As a way to offer readers some deeper knowledge about the fantasy-relevant players on MLB rosters, I’m going to be checking in from time to time with a full division’s worth of middle infielders. As a long-suffering Cubs fan, I couldn’t resist starting with the NL Central. If my assessment gets a bit bleak at times, blame my many years of fan trauma (does 2003 ring a bell?).
So here we go. As I review the middle infielders in a meh division, it’s probably not surprising that there are some meh middle infields. But there is a potentially beastly one and a very solid one to go with a whole lot of “maybes” and several “never weres.”
The depth chart (according to MLB.com) of the 2B and SS positions for each team:
MILWAUKEE BREWERS – meh minus
2B: Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, Isaac Collins
SS: Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, Vinny Capra
This isn’t a good middle infield despite Turang’s and Ortiz’s potential as players. As long as Turang and Ortiz meet their upside, Milwaukee can claim a functional group. If they don’t, yikes.
I was lukewarm on Brice Turang in my initial middle infield ranks, and nothing I’ve seen so far this season has changed my opinion.
As a runner, he is priceless. As a hitter, yeah, not so much. That said, he’s looked like a reincarnation of Barry Bonds (if Bonds never actually walked, that is) in the first couple of weeks. His HH% (51.5%) and Barrel% (15.2%) would put him in another stratosphere as a power hitter, so it’s probably fair to say that he’s just off to a scorching hot start. But his EV is up 7 mph, and he’s increased his maxEV to a new career high (109.8, up 1.5 mph from his former high). The crazy HH% and Barrel% can’t stick, but if his EV gains indicate a more aggressive hitter who can hit, say, 15 HRs, Turang’s value goes up quite a bit.
Regardless of whether his EV gains stick, he’s a valuable contributor to just about any team. Just don’t expect his .318 AVG to stay around much longer.
I’m a believer in Joey Ortiz. In my waiver wire deep dive from a couple of weeks ago, I sang his praises:
Ortiz is someone who can contribute a little bit in all roto categories. In his first full season last year, he had a line of 511 PA, 11 HR, 58 R, 60 RBI, 11 SB, and .239 AVG. Nothing stands out as amazing in the stat line, but a deeper dive into his numbers gives me some confidence that he can have more like a .260 AVG with 15 HR & SB, and around 65 R & RBI. Maybe more.
If Ortiz is able to reach the heights I think he can, that is a valuable player, especially when he can be picked up on quite a few waiver wires. That said, Ortiz has looked legitimately terrible so far this season. He isn’t making good contact, and it looks like he’s trying too hard to put the ball in the air (his 14.7° is up nearly 5°, but his HH% is down nearly 7%). He isn’t walking at all, and his EV is down 6 mph. His results are bad enough that Ortiz may find himself back in the minors very soon if he doesn’t stop pressing so hard. The good news is his plate discipline metrics look almost exactly the same as last year’s, so feasibly, his timing is just off. I hope whatever is happening gets corrected soon.
What makes this infield so weak is that Ortiz is clearly the second best option on the depth chart, but we don’t actually yet know how good he is. If he crashes and burns (which is a possibility), this depth chart gets awful really quickly.
As of 4/9, Isaac Collins has 36 MLB PAs. His EV so far this year (91.8 mph) and his maxEV (111.2 mph) both look promising, but we can’t learn much in 36 PAs. His 38 HRs in 1940 minor league PAs make it look like those EV numbers may not translate to much.
Capra has seen PAs at the major league level since 2022, totaling a massive 61 PAs in over 3 years. I would go into some of his plate discipline and power metrics, but I think some things are better left unsaid.
For the Brewers’ sake, I hope neither Turang nor Ortiz goes down. But for the sake of watching a cheapskate owner’s middle infield “plans” collapse, well, that doesn’t sound so bad.
