Fantasy Baseball 2025 Redraft Top 500 Rankings & Trade Value Version 2.02

Finding potentially undervalued fantasy players.

Regardless of league size, finding the right undervalued players can be crucial in your quest to claim fantasy championships year in, year out.

Whether that’s in the draft, via waivers with a long-term addition, in trades or even via waivers for short-term, streaming reinforcements, finding those players is key.

Sometimes they become a key part of your team. Sometimes they perform well and you can trade them as part of a deal for an even more impactful player. Sometimes the player is simply on your team for a week or two (or even a few days), but helps you win your weekly matchup by turning the tide with a key statistical contribution.

This week’s column attempts to find a few of those players, regardless of league size.

The first one, spoilers, is a potentially undervalued pitcher to consider later in fantasy drafts.

Ok, enough of the (potential) spoilers, let’s dive into it all.

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Max Scherzer (#244, 25 trade value).

Cross another division off the list. Max Scherzer will now being playing in his fifth different division in his career. It’s a very specific stat, to be sure, but Scherzer joining the Toronto Blue Jays on a one-year deal ensures the 40-year-old will now have played in all but one division in the Majors once he dons a Blue Jays uniform.

And while Scherzer might not be as effective as the starter he was just a few seasons ago in 2022 – the veteran logged a 2.29 ERA and a 2.62 FIP in 145.1 innings that year, finishing in the 81^st percentile or better in xERA, xBA, chase rate, whiff rate, strikeout rate, walk rate and hard-hit rate – the veteran looks like a potentially undervalued option for redraft managers heading into draft season.

An injury-shortened season in 2024 might depress Scherzer’s ADP. So too might the fact that his FIP has been above 4.00 in each of the last two seasons, finishing at 4.18 in 43.1 innings last year and 4.32 in 152.2 innings in 2023.

All that being said, he’s very much worth a look later in drafts.

Because for as much as Scherzer’s 2024 FIP might seem ideal, or that he logged a somewhat high (at least compared to the rest of his career) 3.95 ERA, the veteran logged a 36.4% chase rate and a 29.2% whiff rate while also limiting batters to just a 5.6% walk rate and a 34.9% hard-hit rate.

All four numbers were more or less within what Scherzer has done for the bulk of his career in each category in the Statcast era.

The whiff rate in particular is just percentage points off the starter’s whiff rate in 2022 (30.6%). A number that, that season, finished in the 92^nd percentile league-wide.

Elsewhere, Scherzer’s xwOBAcon was also reasonably close to what it’s been in most full seasons since 2015.

Max Scherzer xwOBAcon by Season Since 2015:

• 2015: .349

• 2016: .349

• 2017: .327

• 2018: .345

• 2019: .363

• 2020: .440

• 2021: .366

• 2022: .352

• 2023: .353

• 2024: .367

If he’s healthy, Scherzer should provide quality production in the rotation if he can continue to miss bats and limit quality contact. For managers looking to wait on starting pitching in drafts (hint, you really should), he makes for an intriguing, later-round option.

Ben Gamel (#477, 5 trade value).

If you’re looking for a deep league sleeper for leagues that use on-base percentage as part of the scoring, we’re talking 14 teams or more with relatively significant potential, Ben Gamel is very much worth a look.

Really, if he hits the type of fantasy ceiling he’s capable of, he’d be a useful streaming option in even 12-team leagues, but for now, he’s more of a deeper league option.

Gamel, who recently signed a Major League deal with the Houston Astros, has always been decidedly above-average at getting on base a bunch via a bunch of walks. He has a double-digit walk rate in each Major League season in which he’s logged 290 or more plate appearances and is sporting a 10.5% walk rate for his career.

Last year in Houston he turned in a (probably) unsustainable 18.2% walk rate – en route to a .384 on-base percentage – in a 99 plate appearance sample size. That was last year.

This year, Houston’s outfield alignment is going to look a bit different with Kyle Tucker now in Chicago as a member of the Cubs.

The Astros currently have Chas McCormick, Gamel, Jake Meyers, Mauricio Dubon and Taylor Trammell on hand as outfield options with top prospect Jacob Melton waiting in the wings at Triple-A.

