Fantasy Baseball Year in Review – Orioles

  • By Anthony Kates

    Last Updated on October 21, 2025 4:09 pm by Anthony Kates | Published: October 21, 2025

    The expectations for the 2025 Baltimore Orioles were sky high. After winning 91 games in 2024, getting swept in the American League Wild Card Series and producing a Top 4 offense, bigger and better things were imagined to be on the horizon. Unfortunately, baseball had other ideas. Gunnar Henderson started the year on the injured list, Grayson Rodriguez missed the entire year due to injuries, Adley Rutschman suffered from multiple injuries and grossly underperformed when healthy, Jordan Westburg couldn’t stay healthy, Ryan Mountcastle missed time and their pitching was poor for most of the year. So that second place finish in the division and the 91 wins were quickly forgotten, as they finished last in the American League East, winning just 75 games and finishing the year with the league’s seventh worst record. Let’s see how they fared as fantasy producers.

    Catcher

    Adley Rutschman missed time twice this season thanks to the same oblique strain injury, missing more than a month both times. But, even when he was healthy, he wasn’t that productive. He produced the lowest OBP, slugging percentage, wRC+ and OPS of his career, even though his walk rate and strikeout rate bounced back from his career worst numbers in 2024. His statcast numbers have always been kind of average (barrel rate under 8%, hard-hit rated under 40%, average exit velocity under 90 MPH), but he makes up for that with elite swing decisions. And they were even better in 2025, with a 22.5% chase rate, 91.9% zone-contact rate, 86.6% contact rate and a 5.4% swinging strike rate. Injuries have befallen and held back Rutschman since the second half of the 2024 season, so hopefully he can use this off-season to get full healthy and back to producing like he did his first two big league seasons. He should fall out of the top five fantasy catchers for both re-draft and dynasty in 2026, but should nestle in somewhere in the back half of the top ten. With health and solid production again, he will move back up in 2027.

    First Base

    First base was pretty much a fantasy black hole for the Orioles. Ryan O’Hearn (traded to the Padres in July), Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo combined for 612 plate appearances at the position and hit 14 home runs, scored 61 runs, drove in 60 batters, stole three bases, struck out 147 times and hit .251. Blech. Mayo and Mountcastle will most likely split time at 1B throughout the season, while getting at-bats at DH from time to time as well. Though Mountcastle is the more experienced player, Mayo has more talent and, as one of the best prospects in the Orioles system the last three years, should be given the opportunity to prove whether or not he can handle the full time gig. Neither are worth reaching for in 2026 drafts and should be late round grab for corner infield fill-ins.

     Second Base

    Jackson Holliday didn’t have as big of an improvement in 2025 as many fantasy managers would like to have seen, but he did improve across the board. His power was up (ISO up 12 points from 2024), he dropped his strikeout rate 11 points, raised his walk rate by a point plus, ran far more often and generally looked more comfortable both at the plate and in the field. The next step for Holliday will be elevating the ball more (1.41 GB:FB; 34.1% fly ball rate), generating more quality hard-hits (7.8% barrel, 40.8% hard-hit rate) and continuing his growth in his swing decisions (23.6% chase, 78.2% contact, 84.4% zone contact and 10% swinging strike rate). He finished the year as the 22nd best fantasy 2B, even though he was top 14 at the position in home runs, runs and stolen bases, and it was because of his poor batting average (.242, 25th for 2B with 500 or more PA) and lack of RBI (55; 20th). Growth in batting average and moving up in the lineup into more RBI situations will push him further up the rankings. In re-draft leagues for 2026 drafts he should be treated as a top 16 2B and dynasty leagues as a top 4 2B, since he won’t turn 22 until December.

    Third Base

    Though Jordan Westburg missed plenty of time with a variety of injuries (left hamstring strain that cost him nearly two months; left index finger injury that cost him nearly two weeks of games; right ankle sprain that cost him a month), he was plenty productive in his 352 plate appearances. He hit 17 home runs (one fewer than in 2024 even though he had more than 100 fewer plate appearances this season), scored 59 runs (two more than 2024), drove in 41, stole one base and hit .265. If he could just stay healthy, he’d probably be a top six producer at the fantasy hot corner. He will turn 27 in February and should once again be one of the first eight or so third baseman off the board in 2026 drafts, so be ready to grab him by pick 100.

    Shortstop

    Gunnar Henderson was the third shortstop off the board in 2025 fantasy drafts, even though he suffered a strained right intercostal during Spring Training in February and was set to miss a week or two of the regular season. The strain affected his power throughout the year, resulting in his fewest home runs over full season in his big league career (17; he hit 28 and 37 in his first two years), though he did set a career high in stolen bases and career low in strikeout rate. Obviously his counting stats took a hit as well, with lower home run totals leading to fewer runs and RBI, but the poor performance from the offense overall also impacted those stats. His statcast numbers were still good (92.1 MPH avgEV, 8.5% barrel, 49% hard-hit), if not lower than his first two years, but he struggled to elevate the ball more than ever, posting his lowest fly ball rate (31%) and worst GB:FB ratio (1.56). He maintained his great swing decisions and finished the year as the ninth best fantasy shortstop. If we assume he regains his power while stealing 20 or more bases for 2026 (with gains in both RBI and runs), then he should be treated as a top five shortstop once again and a back-end of the second round pick at worst. I expect a bounce back and will gamble on him in the second round (if he falls to the third, grab him and run).


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    October 21, 2025, 4:09 pm