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Judge had some noise surrounding his status during spring training around lingering pain from the toe injury after the incident with the right field wall at Dodger Stadium. Those concerns were not exactly assuaged when Judge had a .180/.315/.348 slash line a month into the regular season with three home runs. He hit three homers in one week toward the end of April and went on to hit 52 more the rest of the season and put up a Ruthian .349/.484/.768 slash line the rest of the season while driving in 133 runs and scoring 114 while chipping in nine steals. In a year where homers were down overall in the league, Judge nearly matched his 2022 season. About the only thing Judge has never done is have consecutive 50-plus homer seasons, but that is nitpicking. It will be interesting to see what happens should Juan Soto not return in free agency, as Soto's presence on base was a contributing factor in Judge setting a new career high in RBI.

Progress is not always linear, but Witt has been on an upward trajectory since breaking into the big leagues as the consensus No. 1 overall prospect in baseball in 2022. He improved upon all three elements of his slash line once again in 2024, adding nearly 60 points to his batting average to lead the majors at .332. At age 23/24, Witt played in all but one game for the Royals, earning his first All-Star selection and leading Kansas City to its first postseason appearance since 2015. He totaled 234 runs-plus-RBI while reaching 30 homers for a second straight season. The one area of decline was in the stolen-base department, as he fell back to 31 steals after totaling 49 the year prior. He was caught stealing 12 times in 43 attempts, but Witt ranked at the top of the sprint speed leaderboard at 30.5 ft/sec. Amazingly, there's still upside if he can improve his efficiency on the basepaths, and regardless he's already an elite fantasy producer. Despite a modest supporting cast, Witt should arguably be considered right alongside Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge at the very top of 2025 fantasy drafts.

Ramirez shored up his Hall of Fame case with what very well could have been a 40-40 campaign if not for a rainout on the final day of the regular season. The third baseman was an All-Star for the fourth consecutive year (sixth overall) and helped lead Cleveland to the ALCS. He's as durable as they come; Ramirez played in 158 games in 2024 and has now reached at least 152 games in seven of the last eight full MLB seasons. While he's been in the majors for over a decade, Ramirez is still just 32 years old, so he's not at the age where one might suspect the skills could drop off the table. There was some giveback with his walk rate last season, which led to a 21-point drop in OBP, and the batted-ball numbers don't jump off the page. That said, Ramirez is great at pulling flyballs, and his run production improved significantly last season with help from Steven Kwan and others around him. Fantasy managers should be thrilled to have to settle for Ramirez in the first round.

After underwhelming throughout the vast majority of the regular season, Rodriguez caught fire again late to reach 20-20 for the third straight year to begin his MLB career. Arbitrary endpoint warning: Rodriguez sat with a .660 OPS, 11 homers and 40 RBI on the morning of Aug. 28. He would go on to slash .349/.386/.597 with nine homers and 28 RBI over his final 29 games, though it wasn't enough to drag the Mariners and their bottom-10 scoring offense to the postseason. He was efficient on the basepaths, but his attempts dipped, in particular after he returned from an IL stint due to a right ankle sprain. Rodriguez struggled against offspeed pitches to the tune of a .173 average and .199 xBA last season, but he made up for it to an extent by punishing fastballs. While his strikeout and walk numbers have not shown any tangible improvement in his three years in the league, and he looked more like a star than a superstar in 2024, it's important to remember he's still just entering his age-24 season.

Jim Thome isn't a common comp for high-end draft prospects, but that's the type of player scouts envision Kurtz becoming if he reaches his ceiling. The fourth-overall pick in 2024, Kurtz slashed .353/.450/.608 with two home runs and a 16:9 K:BB in 60 plate appearances in the Arizona Fall League after ending the regular season on the injured list at Double-A Midland due to a hamstring strain. Other than a general lack of athleticism and a bad body (listed at 6-foot-5, 240 pounds), Kurtz's only notable flaw is his injury history -- he missed time with random injuries while putting up cartoonish offensive numbers at Wake Forest (career 1.283 OPS, 46 home runs in 110 games his final two seasons). However, after slashing .368/.520/.763 with four homers in 12 games split between Single-A and Double-A before dominating in the AFL, Kurtz's track record of hitting pro pitching is arguably tops in the 2024 draft class. He could reach the majors this summer if he stays healthy and performs as expected.

