2026 fantasy baseball top 300: Yordan Alvarez tops list, Ronald Acuña Jr. rejoins top 10

Here's our rest-of-season Top 300. Expect this space to be updated every Monday. Players are ranked for 5x5 mixed leagues using a one-catcher format. I include the mixed-league disclaimer because I do reward upside, particularly past the top 200 or so.

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2026 Fantasy Baseball Top 300 overall ranks

**Updated July 17**

July 17 Notes

Falling off: Konnor Griffin (114th), Garrett Crochet (180th), Matt McLain (205th), Nick Lodolo (248th), Will Smith (255th), Zack Gelof (268th), Sal Frelick (272n), Ryan Helsley (278th), Paul Goldschmidt (281st), Romy Gonzalez (285th), Brandon Woodruff (289th), Davis Martin (292nd), Roki Sasaki (293rd), Kyle Manzardo (295th), Tyler Wells (297th), Sean Keys (298th)

- In case you missed it, I posted my way-too-early top 450 for 2027 on Monday. Today's top 300 update is intended to take us through July 27, though if something big happens, I'll make some emergency updates earlier than that.

- I was lower than most on Corbin Carroll initially this spring in part because I was concerned about how he'd cut back on his basestealing, a trend I expected to continue. Then I rather softened on that stance after noticing how much his basestealing picked up in 2025 after Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez were traded — 19 of his 32 steals came in August and September — and figuring he'd continue to do more running since the team had done so little to replace them (that was the other reason I was down some on Carroll and the rest of Arizona's hitters). Carroll, though, is just 10-for-12 stealing bases through 93 games. He's 1-for-2 in his last 24 games. He also hasn't been hitting, but I'm less concerned about that being a long-term issue. It just seems like steals aren't a priority, and while that's not a big deal for his real-world value, it sure does hurt for fantasy.

- Shane Bieber was one more discouraging start away from getting bumped from the list entirely, but he was up to 93.0 mph on average with his fastball last time out, which was up one mph from his first three starts. It was his third highest average since 2021; he got up to 93.2 mph in one of his seven starts last year after returning from Tommy John surgery, and he hit 93.1 mph in one of his 31 starts in 2022 (he never got that high in 21 starts in 2023).

- Pirates outfielders Esmerlyn Valdez and Jake Mangum both debut this week, though things will get crowded that after Oneil Cruz returns from his fractured fingers within the next couple of weeks. I probably should have added Valdez a week or two ago, but his 36 percent strikeout rate remains scary. He's also a complete zero in the stolen base department. But there's no denying 10 homers in 105 plate appearances. I doubt he'll hit much better than .230-.240 the rest of the way, but since the power is legitimate, he wouldn't necessarily need to in order to remain a quality regular.

- I wonder if the Brewers actually wanted Lance McCullers Jr. in taking on two-thirds of his 2026 salary in a deal with the Astros last week or if that was just the price to pay for acquiring Colton Gordon, much like how the Brewers took on an injured Jordan Montgomery last year to get Shelby Miller from the Diamondbacks. The Brewers seem capable of magic when they get their hands on new pitchers, but then, the Astros are also plenty good at getting quality results from middling arms. It seems the Brewers will at least give McCullers a shot before Gordon. Neither player made the rankings cut this week, but it wouldn't be surprising if one of the two proves useful in mixed leagues for a spell.

- The Cardinals' Kyle Leahy is certainly throwing well enough to be worthy of a spot on the list, but he also just overtook his 2025 innings total in his final start before the break. He's at 89 1/3 innings right now, his high total since he was last a regular starter in Double-A in 2022. His recent progress has been encouraging, but at some point, the Cardinals are probably going to want to stick him back in the pen to curb his workload.

- For what it's worth, Chase Burns, Braxton Ashcraft and Payton Tolle are some other pitchers here who would be higher if not for workload concerns.

July 6 Notes

- Falling off: Brent Rooker (124th), Seranthony Domínguez (256th), Geovany Soto (266th), Noah Cameron (268th), Brett Baty (287th), Nolan Arenado (288th), Tatsuya Imai (292nd), Blaze Alexander (299th), Cooper Pratt (300th)

- Brent Rooker being down for the year following knee surgery resulted in Lawrence Butler moving up about 20 spots and should benefit the struggling Shea Langeliers, who can spend the rest of the season DHing when he doesn't catch. It also opens the door for Joshua Kuroda-Grauer to stick around for the long haul. Kuroda-Grauer was a near miss from the list; I'd have been more inclined to get him on there now if the A's weren't finishing out the first half on the road. I didn't think Kuroda-Grauer had major league power at this point, but he's hit the ball a little harder than expected since his callup, and playing in Sutter Health Park will give him a boost. If he starts regularly and does some running — he was 15-for-19 stealing bases in Triple-A — he could be useful.

- The trends just aren't great for Paul Skenes, who is down to 37th this week. His velocity has slowly declined since the start of the year, which is worrisome but not necessarily a disaster. His spin rates, though, are much more significantly down. Skenes' fastball averaged 2,405 revolutions per minute in his season debut in May. It remained over 2,300 in his next two starts. However, he hasn't topped 2,300 since, he's been under 2,200 in his last five starts and he was all of the way down to 1,988 in his miserable outing last week against the Phillies. His other pitches are all down similarly. Maybe he gets it back. Skenes suffered a modest decline in his spin rates last summer and rebounded after the break. I still have him as a top-10 SP here, so I'm not writing him off. It's all pretty discouraging, though.

- Apparently, the Reds have three everyday players at this point: Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart and Eugenio Suárez, who is being grandfathered in. Suárez has been written off before, mostly by me, and never failed to bounce back (by the way, everyone writing off Austin Riley forever should take a look at Suárez's age 28-29 seasons), but things seem pretty bleak right now. He's striking out a career-high 33 percent of the time, and he has twice as many strikeouts (80) as hard-hit balls (40). Suárez had a 43 percent hard-hit rate and a 14 percent barrel rate from 2019-25. He's at 29 percent and eight percent, respectively, right now. That he's in a great ballpark for hitters and still batting cleanup regularly means he doesn't need to excel to offer some fantasy value. However, we're approaching the point at which the Reds would help themselves by telling him to take a seat.

- After striking out 11 over six innings against the Guardians on July 4, the White Sox's Sean Burke is the high debut this week. He's averaged 96.0 mph with his fastball his last four times out, compared to 94.4 mph in his first 11 appearances.

- I was tempted to add Rockies prospect Charlie Condon to the list. Maybe next week. He's pushing for a callup while hitting .395 with 12 homers (and five triples!) in his last 22 games for Triple-A Albuquerque. The Rockies should be looking to sell high on Mickey Moniak and Jake McCarthy; both are under control for next year, but neither really seems like a long-term piece. A trade of either would open up right field for Condon. Interestingly, though, Condon has been getting most of his starts at first base of late. That does figure to be his long-term home, and if they'd like, the Rockies could always stick him there, use TJ Rumfield at DH and play Troy Johnston more in the outfield.