Good morning, afternoon, or evening – depending on when you are reading this. Welcome back to the second-to-last entry for the 2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings. We started at No. 400, and now I will be featuring the players ranked from No. 50 to 26.
Here is a quick breakdown of the positions and ages of the players:
- SP: 7
- 1B: 2 | 2B: 2 | 3B: 1 | SS: 6
- LF: 2 | CF: 1 | OF: 2
- IF/OF: 1
- C: 1
- Ages 20-24: 3
- Ages 25-29: 16
- Ages 30-34: 6
Looking at the information above, it is easy to see how I like to build my team early in the draft – load up on the top pitchers and get a top shortstop or two, or three.
For several years, I would build my team around hitting and hope for the best when it came to the pitching. But that left me trading for pitching as the season progressed, so over time I have changed my approach to go after the top starting pitchers early – the ones you pretty much know are going to be good all year – assuming they avoid the IL. And then add more pitching because you know the IL bug is going to hit the pitching position.
Getting shortstops seems natural. Most of them are the best all-around athletes on the field, and it is now an offensive position where you expect power, RBIs, OBP, SLG, and speed. And as the shortstops you have get older, they become third basemen or second basemen or an outfielder if needed. The point is, they have a future beyond shortstop, and I always have three on my team – the starter, the MI or Infield slot, and then one on the bench.
With that out of the way, let’s get started.
50-46
Notes:
*Age as if April 1, 2026
**Position = at least 10 games played at that position
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | AGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Bryan Woo | SEA | 26 | SP |
| 49 | Byron Buxton | MIN | 32 | CF |
| 48 | Michael Busch | CHC | 28 | 1B |
| 47 | Cristopher Sanchez | PHI | 29 | SP |
| 46 | Andy Pages | LAD | 25 | CF|LF|RF |
Don’t Overlook Woo
When it comes to Bryan Woo, I know the knock on him is that he does not strike out a lot of people. His career K/9 rate is 8.9. But in two of his three seasons in Seattle, Woo has posted a K/9 rate of 9.5. So I think he is closer to that pitcher than the 7.5 rate he had in 2024. Woo also allows less than a hit per inning and less than two walks for nine innings. Over the past two years, he has posted WHIPS of 0.898 and 0.927 and ERAs of 2.89 and 2.94. I will happily build a staff around a pitcher like Woo.
When Healthy, He’s A Beast
I am not going to let Byron Buxton’s age prevent me from not wanting him on my team – and I don’t as he is on two of my dynasty teams. He is coming off a season in which he hit 35 homers, drove in 83 runs, stole 24 bases and slashed .264/.327/.551. Those numbers are not far off his career 162-game average of 30 homers, 79 RBI, 21 steals, and a .248/.308/.487 slash line.
The problem with Buxton has been staying on the field, as the 126 games he played this past season were the most since appearing in 140 games in 2017. Ranking Buxton here is a bit of a gamble as it takes a leap of faith that he will play in at least 120 to 130 games for the next several seasons. I am taking that leap of faith because when he is on the field, he is one of the best players.
Moving On Up
Coming into the 2025 season, I liked Michael Busch quite a lot. In fact, this is what I said about him previously: “…the Cubs acquired Busch in January of this year (2024) and watched him hit 21 home runs and drive in 65 runs in 152 games while slashing .248/.335/.440. Busch did struggle in the second half of the season, slashing .216/.303/.402 compared to .271/.357/.466 before the All-Star break, but he hit 11 of his 21 homers from July through the end of the year with 35 RBI in 73 games, so the power production remained steady. There is no reason to expect the power to go away, and I expect the slash line will improve in 2025.”
Well, he certainly improved on those numbers in 2025, hitting 34 homers and driving in 90 runs while slashing .261/.343/.523. I am not going to say his slash line will improve in 2026, but his numbers aren’t going to decrease as a 30-90 season should be commonplace for Busch for years to come.
