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| Friday, July 11, 2025 |
| This is a weird part of the baseball calendar. It's kind of a liminal space, with three days of games left in the first half of the season, with the All-Star break looming as a nice little pause in the season. And then, once the second half starts up, we've got a furious 10-day run to the trade deadline, the last big shockwave that could shake up the Fantasy Baseball landscape. |
| Over the next week or so at the Fantasy Baseball Today Newsletter, we're going to be taking the opportunity to catch our collective breath. We won't have our usual daily recap of all the action because, All-Star game festivities aside, there won't be any action to recap or react to. Next week will be more future-focused; instead, we'll be previewing the trade deadline and offering some sleeper, breakout, and bust picks for the second half of the MLB season. |
| You can use those to make trades – either selling on guys we're viewing as busts or trying to buy the sleepers and breakouts we expect to take a big step forward in the second half. But we'll get to that in due time. For today's newsletter, we're taking a big retrospective look back at the first half. With the All-Star game looming, let's put together our 2025 Fantasy Baseball All-Star teams, focusing not just on the best players but the players who have made the most outsized impact on our Fantasy success to date. |
| Oftentimes, the best players and the most valuable players will be the same – that's certainly the case for someone like Aaron Judge, who was a No. 1 pick contender and has been the clear best player in Fantasy so far this season. But he arguably hasn't been the most valuable player in Fantasy, thanks to his main competition for AL MVP so far. |
| Let's get to it: |
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| Fantasy Baseball All-Star Team |
| Catcher - Cal Raleigh, Mariners |
| It couldn't be anyone else. Raleigh has probably been the most valuable player in Fantasy this season, towering over his peers at the catcher position: He has 19 more homers than anyone else, naturally, but also 18 more runs, 18 more RBI, and even for more steals than anyone else. He is a legitimate threat to win AL MVP and is putting together one of the greatest seasons by a catcher ever. |
| Honorable mention: Hunter Goodman, Rockies – In any other season, Goodman's leap from Draft Day afterthought to the clear No. 2 player at the position would be enough to earn him this nod. He's going to the real All-Star game, anyway. |
| First base - Michael Busch, Cubs |
| Despite a solid rookie season, Busch was mostly viewed as a bench piece in Fantasy coming into the season. Despite still seeing some time off against tougher lefties, he's the No. 3 player at the position entering the second half. And Busch's .405 wOBA is backed up by a .401 xwOBA, the 16th-best mark among all hitters. This might not be a fluke. |
| Honorable mention: Spencer Torkelson, Tigers – Batting average is the only thing holding Torkelson back, but he enters the final weekend of the first half tied with Pete Alonso for the position lead in homers with 21. Remember, he was in the minors for much of last season. |
| Second base - Brandon Lowe, Rays |
| A recent injury has cost Lowe a few days, but he has managed to stay healthy and remarkably productive before this, ranking as the position's top player in Roto thanks to a position-best 19 homers. I will note: If Ketel Marte hadn't gone on the IL, he'd probably be the choice here, as he has been one of the very best hitters in baseball yet again. |
| Honorable mention: Maikel Garcia, Royals – A little love for Garcia, who has managed to improve his quality of contact while elevating the ball more frequently without sacrificing his excellent plate discipline. I was skeptical after last year's hot start fizzled out, but he has remained a productive hitter well into the summer for the first time in his career. |
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| Third base - Eugenio Suarez, Diamondbacks |
| Suarez dropped out of the top 150 in ADP despite hitting 30 homers and finishing with 191 combined runs and RBI last season. Well, he's been a bit hit or miss, but he's also one homer shy of last season's mark and ranks just two RBI behind Seiya Suzuki and Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. Suarez has been a top-20 player in Roto and even ranks 18th among hitters in points leagues. |
| Honorable mention: Junior Caminero, Rays – How about a little love for everyone's favorite breakout pick, who, thanks to a furious pace over the past month and a half or so, has largely lived up to everyone's hopes. He's on a near-40 homer pace despite having just eight through the first 50 games of the season. |
| Shortstop - Trea Turner, Phillies |
| There were plenty of candidates here, but I opted for Turner to highlight the return of his standout baserunning. Turner stole just 19 bases last season and hasn't had more than 32 since 2019, but he enters the final weekend of the first half with 24, putting him on pace for a career-high mark. He'll have to stay healthy, but Turner returning to elite all-around production deserves some praise. |
| Honorable mention: Jeremy Pena, Astros – If not for the rib injury that currently has him on the IL, Pena might have been the choice here. As is, he's on pace for career highs across the board, and his .322 batting average is backed up by an 89th percentile expected BA. |
| Outfielders - Aaron Judge, Yankees; Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs; James Wood , Nationals |
