Welcome back to the continuation of our series breaking down the Top 100 Hitters for the 2025 fantasy baseball season. We are midway through, and this week we have an opportunity to dive into the part of the draft with so much uncertainty, it’s like trying to guess where a knuckleball is going in a hurricane. Where there is uncertainty for many, there is opportunity for the savvy. This group features exciting players who are just looking to put it all together for a full season, such as Royce Lewis or Lawrence Butler. On the other side of the coin, there are players who simply need to stay healthy for the majority of the year, like Mike Trout or Christian Yelich. There is no question that limitless potential exists as we hit the middle rounds of a fantasy draft, yet the most important thing for a drafter is to stick to their strategy and get their guys. Let’s hunker down and continue our trounce through the Top 100 Hitters for the 2025 fantasy baseball season with hitters 41 through 60.
43. Marcus Semien
44. Lawrence Butler
Each player in this first tier could easily be argued up five or ten spots in our rankings. William Contreras is the top catcher on our list, thanks to his ability to play almost every day, amassing 155 games in 2024, and his overall power profile, which leaves more potential than we have seen at this point. Teoscar Hernandez and Marcus Semien are both players who can justify a top 25 ranking, but inconsistency continues to be a challenge. Teoscar has been much more consistent from a health perspective over the last four years, but he continues to have a large swing-and-miss component in his game and has experienced three years of decline in his hard-hit rates. The Dodgers’ lineup will give him a high floor from a counting stat perspective, which should stave off concerns. Semien, on the other hand, has a much more well-rounded game, although his speed metrics have started to decline in the last few years. Count on him for 160 games this season, with 2024 as a floor, though more is possible due to the variability in his game over the years. Lawrence Butler had a breakout 2024 with 22 homers, 18 steals, and a .262 average. His emergence was somewhat of a surprise, which holds him down in the rankings, especially in the power department. But purely from an underlying metric perspective, this ranking could be light. Finally, Michael Harris II continues to be a player who seems to have all the upside in the world but has yet to fully capitalize on it.
46. Oneil Cruz
47. Christian Walker
48. Josh Naylor
49. Royce Lewis
50. Christian Yelich
With injury concerns and inconsistency, Oneil Cruz might be another player who seems to have all the physical gifts, and it’s so easy to project, yet we have to recognize he is not much more than a 20/20 player unless everything clicks. Christian Walker and Josh Naylor are both in new places for 2025 and have high hopes. Walker is dealing with an oblique issue this spring but is hopeful to avoid missing any time for the Astros, which is an ideal landing spot for his swing and should result in him returning to his 30-homer form in 2025. Naylor had a career year in 2024 and is moving to a better ballpark in Arizona for the upcoming season. His underlying metrics tell us he is more likely to be a .250 hitter with 20 homers than hit .300 like he did in 2023 or 30+ bombs like in 2024. Royce Lewis might be the most exciting hitter in this section of the rankings, as his career line is 152 games with 33 homers, 104 RBIs, and a .268 average. Unfortunately, it has taken three seasons to amass those statistics. If Royce is healthy this year and gets a full season, then this is absolutely worth the risk; however, that is far from a certainty. Finishing up this tier is another guy like Lewis, but on the back end of his career at 33 years of age, Christian Yelich has the potential to put up All-Star production if his back injuries can stay in check.
51. Alex Bregman
52. Mike Trout
54. Jake Burger
55. CJ Abrams
Alex Bregman will love playing in Boston and targeting the Green Monster as part of a decent lineup for the Red Sox. Lock him in for another .260 average and 25 homers for 2025 and move on. It feels criminal to place Mike Trout between Bregman and Vinnie, based solely on talent. Unfortunately, the over/under for games played might be half a season. Speaking of Vinnie Pasquantino, it feels like we are due for a breakout if he can avoid another freak thumb injury. Slotting between Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez should produce a nice floor, but this is a guy who could hit .280 with 30 homers. Speaking of homers, Jake Burger likes to hit them in bunches, with 63 over the past two seasons combined, while hitting .250 for three straight years in his best Khris Davis impersonation. The move to a stronger lineup in Texas should boost those counting stats and really put Burger on the map in 2025. Finally, we have CJ Abrams, who has put up some exciting numbers while also being confounding off the field for the Nationals. Of players on our list, he might have the largest spread of potential, as the talent could be 20/30, but the base stealing has been less than efficient, and that is likely to back off this year as the Nationals look to be a bit more competitive than in 2024. I would be looking at a projection of 15/20 with a .245 average for 2025 for Abrams.
56. Brenton Doyle
57. Bryan Reynolds
58. Salvador Perez
59. Seiya Suzuki
60. Adley Rutschman
As we finish up the top 60 hitters, we have two catchers in this last tier—between the staying power of Salvador Perez and the pure upside that is Adley Rutschman. Salvy gets the nod as one of the most consistent hitters at the catcher position and should be locked in for 550 at-bats with 25 homers and 100+ RBIs. Adley, on the other hand, has a pure swing that has yet to produce what many had hoped for out of the former #1 overall draft pick for the Orioles. In his age-27 season, it would not be a shock to see him break out and hit .300 with 30 homers and 100 RBIs. However, the track record suggests those expectations are not the likely outcome, and we need to recognize we are looking at a .260 hitter with 20 homers at catcher eligibility. The trio of outfielders in this tier are all power-speed combinations. Brenton Doyle had a breakout in 2024 with a 23/30 season. His underlying metrics are about league average across the board, but playing in Colorado definitely adds a bit of value. Reynolds has been a consistent force in this tier of the rankings since he came into the league, and while he might be a boring pick, there is value in knowing what you are getting and locking that in. The last of those outfielders, Suzuki, hit .283 with 21 homers and 16 steals in 2024 and should be in line for a similar result this season.
