Fantasy Baseball Year in Review – Chicago Cubs

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  • By Paul Williamson

    The Cubs went in on a major push for 2026 by sending away a potential young stud in Cam Smith, solid power bat in Isaac Paredes and a decent young arm in Hayden Wesneski for one year of Kyle Tucker (they could still bring him back, but odds are not in their favor).

    They also brought in oft-injured Matthew Boyd and catcher Carson Kelly.

    Despite 92 wins, they still finished five games back of the Brewers and lost to them in five games in the NLDS.

    The fantasy campaign was pretty nice for multiple players as there is a good amount to unpack for managers from this squad.

    Catcher

    Carson Kelly was the main backstop for the Cubbies and he had himself his best offensive campaign since 2019.

    He dealt with various injuries as a journeyman catcher in the years that followed before landing the mostly full-time gig for the Cubs this year, though he still suffered some injuries and logged 111 games with 421 plate appearances, a career high in both categories.

    He hit 17 homers with a .249 average.

    Kelly had a solid 10.7% BB%, a number a touch higher than his career 9.2% as he continued to have solid K% as well, at 19.0%.

    The biggest improvement we saw came with a 9.6% barrel rate and around-league-average 40.3% hard-hit rate. With his solid hit-tool, these marks play up a bit as he had an 81.1% contact%.

    If he can land the starting spot in 2026, which is in question with the rise of Moises Ballesteros, then he can be a 15-team, one-catcher option and a must-draft in two-catcher setups.

    Speaking of Ballesteros, the question is if he can stick at catcher. The bat looked legit as a prospect with multiple sub-20% K% campaigns as he broke out with a 19 homer, .289/.354/.471 campaign in 2024.

    2025 saw the slash improve but the homers take a step back with just 15 total, two coming in his 66 plate appearance cup of coffee in the majors.

    His plate discipline numbers translated well to the majors with a 13.6% BB% and 18.2% K%. The slash was solid at .298/.394/.474 with a couple of homers. A red flag is the ground ball rate was back up in Triple-A to 49.6% and it was an unsightly 62.2% in the majors. But he had multiple much-improved ground ball rates in the minors so hopefully he can correct that as his power is plus to go with his hit tool.

    If he gets the opportunity Opening Day, it might be hard to initially take the plunge as he is going to only be UTIL-eligible as he may have to find time at the plate at DH with Kelly at catcher and Michael Busch at first.

    At least as things stand now with the current roster.

    First Base

    Michael Busch really bust on to the scene in 2025, following 2024’s 21 homers with 34 in 2025 with 90 RBI. He improved the average to .261 and the 23.5% K% was the best of his career and is a great sign.

    He flashed elite metrics with a 92.2 MPH avgEV, 17.1% barrel rate and 47.3% hard-hit rate as the xStats more than backed up his production at the plate.

    He doesn’t chase (23.3% O-Sw%), he makes contact (76.4% contact rate) and that contact is elite.

    I would consider Busch around a top-10 first baseman for 2026.

    Second Base

    Nico Hoerner is just as a rock solid second base fantasy option as you’re going to find.

    He has three straight campaigns of at least 640 plate appearances with at least 29 steals and a .273 average, though his career average is .284.

    He bats at the top of the lineup so he has at least 85 runs scored in each of his last three campaigns as well.

    Hoerner’s contact is soft but he makes up for it by not striking out much at all and has a solid 20% line drive rate.

    When you get to the middle rounds and you missed out on the top options like Ketel Marte and Jose Altuve, Hoerner should be a solid option, especially if you went power-heavy in the early rounds.

    Third Base

    It wasn’t quite the season the Cubs were hoping for out of their stud prospect Matt Shaw, at least for the most part.

    He ended the year with a .226 average, though he did well to hit 13 homers and steal 17 bags.

    But he ended the year as the stud the Cubs and fantasy managers were hoping for.

    In his final 205 plate appearances, he slashed .258/.317/.522 with a .263 ISO and 130 wRC+.

    The big improvement came from the batted ball data as his ground ball rate in that second half drastically improved to 33.6% after a 44.2% mark in the first part of the campaign. He also pulled the ball at a 53.2% rate  as opposed to a 31.7% pull rate.

    That translated to a nice launch angle of 16.6 degrees and a barrel rate of 10.1%. Now the hard-hit data in general was still a bit under whelming at 32.4% on the hard-hit rate as he vastly outperformed his xStats.

    Shaw is still a young player and clearly showed flashes of his potential. He should be seen as a middle infield option for 12-team leagues and a fringe starting third baseman in 15-team leagues.

    Shortstop

    Dansby Swanson just keeps doing Dansby Swanson things.

    He had a down year in 2024 with just 16 homers though he did steal 19 and owned an OK .242 batting average (not going to kill you, at least).

    But he got back to 24 homers (he now has 22+ homers in four of his last five campaigns) and kept the steals with 20.

    His K% isn’t the best but he keeps it under control as he is consistently between 24% and 26% (his 2025 mark).

    Swanson is a barrel hitting machine with a double-digit rate in six of his last seven years. He is always at least league average in hard-hit rate with an increase to 47.7% in 2025.

    He is someone I feel confident penciling him in for a 20/15 campaign, as a middle infield option in 12-team leagues is his floor and top-10 SS finish is his ceiling.


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    November 25, 2025, 6:00 am