| There was a legitimate debate at the top of drafts between Judge and Shohei Ohtani, but with Ohtani slowing down as a base stealer, Judge has been the clear top player in Fantasy – he's actually only six steals behind Ohtani right now while being top two in the majors in homers, RBI, runs, and batting average. He might be the first player to lead the majors in all four of those categories since Mickey Mantle in 1956. |
| Crow-Armstrong is the No. 3 player in Roto leagues right now, and that was before his two homers Thursday. If the season ended today, he might be the NL MVP, and while I think he's bound to slow down at some point, he hasn't really shown any signs of it yet. |
| Still just 22, Wood is the closest thing the NL has to Aaron Judge, and he's doing it despite still not really elevating the ball as much as he could. He might hit 40 homers and steal 25 bases this season, and his .285 batting average doesn't look like a fluke thanks to his plus athleticism and elite quality of contact. |
| Honorable mention: Byron Buxton, Twins |
| Buxton has been the AL's Pete Crow-Armstrong, overcoming mediocre plate discipline with elite results when he makes contact. As has been true for more than half a decade at this point, the only thing that can slow Buxton down at this point is health. |
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| Utility - George Springer, Blue Jays |
| We keep waiting for Springer to fall apart, but the 35-year-old has responded to a mediocre June with five homers in his first nine July games. And his expected wOBA over the past 100 plate appearances is .409, which would be a top-20 mark in the majors for the season. |
| Honorable mention: Andy Pages, Dodgers – Pages' bat has caught up to his glove, and now he looks like one of the best all-around young outfielders in baseball. I still have my doubts – he chases a lot – but it's impossible to argue with the results so far. |
| Starting pitchers - Tarik Skubal, Tigers; Max Fried, Yankees; Hunter Brown, Astros |
| These guys were all picked in the first 10 rounds, but Fried and Brown were outside of the top 100 in ADP, and they've been two of the six or so best pitchers in baseball, so they seem like fine picks for our purposes. Skubal was the No. 2 pitcher picked in nearly every league, and while you're happy to have Paul Skenes on your team, you'd rather have that pick back, wouldn't you? Skubal is the best pitcher in the world right now, and he's pitching with one of the best teams in baseball backing him up, putting him right on pace to get close to a 20-win season. We're on Triple Crown watch here. |
| Honorable mention: Robbie Ray, Giants – Ray started to generate a bit of hype at the end of spring training, and he's more than lived up to it, ranking 10th among starters entering play this weekend. What's even more impressive about that is remembering that he had a 4.19 ERA with 15 walks in 19.1 innings in his first four starts. He has 27 walks in 15 starts since. |
| Relief pitcher - Andres Munoz, Mariners |
| Munoz has always been an elite reliever, but he hasn't necessarily been an elite reliever for Fantasy because the Mariners rarely just let him be the clear-cut closer. Well, with three games left in the first half, he's one save short of his career high, while putting up career-best ratios and an elite 34.1% strikeout rate. He was the No. 9 reliever in ADP, but he's closer to No. 1 right now. |
| Honorable mention: Kris Bubic, Royals – I don't know how much I trust Bubic to hold up in the second half, given the massive jump in innings he's already pitched through. But there's no question he's been one of the most valuable pitchers in Fantasy so far this season; his ADP was just 351.6 as the No. 134 pitcher taken on average. He's been the 22nd-most valuable pitcher in Fantasy so far. |
| Thursday's Standouts |
| Bryan Woo , Mariners @NYY: 7.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K – Woo took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and left with a 5-1 lead, and the Mariners somehow managed to lose. Woo had his four-seamer working incredibly well in this one, and he threw it 76% of the time, garnering 10 of his 14 whiffs with it. Interestingly, Woo threw 10 sweepers in this game, and they were all to Aaron Judge – think they had a game plan for how to attack him? It didn't end up leading to a win, but Woo was typically brilliant, and his ability to succeed with such a fastball-forward approach is part of what makes him such a good pitcher, especially because it's not representative of a limited arsenal; his fastball is just actually that good. Woo dealt with a bunch of injury scares last season, but he is now down to a 3.04 ERA and 195 innings over his past 32 starts. He's a workhorse now and belongs in the top-12 SP conversation. |
| Spencer Strider, Braves @ATH: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 11 K – Strider has pretty much settled in as a very good, but still slightly diminished version of who he was prior to the elbow injury. He's still capable of generating tons of swings and misses – 21 whiffs on 51 swings in this one! – and big strikeout totals, but he just isn't quite what he was before the injury. The stuff is just a little worse than it was, and the command isn't quite good enough to overcome that. On the other hand, you can live with a slightly inflated ERA when it comes with a 1.13 WHIP and 11.1 K/9, like Strider has since the start of June. He's not the best pitcher in baseball anymore, but he's still a clear top-20 guy. |
