2025 Fantasy Baseball Bold Predictions: Kristian Campbell emerging as a must-draft player?

Plus, Chris Towers makes the case for Nick Lodolo as the best Fantasy pitcher

Eight days until Opening Day ... 

We're talking about bold predictions today and I've got one for every team today. And I want to start with a new one I cooked up just this afternoon: Kristian Campbell is a top-five second baseman in 2025. 

I was high on Campbell early in the spring, then I backed off as he struggled in Grapefruit League action, and his path to playing time looked blocked following the Alex Bregman signing. But all signs lately have pointed towards one conclusion: None of that seems to matter. 

Sure, Campbell has struggled this spring, hitting .167/.286/.222 in official action. But he impressed in the Spring Breakout game and has apparently done everything else right, to the point where one prominent Red Sox beat writer reported Tuesday that Campbell appears to be the favorite for the second-base job, "in the mind of the team decision-makers." 

That's not a guarantee, of course, but it sure seems like the Red Sox have wanted Campbell to earn the job – they'd be going through an awful lot of trouble of potentially upsetting Rafael Devers to move him to DH just to have David Hamilton be the starting second baseman. I've moved Campbell up pretty aggressively in my rankings – inside the top 200 and around 13th at second base. It's a position with plenty of decent depth, but few players with the kind of difference-making upside Campbell has – though I will say, you should probably draft Matt Shaw ahead of Campbell in any drafts remaining, because he was in the Cubs lineup for the first game against the Dodgers, batting fifth, to boot. 

But Campbell is absolutely worth drafting if he has a chance to make the roster. He's coming off a breaking season that saw him force his way to Triple-A while hitting .330/.439/.558 with 20 homers and 24 steals in 115 games. The Red Sox have a crowded enough roster that Campbell's margin for error is pretty slim, but his price in Fantasy drafts has never really reflected his considerable upside – 310.8 ADP in the month of March – and that could go down as a huge mistake. I'd certainly much rather make a 15th-round bet on Campbell than a fifth-round bet on Matt McLain. 

In fact, I'm willing to make a bold prediction right here and now: Campbell will be a top-five second baseman in Fantasy this season if he makes the Opening Day roster. That's still something of an if, but it's one I feel more confident about than I did 24 hours ago.

Today is all about planting our flag on bold predictions. A whole bunch of them – one for all 30 teams, in fact. We've covered the Red Sox, but we've still got 29 to get to, so let's not waste any more time. 

One Bold Prediction for Every Team

Diamondbacks – Corbin Burnes gets back to 220-plus strikeouts

The movement profile on Burnes' cutter has been a little inconsistent, which isn't what we wanted to see after he rediscovered it last September. But given that he got it back last September – so he clearly knows what he needs to do – I have faith in Burnes locking in when the games matter. He's backed up by a good defense and a great offense, is a rare workhorse in today's game, and I'm betting on the strikeout rate getting back up to better than one per inning. With his volume, that still gives him standout potential. 

Braves – Michael Harris goes 30-30 and this is a top-five offense again

Because he's about to enter his fourth full season and hasn't been as good as he was as a rookie since I think people forget how young Harris is. He just turned 24 11 days ago and still has high-end tools – including better raw power than he gets credit for. If he stays healthy, I think he's one of the better bets for batting average at the position and has the upside to be a true five-category superstar. There's a chance we're talking about him as a borderline first-rounder in 2026, and he'll headline a resurgent Braves offense that sees returns to form for Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and, once May hits, Ronald Acuna. 

Orioles – Coby Mayo hits 25-plus homers

Mayo isn't breaking camp with the Orioles, and he isn't happy about it – he called going back to Triple-A Norfolk a "lose-lose" for his career." It's hard to argue he should have been on the roster based on his .501 spring OPS, but this is still a guy with 34 career homers in 145 games at Triple-A over the past two seasons, and I still want to bet on the upside here. Maybe Jackson Holliday flames out, or maybe the Orioles decide they need more from one of their corner spots – or maybe he gets traded for the pitching upgrade they so desperately need. One way or another life, uh, finds a way, and Mayo is going to make his presence felt before long. 

White Sox – Kyle Teel finishes as a top-12 catcher 

The nice thing about a catcher-based bold prediction is the bar is so low – David Fry was a top-12 catcher in 335 at-bats last season with just 14 homers, four steals, 51 RBI, and 44 runs. Teel could do that in two-thirds of a season, and I suspect he'll get at least that opportunity, even though he isn't breaking camp with the White Sox. He'll be a must-roster catcher as soon as he's up. 