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS – meh plus
2B: Nolan Gorman (IL), Brendan Donovan, Thomas Saggese
SS: Masyn Winn, Thomas Saggese
Gorman’s mini-breakout in 2023 (.236 AVG, 27 HRs, 59 Rs, 76 RBIs, and 7 SBs) left most fantasy players with big dreams for a massive breakout. But his 31.9% K% that same year suggested those big dreams might not be a guarantee. Last year saw Gorman’s K% increase to 37.6%, which led to a brief demotion back to the minors.
Gorman undoubtedly has power potential (48.5% HH% over 464 PAs in 2023!), but his scary lack of plate discipline (63.5% Contact% last year, which was down only 3.9% from 2023) makes his long-term success anything but certain.
There is a compelling argument to be made that Brendan Donovan’s baseline expectation of a .275-.285 AVG, 10-15 HRs, 60ish Rs & RBIs, and 5-7 SBs is an essential part of any 50-round draft and hold team. It is equally appropriate to say Donovan provides real value in a 15-team standard league. But once we get down to 12-team leagues and shallower, Donovan’s value is nebulous at best. For the types of leagues I play, I love what he provides (and his 2B/OF eligibility is extremely helpful), but he isn’t exactly a star-level producer.
Last week in my latest shortstop rankings, I wrote about my concerns for Winn’s new spot in the Cardinals batting order:
I’m not too worried about the slow start, but the batting order drop means roughly 100+ fewer PAs than if he spends the season in the 1-hole. I’m going to hope that once Winn locks in a bit more, Marmol will at least put him in the top half of the lineup. But things don’t look great at this point.
Over the last week, Winn has picked up his offensive game significantly, going 10 of his last 25 with 1 HR, 7 Rs, and 3 RBIs. I think he’s a future star with the ability to provide yearly stats in the .270 AVG / 20 HR / 35 SB range, so I don’t doubt the player. Whether this is the year for his breakout, though, will depend on whether Marmol decides to move Winn up near the top of the order. Oh, and for someone who told us he wanted to steal 30-40 bags this year, I sure wouldn’t mind seeing him actually attempt to steal a base. Just 1 base… I know my standards can be awfully high.
Saggese has entered the league with some prospect buzz, and projections agree that he is someone who can play at a level that over a full season would result in 15-20 HRs and around 10 SBs. There are plenty of fantasy players who’d like that kind of production at their middle infield spot. The promise is there, but his 61 career PAs don’t yet tell us much about who he really is.
CHICAGO CUBS – solid, as long as no one gets injured
2B: Nico Hoerner, Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan (IL)
SS: Dansby Swanson, Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan (IL)
**Matt Shaw is also listed as part of the depth chart, but since he’s playing 3B more often, I’ve left that one to Kelder’s corner infield roundup.
I like this infield both in real life and in fantasy, especially at the price it took to draft these players during the winter and spring. Both Hoerner and Swanson settled in the 150-200 ADP range, which I think is a steal for what they offer. And Jon Berti offers sneaky value as well.
Nico Hoerner is the type of player I absolutely love: solid hitter with plate presence and discipline, excellent fielder, and base-runner extraordinaire. And so far this year, he’s been exactly the player we might expect: .350 AVG, 7 Rs, 8 RBIs, and 6 SBs. Notice that I didn’t give a HRs number – power isn’t his thing, but he provides value in a ton of other ways. What he lacks in power metrics, he makes up for in plate discipline (a yearly Contact% near 90%!) and speed (yearly rates of 28-29 ft/s). He is absolutely a value in any fantasy league, and it’s worth mentioning that he is even better as a real-life baseball player.
Dansby Swanson
In my initial middle infield rankings, I called Dansby Swanson oatmeal, the type of oatmeal that sometimes comes with sprinkles of cinnamon on top. Here is the crux of my preseason spiel:
We know who this guy is: a .240-.250 hitter (who tosses in a .270 season from time to time – you know, cinnamon…) and someone who will bring in 20ish HR, 80s for both R & RBI, and somewhere between 10-20 SB. He came awfully close to that last year despite being injured and having core surgery immediately after the season ended.
