's on pace for another 27 homers, which would tie a career best, and he should score 90-plus runs despite a middle spot in the Chicago lineup. Throw in plus-defense and you have someone who might get some lower-level MVP consideration, perhaps similar to where he charted in 2020 and 2023. He's not exactly a superstar, but Swanson consistently meets or exceeds his spring cost.

Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down

$15 Jazz Chisholm
$15 Paul Goldschmidt
$15 Isaac Paredes
$15 Trevor Story
$15 Gunnar Henderson
$14 Brandon Lowe
$14 Yandy Díaz
$13 Addison Barger
$13 Jacob Wilson
$12 Vinnie Pasquantino
$12 Geraldo Perdomo
$11 Brendan Donovan
$11 Brice Turang
$10 Marcus Semien
$10 Jackson Holliday
$10 Jonathan Aranda
$10 Tyler Soderstrom
$10 Willi Castro
$10 Cam Smith
$10 Gleyber Torres
$10 Spencer Torkelson
$10 Nico Hoerner
$10 Ceddanne Rafaela
$10 Luis García
$10 Tyler Freeman
$10 Jordan Westburg
$9 Willy Adames
$9 Matt Chapman
$9 Xander Bogaerts
$9 Alec Bohm
$9 Anthony Volpe
$9 Otto Lopez

Don't look at Story's Baseball Savant page, you'll run away screaming. He swings at everything, strikes out frequently, rarely walks and has mediocre batted-ball numbers. That said, he's sitting at 14 homers and is a perfect 14-for-14 on steals, and the Boston lineup has started to produce. Story has been dynamic over his last five weeks, with a .309 average and seven homers. I'd advise against watching his at-bats on a pitch-by-pitch basis; the misses are ugly. But you can't argue with the recent production, and the ballpark should help him. This Story checks out. But he's also 32; soon we'll be saying here's where the Story ends.

Donovan is probably more valuable in real life than the fantasy streets, though he's still one of my favorite players. He rarely strikes out, his walk rate is above code, and he can carry several defensive positions. The batted-ball profile is ordinary, but he has earned his .296 average (and his slugging is 38 points unlucky). Donovan is also known for grinding batting tape after games — you like knowing an athlete wants to maximize his ability.

Some Plausible Upside

$9 Nathaniel Lowe
$9 Josh Smith
$9 Masyn Winn
$9 Alec Burleson
$9 J.P. Crawford
$9 Gavin Sheets
$9 Jeff McNeil
$9 Ryan O'Hearn
$9 Marcell Ozuna
$8 José Caballero
$8 Luis Arráez
$8 Nolan Schanuel
$8 Christian Walker
$8 Javier Báez
$8 Zach McKinstry
$8 Colt Keith
$7 Carlos Correa
$6 Spencer Steer
$6 Nolan Gorman
$6 Bryson Stott
$6 Brooks Lee
$6 Ty France
$6 Xavier Edwards
$6 Matt McLain
$5 Ernie Clement
$5 Jake Burger
$5 Nolan Arenado
$5 Wilmer Flores
$5 Jorge Polanco
$5 Eric Wagaman
$5 Tommy Edman
$5 Roman Gonzalez

Smith gets regular work as the Texas leadoff man, though he's often out of the lineup when a lefty calls. This makes him more tolerable for leagues with multiple transaction points in a week; he can be maddening if you have to set a weekly lineup. The filet of Smith's production has come at home (.930 OPS) and against righties (.850 OPS).

Sometimes you'll hear Correa touted as a future Hall of Famer. I don't see it. His OPS+ has been below average in four of his past eight years, and he's merely 30 years old — this is supposed to be the peak. He's been hurt regularly, which might be why he's only been a top-15 MVP player one time. Fantasy managers know all about the Correa red light — he hasn't stolen a base since 2019. This is what $220 million buys you these days?