Cubs – Shota Imanaga's ERA starts with a 4 

Imanaga looked fine in his season debut Tuesday against the Dodgers, and it was nice to see his fastball velocity was actually up after some worries in the spring. I still think the margin for error here with his approach is pretty slim, and while I think he should always be helpful in WHIP, it's not hard to see Imanaga's ERA ballooning with just a bit more bad luck with homers – a few more leaving the yard than last year, and a few more come with multiple runners on base. He hasn't been a full-on fade for me, but he hasn't been a target either. 

Reds – Nick Lodolo is the best Fantasy pitcher 

Hunter Greene is going about 150 picks ahead of Lodolo – more in recent weeks – but I will just point out that, until Lodolo got hurt last season, he was clearly the team's best pitcher:
Through June 18:

• Lodolo: 2.76 ERA in 65.1 IP with 70 K, a 1.01 WHIP and eight wins
• Greene: 3.61 ERA in 82.1 IP with 89 K, a 1.17 WHIP and five wins

A blister totally derailed Lodolo's season while Greene just kept getting better and better, and he should go ahead of Lodolo. But Greene's injury history, full as it is with shoulder and elbow issues, is a lot scarier than Lodolo's finger and leg injuries, and I don't totally buy the leap Greene made in terms of quality of contact suppression. This is as much about being skeptical about Greene as it is about faith in Lodolo, but it's a little bit of both. 

Indians – Chase DeLauter is a must-start player at some point

Maybe we file this one under "Wishful Thinking" because no player in professional baseball is looking more snake-bitten than DeLauter these days. He has barely played as a professional – 96 games since 2022 – and had his spring derailed with early-March sports hernia surgery that will knock him out until May at the earliest. Scouts have consistently raved about him when he is healthy enough to play, and even with all the missed time, the Guardians have reportedly been considering fast-tracking his path to the majors. I hope we see him this summer and he can put all this behind him. 

Rockies – Ezequiel Tovar isn't one of the three best Fantasy options on this roster

I'll admit, there aren't exactly a ton of alternatives here, so this is more about my relative lack of excitement about Tovar, who has some of the worst plate discipline in the majors and is neither a good enough hitter nor an active enough base-stealer to overlook. Brenton Doyle is the obvious choice to outperform Tovar, but I also think Michael Toglia is just a flat-out better hitter – .358 xwOBA in 2024 vs. a .289 mark for Tovar – and I think one of Nolan Jones, Zac Veen or maybe Ryan McMahon could beat him out, too. And maybe we see someone like Chase Dollander or Adael Amador could get the call early enough to outperform Tovar, too. 

Tigers – They have two top-20 Fantasy pitchers

Okay well yeah, Tarik Skubal is one. But there's no shortage of interesting candidates beyond him, beginning with the underrated Jack Flaherty, plus Reese Olson, Casey Mize, and Jackson Jobe. This could be the best rotation in baseball in a hurry. 

Astros – Isaac Paredes is a top-five third baseman 

This one shouldn't even be that bold – he was the No. 7 third baseman in 2023, and now he's playing in arguably the single-best park in the majors for his swing. He's being drafted near 200th overall on average, as the 16th third baseman, I guess because he spent a half-season playing in arguably the worst park for his swing and was terrible. Paredes just seems like the most obviously undervalued player in 2025 drafts, full stop. 

Royals – Jonathan India is top-five in the majors in runs scored

Most projection systems have India getting 80 or fewer, and I just can't wrap my mind around that pessimism. He's a good on-base guy – .352 for his career, .357 last season – who runs the bases well and is going to hit leadoff ahead of Bobby Witt and Salvador Perez. The biggest concern here is injury, but if India repeats his 151 games from 2024, I think 100-plus runs is a fairly easy bet. 

Angels – Mike Trout is a top-10 player in Fantasy

The talent is still there. Don't argue with me about the talent. Over his past 150 games, Trout has hit .267 with 44 homers, 101 runs, 87 RBI, and nine stolen bases – and he showed last season he can still be a contributor in the latter category if he wants to be. "Oh, he can't play 150 games lol" is what you're thinking, to which I respond simply: What if he does? He's the No. 28 outfielder off the board and there aren't more than a handful going ahead of him who are definitely better players. We're going to get one more big Trout season, I just know it. 

Dodgers – They don't have a single top-20 pitcher

They've got two being drafted in the top 20 in Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, plus Roki Sasaki is SP24 and Tyler Glasnow is SP29, so expectations are pretty high. But this is a rotation filled with injury risks and plenty of depth options that should allow them to give everyone time off as soon as they need it. They're playing for October, not June, so the first sign of danger is going to lead to an IL trip – and none of this is even accounting for the likelihood of a six-man rotation whenever Shohei Ohtani is ready to go. There are just more ways things can go wrong than right for everyone here. 

