2026 Positional Power Rankings: Left Field

The Mets were second in last year’s right fielder rankings behind only Aaron Judge’s Yankees, and the same player behind that placement has them atop this year’s left fielder list after an offseason switch to the other outfield corner. That would be Soto, who heads into his ninth major league season well on track for a plaque in Cooperstown. While not in Ted Williams territory — the often-cited comp has always struck me as a stretch — Soto does boast the highest on-base percentage (.417), fifth-highest slugging percentage (.531), seventh-highest home run total (244), and fifth-highest WAR (42.3) since he broke into the big leagues in 2018. Those aren’t all-time great numbers — “The Splendid Splinter” finished with a .344/.482/.634 slash line, a 187 wRC+, and 129.9 WAR — but they are sumptuous. Soto’s first season in Queens got off to a bit of a slow start, but he still ended up posting a .263/.396/.525 line with 43 home runs, good for a 156 wRC+ and 5.8 WAR. At 27 and firmly in his prime, Soto — despite his indifferent defense — is a bona fide superstar. Having signed a 15-year, $765 million contract prior to last season, he is also a handsomely paid superstar.

The extent to which there will be at-bats available to others at Soto’s new position is uncertain — there may not be many, although injuries and other factors have a way of muddying waters — but the ones left over will most likely to go to Taylor and/or Tauchman. Taylor provides defensive value — he started 85 games for the Mets in center field last season — but also had a .598 OPS and a 70 wRC+. Tauchman is the better hitter, having put up a .756 OPS and a 115 wRC+ in 385 plate appearances with the White Sox, his fifth team in eight seasons.

The Red Sox were 13th on this list a year ago, with my writeup including the following, “Does this ranking seem too low? Based on what Jarren Duran did last season, the answer almost has to be yes.” It did end up being too low, though not entirely for the reasons I thought. Despite Duran having a down season relative to his 2024 breakout, the Red Sox received 3.8 WAR from the position, third highest in the majors behind the Miami Marlins (!) and New York Mets. Duran was responsible for 2.7 of that, while Roman Anthony — the no. 2 prospect in our our 2025 Top 100 — was worth 1.0 in just 19 games at the position.

Anthony now being Boston’s primary left fielder is largely responsible for this year’s ranking. He posted a .292/.396/.463 line in 71 games as a rookie, bopping eight homers and putting up a 140 wRC+ before an oblique strain ended his season in early September. The 21-year-old is widely viewed as a star-in-the-making, and few will be surprised if he ends up outperforming his 2026 projections. Moreover, he turned heads before the season has even started. Earlier this month, Anthony became the youngest player ever to homer for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

And then there is the outfielder/DH who was clearing fences for Samurai Japan in the WBC. Yoshida is seemingly back to his old self now that his shoulder is healthy, but he has also slid down the depth chart. With a quartet of better options in front of him, at-bats may be hard to come by. Campbell is a wild card as he transitions from second base to the outfield. Last April’s American League Rookie of the Month, he cratered in May, was demoted to Triple-A, and never really regained his footing.

The Tigers topped this list a year ago, a ranking that I was fully on board with. A sentence in the accompanying blurb helped explain why: “I won’t be surprised if Riley Greene ends up in the MVP conversation.” That didn’t happen, but the statement did look credible for the first half of the season. On July 2, the 25-year-old fly-chaser had 21 home runs, a 147 wRC+, and 2.7 WAR. He seemed well on his way to a big-numbers campaign.

The second half saw the burgeoning star come crashing to earth. By season’s end, Greene’s wRC+ had dropped to 121, while his WAR had barely inched up, settling at 2.9. Moreover, a continuation of his swing-and-miss issues culminated in 201 strikeouts, the most in the junior circuit. Which isn’t to say that his overall output was lacking. Greene’s 111 RBIs were fourth most in the AL, and his 36 home runs were tied for fifth most. As for the future, improved contact ability could result in the lefty swinger replicating his first half over a full season, making him a legit MVP candidate.

Carpenter doesn’t have Greene’s upside, but he does swing a solid bat. The left-handed-hitting outfielder/DH hammered 26 home runs in just 464 plate appearances last year, and he boasts a 128 wRC+ over 1,332 career plate appearances. Vierling is a defensively versatile right-handed hitter who was limited to 31 games in 2025 due to injury. Slater has morphed into journeyman mode, the Tigers being his sixth team in two-plus years.

In last year’s Rangers rankings, I wrote that “Langford is similar to Riley Greene in that he is a 23-year-old former [top draft] pick… and is also on the precipice of stardom.” Their draft history obviously can’t change, and as for the stardom part of the equation… let’s just say that Langford, like his contemporary, has a strong early-career track record as well as areas in which he could improve. Defense is a strong suit — should he actually be playing center field? — which helped him log 4.1 WAR last season. At the plate, he put up a 118 wRC+ and 22 home runs over 573 plate appearances despite battling multiple oblique strains over the course of the campaign. His 151 strikeouts were the most on the club, evidence that some fine-tuning of his right-handed stroke may be in order.

