Preseason Prep – February 24, 2026
Jordan Lawlar (SS/3B/OF – ARI) – Lawlar has been starting in CF for the D-Backs in the early going this spring, and with a pair of singles and his 2nd HR on Monday, he’s off to a great start if he wants to open the season as the team’s starting CF. Lawlar had a very forgettable debut with Arizona last season, hitting 182/257/288 in 74 PAs and playing some pretty awful defense everywhere in the infield, hence the move to center this spring. This is a kid that hit 313/403/564 with 11 HR and 20 SB in just 63 G at AAA last year, and he doesn’t turn 24 until the All-Star break this year. There’s a ton of potential here despite some contact issues, and at the very least he should provide some speed. He’s going after round 30 as of now, although I think that price may be coming up as we speak. Looking at the Arizona roster, I’d actually be surprised if he wasn’t in the starting lineup on Opening Day. Lourdes Gurriel may be ready but most likely will be a few weeks delayed, and I doubt they’ll want to push Ryan Waldschmidt that much. Lawlar in CF absolutely makes sense for them if he can handle it defensively, and I think his current price is assuming that his role is still very much up in the air. He’s an excellent late-game option right now.
Bubba Chandler (SP – PIT) – Chandler took the hill on Monday in his spring opener against the Yankees, and he managed to show the entire breadth of his risk profile in about 30 minutes. After breezing through the first on 8 pitches and averaging 98 with his fastball, Chandler walked 4 men in the second, throwing 19 out of 27 pitches outside of the strike zone. The upside here is significant, especially in terms of missing bats, but this could be a bumpy ride for a young man that has frequently posted BB/9 over 4 during his minor league tenure. Chandler has been drafted 47th among SPs over the past 6 weeks, going in between Nate Eovaldi, Drew Rasmussen, Luis Castillo, and Trevor Rogers. As much as I like Chandler, I only prefer him to Castillo among that group of 5 right now, and that’s with the understanding that Chandler’s upside is likely the greatest of the bunch. There are guys going 10 rounds later that have a similar risk/reward profile to Chandler, to be perfectly honest. I expected to have a lot of shares of Chandler coming into this season, but the price has gotten pretty expensive more quickly than I anticipated. He’s not necessarily overvalued at that cost, but there are control gains priced in there that I’m not sure we are going to see. To sum up: if Chandler is my 5th SP or lower, I’m very much fine with that. If I’m counting on him for more than that, I’m a bit apprehensive.
Jakob Marsee (OF – MIA) – Marsee homered and walked twice from the leadoff spot on Monday against the Cardinals, and the more I try to make a case that he’s overvalued as an OF3, the more I find myself being talked into it. Marsee is a very patient hitter with very good speed and just about average power. He’s likely to hit at the top of the order for Miami, at least against RHP, and he hasn’t posted an OBP of under .340 at any level during his 4 years as a professional. The development of his power from well below average to roughly average has been the key to his increased value over the past year-plus. Pitchers have to tread at least a bit carefully with him now, and that allows him to leverage his excellent plate discipline much more effectively. He’s been drafted as OF34 over the past 6 weeks (early 13th round in 12-teamers), and I really have no problem with that….he’s even undervalued there in formats that value OBP. A 15/35 year with a helping OBP seems very likely, and at just 24 there’s likely some more upside from there.
J.J. Wetherholt (SS/2B – STL) – Wetherholt hit 3rd for the Cards on Monday, walking twice and stealing a base in his two trips to the plate. The more I look at the Cardinals roster, the more I think that they’re banking on starting Wetherholt at 2B coming out of camp. There just isn’t a lot of competition there for him, unless they really want to go with weekend signing Ramon Urias to delay the service time clock a bit. The 23 year old Wetherholt can do it all offensively, with his power lagging a touch behind the contact ability and speed. He’s been drafted as SS24 over the last 10 days, and this is a situation where (in round 20) that’s tremendous value…..IF he ends up making the team. The Cardinals look like they’re fully in rebuilding mode this year, and we really don’t know what that means for an organization that hasn’t been in this situation for over 30 years. I would absolutely be targeting Wetherholt as a MIF right now, gambling that he will outplay both Urias and Nolan Gorman to make his inclusion on the roster necessary.
