Whether you are starting a new league or multiple seasons into an older one, finding a suitable second baseman will be a tall task for 2026. Second base might just be the shallowest position in fantasy baseball. Only five second baseman finished the season with a top 100 value and there are three, at most, second base primary prospects among the top 100. Mookie Betts lost his eligibility at the position, but Jazz Chisholm gained it, and he was the most productive fantasy second baseman in 2025. Chisholm had his first 30/30 season and was the only second baseman to have 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases, and he was also the only second baseman to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 20 bases. Though there are only three players over the age of 30 ranked inside the top 10 at the position, only a few of the remaining seven are four category producers, much less five. Only six second baseman hit 20 or more home runs, eight stole 20 or more bases, three scored more than 85 runs and none drove in more than 83 base runners.

The position could be in a much better spot at the end of 2026, but that depends on three players developing into average or better big league producers. Luke Keaschall had a small sample size of the big leagues last year, playing before and after a right forearm fracture, but he performed extremely well, though he ended his season on a sour note, requiring surgery to fix a torn UCL in his left thumb. He is expected to be fully healthy for spring training and should be one of the better producers at the position. Jackson Holliday will be in his third big league season and the expectations are not just high from the Orioles brass and fans, but also fantasy managers. He’s shown off some power and some speed, but he has struggled at the plate, making some poor swing decisions and struggling to generate walks, even though he has an above-average hit tool and an amazing eye at the plate. If he can take another step forward this season, then there could be a new big three by the end of the year. Travis Bazzana, the 2024 top pick and the jewel of the Guardians farm, should be given every opportunity to earn a big league spot and could be a true five category producer once he gets comfortable with big league pitching. He struggled a bit with injuries and production in 2025, but the Guardians essentially threw him into the fire in his second professional season, eschewing any levels below High-A and starting him in Double-A.

Stats are from 2025; Age is the player’s age on opening day

I get the argument for Jazz Chisholm to be the number one guy here, which is mainly the stolen bases and the four year age gap, but there are so many stolen bases available now, that Chisholm’s lead in that category does not make up for the gap in batting average. Marte has been the second most productive fantasy second baseman over the last four years, sitting behind just Jose Altuve. In that time frame, he leads the position in home runs, RBI, OPS, hard hit rate and average exit velocity, is second in runs and wRC+ and has one of the3.3 eight best whiff rates. In the past two seasons, he has been the absolute best at the position, leading all qualified hitters at the position (1000 plate appearances or more over the past two seasons or 500 or more in 2025) in home runs, runs, RBI, batting average, wRC+, OPS, you name it. He had his best strikeout rate since the Covid shortened 2020 season and the best walk rate of his career, hitting more fly balls than ground balls for the first time in his career. He has no split problems, with his wRC+ against either handedness within four points of each other, and was pretty consistent throughout the season, with no single month dropping below a 114 wRC+. Though he did just turn 32, he does not look like he will be slowing down, setting a new career high in barrel rate and max exit velocity, posting the second highest hard hit rate of his career. He makes tons of contact, rarely strikes out, gets on base and has the highest floor at second base.

Chisholm’s first full year in New York went about as well as could be expected, outside of missing over a month of the season due to a right oblique strain. His 31 homers were a new career best, as was his 10.9% walk rate, leading to the highest on-base percentage of his career. The Yankees moved him all around their lineup, with the bulk of his season spent in the fifth or sixth spot, but he was productive no matter where they had him. Chisholm has had problems with left-handed pitchers in the past, but had his most success in 2025, posting a 106 wRC+, his first over 100, with one-fifth of his home runs coming off of lefties, while also striking out at a lower rate against them. He does have some problems, though, with poor swing decisions leading the way. His contact rate dropped back below 70%, he had his second highest whiff rate and he failed to make contact with nearly a quarter of all pitches in the strike zone. He has one of the highest strikeout rates at the position and actually hit worse as a second baseman than he did a third, but he produces enough value in the four other fantasy categories, so his poor batting average (or on-base percentage, if you count that instead) doesn’t hurt nearly as much. If he can reach 600-plus plate appearances in 2026, he might be able to distance himself from Marte (and a few others) and settle in as the number one fantasy second baseman next off-season.

