Fantasy Baseball: Fred Zinkie's verdicts for the most polarizing players of 2026

Each year, there are players who are maddening to rank in fantasy baseball. These players fit into one of a few buckets. Some have shown flashes of brilliance, mixed in with stretches of abysmal play. Others are prone to injury. And some are tough to rank due to an undetermined role to open the season. Here are a few of the players who gave me fits during the ranking process.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Chicago Cubs

To borrow a phrase from Eminem, will the real Pete Crow-Armstrong please stand up? The soon-to-be 24-year-old PCA certainly stands up in center field, where his glovework is among the best in baseball. But no one knows what to make of the speedster’s plate skills. PCA entered 2025 with an unimpressive career .652 OPS. He looked like a future first-round fantasy pick when he produced 25 homers, 27 steals and an .847 OPS in the first half, before returning to his previous form and batting .216 with six homers and eight steals after the All-Star break.

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Verdict: I can’t use a third-round pick on someone whose lows are so low. I would need Crow-Armstrong to slip to pick 45 and beyond, and that isn’t going to happen.

James Wood, OF, Washington Nationals

Wood has plenty of similarities to Crow-Armstrong. The former premium prospect played like a budding star in the first half (24 HR, 12 SB, .915 OPS) before slumping badly after the All-Star break (7 HR, 3 HR, .690 OPS). Strikeouts are a major problem for the 23-year-old, who led the majors with 221 whiffs and trailed only Ryan McMahon in strikeout rate (32.1%). There are plenty of strikeout-prone players who have fantasy success. After all, Kyle Schwarber, Rafael Devers, Cal Raleigh, Shohei Ohtani and Elly De La Cruz were among the top 10 in whiffs last year. Wood doesn’t have to make a wholesale change, but he needs to knock about 5% off his rate.

Verdict: I’m not against drafting Wood at his ADP (41.9), but I’m unlikely to pull the trigger. I would rather draft an ace starter in Rd. 4 and then grab Wyatt Langford, who has similar upside, a couple rounds later.

Oneil Cruz, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

Here we go again. I could put Cruz in this article every year, as his eye-popping Statcast data never lines up with his inconsistent results. Things bottomed out last season, when he hit .200 and recorded the fourth-worst strikeout rate among qualified hitters. But there were positives during a down year, as his walk rate improved and he made major base-stealing strides en route to finishing fourth with 38 swipes. If Cruz could keep the base-running aggressiveness and bring his batting average back into the .250 range, we would have a fantasy star. And he could use a little help in a low-scoring Pirates lineup, which could come from offseason acquisitions Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn, or prized prospect Konnor Griffin.

Verdict: It’s not the inconsistency that drives me away from Cruz, but rather his consistent inability to hit lefties. He’s on his way to being a platoon player, which keeps him off my radar during the initial 100 picks of a draft.

Chandler Simpson, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Simpson could be a game-changer in category leagues. If he earns 500 at-bats, he will lead the majors in steals. If he bats leadoff, he will score 90 runs. And if he has good batted-ball luck, he will compete for a batting title. Unfortunately, he’s also a poor defensive player with no power who plays for a team that is known for aggressively rotating its players. The easy answer is that the 25-year-old should work on his fielding. But I’m sure he has already tried to do that and hasn’t yet made significant strides.

Verdict: I’m completely out on drafting Simpson this year. There are plenty of ways to attack the steals category throughout the draft, which will prevent the need to select a powerless player in the middle rounds. And in the rare cases where my roster starts out with a steals deficiency, I’ll find someone who has a higher floor.

Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

I chose Griffin as a placeholder for a group of elite prospects who are on the verge of reaching the majors, but this paragraph could have been headlined by JJ Wetherholt (Cardinals), Kevin McGonigle (Tigers), Carson Benge (Mets) or Justin Crawford (Phillies). Each of these youngsters has a chance to make the Opening Day roster, and each of them could still be in the minors in June.

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Verdict: I’m grabbing a couple of these players in the late rounds of Yahoo drafts. Late-round picks are easy to cut, and I’m fine with dropping them at the start of the season. My order of preference at the moment is Griffin, Wetherholt, McGonigle, Crawford and Benge. I see Wetherholt and McGonigle accumulating the most plate appearances, and Griffin having the most upside.

Carter Jensen, C, Kansas City Royals

Those who look solely at Jensen’s major league numbers (.300 BA, .941 OPS) will view him as an exciting late-round sleeper. Managers who dig a little deeper will notice that he often posted low batting averages and high strikeout rates in the minors.

Verdict: I’m not ready to consider Jensen in one-catcher formats, which means that he should open the season on waivers in most Yahoo leagues. He’s someone to monitor from the waiver wire during April.

Jacob Misiorowski, SP, Milwaukee Brewers

Pitchers can’t be more polarizing than someone who was selected to start the All-Star Game after five career outings before logging a 5.36 ERA in the second half. Misiorowski’s radar-gun readings and strikeout abilities are undeniable. Lowering his walk rate will be the key to achieving ace status.

Verdict: Misiorowski is incredibly talented and the Brewers do great work with their pitchers. Combining those two factors makes me excited to draft the youngster at his current Yahoo ADP (108.2).

Dylan Cease, SP, Toronto Blue Jays

In the past five years, no hurler has ridden a ratios roller-coaster to the same degree as Cease. His five ERA marks, in order, were 3.91, 2.20, 4.58, 3.47 and 4.55. His five WHIP marks were 1.25, 1.11, 1.42, 1.07, 1.33. Most projection systems will split the difference, but based on his history, Cease will swing wildly in one direction or the other.

Verdict: I’m not into drafting a No. 2 fantasy starter who may destroy my ratios. Nick Pivetta and Kyle Bradish are two examples of pitchers who are being drafted later than Cease and can post their own significant strikeout totals without bringing as much ratio uncertainty to the table.

Trey Yesavage, SP, Toronto Blue Jays

Yesavage is coming off one of the most magical seasons in baseball history, in which he thrived at four minor league levels before being a star player in the postseason. Those who believe in his mercurial rise should be ready to draft him as an ace with 200-strikeout upside. Others will be worried that hitters will thrive against the 22-year-old once they get more exposure to his unusual arm angle and arsenal. After all, Yesavage didn’t stay in any league long enough last year to face the same hitters over and over again.

Verdict: Recent news that the Blue Jays are going to take it easy with Yesavage at the outset of the season has caused him to fall in my ranking to the point where I won’t draft him at his current ADP (104.6). I’ll need a discount of at least three rounds, since his initial 3-4 starts may fall short of the necessary five innings to qualify for a win.

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