Too Good To Ignore
Christopher Sanchez may surprise some people by being ranked in the Top 50, but I firmly believe he belongs here. Sanchez is very much like Woo – a pitcher who has grown into an ace but doesn’t have the dominant numbers of other starters. Now entering his prime, he had a 9.4 K/9 rate in 2025, and he continues to not walk a lot of hitters and limits the hits allowed. His ERA was a career-best 2.50, and his ERA+ the last three years have been 125, 126, and 176.
The Next Dodgers Star?
Andy Pages just completed his second season in 2025, and he made a huge jump from his rookie campaign. Playing all three outfield positions for the Dodgers, Pages hit 27 homers, drove in 86 runs, and stole 14 bases while slashing .272/.313/.461, giving him an OPS+ of 114.
I think what we saw from him this season is his floor. That is a pretty good floor. But I fully expect him to blow past that floor, especially when hitting a lineup like the Dodgers have.
45-41
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | AGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | Bo Bichette | NYM | 28 | SS |
| 44 | Willy Adames | SF | 30 | SS |
| 43 | Cal Raleigh | SEA | 29 | C |
| 42 | Zach Neto | LAA | 25 | SS |
| 41 | Kyle Schwarber | PHI | 33 | LF |
Bichette
It is hard to believe that Bo Bichette is only 28, but he now has seven years of MLB experience, though his first two years consisted of 46 and 29 games. Since becoming a regular in 2021, Bichette’s average season has been 19 homers, 78 RBI, and 10 steals over 135 games with a .292/.335/.460 slash line. From 2021-2023 Bichette finished 12th, 11th, and 16th in the MVP voting before struggling in 2024. But he bounced back this past season with a .311/.357/.483 slash line to go with 18 homers and 94 RBI in 139 games.
He’s had one down season out of five as a regular starter. I think what we saw this year is just a return to his normal level of production with 2024 being a small bump in the road.
Change of Scenery Didn’t Affect Him
When Willy Adames signed with the San Francisco Giants, there was some concern that the move would hurt his power numbers. Guess there shouldn’t have been any concern. Adames’ first season by the bay produced 32 homers and 87 RBI with a .225/.318/.421 slash line. The power numbers basically matched what he did each year with Milwaukee from 2022-2024. Adames has a 162-game average of 30 homers, 87 RBI, and 10 steals, and he has played in 161 and 160 games the last two seasons. Having a player of his caliber also take the field every day is something that shouldn’t be ignored.
The Big Dumper
Cal Raleigh had one of the best seasons ever at the plate for a catcher, hitting 60 home runs, driving in 125 runs, and slugging .589 to go along with an BA/SLG of .247/.359. He even added 14 steals this year. Will Raleigh hit 60 homers again, or even 50? Probably not, but I can’t rule that out. What he will do is continue to hit a lot of home runs and drive in runs.
From 2022-24, Raleigh’s average season was 30 home runs and 79 RBI with a SLG of .457 and OPS+ of 117. Making Raleigh even more valuable is he is in the lineup every day. He appeared in 159 games this season, and in 145 in 2023, and 153 in 2024. Who doesn’t love a catcher who is in the lineup every day while producing the numbers he does?
Power Is His Game
Zach Neto is not a complete shortstop yet, like those ranked ahead of him, as his career slash line is .247/.316/.440. But what he lacks when it comes to his slash line, he makes up for with his power as he has hit 23 and 26 homers the last two seasons, and his career SLG is .440.
And Neto has the ability to increase his slash line. In college, his career batting average was .403, and in 61 minor league games, his slash line was .314/.407/.559. The power is already there for Neto, and I think the average and OBP will improve.