The start of the 2025 season has done nothing to convince me my initial assessment was off in the slightest. After 65 PAs, Dansby is batting a not-so-rubust .203, so not great there. But he’s also provided 4 HRs, 9 Rs, 11 RBIs, and 2 SBs. Mmm, that oatmeal tastes good to me.
I can’t believe I’m about to say this: The Cubs’ free agent acquisition of Jon Berti was, gulp, an excellent baseball move on Jed Hoyer’s part. Even blind squirrels find acorns, or something like that…
Berti isn’t exactly a good player, but he’s valuable. He finds ways to contribute through his fielding and base-running, and in fantasy, he’s a gold mine. His 5 SBs in 18 PAs so far this year puts him on pace for 173 PAs and 54 SBs for the season. The most shocking thing about that pace is… it isn’t that shocking. Berti is in the game to get in scoring position however he can, and that has value in any league that counts SBs and Rs.
If you decide that your team is in a position where Vidal Brujan is an option for your lineup, ugh… Something has gone very, very wrong.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES – nightmarish
2B: Nick Gonzalez (IL), Tsung-Che Cheng, Adam Frazier
SS: Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tsung-Che Cheng, Nick Gonzalez
Working on this team’s depth chart brings tears to my eyes, kind of like I was just attacked with pepper spray. This is bad. A billionaire is putting these players on the field in front of the devoted Pirates fans and saying they’re the best he could get. Oof.
Gonzales has some likeable skills, but he hasn’t been around long enough to show if those skills are real. His HH% doesn’t offer much, but he was able to power through 7 HRs in 387 PAs last year, and his sole hit of 2025 (in only 3 PAs due to injury) has been a HR. (The fact that he broke his ankle at some point in the process of hitting the HR is pure Pirates.) He doesn’t strike out at a high clip, but he also doesn’t walk much (4.7% BB% in just over 500 PAs in 2023-24). He can fly (29.2 ft/s in 2024), but he also doesn’t run very often (0.7% SBA%!).
His plate discipline is ok, but nothing to get excited about – except that he doesn’t swing out of the zone (just over 30% O-Swing in 2023-24). This has kept his CSW% reasonable and suggests that his .270 average last season is a fair possibility for this year. He did produce runs last year (42 R, 49 RBI in a half season worth of PAs). When he gets back from the IL, I’m definitely looking to add him in deeper leagues, and he could be useful in 12s at your MI spot. Nothing special but playable.
The only player I feel good about in this list is IKF, but it’s not like he’s high-impact. He is known for bringing his lunch pail to work and doing whatever he can to contribute, and what he can contribute adds up to between 5-10 HRs, maybe 50 Rs (60 if he goes beast mode), and laughably few RBIs (I will be shocked if he gets to 50). He does offer speed though. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say he offers base-running intelligence as his speed is nothing to write home about (he’s down to 27 ft/s this season), but he chooses wisely enough to be a legitimate threat for 15-20 SBs. He also offers an elite Z-Contact% and overall Contact%, which helps him maintain an AVG in the .260-.270 range. He doesn’t strike out, but he also doesn’t hit the ball hard enough to offer much when he does hit it. I’ll take his 15-20 steals and his flexible position eligibility (2B/3B/SS) and plug him into my 15-teamers. If I’m desperate, maybe I’ll shame-facedly put him my 12s, but I sure won’t feel good about it.
I honestly don’t know who this player is. He was called up to the Pirates on April 7th but has yet to record a PA (as of 4/9). His minor league numbers show 92 SBs in 402 games, but he was also caught 32 times. A 74% SB% in the minors doesn’t exactly get me dreaming big things, but he did have a nice spring performance (to the extent that matters – which is not at all). I’m sure he’s a lovely young man, but he won’t be on my team this year unless something amazing transpires.