Even if Houston plays Jose Altuve in the outfield some, or if Melton not only makes his Major League debut, but establishes himself early, there isn’t a ton of certainty in the outfield grass in Houston.

McCormick had a down year in 2024, while Meyers has been below league average at the plate (in terms of wRC+) in each of the last three years, providing more value with his glove work. Dubon, meanwhile, can play all over the field while Trammell has yet to establish himself at the Major League level.

If Gamel can play regularly, he’d be an ideal addition for those looking for quality runs scored and on-base percentage, particularly in Roto formats.

It’s something to keep an eye on in Spring Training, but Gamel has some quality, under-the-radar fantasy upside. Stack enough of those moves (finding under-the-radar, quality contributors) and you’ll be at or near the top of the standings in your league.

Jorge Polanco (#259, 24 trade value).

Sticking in the American League West, Jorge Polanco is returning to the Seattle Mariners on a one-year deal.

Polanco was, more often than not, a decidedly above-average second baseman at the plate with the Twins for much of his career. His wRC+ was at 117 or higher in his last four seasons prior to the 2024 campaign.

Prior to those four seasons, Polanco’s wRC+ outlays were 101, 90 and 111 from 2016 through 2018.

So naturally, the prospect of Polanco hitting in a top-heavy Mariners lineup seemed promising. Especially considering he was likely to hit near both of Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh.

But then the 2024 season happened and Polanco struggled mightily at the plate, in part due to a knee injury.

His xwOBA dropped below .340 for the first time in four full seasons, and it dropped rather considerably to .309. Some of that had to do with his strikeout rate jumping to 29.3% as the infielder’s .395 xwOBAcon was right in line with where it was in 2021 (.398) when the veteran collected 33 home runs, a .235 ISO and a .348 xwOBA in 644 plate appearances for the Minnesota Twins.

Still, the strikeouts were significant and unideal. Elsewhere, perhaps in part due to those strikeouts, Polanco’s barrel rate dropped to 8.9%.

He hit just .213 with a .296 on-base percentage, 16 home runs and four stolen bases in 469 plate appearances for the Mariners this past season. Even for a Mariners team that outscored just nine teams last year, Polanco hit higher than fifth in the lineup just 12 times from July 1 onwards, with one of those appearances being as a pinch-hitter.

So yeah, just all sorts of unideal from a production standpoint.

And while you’re probably better off looking elsewhere for starting second base options, there are a few things fantasy-wise that make Polanco worth a look as a bench option in deeper leagues.

Per an article in The Athletic’s Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal on January 30, Polanco reportedly “will become Seattle’s third baseman, according to one league source.”

With that eventual eligibility at another infield spot, Polanco could slot in at second, third, the middle infield sport and the corner infield spot.

And while his quality of contact metrics weren’t great last season, Polanco should at least see plenty of opportunities in 2025, something that could help paper over the quality of contact numbers where his overall fantasy production is concerned.

Because remember that Mariners lineup that finished in the bottom third in the league in runs scored? The one that only outscored nine teams?

They haven’t really done all that much this offseason.

Seattle’s 40-man roster additions on the position player side, outside of Jorge Polanco, consist of a number of potential bench options in Donovan Solano, Austin Shenton and Miles Mastrobuoni.

Elsewhere, minimum 100 plate appearances, eight Mariners logged a wRC+ of 100 or higher. Two of them – Justin Turner (126 in 190 plate appearances) and Luis Urias (107 in 109 plate appearances – are no longer on the 40-man roster.

Translation? If he’s healthy, Jorge Polanco should see a ton of plate appearances. That has the potential to eventually vault him into starting territory in 12-team leagues, though if his quality of contact metrics repeat themselves, he’s likely more of a versatile, fantasy reserve option in leagues with 12 or more teams.

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.

Additional Reading

Last week’s breakdown, featuring a look at Dylan Cease, the Royals slightly revamped bullpen and Ha-Seong Kim:

Fantasy Baseball 2025 Redraft Top 500 Rankings & Trade Value Version 2.01

This week’s dynasty update, an unintentionally very American League East-centric column:

Fantasy Baseball Dynasty Top 700 Rankings & Trade Value Version 2.03

The kinds of articles you get access to as a paid subscriber, in addition to access to my daily fantasy help chat. The goal here? To help you win your leagues.