Fantasy Baseball 2025 Redraft Top 500 Rankings & Trade Value Version 2.22

This week: An in-depth look at why you'll want to add Luis Torrens to your fantasy team, plus more on Jorge Polanco's recent struggles and Jacob Misiorowski's breakout. (Spoilers, he's in the top 100)

In this week’s Top 500 update, a breakdown of why Luis Torrens could be an impact fantasy option moving forward, plus a look at Jorge Polanco’s recent numbers at the plate and why Jacob Misiorowski is already in the top 100 after just three starts.

All that and more after the updated Top 500.

(A quick note, if you’re having trouble reading the table in full in the Substack app, it can be viewed in full either in the email or in a web browser.)

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Luis Torrens (#269, 31 trade value).

With Francisco Alaverz recently being optioned to Triple-A by the New York Mets, Luis Torrens seeing more playing time and potentially being the National League West club’s starting catcher is a significant bit of fantasy news.

And sure, you might be thinking, but Luis Torrens is batting just .218 with a .297 on-base percentage. His wRC+ is 20 points below league average. He has just the one home run and a .105 ISO in 148 plate appearances as of the start of play on Thursday.

And well, yes. All of that… yes. Those are factual statements and Torrens’ actual surface-level stats.

But, he’s due for a significant turnaround at the plate, or a significant change in fortunes in terms of his surface-level production, at least. And now with Alvarez at Triple-A, it would seem that Torrens has a runway to significant plate appearances to see his surface-level stats bounce back in a considerable way, and in a lineup with the league’s sixth-best wRC+ too.

And while Torrens has only collected 148 plate appearances so far this season, it’s still a reasonably large sample size considering the quality of contact numbers he’s logged.

Luis Torrens in 2025:

• .389 xwOBA

• .471 xwOBAcon

• .302 xBA

• 16.0% barrel rate

• 22.6% chase rate

• 22.3% strikeout rate

• 23.7% whiff rate

• 9.5% walk rate

The plate appearance difference is obviously there, but Torrens has the same xwOBA as Corbin Carroll and a higher xwOBA than Fernando Tatis Jr., Max Muncy, George Springer, Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado, Bobby Witt Jr., Freddie Freeman and Corey Seager.

If Torrens had the requisite number of plate appearances, his barrel rate would be the 14^th-best in the league among qualified hitters, ahead of the likes of Carroll, Elly De La Cruz and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Among the many hitters with a lower xwOBAcon than Torrens include Rafael Devers, De La Cruz, Merrill, Austin Riley and Eugenio Suarez.

Will Luis Torrens’ quality of contact numbers stay in and around where they are now? That remains to be seen.

But, he now has the opportunity to log a bunch of plate appearances, and we’ll see if the xwOBA, xwOBAcon and barrel rate can remain decidedly above average.

If that’s the case, and Torrens is the Mets’ starting catcher from here through the rest of the season, he’ll be a top-10 fantasy option at his position.

Jorge Polanco (#246, 35 trade value).

Jorge Polanco’s season-long quality of contact and underlying numbers are still strong, what with a .352 xwOBA, a .292 xBA and a 9.8% barrel rate. Elsewhere, he’s striking out just 13.6% of the time, and is posting solid chase rate (25.9%) and whiff rate (23.2%) metrics.

However, per his Statcast data, Polanco’s xwOBA has trended downward considerably as of late.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the infielder’s wRC+ has dropped considerably in the last few months. It was 247 in March and April, 22 in May and is currently at 66 through the beginning of play on Thursday in the month of June.

The good news is that Polanco is still hitting cleanup for the Mariners on a regular basis and is posting a minuscule strikeout rate. Those two factors, plus a .243 BABIP, should lead to a quality batting average at the end of the day – or the end of the season, rather. In fact, considering the strikeout rate and BABIP pairing, Polanco might actually see some of his surface-level numbers bounce back where batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored and RBI are concerned.

However, it’s fair to wonder how much Polanco’s power numbers will bounce back. His .382 xwOBAcon for the season is on track to be his lowest in a full season since 2019.

Since the end of April, the veteran is sporting just a .074 ISO, a 3.9% barrel rate and a 39.4% hard-hit rate in 163 plate appearances.

Even if the power doesn’t return, Polanco should still be reasonably productive from a fantasy standpoint with his increased contact this season, but it might be time to adjust season-long expectations where his fantasy ceiling is concerned.

Jacob Misiorowski (#94, 75 trade value).

Is it too early to put Jacob Misiorowski in the top 100 overall after just three starts? Maybe.

But maybe not.

Sure, it’s been just the three starts, but the rookie is sporting a 1.13 ERA and a 2.82 FIP in 16 innings with a 33.9% strikeout rate and a 12.5% walk rate. He’s given up just three hits, two earned runs and a home run in 16 innings so far, with 19 strikeouts. And while the walk rate (Misiorowski has walked seven batters so far) could be better, his elite bat-missing numbers so far more than make up for it.

Elsewhere, the right-hander has logged a 32% or better CSW rate in two of his three starts.

And sure, it’s early, but Misiorowski has lived up to his elite prospect billing so far – he’s also won each of his three starts – and with so many pitcher injuries across the league, he easily moves into the top 100 based on his upside and early results.

Of course, the pitching injuries are a minor part of the equation here, but Misiorowski could be a fantasy ace the rest of the way and has certainly pitched like one early.

Beware the Open Roster Spot (Or lack thereof)

Oh and one more quick note, beware the open roster spot, or lack thereof rather, in trades.

While a two-for-one or even a three-for-one or four-for-two deal might line up from a trade value standpoint, the roster spots are worth considering. Essentially, if you’re having to cut someone, it turns into you giving up another player or players in addition to potentially the best player in the deal. It’s obviously a different story if you’re working with a flexible roster or open roster spots, but it adds another layer to deals that can potentially change the calculus of things considerably.

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