| Nick Lodolo, Reds vs. MIA: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – It looked like Lodolo's luck was finally running out as he pitched to a 4.68 ERA in the month of June, but now he's bounced back with consecutive quality starts to open up July. He still isn't missing as many bats as you'd like, and I'm not sure his curveball is ever going to get back to being that dominant swing-and-miss pitch it once was, which limits the upside. And can we really call someone who doesn't miss bats and pitches in one of the best hitter's parks in baseball a "high floor" pitcher? Lodolo is fine to have around, but I expect an ERA in the high-3.00s from him moving forward. |
| David Peterson, Mets @BAL: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – Peterson has turned things back around in the past two starts, allowing just two runs over 13.2 innings after struggling to a 4.55 ERA in June. He still isn't missing many bats, but at least Peterson avoided walks Thursday, something that has played a big part in his struggles of late – he entered Thursday's start with three walks in four starts in a row. He'll need his command to be much better than that to continue to thrive, because his groundballing ways and lack of strikeouts will leave him susceptible to giving up a lot of hits. I think Peterson is more like a high-3.00s ERA guy with a bad WHIP, so I'm still hoping someone sees that 3.06 ERA and views him as a buy. |
| Taj Bradley , Rays @BOS: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K – Bradley is going all-in on the four-seamer/cutter combo lately, throwing them at least 75% of the time in each of his two July starts to date. His splitter is his best swing-and-miss pitch and generates his best quality of contact results, but maybe simplifying things with the fastball and cutter can allow him to throw strikes more consistently? I don't really know if I buy that explanation, especially since he still walked three in his six innings Thursday. It's nice to see Bradley stringing together a couple of good starts in a row, and it's worth noting that his 3.65 xERA is significantly better than his actual 4.60 mark, so there could be some room for improvement in the second half. But with his iffy control and the lack of strikeouts we've seen this season, I'm just not sure it's worth chasing. Bradley still looks like just a streamer to me. |
| Charlie Morton, Orioles vs NYM: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – As RotoWire's Jason Collette noted Thursday, Morton is now down to a 2.76 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 42.1 innings since returning to the Orioles rotation. It looked like his career might be over after a terrible April, but Morton has turned things around and largely looks like himself. He figures to be traded before the deadline to a contender, and while it's still a combustible profile – with a high WHIP even at the best of times – Morton looks downright useful right now. |
| Colin Rea, Cubs @MIN: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K – That's two good starts in a row for Rea, who limited the Cardinals to one run on just two hits over 6.2 innings of work. Those two starts come on the tail end of two sustained months with an ERA well north of 5.00, and I'm not sure anything Rea did in either of those two starts should really change how we feel about him at this point. He got off to a hot, but obviously unsustainable start, and is just on the fringes of streamability at this point. |
| News and Notes |
| Alex Bregman will be activated this weekend. He missed just about six weeks with that quad injury and is expected to play two games this weekend. Hopefully, that's enough to get his feet back under him and allow him to hit the ground running for the second half. |
| Ivan Herrera began a rehab assignment at Triple-A on Thursday. Oliver Marmol said Herrera will mostly be limited to DH duties in the second half due to multiple injuries to his left leg, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for his value this season. However, Herrera has only played 14 games behind the plate so far, so he still needs six more to gain eligibility for 2026. That'll be something to watch in the second half. |
| Dylan Crews threw from the outfield Wednesday for the first time since going on the IL with that oblique injury. It sounds like he could be back in a few weeks. |
| The Astros are promoting their top prospect, Brice Matthewsws, from Triple-A on Friday. The 23-year-old was the team's first-round pick in 2023 and is hitting .283 with 10 homers and 25 steals at Triple-A this season, albeit with a 30% strikeout rate. It's not clear where he's going to play, but he does have experience at multiple infield spots and is worth a look in categories leagues to see if he can live up to his minor-league production. |
| Christian Walker has been reinstated from the paternity list. Shay Whitcomb was sent back to the minors after yet another stint where he barely played in the majors. He seems like a trade candidate. |
| Clarke Schmidt will officially have Tommy John surgery on Friday. |
| Nolan Schanuel was out of Thursday's lineup due to calf tightness. |
| Erick Fedde will remain in the Cardinals' rotation for now, starting Saturday against the Braves. |
| Tyler Mahle will resume throwing in one week. He's on the IL with a shoulder injury and could be back sometime in August. He's a fringe stash if you don't have an IL spot to stick him in. |
| Speaking of Rangers, Jon Gray will make his next rehab start at Triple-A on Saturday. He threw 32 pitches in his first outing and is only worth a look in AL-only and deeper categories leagues right now. |
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