Skubal performed at a Cy Young level over 80.1 innings in 2023 following his return from flexor tendon surgery, but many questioned how many innings he would be able to handle in 2024. The southpaw ended up running away with the AL Cy Young Award, shattering all expectations and leading Detroit to its first postseason appearance in a decade. He totaled 192 innings during the regular season -- 42.2 more than his previous career high in 2021 -- and added 19 stellar frames in the playoffs (2.37 ERA, 20:2 K:BB). A power lefty, Skubal can pull the string on a changeup that dances in unexpected ways thanks to a phenomenon now known as seam-shifted wake. He also has a slider to help against same-handed hitters, who combined to slash just .186/.238/.248 against Skubal last season. The Tigers basically took him off the table in discussions at the trade deadline and were justified in doing so, as Skubal is already an ace with the potential to be one of the best starting pitchers in baseball for years to come. If there's anything to nitpick, it might be the modest overall chase rate (77th percentile), but keep in mind his low-whiff sinking fastball is a highly effective offering.

Henderson, through his age-23 season, already has more homers than Freddie Freeman, David Wright and Francisco Lindor had through their age-23 seasons. He has more runs scored at this age than Derek Jeter and Fernando Tatis Jr. Simply put, he has been everything that was expected of him and then some through two-plus seasons in Baltimore. Nearly every measure across the board has improved year over year with nary a hiccup to be found. Despite the unfriendly confines to the opposite field, Henderson had 23 of his 37 homers at home. The power waned in the second half of the season, as his slugging percentage dropped from .584 to .447. His struggles, along with Adley Rutschman's, were a big reason why Baltimore ended up in the wild-card spot and bounced in two games without a whimper. The second-half slump will likely be motivation for him as he works out all winter and prepares for another full season of play a taxing position. He is a first-round talent and will be one for the foreseeable future barring injury.

Raleigh's 34 homers led all catchers. His 91 long balls since 2022 are 18 more than the next backstop's. However, Raleigh's power comes at the expense of batting average. He's fanned at a 28 percent clip over the past two seasons, and his 50 percent fly-ball rate in that span suppresses BABIP. Volume is usually a benefit, except with batting average. Still, playing more than most non-catchers is a huge boon to his counting stats. Raleigh is one of the best in the league behind the plate, so he's going to continue to log more playing time than others at the position. Raleigh's skills are stable, so if you construct a roster to absorb his batting average, Raleigh's counting stats yield a huge edge. An above-average walk rate boosts "Big Dumper" in points and OBP formats.

Toronto was once again a disappointing club, especially offensively, but the blame cannot be placed on Guerrero. His 2021 numbers were inflated by the minor-league parks Toronto played in that season, yet the combination of his reputation and that season was the perfect storm to push his valuation through the roof. Last season saw him finish as the top first baseman and as a top-15 overall hitter in fantasy for a club that finished last in the division and led the league in stranding runners. Guerrero drove in 103 runs and nearly scored 100 runs despite the lack of a consistent supporting cast around him, and conditions are not likely to change heading into 2025 outside of potentially a healthy Bo Bichette in the lineup. Guerrero is a free agent after the 2025 season and could command a king's ransom in a trade this winter or on the open market a year from now. The rededication to his conditioning certainly helped him have a MLB-stadium career year in 2024 and there is no reason to think he cannot at least repeat that success in 2025.

Pick a stat, any stat, it doesn't matter. Counting stat, ratio, whatever. It was a personal best for Rooker. His 28.8 percent strikeout rate was still too high and is a concern, since it's rare for a player to repeat a career year. Moving out of the Coliseum and playing in Sutter Health Park, the home field for Triple-A Sacramento River Rats should help assuage regression. After the season, it was reported that Rooker experienced soreness in his right arm for most of the season, ostensibly explaining why Rooker appeared exclusively at DH after only 14 games in the outfield. Rooker is expected to be 100 percent in the spring. He'll start the season with UT-only designation but should pick up outfield eligibility. The initial UT-only status could render a buying opportunity, helping buffer the likely fall off from last season. Rooker inked a five-year, $60 million extension with the Athletics in January, which should put an end to any trade chatter for the foreseeable future.

