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Please see our player page for Zach Cole to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.

Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to the first installment of the Top 400 Dynasty Players for 2026. Over the next two weeks I will take two giant bites out of the countdown as I rank the players from 400-301 this week and then 300-201. After that will come bite sized looks of the final 200 players.

When it comes to these rankings, I know some of you will shake your head when it comes to certain players.

I have my biases and a system in how I evaluate fantasy players – and have done so for decades – and you have your biases. That is what makes rankings so interesting and why you will likely look at a host of rankings as a way to gauge how you view a certain player and how others view a certain player.

So here is a quick rundown about these rankings.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

1. OF Jacob Melton | 24 | MLB | 2025

A left-handed hitter listed at 6’2” 208 pounds, Melton at his hottest features speed, patience and power with serviceable defense in center field. His 2025 was interrupted a couple times by injuries, but he’s talented enough to push for a spot in spring. In 35 Triple-A games, he slashed .286/.389/.556 with six homers, 12 steals and a 20 percent strikeout rate. He withered under the bright lights, slashing .157/.234/.186 in 78 plate appearances spread across 32 games. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and welcome back to my weekly rankings. This week is the Top 50 Dynasty Left Fielders for 2026.

Left field is a weird position. On one hand, it is where old players go to live out the rest of their careers if they are not used as fulltime designated hitters. Many players who used to be really good right or center fielders eventually move over to left field as they slow down or their arm gets weaker. There are also a lot of players who spent much of their time at DH but played enough in the field to be considered a left fielder.

The most obvious is Kyle Schwarber, who played in only eight games in the field, all as a left fielder. But in leagues like Yahoo, that is enough to qualify as a left fielder and not just the UTL designation, so Schwarber is ranked along with the rest of the left fielders (and I am trying to avoid doing a Top 3 DH rankings as Shohei Ohtani, Marcell Ozuna and Andrew McCutchen are the only true DH players remaining. They will be talked about when we get to the right fielders).

Here is the age breakdown of this position:

35+: 2
30-34: 16
25-29: 23
20-24: 9

Nearly half of the players I ranked are 30 or older. However, there are some really young, very good players who qualify as left fielders. All that means is that they likely have a defensive shortcoming but their bats are just fine, and in fantasy baseball, that is all we care about.

This is also a position that, like second base, a host of players also can qualify as other position players, whether it is in the infield or over in center or right field. If you are in a league where you have the OF designation, this is not big deal for you. But in league that break out players by position in the outfield, this gives some added value to a player.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

1. 3B Cam Smith | 22 | AA | 2025

The 14th overall pick by the Cubs in this summer’s draft, Smith skipped blissfully through the A-levels in just 27 games, blasting six home runs in 15 Low-A games and slashing .333/.421/.500 in 12 High-A games before rounding out the season with five games with Double-A Tennessee. Houston saw enough to target the 6’3” 224 lb righty in the Kyle Tucker trade. Smith gives the club a ready-soon third-base prospect in the wake of Alex Bregman’s departure, though with Isaac Paredes also in town, Smith may have to try some outfield.  

Please, blog, may I have some more?