Top 10 Rookies for Fantasy Baseball 2026: Rankings & Sleepers

Rookies can be an enigma in fantasy baseball.

These young players dominate the minor leagues and occasionally give fantasy managers a brief preview of their potential in a big-league cameo. Some of them assert themselves among the game’s best immediately, while others may take a couple of years to acclimate to the speed of the majors.

In fantasy baseball, drafting rookies is a big risk. You don’t have a large sample of major-league work to judge them off of. This can be beneficial or harmful, because great rookies can be had at a bargain while those who bust are over-drafted.

In this piece, we’ll be ranking the top-10 rookies for fantasy baseball drafts in 2026. The best rookies that appear in our top 200 rankings will be listed in that order, while those that follow will be ordered based on the sequence I’d select them next.

Honorable Mentions: Kevin McGonigle (DET SS), JJ Wetherholt (STL SS), Connelly Early (BOS SP), Chase DeLauter (CLE OF)

10. Carter Jensen, KC C

Jensen, a third-round pick in the 2021 draft, has been a productive hitter at every stop in the minor leagues. The left-handed hitting backstop has posted at least 10 home runs with at least a 10% walk rate in each year as a pro.

The path to everyday playing time is not obvious right now. Jensen’s presence could encourage the Royals to use veteran Salvador Perez at DH more frequently, but that may prevent them from playing newly inked veteran Starling Marte. He’s likely to play in a strong-side platoon role early on.

After posting a 159 wRC+ in 69 big-league plate appearances last year, Jensen has made his case to be a regular. If he’s able to get consistent at-bats, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jensen ended up being more productive than some of the players above him on this list.

9. Kazuma Okamoto, TOR 3B

Okamoto is an eight-year veteran of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and is foraying into the major leagues at 30 years old. He projects to receive playing time primarily at third base with Toronto.

After posting six seasons with at least 30 home runs, there’s little doubt that Okamoto can be a productive big leaguer. Given that he has a lengthy track record of success in a difficult environment, Okamoto should be the best acclimated to major-league competition of any rookie.

While he’s not projected to be a five-category star, Okamoto should be a good source of power in the later rounds. He’s worth targeting as corner infield depth.

8. Munetaka Murakami, CWS 3B

Okamoto has been a consistent producer in NPB throughout his career, but he hasn’t reached the heights that Murakami ascended to in 2022. At just 22 years of age, Murakami hit .318 with 56 home runs and 134 RBI against NPB competition.

Murakami hasn’t hit more than 33 homers in a season since, but he was on pace to do so in an abbreviated 2025 showing (22 HR in 56 G). Since he’s landed with the rebuilding White Sox in free agency, Murakami will have little competition for at-bats.

While he’s likely to strike out at a rate greater than 30% and be a bit of a batting-average drain, Murakami could be a 30+ home run hitter.

7. Sal Stewart, CIN 1B

Stewart has performed well at the plate throughout his professional career but really emerged as a potential perennial masher for Cincinnati last season. In 2025, Stewart hit 20 home runs across the two highest levels of the minors in 118 games, then crushed five more long balls in 58 MLB plate appearances.

Calling the Great American Ball Park home is a positive for any hitter, and Stewart should use those hitter-friendly confines to his advantage. He struck out just 15.6% of the time in the upper minors, so he figures to put many balls in play and challenge the fences. With ample playing time, Stewart could be a sleeper to be a top-10 fantasy first baseman as a rookie.

There’s one big question that surrounds Stewart’s value, though: how much will he play? The Reds signed Eugenio Suarez this offseason and still retain Spencer Steer as 1B/DH options. If he’s able to beat out Steer for regular playing time, Stewart should be a valuable fantasy commodity.

6. Konnor Griffin, PIT SS

Nobody on this list comes with more intrigue than Griffin, who could make his major-league debut as a teenager. The Pirates have little reason to rush Griffin to the big leagues, but he looks to be the team’s best option at a position of need for the franchise.

Sure, Griffin batted .333 with 21 home runs across three levels in 2025. That was outstanding. But a lot of the fantasy intrigue around Griffin comes from the 65 bases that he stole. Griffin has the makings of a future fantasy first-rounder, and he would be going much higher in drafts if it were announced that he’d be a Pirate on Opening Day.