Chisholm enjoyed the healthiest season of his career as he finally broke the 125 games played total in a season while splitting his time between Miami and New York. The games played was not the only career high as he also set a new high in every counting category as well as batting average and strikeout rate. The change in venues from the spacious Marlins Stadium to the coziness of Yankee Stadium did wonders for Chisholm, as he hit 11 of his 24 homers in the 46 games with the Yankees while also stealing 18 of the 40 bases. We have known for some time what Chisholm is capable of while on the field, but the time lost in 2021-2023 due to multiple injuries impacted his value. He now gets to play the final two seasons of his arbitration years in a much better stadium and lineup than what he experienced in Miami and the cost of acquisition this winter will rise accordingly. The decision fantasy managers must make: Is the juice worth the squeeze given how much time the talented player has missed over the past four seasons? The 3B and OF eligibility is a nice added bonus.

There were signs that Springer was approaching a production cliff in his career, but nothing truly pointed to him having this type of falloff. Springer posted the worst batting average of his full-season career by nearly 40 points and failed to reach 20 homers in a full season for the first time since 2015 when he appeared in just 102 games. The walk rate and the contact rates remained constant, yet Springer's bat appeared at times as if it still had a weighted doughnut on it. Springer has made a career of feasting off fastballs, but hit just .241 against fastballs in 2024 and .192 against non-fastballs. He no longer has the juice to get into the elevate-and-celebrate crowd as his groundball to fly-ball ratio has dropped from 0.70 in 2021 to 1.54 this past season. His 50.7 percent groundball rate was the highest of his career, while his 39.8 percent pull percentage was a continuation of the 2023 struggles. His contract will guarantee him playing time in Toronto, but where that playing time comes in the lineup is anyone's guess. He no longer profiles as a top-of-the-lineup hitter, so his production could be further impacted hitting down in the lineup as Toronto either looks to make one final push in the Vlad era or begins a tear-down after multiple disappointing seasons. Springer is absolutely on his descent down the aging curve and appears to be in a rapidly accelerating phase at this time.

Duran built on his breakthrough 2023 season by walking more while fanning less. It was Duran's third straight season with an improved strikeout rate and second consecutive season with a better walk rate. A career-high barrel rate helped Duran lead MLB in both double and triples, elevating his stead in points and Best Ball formats. He faded down the stretch, posting a 61 wRC+ in September, after ranging between 102 and 193 the prior five months. Fatigue may have been the season considering the only games Duran missed were in August due to a two-game suspension for an audible homophobic slur. This was the only blight on a season in which Duran captured down ballot MVP votes. He rebounded from adversity before and is likely to do it again. The safe play is pulling back from a career year, but Duran has the skill set to keep getting better.

The Home Run Derby curse is mostly pseudo-science, but Arozarena is doing his best to disprove that line of thought. Arozarena was arguably on the best run of his regular-season career in 2023 prior to the derby, but he was terrible after it, and the 2024 season was mostly an extension of the same. Arozarena did get to another 20-20 season, and only he and Jose Ramirez have done that each of the past four seasons, but Arozarena has now had 926 post-derby plate appearances and has a .219/.332/.382 slash line with 27 homers and 32 steals. It was long expected the Rays would deal Arozarena in his expensive years, but the move to Seattle was a terrible one for his run production, and he hit five homers in 54 games after the trade. The puzzling part with Arozarena is the increased strikeout rate does not come from him chasing out of the zone, but instead because his in-zone contact rate has declined now for three consecutive seasons. He has become a more disciplined hitter these days, but his struggles against fastballs in 2024 (.221 vs .282 in 2023) were extremely concerning. The volume should once again be there, but at what cost?

Altuve was an everyday presence in the lineup last season after being limited to 90 games in 2023, though he wasn't as productive at the plate with a .789 OPS being his worst full-season mark since 2013. He still delivered 20 homers and 22 steals, which was his best work on the basepaths in seven years, but it's fair to wonder if Father Time is starting to catch up to him. Altuve will turn 35 years old in May, and it's worth noting that his .264 xBA and .406 xSLG were each 30-plus points lower than the actual figures. He has significantly outperformed those expected stats throughout his MLB career, but it's more of a concern as he moves through his mid-30s. Altuve is still a decent bet for a high batting average, another 20-20 campaign and strong counting stats in 2025, but the risk of a fall-off is increasing with each passing season.