Andrew Vaughn (1B – MIL) – Vaughn hit 308/375/493 in 64 games with Milwaukee last year after coming over from the White Sox, and he added a pair of homers in the divisional series before an 0-12 in the NLCS against the Dodgers. Despite all of that, he’s only being drafted 27th among 1B right now, curiously enough going right between two former teammates in Miguel Vargas and Lenyn Sosa. I understand that there’s no speed here and his track record of mediocrity stretches throughout his entire professional career for the most part. Still, there’s something to be said for a change of scenery, and not just for the improvement in team-dependent counting stats. He walked 50% more with the Brewers while striking out almost 30% less, he homered almost 40% more frequently, and for the season he eclipsed his prior best in exit velocity by 0.5 mph. He’s still one of the slowest people in the majors, but 1B don’t steal bases anyway outside of the random Josh Naylor thing. I don’t see him that much differently than Willson Contreras, and he’s going 10 rounds later.
Kazuma Okamoto (3B – TOR) – Okamoto hit a 431-foot HR off of Clay Holmes on Monday afternoon, giving him a very loud first hit stateside. He’s routinely been a 30-HR player in Japan, showing a lot of pull/FB tendencies over the past few seasons to go along with a fairly disciplined approach at the plate. Something like Matt Chapman offensively might be a reasonable expectation? He’s also going 65-70 picks later than Chapman on average, as 3B17 in the late 18th round. Okamoto is not a bad gamble if you’re going lower-tier at the hot corner, although I might prefer waiting even longer for a couple of guys that are sliding tremendously at this point (Jung, Lawlar/Arenado, even Ryan McMahon).
Emmanuel Rodriguez (OF – MIN) – Emmanuel Rodriguez hit his second HR in as many days on Monday, this one a 420-foot shot off of lefty Brant Hurter of the Tigers. The oft-injured Rodriguez is still a longshot to make the Twins roster, but he’s an absolute toolshed of a soon-to-be 23 year old that could allow the Twins to minimize Byron Buxton’s reps in CF. He’s a great late-round best-ball sort of a choice, and whenever he makes it up to Minnesota he is a must-add in just about all formats. He’s a TTO hitter with above average speed, so even more impressive in OBP-based formats.
Daylen Lile (OF – WAS) – Lile was a player that I definitely wanted to check the temperature on this spring, and OF49 in the early 18th round, the value I had hoped to see appears to be there. We are higher on Lile than most, projecting him to come close to a 20/20 season, but the most impressive thing about Lile has been the combination of the contact ability and the LD rate, something that should lend itself to some very helpful batting averages. Lile just turned 23 in the offseason as well, so expecting a bit more power over the next few years does make some sense. I’m thrilled with Lile as my OF5 this season, and I’d be perfectly pleased with him as my OF4 as well.
Shane McClanahan (SP – TB) – I know I’ve said that I’m swearing off all injury returnees, but after a BP session the other day where McClanahan was in the upper 90’s throwing at, in his estimation, around 80%, I’m fully on board at his current cost. In the 20th round you’re fully into SP5-6 range, and I have no problem slotting McClanahan in there despite the full two years on the shelf. There are a number of guys in round 20 or later that I like the value on right now (Musgrove, Cole, Senga, Soriano, Weathers to name a few), but McClanahan has more upside than all of them if he’s finally healthy again, and all indications are for that to be the case.
Max Meyer (SP – MIA) – Meyer looked very solid on Monday in his one inning of work returning from last year’s hip injury, getting two whiffs on sliders during a perfect second inning in relief of Eury Perez. Meyer is expected to be the 4th starter to open the season for Miami, and at the very least I like him as a home streamer in that very friendly park, as his control has continued to improve and he can miss bats with the aforementioned slider, but the long ball does give him some trouble from time to time. I love having Meyer as a 6th or 7th SP where I can spot him in where I prefer, and the price (round 36) is definitely right.