While he may spend the first month or two in the minors, it won’t be long before the Pirates generate some buzz and call Griffin up. Even if he struggles with the bat early on, he can still provide value from his speed on the basepaths.

In leagues where owners can roster more than just a few players on the bench, Griffin holds a lot of value.

5. Samuel Basallo, BAL C

Typically, a major concern associated with drafting rookies in fantasy is whether they will be given the opportunity to play regularly out of the gate. In Basallo’s case, we can confidently say that he will be a regular after signing an eight-year pre-arb deal with Baltimore.

Basallo is a big, powerful 21-year-old catcher who hit for good power while being young for every minor-league level. After hitting .270 with 23 home runs in 76 Triple-A games last season, the Orioles called him up. Basallo struggled in his first audition as a big leaguer, but the future looks bright.

Even though the Orioles also roster Adley Rutschman, Basallo will get plenty of at-bats at DH. The Orioles didn’t give this potential franchise catcher an $84 million pre-arb deal to ride pine. Basallo is an interesting late-round catcher selection.

4. Tatsuya Imai, HOU SP

Imai doesn’t bring the same intrigue as Yoshinobu Yamamoto did when he left NPB for MLB, but he posted a sub-2.50 ERA in Japan for the past four consecutive seasons. Now a member of the Astros, Imai will be a betting favorite for the AL Rookie of the Year award.

While he’s projected for less than a strikeout per inning, Imai figures to be durable and generate a lot of ground balls. Though he’s being drafted outside of the top 150 on average, it’s still higher than just about every rookie bat.

The Astros are light on starting pitching, and Imai was brought in to fill the void left by Framber Valdez’s departure. There should be little to no restrictions on Imai, a proven starter against solid competition.

3. Bubba Chandler, PIT SP

Chandler, the Pirates’ third-round pick in 2021, is primed to take on a spot in the Pirates’ rotation to start the season. Possessing a fastball that he can run up to triple digits, Chandler has electric stuff and could be a value in the middle rounds of a fantasy draft.

In his brief big-league audition last season, Chandler pitched to a 4.02 ERA with 31 strikeouts and three walks in 31.1 innings. This walk rate isn’t representative of what we saw in larger minor-league samples, where he walked 12% of opposing batters in Triple-A last season.

While there are still valid concerns regarding Chandler’s command, his draft price isn’t reflective of him becoming an ace immediately. Even if he posts a high walk rate and an ERA around 4.00, the strikeout numbers should be good enough to make him rosterable all season long.

2. Trey Yesavage, TOR SP

After a historic playoff emergence in his first full professional season, Yesavage will be a part of Toronto’s pitching staff in 2026. While he’s looked great as a big leaguer so far, it’s important to remember that a 41.2-inning sample size isn’t enough to crown him as an ace immediately.

In his larger minor-league sample size last season, Yesavage was dominant. He struck out 41.1% of batters and pitched to a 3.12 ERA in 98 innings over four different levels. It’s clear that he’s here to stay in the majors.

A caveat to drafting Yesavage is that the Blue Jays confirmed he will be limited to begin the 2026 season. While it’s unclear how long Toronto plans to limit their budding star, it’s obvious that they will want to keep him healthy for the postseason push. Yesavage is an interesting middle-round draft selection.

1. Nolan McLean, NYM SP

The only rookie that is ranked inside of our top 100 fantasy rankings is McLean. In his 48-inning debut season, the right-hander threw to a 2.06 ERA with 57 strikeouts.

McLean is so established already that he was asked to be a part of Team USA for the World Baseball Classic as a starting pitcher. He will be relied upon as one of the Mets’ top starters in just his first full big-league campaign.

McLean doesn’t have the same upper-echelon velocity that Chandler possesses and has some command concerns from his time in the minor leagues, too. It’s possible that the command issues prevent him from being an ace as a rookie, but the industry sees this guy as a top talent already.

McLean will be the first rookie off the board in just about every fantasy draft in 2026.

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