After hitting a combined 13 home runs and 33 doubles in his first two big league seasons, Turang’s power output exploded in 2025, hitting 18 home runs and 28 doubles (matching his home runs plus doubles totals from his first two years). He also posted his best batting average, highest walk rate, best wRC+, highest OPS and best statcast data of his career. How’d he do it? He reduced his leg kick, narrowed his stance, takes a steeper attack angle and increased his swing length and speed. This has led to him hitting inside pitches harder, he attacks fastballs with more confidence and drives the ball with authority, while still displaying his elite contact skills. As a prospect, he was projected to have below-average power, but that was before he changed his approach at the plate. He has an outside shot at a 20/20 season in the very near future, especially with the gains in exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate, which he should be able to maintain. Though his contact rate did go down and his whiff rate was up, both numbers were still incredibly excellent (80.7% and 8.5%, respectively), and he maintained a below league average chase rate to boot. The Brewers should once again have one of the best offenses in baseball and Turang will be right in the middle of it all, stealing bases, scoring runs and, now, clobbering home runs as well.

Call me crazy, but Keaschall’s 2025 small-sample size in the big leagues told me all I need to know. Low whiff rate, plenty of contact, won’t strike out much, I expect the walk rate to settle into the low double-digits, a little power, more speed and he is going to be stationed somewhere in the upper half of a young, up-and-coming Twins lineup. Put that all in a bowl, mix it together and what do you get? A top producer at a thin position, with a safe floor and a decent ceiling. It would be a shock if Keaschall were to hit 20 or more home runs in a season in the future, but he should be able to pump out plenty of 12-15 homer, 25-plus stolen base seasons, with a .280 or higher batting average and decent runs and RBI totals. With his plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills, he should have one of the best on-base percentages among second basemen and should produce decent counting numbers, especially if the Twins lean on him to bat third or fourth like they did for 90% of his plate appearances last year. He is probably the best under-25 fantasy second baseman at the moment, though not too far of number five on this list.

Holliday has had some pretty great on-the-job training in his career so far, logging 857 plate appearances before turning 22 years old, something not many current big leaguers can say they’ve done. After a pretty incredible speed-run through the minor leagues (wRC+ north of 150 over 1000 plate appearances), his time in the big leagues has been, well, a struggle. His 2025 was better than his 2024, but neither season saw a wRC+ better than 96. He has struggled to generate power, struggled on the base paths (28 stolen base attempts, 11 caught stealing), has problems elevating the ball and has also been pretty poor in the field. The good news is, though, that he improved his chase, contact and whiff rates, lowered his strikeout rate, raised his walk rate and just didn’t look as overwhelmed as he did as a rookie. He will be 22 for the entirety of this season and should continue to make positive strides at the plate, but he will need to produce more lift and find more success on the base paths if he is ever able to live up to the hype generated when he was drafted in 2022. The son of Matt and older brother of Ethan (who we will talk about in the shortstop rankings) has plus-power and plus-speed, with a well above average hit tool and once all of that comes together, keep an eye at the top of the second base rankings, because you’ll find him there.

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• About the Author
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Anthony Kates

I’m a husband, father and fantasy sports fanatic. I’ve been playing some fantasy sport or other since the fall of 1996, thanks to one of my childhood best friends, Brent. I enjoy watching all major sports, reading fantasy novels, watching TV shows and movies, playing video games and writing about fantasy baseball. I started at Sports Ethos in 2023, just writing one article a week and cutting my teeth in fantasy sports writing and I am now a co-lead of the Fantasy Baseball department, co-host of the Fantasy MLB Today podcast and the author of two weekly articles, our dynasty baseball rankings and a handful of random articles a year. I support the Houston Astros, Dallas Mavericks, Tennessee Titans and all things Texas Longhorns.

• AK Dynasty 300 Rankings: Second Base
• AK Dynasty 300 Rankings: First Base
• AK Dynasty 300 Rankings: Catcher