If you’re a serious fan, this is the only guide you’ll need.
With March mere hours away, it means Fantasy Baseball draft season is about to begin in earnest, and I figured I should dispense some wisdom after playing the game for 20 years. In that span, I’ve finished in the top 3 of a league 17 times. I’m no expert, of course, but I’m not here to steer you wrong. Since this is a San Francisco Giants site, I figure it’s best to look at a fantasy draft from that perspective.
Now, if you haven’t already, you can get a more in-depth look at the talent with Brady’s roster reviews that he did earlier in February (hitters here, pitchers here). And one last note: if you’re one of the people out there who only draft Giants for your fantasy team, then this one isn’t for you because you don’t need any advice.
Catcher
Options: Patrick Bailey, Tom Murphy, Sam Huff
Your best bet: None of the above.
Unless your league accounts for defense runs saved or other defensive measures, it’s best not to draft a Giant here.
First base
Options: LaMonte Wade Jr., Wilmer Flores, Jerar Encarnacion, Bryce Eldridge
Your best bet: None of the above.
There’s certainly a case to be made that if Eldridge is available in your keeper or dynasty league that you ought to grab him, but there’s just so much uncertainty with such a young player. Besides, you don’t want to be the one that drafts him a bit too early and causes the rest of the league tease you for being such a homer.
Meanwhile, Wilmer Flores might very well recover from his knee troubles and hit somewhere close to his career-best 2023 season, but let somebody else find that out. He’s only really valuable if you can draft him along with LaMonte Wade Jr., whose consistently high on base percentage will help you in leagues that factor in OBP. But that’s two roster spots on what’s traditionally a solid fantasy position. Encarnacion, meanwhile, is the type of player you pick up later in your season when you’re trailing in a category or a head-to-head week and want to add someone on a hot streak. You wouldn’t open a season with him, unless you’re the IRL Giants.
Second base
Options: Tyler Fitzgerald, Brett Wisely, Casey Schmitt
Your best bet: None of the above.
There’s the old fantasy baseball wisdom that one’s first two picks ought to be shortstop and second base, since those are the shallowest positions for offense. I follow this for the most part, prioritizing up the middle as early as possible, unless I’m in a position to draft S***** O***** or M***** B**** or Juan Soto. So, it makes sense for a fantasy baseball and Giants enthusiast to find Fitzgerald’s power-speed combo tantalizing.
However.
Is your best bet on Tyler Fitzgerald hitting the ground running in 2025 instead of matching some of his 30-for-131 ending to last season? I don’t think so.
And, in the case of the other two, you’d be drafting them with the expectation that Fitzgerald — who will at least get a crack at the starting job — will fail. Bad vibes. Don’t need to give in to that.
Shortstop
Option: Willy Adames
Your best bet: None of the above.
Look, Willy Adames is one of the best fantasy baseball players out there. In 2022, MLB.com ranked him 137th overall (14th among SS). In 2023: 86th (12th at SS). 2024: 172nd (12th at SS).
Oh wait. Hmm. That’s not so great. On the other hand, both ESPN and Yahoo! ranks him 10th among shortstops for 2025 — wait, that’s not all that great. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s not worth drafting, but as a Giants fan, are you the one who ought to take the plunge?
Transitioning to a new team is rarely easy. Matt Chapman’s 2024 is a bit of an exception, but even he got off to a rocky start: .222/.266/.385 in his first month with the team. Adames’ power-speed combo (21 stolen bases last year) would seem irresistble, but if it all goes badly, then what? You’ll have bought a bag of magic beans.
Third base
Option: Matt Chapman
Your best bet: None of the above.
Stay away! Don’t jinx him? He signed that extension, he has the dad strength going. What good is having him on your team going to do other than to tell others you’re a Giants fan. Don’t tell me that who you draft has no bearing on how they perform. You don’t think fans can impact the outcome of games? Of course they can. It’s a big universe, but we’re all connected.
Watching a player nearly every day and then drafting him for your fantasy team — why would you tie together two tiers of rooting interest like that?? Sicko behavior.
Outfielders
Options: Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee, Mike Yastrzemski, Luis Matos
Your best bet: None of the above.
Now, it might be difficult to prove, but there’s a case to be made that the collective excitement for Jung Hoo Lee — and the commensurate drafting of him by Giants fans in fantasy baseball leagues — contributed to his season-ending injury. You think superstition has no basis in reality? Baseball players and fans are highly superstitious — or have you never worn a rally cap?
Heliot Ramos was an All-Star this year, and maybe you grabbed him ahead of the rest of your league when he started to breakout… but why would you potentially contribute to a setback this season? For vanity? No… no. Don’t be one of those fans. Let him thrive without needing to benefit from it directly. Better yet, divorce yourself from the results. If he does backslide from middle of the order anchor, absolve yourself of any responsibility or guilt.
If you’re drafting Mike Yastrzemski or Luis Matos, then you might have deeper issues with fantasy baseball from, like, a conceptual level.
Starting pitchers
Options: Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander, Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, Hayden Birdsong
Your best bet: None of the above.
What are you doing? If ANYTHING happens to Logan Webb this season, I’m going to assume it’s because one of you drafted him for your fantasy team.
“Oh, but he’s a reliable 200 inning guy and I’ll need innings!” — that’s not how baseball works! That’s not how it ever works. The moment you make a depth chart in pen, the Baseball Gods awake from their slumber with smiting on their mind and an ink eraser in hand. Sure, the Giants might figure Webb will give them 200 innings of 4+-WAR pitching, but it’s not something they ought to bank on for a third straight season. Don’t let your fanaticism be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Ray, Verlander, Hicks — injury guys. Not guys you want to spend draft picks on. Harrison and Birdsong are buying gut feelings about upside, which is fine, but again, you’re buying lottery tickets when you don’t have to — unless you really don’t think about how you’ll draft before you get in the room.
Relief pitchers
Options: Ryan Walker, Camilo Doval, Tyler Rogers
Your best bet: None of the above.
Tyler Kepner’s article in The Athletic this morning will undoubtedly put Ryan Walker on more people’s radars now (sub required), but you should have concerns because he pitched 80 innings last season and, as Roger Munter has noted previously, part of Camilo Doval’s struggles in 2024 can very easily be connected to his overuse in 2023. Walker seems due for a similar regression to the mean.
And as for Doval — if your league has a Hold category, he’s definitely one of the top contenders, same as Tyler Rogers; and either one of them could snap up the closer’s role if Walker falters, too.
But you want to know how I got all these Fantasy Baseball trophies… these Chili’s Gift Cards… bragging rights in leagues named, like, Tommy’s Bathroom? No Giants. If there’s any pure, clean, fun way to play fantasy baseball it’s to not draft Giants. Not drafting Giants means that your cheers send a clear signal of encouragment to the team, too. On a psychic — no, cosmic — scale, rooting for players because you love them and not because you need RBIs, strikeouts, or saves is how the Giants will win in 2025.