The Dude Mashes Baseballs
You don’t go after Kyle Schwarber because he is a great left fielder, In fact, in some leagues, he doesn’t even qualify as a left fielder. The reason you want Schwarber on your team because he mashes the ball – a lot. This season, he hit 56 home runs and drove in 132 runs. Yes, 2025 was a career year for Schwarber when it comes to those numbers. But in every full season since 2017, he has topped 30 homers seven times. He has driven in 104, 104, and 156 runs the last three years, and his 162 game average is 100 runs scored, 43 homers, 98 RBI to go with a .346 OBP and .500 SLG.
40-36
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | AGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Freddy Peralta | MIL | 29 | SP |
| 39 | Hunter Greene | CIN | 26 | SP |
| 38 | Geraldo Perdomo | ARI | 26 | SS |
| 37 | Jackson Holliday | BAL | 22 | 2B |
| 36 | Brice Turang | MIL | 26 | 2B |
Two Of The Best
It seems that Freddy Peralta doesn’t get the love he deserves. Maybe that is due to the fact that he has been pitching in Milwaukee for his entire career until his trade to the Mets. But in his career, Peralta has a 3.59 ERA and 1.132 WHIP with an 11.1 K/9 rate. That is K/9 rate is over 931 innings of work, not 50 or so like a reliever gets every season. Over the last three years, his K/9 rate have been 11.4, 10.4, and 10.4. His career ERA+ is 117, and since 2021, his worst ERA+ in a season is 112 in 2023.
Like Peralta, Hunter Greene is not hyped as much as he should. Fantasy players know he is awesome, but no one else seems to understand that. Greene’s first two seasons with the Reds were nothing to write home about as he struggled with his command, leading to big innings against him a bloated ERA. But over the last two years, he has been awesome. In 2024, he had a 2.75 ERA, 1.018 ERA, and a 10.1 K/9 rate. Last season Greene was even better as he had a 2.76 ERA, 0.938 WHIP, and an 11.0 K/9 rate.
The only thing that was disappointing about Greene last year was the fact that injuries limited him to 19 starts. But Greene should be 100 percent this year and be a beast on the mound once again.
The Question Mark
I went back and forth on where to rank Geraldo Perdomo. The reason? From 2022-2024, his best season was 71 runs scored, six homers, 47 RBI, and 16 steals in 2023, and his best slash line was .273/.344/.374 in 2024. Then came 2025. Perdomo’s numbers exploded this past season with a .290/.389/.462 slash to go with 98 runs scored, 20 homers, 100 RBI, and 27 steals. Those numbers do not align with anything he has ever done before, as either a minor leaguer or major leaguer.
However, as players age, they make adjustments, and soon everything clicks. I think everything finally clicked for Perdomo in 2025. His Average EV the past three years has increased from 81.9 mph to 84.2 to 85.8 this past season. His strikeout rate has dropped from 17.4% to 11.5% while his walk rate has increased from 12.9% to 13.1%. Perdomo has made adjustments, and those changes finally produced big results that I think will be more the norm (at least the homers and steals) going forward.
Still Believing In Holliday
The day Jackson Holliday was drafted as the first overall pick in 2022, huge expectations have been put on his shoulders. And Jackson was living up to the hype during his quick rise through the minors. In 218 minor league games, he had 23 homers, 122 RBI, 36 steals, and slashed .304/.442/.486. But with the Orioles, he has struggled to find his footing with a career slash line of .229/.360/.659 in 209 games. But after a really tough 60-game rookie season, Holliday hit 17 home runs, drove in 55 runs, and stole 17 bases while slashing .242/.314/.690. Not great numbers, but he did that as a 21-year-old. As he gets stronger, he will hit more home runs and his speed will allow him to be become a consistent 20-20 player.
Goal Accomplished!
Brice Turang entered the 2025 season with one goal – increase his power production. During his first two seasons with the Brewers Turang was a “speed” guy, stealing 26 and then 50 bases. But that is all he really did as his SLG in 2023 and 2024 was .300 and .349. Turang worked on adjusting his swing and to simply hit the ball harder, and he did exactly that in 2025. His Average EV jumped from a career average of 84.7 to 89.2 mph, and his Hard Hit% went from 28.6% to 47.5%.