Matt McLain (2B – CIN) – 2B is, in my opinion, the weakest position in the game right now. I just don’t see a lot of upside from the lower-tier options at the position, but one player that I am targeting a bit is Matt McLain. He didn’t look like the same player last season after missing all of 2024 with a shoulder injury, but he’s still just 26 and went 28/24 with a .300 AVG between AAA and the majors in his last fully healthy season in 2023. The park helps the power, he certainly has well above average speed, and the plate discipline and contact numbers were still around average in his dismal 2025. He’s one of the few players outside of the top-3 at the position that I could see putting up some big numbers, and going in early round 18 on average offers great value for that potential.
Nolan Arenado (3B – ARI) – Nolan Arenado’s current ADP (3B37, pick 440) leads you to believe that everyone thinks he’s toast, but a move to Arizona and a slightly better park with a moderately better offense around him could help him regain some of the lost production I would think. The contact ability is still very sound, and last year’s .241 BABIP surely won’t be repeated. The power numbers were always much more products of his environment than raw pop, but I could see him hitting 15-20 with a reasonable AVG down in the desert. At that price, I think he’s actually a very good option in deeper formats.
Andrew Painter (SP – PHI) – Painter had a pretty forgettable 2025, posting a 5.40 ERA at AAA and having some sporadic issues with both walks and homers, but the soon-to-be 23 year old is still expected to challenge for the 5th starter’s spot in Philly this spring. He’s working with a more over-the-top delivery, which should help with some of the command issues, and he’s been a solid bat-misser regardless of the struggles. For a player going down near the 20th round, the upside here is significant. I love throwing in a few guys like Senga, Snelling, Painter, and Steele in the 25th-35th rounds, assuming that 1-2 of them will pay off nicely.
Konnor Griffin (SS – PIT) – The Pirates have already come out and said that it would be “a big ask” for Griffin to make the team right out of spring training, but if ever there were a wide open spot on a team that could actually be a fringy playoff contender this year, it’s anything on the left side of the Pirate IF. Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo are their projected starters, and unlike other years once Jared Jones is back the only other weak spot looks like the bullpen to me. Therefore, there may be some ample incentive to get Griffin up to the majors sooner rather than later, particularly if he plays well this spring (he’s 0-5 with 2 K’s thus far). Griffin is extremely fast (65 SB in the minors last year) with above average power and average contact ability and doesn’t turn 20 for a few months, but he’s also had less than 100 PAs above A-ball. I’ve seen him drafted anywhere from the 8th round to the 27th so far this spring, and it’s really a tough call as to his value in redraft leagues. The Pirates aren’t well-known for pushing prospects up, but they’re also not well-known for being competitive. I could see him up by Memorial Day, so the question is always “how much is that reserve spot going to cost you by clogging it up for 6-8 weeks”? I prefer not to do that myself, but this kid could instantly be a top-12 SS when he comes up, so I see the appeal. I definitely want to grab him in best ball formats where possible. I’m sure we will update his status as the next month moves along….if it looks like he’s going to break camp with the club that changes things significantly.
Tyler Stephenson (C – CIN) – We’re entering year 5 of Stephenson being one of my favorite 2nd catchers, so no reason to stop now. The 29 year old had 31 XBH in just under 300 ABs during an injury-plagued 2025, increasing his exit velocity for the 3rd straight year. His plate discipline is above average, until last year his contact ability has been above average, and the power has been steadily moving above average. For a guy being drafted as C22 in the 21st round, that’s pretty solid production, and I could easily see a 20 HR season if he puts up 130-145 G as he has in 3 of the past 5 years. Both he and Ryan Jeffers offer a solid combination of above-average contact and power down in that range, and I’m happy with either one as my 2nd catcher.