Marlins – Someone hits 25-plus homers

Griffin Conine? Eh, maybe? Connor Norby? Why not? Matt Mervis? Wouldn't be my pick, but it could happen! The Marlins are probably going to be a pretty bad offense, but they've made a point of targeting guys with big raw power and a proven track record at the minor-league level, and someone is going to surprise us and flirt with a 30-homer season. My sleeper pick? Deyvsion De Los Santos, who hit 40 homers as a 21-year-old in Double-A and Triple-A last season and has a chance of being a Jake Burger clone whenever he gets the call. 

Brewers – Rhys Hoskins hits 30-plus homers

What if we're just writing him off too early? Hoskins made it to 26 homers last season in just 517 plate appearances last season despite it being his first season back from a torn ACL, and what if he just needed a full year to get his legs back under him? It sure looks like that might have been the case this spring, as he has hit six homers in just 11 games while striking out only six times in 34 trips to the plate to date. It's just spring, but Hoskins may not be quite finished just yet.

Twins – Carlos Correa is a top-10 shortstop

He was one on a per-game basis last season, but it doesn't seem like he's getting much credit for it based on his SS23 ADP. But, while he was limited to just 86 games last season, he had played at least 135 games in three straight seasons prior to that, so something close to a full season isn't as far-fetched as you might think. 

Yankees – Ben Rice is second on the team in homers

The PECOTA projection system has Rice 10th on the in projected homers, so I'm gonna count this one. Rice flashed plenty of pop even as he struggled last season, and with Giancarlo Stanton's timetable totally unclear as he deals with injuries to both elbows, Rice looks like the best bet to be the team's DH on Opening Day. And then there's this: The five hardest-hit balls of Rice's career have come this spring. He may not even need that short porch in right field, but it won't hurt, either. 

Mets – Pete Alonso leads the majors in RBI

This one feels like it might not be bold enough – he just did it in 2022, after all! But any time you're picking one player to beat the field in any category, it's pretty bold. Alonso, of course, has the benefit of hitting behind Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, arguably the best run-producing opportunity in the league. And, while he rarely puts up useful batting average marks, his ability to hit for big power without huge strikeout issues makes him well-suited for outlier RBI totals. 

Athletics – This a top-10 offense in baseball 

They were bottom-five last season, but they've got a few things going for them this time around. One is just a solid all-around lineup full of breakout candidates, headlined by Lawrence Butler, but also featuring names like Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom, and Jacob Wilson who all seem like decent bets to improve on their 2024 production – and that's not to mention top prospect Nick Kurtz, who could be a fast riser after making it to Double-A the same summer he was drafted. And then, of course, there's the new ballpark in Sacramento, which should play much better than the old park in Oakland did. Pitching could still be an issue, but I think the A's are gonna be a fun watch this season. 

Phillies – Trea Turner steals 40 bases

He hasn't gotten to 40 since 2018 and hasn't had more than 30 since 2021, so this one feels like a real long shot. Except that Turner was on pace for 50-plus before a hamstring injury early last May and hasn't really lost more than half a step – he was still 96th percentile in sprint speed last season despite the hamstring injury. Maybe the Phillies just won't want him to risk it given his trouble staying healthy, but if they give him the green light, Turner still absolutely has the skills to be an elite speed source. 

Pirates – They lose 60% of their non-Paul Skenes starts

This would actually represent a bit of a step back from last season when they won 44% of their non-Skenes starts. But I just hate what the Pirates did this season – or, more accurately, what they didn't do – and I hope they face divine retribution for their inaction. They didn't sign a single player to a multi-year contract, and their biggest free agent expenditure was $5.25 million on Andrew Heaney. As long as Paul Skenes is healthy, the Pirates should be pressing the pedal to the metal to try to win, and they're content to tread water. Their front office shouldn't be rewarded for this offseason of complacency. 

Padres – At least one teenager makes his MLB debut 

The Padres' top prospect is Leodalis De Vries, a shortstop who won't even turn 19 until October; their No. 2 prospect is Ethan Salas, a catcher who turns 19 in June. I don't expect we'll see De Vries this season unless he goes absolutely nuclear, but Salas has already seen Double-A and figures to start the season there – and I always say, once you get to Double-A, you might only be a good month or two away from the call. The Padres have little in terms of long-term attachments at the catcher position, so Salas could be promoted aggressively if he hits the ground running this season – and, for whatever it's worth, The Athletic had a piece just this week that noted that team officials believe a late-2025 debut for De Vries isn't out of the question.

