Fantasy Baseball Year in Review – Guardians

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  • By Anthony Kates

    Last Updated on November 12, 2025 3:18 am by Anthony Kates | Published: November 12, 2025

    After finishing their 2025 season in the American League Championship Series at the hands of the Yankees, expectations were high for 2024. They most certainly hit those expectations, winning the American League Central Division on the final day of the season, after coming back from the largest deficit in league history, 15.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers. They would lose in the wild card round to those same Tigers, but the season was still a success. Though they did not have a great offense, Jose Ramirez once again put together an MVP worthy season; Kyle Manzardo broke out, hitting 27 home runs with a 113 wRC+ and Steven Kwan had another successful season setting the table for the rest of the lineup. On the pitching side, though Tanner Bibee took a step back after two very good seasons, Gavin Williams had his best season as a big league, Parker Messick made his big league debut and absolutely shined and Joey Cantillo bounce back from a poor rookie year, performing well above average in a starting role. In the bullpen, Cade Smith was absolutely dominant, generating the most value of any reliever after Emmanuel Clase was placed on administrative leave, while Hunter Gaddis stepped into Smith’s former setup role and led the league in holds from July 28th through the end of the season.

    Catcher

    Guardians catchers were fantasy worthless for all but the deepest of leagues. Even in two catcher leagues, you’d almost have been better off looking for a backup from another team, instead of starting Bo Naylor (fantasy catcher #28, end of year) or Austin Hedges. Though Naylor did hit 14 home runs, he had just 93 combined runs and RBI, hit under .200 and had just an 85 wRC+. Hedges was even worse, with a 51 wRC+ in 180 plate appearances. Their value comes from their play behind the plate (third best catcher defense in the league), not their production at it. Fantasy managers can safely ignore both players in 2026 drafts.

    First Base

    Kyle Manzardo split his time between 1B and DH throughout the 2025 season, finishing ranked 30th at the position. He hit 27 home runs, drove in 70 base runners, stole two bases and hit .234, but he scored just 47 runs, making him just one of five players to hit 20 or more home runs and score less than 50 runs, and the only player to hit 25 or more home runs and accomplish that feat. If he had scored just 10 more runs, he would have landed inside the top-25 at the position. He has the upside to potentially perform as a top-20 first baseman, but should be considered more as a corner infield starter, rather than at first base, except in the deepest of leagues.

     Second Base

    Much like catcher, second base was a virtual offensive black hole for the Guardians. Though Daniel Schneeman had small pockets of fantasy viability, overall he was pretty terrible. He hit 12 home runs, had 89 combined runs+RBI, stole nine bases and hit .206, with a 79 wRC+ in 422 plate appearances, finishing as the 39th “best” second base eligible fantasy player. Brayan Rocchio was slightly worse, generating a 77 wRC+ while spending time at both SS and 2B. The multi-position eligibility is nice, but with that kind of production, they can be safely ignored unless managers are in a league that drafts more than 500 MLB players.

    Third Base

    Jose Ramirez is the gold standard by which all fantasy third basemen are judged. He had one of the best fantasy lines of 2025 – 103 runs, 30 home runs, 85 RBI, 44 stolen bases (set a career high in back-to-back seasons now) and a .283 batting average. He is one of three third base eligible players that can steal 30 or more bases (Jazz Chisholm and Maikel Garcia being the other two) and one of two who can both hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases (Chisholm). He has hit double figure home runs and stolen double figure bases in every season since 2016, has scored at least 87 runs and driven in at least 80 every year of the last five and has been a top-three fantasy third baseman in five straight seasons (and eight of the last nine). And he routinely has the best or second-best strikeout rate among all batters with 20 or more home runs. He is one of the best fantasy players to draft and should be a top six pick at worst in 2026 drafts.

    Shortstop

    Gabriel Arias and Rocchio shared time at shortstop for the Guardians and neither were, not are, worth fantasy attention, except in the shallowest of leagues. They both had a 77 wRC+, hit under .235, stole less than 10 bases, generated less than 100 combined runs and RBI each and combined to hit 16 home runs over 854 plate appearances. Neither landed inside the top 30 at the position. The position can be ignored for 2026 fantasy drafts, unless they sign one of the top free agent shortstops.


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    November 12, 2025, 3:18 am