The result was a season in which he hit 18 homers with 81 RBI and 24 steals while slashing .288/.359/.435. He is just now entering his prime, so I expect him to continue to increase his power numbers while maintaining his steal, making him a top player.
35-31
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | AGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Logan Gilbert | SEA | 28 | SP |
| 34 | Hunter Brown | HOU | 27 | SP |
| 33 | Trea Turner | PHI | 32 | SS |
| 32 | Francisco Lindor | NYM | 32 | SS |
| 31 | Manny Machado | SD | 33 | 3B |
Two More Stud Hurlers
When you are looking for pitchers to anchor your staff, you should have Logan Gilbert and Hunter Brown at the top of your list as these are two aces who should be fantastic for years to come.
Gilbert, who finished sixth in the Cy Young voting in 2024, has a career ERA of 3.58 in five seasons with an amazing 1.058 WHIP and a 9.5 K/9 rate. Gilbert’s career BB/9 rate is 2.0, and it was 2.1 last year after being at 1.7 and 1.6 in 2023 and 2024. Making him even better over the years is the increase in his strikeout rate. It was 8.4 K/9 in 2022 and has increased each season since, reaching 11.9 last year.
Brown made his debut for the Astros in 2022 (seven games, two starts) and pitched in the playoffs out of the bullpen that season before moving into the rotation in 2023. His 2023 season was rough as he had a 5.09 ERA and 1.362 WHIP. But those numbers fell to 3.49 and 1.271 in 2024, and last year he had a 2.43 ERA and 1.025 WHIP enroute to finishing third in the Cy Young voting.
Brown doesn’t quite have the control that Gilbert has, but he has a 9.9 career K/9 rate, and last year it was 10.0 while his walk rate fell to 2.8/9. Brown is a true ace and should be a top target when it comes to starting pitchers.
The Veterans Shortstops
Trea Turner and Francisco Lindor are both getting closer to being 35 than 30 years old, but they have shown no signs of dropping off the cliff. The only thing when it comes to them just think of them as two- or three-year players, not long term answers.
Since turning 30, Turner’s average season has been .287/.337/.461 with 95 runs scored, 21 homers, 69 RBI and 28 steals. From 2018-2022 (age 25-29) his average season was .301/.357/.486 with 91 runs scored, 20 homers, 70 RBI, and 30 steals (*includes 2020 COVID season). Outside of the slash line, his numbers are basically the same. I love a player who is that consistent.
If Francisco Lindor was 25 and not 32, he would be ranked inside the top 25. But while his production as a shortstop is one of the best in the game, I have to factor in Father Time a little, so that is why he is ranked here. Otherwise, there is no reason to not want Lindor as your shortstop. The last three years, he has scored 108, 107, and 117 runs, hit 31, 29, and 31 homers, driven in 98, 91, and 86 runs, and stole 31, 29 and 31 bases.
He Just Knows How To Hit
Manny Machado is just a consistent machine at the plate for the Padres. Since 2021 he has hit 28, 32, 30, 29, and 27 homers and driven in 106, 102, 91, 105, and 95 runs. His OPS+ has been 131, 157, 113, 120, and 118. Those are pretty consistent numbers to go with an overall slash line of .277/.339/.483 during that span with an OPS+ of 127. Additionally, in four of the last five seasons, he has appeared in at least 150 games, with the 2023 season being the only blip when he played in 138 games.
30-26
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | AGE | POSITION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Tyler Soderstrom | ATH | 24 | LF|1B |
| 29 | Rafael Devers | SF | 29 | 1B |
| 28 | Roman Anthony | BOS | 21 | LF|RF |
| 27 | Riley Greene | DET | 25 | LF |
| 26 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | LAD | 27 | SP |
Soderstrom
Tyler Soderstrom came up as a catcher for the Athletics but moved to first to make room for Shea Langeliers. But he never really got to settle in at that position, thanks to Nick Kurtz exploding onto the scene and becoming my top-ranked first baseman. So Soderstrom played more left field than first base this past season for the A’s, but he can be slotted at that position in 2026 and will likely get enough starts at first each season to maintain eligibility.
