We are entering the home stretch of the 2025 fantasy baseball season. It feels like the right time to evaluate some scorching stretches and see what they mean for long-term value heading into 2026. While many fantasy owners are already shifting their attention to football schedules, we’re here setting our auto-draft to focus on next year’s values. This is the season for buying low with the future in mind, spotting the underpriced risers, and identifying those who might be fool’s gold once the calendar flips. Championships aren’t just won in September, they’re also built by how well you scout for the year ahead. Buckle up and let’s investigate some impressive stat lines for the 2025 season.
Jakob Marsee
We’ve written about Marsee a few times in our Hitter Profiles, but his call-up performance demands another look. Since his debut on August 1, he has hit .353 with four homers, seven steals, and a combined 30 runs and RBI. This has come with a .426 BABIP, which is high even considering his elite speed (96th percentile in Triple-A). From a plate discipline perspective, he has shown well, pairing a 23% strikeout rate with a 13% walk rate which is impressive discipline for a young player making his debut. Beneath the surface, there are no glaring weaknesses against pitch types, and his contact profile has been incredibly strong (92.6 EV and 14% barrel rate).
With his plate approach trending upward, we can expect him to continue providing strong value through the rest of 2025 and into 2026. The batting average will come down and likely settle in the .260-.270 range long term, but a 20/40 profile is the upside for a player who has recently been hitting in the two-hole. Looking for comps coming into this season, we’re talking about players like Brenton Doyle or Jarren Duran. The best comp might be Jazz Chisholm, who hit 24 homers and stole 40 bases in 2024. That kind of production usually falls between the second and fifth rounds of drafts. Unless he cools off significantly, Marsee will carry plenty of hype, so pegging him in the 6th-to-8th round range feels like a fair balance of upside and risk.
Vinnie Pasquantino
The big 6’3” first baseman for the Kansas City Royals carried some hype into the season after a few strong partial campaigns, but injuries had kept him from fully breaking out. Through the first half of 2025, he performed reasonably well with 15 homers, a .272 average, and 56 RBI. Solid numbers for a corner infielder, especially with underlying metrics showing a 45% hard-hit rate and 9% barrel rate. Since the All-Star break, however, Vinnie has really turned it up. In roughly one-third of the plate appearances, he has hit .233 with 12 homers and 33 RBI. The average has been dragged down by a very low .176 BABIP, but the power is undeniable. Just this past week, he went on a five-game home run streak, feasting on Texas Rangers pitching.
Vinnie Pasquantino has now homered in FIVE STRAIGHT GAMES ? pic.twitter.com/Xu9BO4qxdo
— MLB (@MLB) August 23, 2025
Finding a comp for Pasquantino means looking for corner infielders with pop and a respectable batting average. With a full season under his belt, he looks like a 30-homer, 100-RBI, .270 hitter. That profile lands somewhere between Eugenio Suárez and Matt Olson without Olson’s elite track record and with fewer question marks than Suárez has carried in the past. Going into 2026, I’d peg Vinnie as a 7th-to-9th round pick, with the potential to climb even higher if he finishes this season strong and healthy.
Trevor Story
We’ll close with a veteran who continues to produce when healthy. The “when healthy” caveat is crucial with Trevor Story, who played only 69 games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. But in 2025, he has stayed on the field and reminded us why his fantasy profile has always been so valuable. Story remains streaky with a high strikeout rate, but when he’s locked in, he’s a difference-maker. Across 125 games (out of 129), he has hit .257 with 19 homers and 22 steals without being caught once. He’s on pace for 80 runs and 100 RBI, numbers that explain why he was once considered a first-round fantasy pick.
Trevor Story’s 21 straight successful steals to begin the year are the most by any @RedSox player in the Expansion Era (since 1961).
(h/t @EliasSports) pic.twitter.com/ucXTn8iMRO
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 16, 2025
It’s impressive to think that Story could debate exercising his opt-out clause this offseason with this bounce back season. His profile has always been enticing when healthy as a potential 25/25 bat with volatility in both production and durability. Looking back at 2024 comps, he sits somewhere between Oneil Cruz and Dansby Swanson. We’re not paying the premium hype price of Cruz as a third-rounder, but we also have more confidence than a late-round flyer like Swanson. A fair slot for Story heading into 2026 is that same 7th-to-9th round range, right alongside Vinnie P.