Giants – They have four top-50 pitchers

Okay, so Logan Webb is the obvious one, and I think at this point, Robbie Ray wouldn't be a bold prediction. So, who else? I think there's still room for Justin Verlander to be a useful Fantasy option – despite his struggles in 2024, he still had good control and limited damage on contact, leading to a respectable 3.78 expected ERA. A good defense and home park could push that more squarely into the mid-3.00s, giving him top-40 potential. And then let's go with Hayden Birdsong, who flashed big bat-missing potential on his way to the majors last season, where control issues proved too much to overcome. But he hasn't walked anyone this spring and seems to have forced his way into the rotation, so there's some upside here if he can just avoid too many walks. With that home park and a solid supporting cast, there's room for some upside in this overlooked rotation. 

Mariners – Julio Rodriguez is a top-five player

The upside is always there, which is why he was a top-five pick this time last season. But a weirdly punch-less first half last season has scared many drafters off. Rodriguez is putting in extra work this spring to hopefully avoid the slow starts that have become a trademark for him in his young career. I'm not convinced that just getting extra reps in spring is going to instantly fix Rodriguez's early-season woes, but I'm also not at all convinced that he's just going to be a sub-.700-OPS bat in April for the rest of his career. If he can avoid the slow start and just hit like he's capable of for six months instead of his usual four, we're talking about a potential MVP winner, with a ceiling that might not be too far behind Bobby Witt's. 

Cardinals – They have two top-five catchers for Fantasy

Only, one of them won't be a catcher. Yeah, unless this is your first time checking in this offseason, you know we're all super-high on Willson Contreras, who is slated to be the team's primary first baseman. The hope here is that it helps keep him healthier and unlocks a full-season ceiling we've only gotten flashes of before. But the sneakier call is Ivan Herrera, who gives me a bit of a Braves-era William Contreras vibe. Like Contreras, Herrera was never a huge prospect before his partial-season breakout in 2022, when he hit .278/.354/.506 in 376 plate appearances with the Braves; not far off Herrera's .301/.372/.428 line in the majors last season. I'm not expecting Herrera to be the best hitter at the position like Contreras has become, but I do think there's plenty of upside here thanks to his strong plate discipline and above-average pop. His .366 expected wOBA in 2024 was actually the best at the position last season among players with at least 250 plate appearances, just ahead of – yep, you guessed it – Willson Contreras. 

Rays – Brandon Lowe leads all second baseman in homers

Among second-base eligible players, only Ketel Marte and Marcus Semien had more than Lowe's 21 last season, so maybe this one isn't so bold. Except, you know, Marte had 15 more than him, so there's a pretty big gap to bridge here. But Lowe is probably more well-suited to hit for power than anyone at the position, with his 21 in 2024 coming in just 385 at-bats. He'll need to stay healthy, of course, but he'll also have some help in the form of the Rays' new home park, which has identical dimensions to Yankee Stadium, a pretty good park for left-handed power hitters. 

Rangers – One of Jack Leiter or Kumar Rocker wins Rookie of the Year 

I'm grouping them together because Leiter and Rocker have always been grouped together, dating back to their time as one of the most hyped pitching duos in NCAA history at Vanderbilt. Neither's pro career has gone as expected since, because of similar issues – injuries, and an inability to consistently throw strikes with an expanded arsenal. I rank Leiter a bit ahead of Rocker right now based on a more impressive spring, where he has shown a more well-rounded menu of pitches, but both have electric arms that could see them take off with the right tweaks. And, with Jon Gray and Tyler Mahle on the IL to open the season, both should get a chance to show what they can do early on. I'm willing to take a flier on either in the later rounds of any drafts between now and Opening Day. 

Blue Jays – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. isn't the best Fantasy option on the team 

Well, then who? Maybe Anthony Santander, though I'd be more willing to put my neck out for Bo Bichette, who was only drafted around six spots later than Guerrero last year, about three picks later in 2023, and was actually slightly ahead of him in ADP in 2022. Now, Guerrero is a first-rounder and Bichette is barely a 10th-rounder in most leagues. Based on last season, that difference in price is more than deserved, of course. But we know history didn't begin in 2024, don't we? It's fair to have concerns about Bichette, and obviously, I'm ranking Guerrero well ahead of him. But if Bichette is the better player this season, it wouldn't surprise me – and it wouldn't have surprised any of you 12 months ago, either. 

Nationals – They have a different starting shortstop by August

I'm not necessarily saying the Nationals are going to trade Abrams, though that's a live possibility at any point. But I don't think he's long for the shortstop spot one way or the other in Washington as they start to make the push out of the rebuilding phase and into the competing phase. Unless his defense takes a significant step forward at shortstop, they're going to have to consider an alternative – either moving him to second base or possibly to the outfield, where his speed could play in center. If Abrams hits like he did in the first half of last season, he's the kind of player you accommodate and find a spot for; if he scuffles like he did after the break, he might be the kind of player you sell low on just to get him out of the picture. The first few months of this season are going to be very important for Abrams' future.