Wherever he played, Soderstrom had a very good first full season with the Athletics as he slashed .276/.346/.474 with 25 homers and 93 RBI. While the A’s played in a minor league ballpark, his numbers were not a complete byproduct of playing in a bandbox. His home splits were .274/.348/.456 with 10 homers and 43 RBI, while his road splits were .279/.344/.493 with 15 homers and 50 RBI. The numbers were a little better, but nothing too outrageous.
Steady And Consistent
It was an interesting season for Rafael Devers, but when the dust settled, it was yet another typical year of production for him as he hit 35 homers and drove in 109 runs while also walking 112 times, helping him have a .372 OBP. In 73 games in Boston, he slashed .272/.401/.504 with 15 homers and 58 RBI, while his numbers in 90 games in San Francisco were 20 dingers, 51 RBI, and a .236/.347/.460 slash line. So there may be a little bit of concern about his new home ballpark and the effect it will have on his production moving forward. But at the end of the day, Devers will likely have 30 homers and 100 RBI.
Living Up To The Hype
One of the top prospects in baseball when the Red Sox recalled him from the minors, Roman Anthony slashed .292/.396/.463 with eight homers, 32 RBI, and four steals in 71 games. To save you the math, that would be 18 homers, 73 RBI, and nine steals over 162 games.
Anthony had an Average EV of 94.5 mph last year and a 60.7% Hard Hit%. If we would have gotten more at-bats, he would have qualified among the league leaders in AEV, Barrel%, Hard Hit%, Bat Speed, Chase%, and BB%. What is interesting is while he had only a 20% chase rate, he had a 29.8% whiff rate and 27.7% strikeout rate. So if/when Anthony starts to make more contact, his numbers will be even better. He also had a 50.6% ground ball rate. If he lowers that and increases his 23% fly ball rate to just league average, the SLG will easily close in or surpass .500.
Getting Better And Better
As Riley Greene has gained experience since debuting in 2022 with the Tigers, he has gotten better and better. In 93 games as a rookie in that ’22 season, he had five homers, 42 RBI, and an OPS+ of 97. In 99 games in 2023, his homers increased to 11, and his OPS+ increased to 119. In 2024, he had a 24-homer, 74 RBI season while slashing .262/.348/.479 to end the year with an OPS+ of 130.
If you go by OPS+ in 2025, Greene didn’t match his 2024 season, as it was 120. However, he had career highs in homers (36) and RBI (111) while appearing in 157 games. He does strike out quite a bit, and his OBP could be little better, but Greene is just now entering his age 25 season and should replicate what he did last year again, again, and again.
Living Up To The Hype
Yoshinobu Yamamoto came to the States from Japan with a lot of excitement and hype, and he has certainly lived up to the hype. As a “rookie” in 2024, he had a 3.00 ERA and 1.111 WHIP with a 10.5 K/9 rate in 18 starts. Fully healthy last season, Yamamoto made 30 starts and posted a 2.49 ERA and 0.990 WHIP with a 10.4 K/9 rate over 173.2 innings of work to finish third in the Cy Young voting in the National League.
Then came his performance in the postseason. On the biggest stage, Yamamoto appeared in six games and made five starts, going 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA and 0.777 WHIP as he wound up being named the World Series MVP. If he is available, grab him.
Thank You
Thanks for taking the time to get through this first installment of 2026 Dynasty Rankings. Come back next week for the players ranked from No. 25 to No. 1.
If you missed previous rankings, just click below.
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 400-301
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 300-201
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 200-176
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 175-151
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 150-126
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 125-101
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 100-76
2026 Dynasty Baseball Rankings: 75-51