I do know who this player is, but I kind of wish I didn’t. His best attribute is his 2B/OF eligibility, and in 37 PAs this year, he’s done pretty much what you’d expect of a career back-up player. Frazier offered some contributions for deep leagues early in his career (think 2018), but I’ll let Razzball’s hitter projections of a .241 AVG, 3 HR, 24 Rs, 20 RBIs, and 4 SBs tell you who Frazier is now.
CINCINNATI REDS – beast mode potential
2B: Matt McLain, Gavin Lux, Santiago Espinal
SS: Elly De La Cruz, Santiago Espinal, Gavin Lux
I love this middle infield. I even kind of like the back-up players. If Matt McLain can stay healthy, this group is clearly the class of the division – and one of the best in the NL.
The most exciting player in baseball for my money. He is off to a slow start, but his HH% (60.6%) and Barrel% (21.2%) show he is absolutely clubbing the ball. In 50 PAs, he is filling the stat sheet: 2 HR, 7 R, 10 RBI, 2 SB while rocking an anemic OBP of .296. I’m pretty sure he’ll settle in and nudge his OBP at least a bit higher, and look out below when he does.
I ranked McLain 10th in my preseason middle infield rankings, and at this point, I’m certainly not inclined to move him down. Here is the meaty part of what I wrote for him:
Do I think he’ll stay on pace to go 30 HR / 25 SB? No, not really. Do I think he’ll repeat his .290 AVG? Again, not so much – that .385 BABIP is going to be tough to get to again, and his 28.5% K% with a 7.7% BB% doesn’t scream “plate discipline.”
But his HH% looks legit: in the low- to mid-40s, and his LA is conducive to getting the ball over the fence. His sprint speed (29 ft/s – that is Elly De La Cruz range) makes it look like he could steal bases at a better rate than 2023 when his SBA% was a whopping 2%. Could he put together a 20 HR / 40 SB season? I think so.
McLain is currently injured with a balky hammy that Terry Francona has been cagey about. At the beginning of his absence, Francona acted like it was no big deal, but the Blog Red Machine started pounding the drum of anxiety early and is now comparing McLain to Nick Senzel. I’m going to hold off on Chicken Little mode for a few more days, but any soft tissue injury to that guy does make me nervous.
His skills, though, are undeniable. Even with a semi-slow start that includes a .214 AVG and a whopping 35.5% K% in his first 31 PAs, McLain also has 3 HRs, 7 Rs, 5 RBIs, and a SB on his ledger. His HH% of 64.7% shows he’s currently trying to punish the ball for last year’s missed season, and his terrible Contact% (67.3%) confirms he’s pressing. What kind of numbers can this guy create once he actually settles in and just plays?
The eternal prospect in the Dodgers organization, it looks like Lux will actually get some consistent PT this year. So far, he’s done almost nothing with his 49 PAs, but his plate discipline and power metrics make me think his slow start will be short-lived. The projection systems universally put him at around a .250-.255 AVG, 10 HRs, with 40-50 Rs / RBIs and 5-8 SBs. But those projections are based on between 350-500 PAs. So far, though, he’s on pace for more like 600 PAs, so extrapolate away on those projections! I like what he can provide, especially in deep leagues.
Espinal is who he is. He’s good for around 300-400 PAs, 5-8 HRs / SBs, and 30-40 Rs / RBIs. He’s a helpful real-life player but is fantasy-relevant only as a desperation fill-in or in NL / AL only. Still, as a player down the depth chart, he isn’t too shabby at all.
Noelvi Marte is also listed as being part of the depth at both 2B and SS. Since he just got called up to the show and hasn’t seen a pitch (as of 4/9), I’ll wait for him to do something before giving any assessments of him. His 2023 run of 35 games looked extremely promising, but 2024 was uneven at best and at worst marred by a PED suspension. It seems appropriate to be in “wait and see” mode with Marte.
Well, that’s it for the NL Central. After digging deep in the ruins of such a mediocre division, maybe my next depth chart piece should be on the NL West or AL East. I need some hope…
See you next week with a new 2B rankings list. Until then. – ADHamley
Love this. Great read. Thanks.