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Most every week, Scott White will highlight some of the more notable changes to his rest-of-season rankings. You'll find said rankings here and are urged to bookmark them if you haven't already. There's no better resource for gauging player value throughout the long season.

Not a day goes by without some player requiring a rankings update. If it's true during the offseason, it's doubly true during the season, so I can't in all honesty tell you that you should value every player today just as you did on opening day.

But if you're going to err in some direction, I'd prefer it to be in that direction. I'd rather you not shift players around willy-nilly based on their performance in just a few days' time.

It should go without saying, frankly. By now, most Fantasy Baseballers understand intellectually that what happens over the course of one week -- or even less than that, in this case -- is basically random. Or enough of it is random, anyway, that if you attempt to derive meaning from any of it, you're going to miss more than you hit.

A larger sample is needed. How large is a matter of debate, but most would agree it's more than a month. Changing your outlook on a player after only a week -- or, again, not even -- is utter foolishness.

And yet ... the workings of Fantasy Baseball require us to act with incomplete knowledge much of the time. If a trendy breakout pick who happened to go undrafted in your league has a killer first weekend and you don't move on him, somebody else will. It's a now-or-never proposition.

So what you'll notice in this first round of Rankings Movers is that the top of each position is more less unchanged. You're not acting on any of those players, so why read into what little we've seen of them so far? Further down, where the rankings aren't as firm to begin with, you'll find more changes, but even those are more a reflection of urgency than conviction. If the time to seize upon a player is now -- in fringier cases, I mean -- he'll generally rank higher than someone who allows us more time for evaluation.

This is especially true at the biggest position and one most susceptible to knee-jerk reactions: starting pitcher. So let's begin there.

Starting pitcher

  • First, I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that I haven't moved Bailey Ober down in the slightest. I realize his first start was an eight-run disaster, but him being bedridden just two days prior is a valid excuse. Frankly, I don't even need it to dismiss the performance. Ober's first start of 2024 was somehow even worse, and that season turned out OK. Look how quickly things turned around for Michael King and Jose Berrios in their second starts. I was careful not to overreact with them, and I'm extending Ober the same courtesy.
  • My concerns for Roki Sasaki are more foundational -- poor control, inconsistent velocity, suspect durability -- and I'm not totally sure he's even usable at the moment. For now, I've downgraded him just four spots -- dropping him behind Bryan Woo, Tanner Bibee, Freddy Peralta and Cristopher Sanchez -- but it could be more once some of those behind him prove their mettle.
  • Speaking of Sanchez, he's a riser in his own right, leapfrogging Robbie Ray, Jack Flaherty and Carlos Rodon in addition to Sasaki after carrying his velocity gains from spring training into his season debut. He could be a considerable bat-misser now, which would make for an ace outcome.
  • Sonny Gray is back inside the top 40 after putting his spring concerns to rest in his season debut. His velocity was still down a little, but his effectiveness returned once the games began to matter, which always seemed like the likeliest outcome. I'm proceeding as if he's the same Gray as always.
  • The two starting pitchers who raised their stature the most the first time through the starting rotation were MacKenzie Gore and Jesus Luzardo, and they remain the only two with a double digit-strikeout effort so far. Both have flashed upside in the past and have made the sort of arsenal tweaks that could send their stock soaring. For now, each is up about 15 spots, with Gore coming in behind Seth Lugo and Sandy Alcantara and Luzardo behind Nick Pivetta and Spencer Arrighetti.
  • Other big risers from the first time through include Shane Baz (up about 10 spots), Ryan Pepiot (up about 10 spots), Jeffrey Springs (up about 20 spots) and Max Meyer (up about 25 spots).
  • Meanwhile, Zack Littell, Griffin Canning, Tylor Megill, Osvaldo Bido, JP Sears and Kyle Hart, who weren't even visible on the rankings page prior to their first starts, have climbed into the top 115. Littell, who I probably ranked too low way back in October and never properly adjusted, is verging on top-100 status.

Relief pitcher

Outfield

  • I was pretty bullish on Dylan Crews coming into the year, but his miserable start -- more the 10 strikeouts in 16 plate appearances than the lack of a single hit so far -- has compelled me to drop him behind more proven and similarly capable commodities like Bryan Reynolds, Brenton Doyle and Ian Happ. I still think Crews has the most upside of the four (with the possible exception of Doyle, who's also more of a downside risk), but I have to guard against the possibility that continued struggles could send him to the minors for a spell.
  • Adolis Garcia and Tyler O'Neill have enough history of success that I'm more likely to buy into their early indicators. Garcia having two homers and a steal already (not to mention zero strikeouts) gives me some assurance that his disappointing 2024 really was a product of him playing through a strained patella tendon in his left knee. O'Neill, meanwhile, actually was productive in 2024, but his 33.6 percent strikeout offered reason for skepticism. Normally, his strikeout rate is more in the 25-28 percent range, and the fact he's whiffed just once in 17 plate appearances offers hope for him returning to that standard. Both have received a slight bump from me, pushing them into the top 40 (top 35 for Garcia).
  • The biggest riser among outfielders is clearly Lars Nootbaar, who looks like a natural fit at the top of the Cardinals lineup and may finally be tapping into his latent power potential with two early home runs and an improved launch angle. He's a perfect fit for those who lost Jurickson Profar but needs to be rostered regardless, coming in behind Cedric Mullins and Nick Castellanos in Rotisserie and Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Steer in Head-to-Head points.
  • Other early outfield risers include Victor Scott II (up from 74 to 54), Wilyer Abreu (up from 65 to 55) and Max Kepler (up from 72 to 58).

