Our experts have combined to provide their must-have fantasy baseball draft targets of the 2025 MLB season. They each provide several players they are circling on their fantasy baseball cheat sheets. You can find a pick from each below along with a link to their full list of must-have fantasy baseball draft targets. Here are must-have fantasy baseball targets the experts love to draft!

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Must-Have Fantasy Baseball Draft Targets

Spencer Schwellenbach (SP – ATL)

Spencer Schwellenbach jumped from A+ and Double-A ball directly to the majors and made an impact for Atlanta almost immediately. He started 21 games for the Braves, pitching 123 2/3 innings and striking out 127 batters. He ended the year with a 3.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. He offers a full six-pitch arsenal and sat in the 96th percentile in chase rate (34.2%) and the 95th percentile in walk rate (4.6%). That combo is going to serve fantasy managers well heading into 2025. After missing the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery, Schwellenbach may be somewhat overlooked on draft day, but he has the potential to be a top sleeper in 2025.

– Kelly Kirby

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Josh Naylor (1B – ARI)

Did you know Josh Naylor led all first basemen in RBI last year with 108? Well, now you do. He’s also one of four who hit 30 home runs. Surprisingly, he’s the sixth first baseman going off the board, which is a tremendous return on investment.

Nawylor sacrificed batting average for power, but I like to think there’s a universe in the timeline where he can deliver both. Naylor now finds himself in a strong run-producing offense in Arizona and should once again be a great draft pick in 2025 at his fantasy baseball ADP.

– Joe Pisapia

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Jordan Walker (OF – STL)

Drafters are hating on the Cardinals this year and maybe they deserve it after two atrocious seasons for everyone in the entire franchise, but Jordan Walker is still young and the Cardinals have promised him at-bats this year. He is a former top prospect who has shown ridiculous power. He hits the ball very hard and just needs to start lifting it to take off as a potential 30-40 home run threat. The potential is worth buying over guys like Jorge Soler, George Springer, Brendan Donovan and Jung Hoo Lee.

– Tim Kanak

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Willson Contreras (C, 1B, DH – STL)

Willson Contreras is coming off of a season where he broke his arm because the Cardinals told him to move further up in the box when he was catching. While this was a terrible occurrence, it prompted them to move him away from the position.

Contreras will now play every day at first base or DH, which is amazing for his fantasy value. He is coming off of a season in which he hit 15 home runs in 358 plate appearances. He could now top 550 plate appearances for the first time in his career. That volume is rare and extremely valuable at the catcher position.

– Justin Mason

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Michael Toglia (1B – COL)

Michael Toglia is also a big underperformer based on his 2024 expected stats.

Toglia’s average and slugging: .218/.456

Toglia’s expected average and slugging: .244/.503

That is a massive chasm between the actual and expected number, especially for fantasy. Ironically, Rockies hitters typically overperform their expected stats due to the park factors of Coors Field. Toglia does not play a premium position in fantasy but he is still a steal at his current 216 overall ADP.

Speaking of steals, Toglia stole 10 bases last season in 116 games. Corner infielders, especially at first base, typically do not provide speed but that is not the case here. Whether he is in your first base or utility slot, expect a big fantasy year from the 6-foot-5 masher.

– Kev Mahserejian

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Michael King (SP – SD)

Michael King was the 18th-ranked pitcher in 2024 in our value-based ranking (VBR) metric. After a successful transition from relieving to starting for the Yankees in 2023, King’s success followed him to San Diego’s rotation.

According to FanGraphs, King had the following stats in 31 appearances (30 starts) spanning 173.2 innings in 2024.

• 2.95 ERA
• 3.59 xERA
• 3.50 xFIP
• 3.63 SIERA
• 1.19 WHIP
• 8.7 BB%
• 27.7 K%
• 12.0 SwStr%
• 31.3 CSW%
• 97 stuff+
• 102 location+
• 99 pitching+

King’s ERA was better than his ERA estimators last year, but that’s not unusual for the top fantasy pitchers any given season, and his underlying data was stellar. Among qualified pitchers last season, King was 15th in xERA, 18th in xFIP and 19th in SIERA.

The righty’s impact was also even more substantial because of his ability to pile up innings. Only 45 pitchers tossed at least 170 innings last year, and King could build on the career-high 173.2 he sent last year in his first crack at starting for an entire season in the Majors. Like me, the expert consensus rankings (ECR) has a more optimistic outlook for King this season than the drafting community, ranking him 53.2 overall as the 14th-ranked pitcher (P14).

– Josh Shepardson

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