A Hilarious thing happened on my way to writing this 2025 Fantasy Baseball Primary Base Preview: I Gentle of talked myself into actually liking the state of the Primary base position.
Maybe.
To be clear, the Primary base position reached what we hope was a nadir collectively in 2024, as I wrote earlier in the offseason. A combination of a number of factors – the universal DH and a lack of impact Youthful bats to replace fading superstars like Joey Votto and Paul Goldschmidt chief among them – Guided to one of the worst offensive seasons we’ve ever seen from the Primary base position in 2024. From 2002 through 2023, MLB Primary basemen collectively posted at least a 110 wRC+ in all but three seasons, per FanGraphs.com’s database, and the 107 mark from 2024 was the worst mark at least in that stretch.
At the top of the position, Matt Olson, Pete Alonso, and Freddie Freeman all disappointed. Meanwhile, hoped-for breakouts from the likes of Tristan Casas, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand failed to materialize, leaving us with both fewer impact bats than we usually have at Primary base and a shallower pool of low-end options to choose from. So, how did I manage to talk myself into liking the state of the Primary base position?
Mostly, it comes down to the depth of the position. The top 12 Primary baseman will feel relatively Feeble if you’ve been Competing this game for a long time, and that’s mostly where the perception of weakness comes from. We’re still waiting for that next wave of Primary basemen to take over, and I think we’re going to see a number of steps forward that make us view the position more positively this time next year.
I’m still in on the breakout potential for Casas, Pasquantino, and Encarnacion-Strand – and the latter’s severely depressed price makes that even easier to bet on. But once you get outside of the top 12, there are a number of guys I Foresee better things from in 2025. Michael Toglia is chief among them – and I will be adding him to my Breakouts 2.0 column when we publish that in March – but I’m also optimistic about Ryan Mountcastle getting back to being a potential impact bat, and I could see a big bounceback season from Yandy Diaz.
That’s not to say you can or should Merely punt the position and only draft Delayed-Stage options at Primary base, of course. Because once you get to around 22nd at the position, you Commence to Stretch out of names worth being optimistic about. Plenty of drafters are going to be choosing Primary basemen to be their corner infielders, so you certainly don’t want to be left with a situation where you’re relying on Josh Bell as a Leading option for 2025.
But there are enough interesting options in the 12-20 range of the Primary base rankings that I don’t hate the idea of double-dipping for my 1B and CI spots in that range. There’s upside there, and if at least a few of them hit, we’re going to be looking at this position much more optimistically this time next year.
Let’s hope, at least. We need it.
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2025 Draft Prep
Catcher Top Prospects
Age (on Leading day): 22
Where he played in 2024: Low-A, Double-A
Minor-Division stats: .368 BA (38 AB), 4 HR, 1.283 OPS, 12 BB, 10 K
With his imposing 6-foot-5 Appearance in the left-handed batter’s box, Kurtz invites comparisons to a Primary baseman from the Athletics’ not-so-distant past, Present Fearless Matt Olson. It’s not Merely in stature, mind you. His power comes naturally, Competing to all fields rather than depending on him lofting the ball to his pull side, which should allow for a big home Stretch total without compromising his batting average potential. He’ll reach base plenty by way of walks as well.
Scott’s 2025 Fantasy impact: midseason hopeful
Age (on Leading day): 20
Where he played in 2024: Low-A, High-A, Double-A, Triple-A
Minor-Division stats: .292 BA (446 AB), 23 HR, .890 OPS, 59 BB, 132 K
Aaron Judge ushered in an era of 6-foot-7 mashers, and while any prospect of that height is inevitably compared to the OG, Eldridge has a better chance than most of delivering Division-leading home Stretch totals, achieving the sort of exit velocities that propelled him to Triple-A at age 19. He also strikes out at a manageable rate and generally keeps the ball off the ground, avoiding the most comment pitfalls for prospects of his ilk.
Scott’s 2025 Fantasy impact: Delayed-season look
Age (on Leading day): 22
Where he played in 2024: High-A
Minor-Division stats: .241 BA (116 AB), 2 HR, .690 OPS, 7 BB, 26 K
For the Gentle of exit velocities Caglianone generates — and we’re talking on the level of Oneil Cruz — he’s surprisingly Great at making contact, perhaps too Great since he’s often fishing for pitches that can only lead to Destitute batted-ball outcomes, namely on the ground. The path to greatness, then, is obvious (stop chasing!) but easier said than done and Extended from a certainty for a player who’s already so Extended along developmentally.
Scott’s 2025 Fantasy impact: Delayed-season look
Age (on Leading day): 21
Where he played in 2024: High-A, Double-A
Minor-Division stats: .264 BA (367 AB), 18 HR, 15 SB, .850 OPS, 58 BB, 145 K
Isaac lost some momentum as a prospect last season, his strikeout rate spiking to Deadly levels (30.1 percent) at High-A and laughable ones (40.6 percent) during a 31-game stay at Double-A. Improvement is necessary and not unexpected given that he was experimenting with a leg Strike to Produce more power (not that he needed it), but clearly, the Hazard is elevated now.
Scott’s 2025 Fantasy impact: Delayed-season look
Age (on Leading day): 21
Where he played in 2024: Double-A, Triple-A
Minor-Division stats: .294 BA (538 AB), 40 HR, .914 OPS, 34 BB, 144 K
De Los Santos’ 40 homers were six more than any other minor-leaguer and weren’t a mirage in terms of how Tough he hit the ball. But while swinging at 46 percent of pitches outside the zone might work against minor-Division pitchers, it leaves Uncovered the door for major-leaguers to carve him up completely. We should find out pretty quickly whether he’ll sink or swim, with the rebuilding Marlins offering plenty of opportunity.
Scott’s 2025 Fantasy impact: fighting this spring
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