Catcher

  • I haven't been willing to downgrade Willson Contreras yet even though he's 0 for 19 with nine strikeouts. There's too much of a track record to raise my alarm yet, and he still has the natural advantage of playing a position other than catcher, which should mean he outpaces the true catchers on volume alone. He remains sixth for me in Rotisserie and third in Head-to-Head points, a format that's not particularly suited for other high-end choices like Salvador Perez, Yainer Diaz and Cal Raleigh.
  • That format is so poorly suited for Diaz and Raleigh, in fact, that I've decided to move Will Smith ahead of them in it. I was fading him in drafts out of concerns that a lingering bone bruise in his ankle would cost him playing time or impact his production, but so far, he's started six of the Dodgers' seven games and performed well at the dish.
  • The biggest surprise at catcher so far has to be Hunter Goodman, who we were hoping might carve out a semi-regular role as a backup behind the plate and a part-timer in the outfield or at DH. Turns out he's the Rockies' primary catcher and has started every one of their games so far, including three behind the dish and one at DH. The 25-year-old isn't a sure thing at the plate, but he offers massive power potential rarely found among catchers. With his unexpectedly prominent role, he's up to 16th in my catcher rankings, which comes out to 14th among those not currently on the IL.

First base

  • In light of a shower mishap aggravating Freddie Freeman's surgically repaired ankle and sidelining him for a couple games, I've decided to drop him to fifth in my Rotisserie rankings, behind Matt Olson and Pete Alonso. I still trust him to perform when he's on the field, but it's clear this injury isn't going away and will likely require some level of maintenance the rest of the way. I still rank him third in Head-to-Head points because Olson and Alonso have some disadvantages there, but another such episode would likely be enough for me to cave in that format as well.
  • At least from a Fantasy perspective, the first basemen who've grabbed all the headlines so far are Spencer Torkelson, Tyler Soderstrom and Ben Rice, and each has moved up 5-10 spots in my latest rankings update. Torkelson and Soderstrom round out the top 20, which may seem kind of weak at first glance, but virtually every player ahead of them is must-roster, in my mind. Rice is a little lower at 24, right there with other upside plays with platoon concerns like Michael Busch and Jonathan Aranda.

Second base

  • I've decided to stop messing around with Kristian Campell and Jackson Holliday, elevating the best upside bets at the position to ninth and 10th in Rotisserie and eighth and ninth in Head-to-Head points (where Luis Garcia lags behind). Early indicators for both are strong, and I'm particularly encouraged that Campbell's spring struggles are already a distant memory. More than anything, though, this bump is an indictment of the second base position and its lack of impact players for Fantasy. There are players who meet particular needs, such as Brice Turang and Brandon Lowe, but I prefer to aim for overall upside, particularly when it's showing signs of breaking through.
  • We have our first eligibility gainer of 2025, and it's Tommy Edman at second base. The position could surely use him, too, and with the power he's flashed so far, a continuation of his time with the Dodgers last year, I'm slotting him ahead of Andres Gimenez and Bryson Stott to start out. The most likely scenario is similar for all three (12-15 homers, 25-30 steals), but Edman presents a bit more of an upside case, in no small part because he plays for the Dodgers.
  • Otto Lopez's hot start has earned him more respect from me. He comes in 24th, in between Willi Castro and Colt Keith. Jorge Polanco and Will Wagner, meanwhile, have climbed to about 30th. Polanco is showing signs that his disastrous 2024 was an aberration, and Wagner has started every one of the Blue Jays' games so far, believe it or not.

Third base

  • I've moved Rafael Devers down one spot, behind Manny Machado, and that's as far as I'm willing to go with it right now. I understand he's been the most concerning player so far, and I think the concerns over his strikeouts, his shoulders and his bat speed are all valid. But moving him down any more would lower him a tier, and I'm just not ready to conclude that Alex Bregman and Junior Caminero are a better bet. Devers has rated among the position's elites from the time he was 22, and he's still in his prime at 28. It could be that he's simply rusty after playing in just five spring games. It could be that his mechanics are off, as manager Alex Cora has suggested. There are enough alternative explanations that I'd prefer to stop short of selling Devers short. If I believed in him enough to draft him, I want to see that investment through ... unless I can get Machado, of course.
  • I'm willing to take an L on Eugenio Suarez already, having argued with Chris Towers on the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast that his massive finish to 2024 doesn't expunge the previous 4 1/2 seasons in which he hit .217 with a .724 OPS and 30.3 percent strikeout rate. But Suarez continued to mash through spring training and now leads the majors with five home runs. Meanwhile, he's struck out at only a 19 percent rate, which is part of what fueled his transformation last year. The transition to 2025 has been so seamless that I'm ready to say he's here to stay and have moved him into my top 12 at third base, ahead of Jake Burger and Alec Bohm.

Shortstop

  • I've gone ahead and moved Oneil Cruz ahead of C.J. Abrams. It was always a close call between the two, but Abrams seemed to have the clear edge in stolen bases. With Cruz having swiped five bags already, though, I'm not sure that's still the case.
  • Matt McLain's hot start gives me some reassurance that his 2023 rookie season wasn't a fluke and that his lost 2024 season hasn't set him back developmentally. It's not a done deal, of course, but I'm encouraged enough to move him ahead of Willy Adames, who I don't think will be as good in San Francisco anyway.
  • If the torpedo bat is going to fix anyone, it's Anthony Volpe, who reportedly wasn't connecting enough with the sweet spot of the bat but now has a bat tailored specifically for him with a relocated sweet spot. I'm not totally bought in, but I'm intrigued enough to move him ahead of Masyn Winn, who's buried in the Cardinals lineup and off to a miserable start, spring training included.
  • I've also moved Zachary Neto ahead of Winn given that he's already embarked on a rehab assignment for his surgically repaired shoulder. Sounds like he's several weeks ahead of schedule.