Texas’ other left field options are Haggerty, a 31-year-old switch-hitting role player, and Carter, a 23-year-old former Top 100 prospect (no. 67 in 2023) who is still young enough to right the ship. Carter is the more intriguing of the pair. Multiple injuries have limited him to just 108 big league games over the past two seasons, and he has been merely okay when on the field; his OPS in 382 plate appearances over that span was .688, while his wRC+ was 96. But again, he is young and has battled injuries. We should probably mention Andrew McCutchen here as well. The longtime Pittsburgh Pirate is giving it one last go at age 39.

Happ is Steven Kwan’s closest competition on the 2022-2025 left field leaderboards. The nine-year veteran has the second-highest WAR over that four-season span, as well as the most games played, the most home runs, and the most RBIs. Much like his left-handed-hitting Cleveland contemporary, the longtime Cub isn’t so much a star as he is a key cog on a competitive team. His 2025 numbers were pretty much par for the course. In the lineup for all but a dozen games, Happ hammered 32 doubles, left the yard 23 times, and drove in 79 runs while putting up a 116 wRC+ and 2.8 WAR. He has likewise been awarded Gold Gloves in each of the past four seasons (albeit without defensive metrics nearly as good as Kwan’s).

Carlson is a former Cardinal whose career has been on the down turn since he slugged 18 home runs and logged a 111 wRC+ as a rookie in 2021. The 2016 first-round pick out of California’s Elk Grove High School has spent the past two seasons scuffling in St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Baltimore, and is hoping to rebound in Chicago.

Conforto is coming off a poor statistical season with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The 33-year-old lefty swinger slashed just .199/.305/.333 in 486 trips to the plate. He was a productive hitter prior to falling on hard times, especially in the years preceding his April 2022 shoulder surgery; Conforto’s best stretch was 2017-2019, when he clubbed 88 home runs and had a 129 wRC+ with the New York Mets.

When the Orioles acquired Ward from the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for Grayson Rodriguez back in November, my colleague Ben Clemens opined that while the “trade might be a net loss [for Baltimore] in the long run, making the team better right now is important enough that I think it was smart to overpay.” That was sound logic. Coming off of a 2025 season in which much was expected but little was delivered, impactful additions were in order for the O’s.

Ward promises to provide much-needed pop. The 32-year-old right-hander went yard 36 times last season, and while that represented a career high, it wasn’t out of the blue. The year prior he hit 25 bombs, and in 2022 he went deep 23 times. Ward propelled just 14 balls over fences in 2023, but that was largely due to his having missed the final two months after being struck in the face by a fastball. He’s since been Mr. Reliable. Availability has been called the sixth tool, and Ward has played in 156 and 157 games the past two seasons, logging 663 plate appearances each time.

O’Neill has a checkered injury history that includes the tooled-up Canadian slugger playing in just 54 games last year after signing as a free agent the prior December. Instead of providing consistent power, he spent three stints on the injured list and went yard just nine times. O’Neill has 31- and 34-homer seasons on his résumé, but availability has been an issue throughout his career.

The Yankees have moved up from 15th to seventh in this exercise, with Bellinger now penciled in at the position after appearing on last year’s list as a center fielder. As it turned out, the Chicago Cub-turned-Bronx-Bomber made just 38 of his 145 starts in center, with 59 coming in left and another 48 in right. All told, he had seven Defensive Runs Saved and four Outs Above Average, contributing to his 4.9 WAR, which was second on the team only to Aaron Judge. Bellinger’s bat obviously contributed as well. His left-handed stroke produced a 125 wRC+ and 29 long balls. Wherever he’s positioned, the second generation big leaguer can bash.

Domínguez, who was seemingly slated for center a year ago, ended up not seeing any action there at all. “The Martian” made 94 of his 102 starts in left and, along with Grichuk, is expected to now caddy at the position for the 27-time (but not since 2009) World Series champions. No. 16 on last year’s Top 100, with Eric Longenhagen citing “prodigious tools” that include “huge switch-hitting power,” Domínguez still has a lot left to prove. His 10 home runs, 103 wRC+, and 26.8% strikeout rate were underwhelming, but he also didn’t turn 23 until this February. There is still plenty of time for him to flourish.

Grichuk is a 34-year-old journeyman who hits lefties well and possesses good power. His best years are probably behind him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still be a productive hitter. The Yankees are his seventh team in the past 10 seasons.

The Brewers slide from sixth to eighth, and they do so with a superstar-in-the-making projected to man this position a majority of the time. That said, he’s not expected there all of the time, which is a big part of why they moving down and not up. As noted in last year’s writeup, Chourio entered 2024 ranked third in our Top 100, and he went on to finish third in National League Rookie of the Year balloting after hitting 21 home runs, stealing 22 bases, driving in 79 runs, and slugging .464.

What could have been a sophomore slump was instead a mirror image. Chourio hit 21 home runs, stole 21 bases, drove in 78 runs, and slugged .463. Moreover, he had exactly the same number of triples (four) and strikeouts (121). The forthcoming campaign? Given that he celebrated his 22nd birthday just a few weeks ago, you might want to bet the over.

Yelich, who will primarily play right field, is going to hit wherever he is positioned. A known commodity, he has 233 home runs, a 129 wRC+, and 45.5 WAR over 13 big league seasons. Still going strong at age 34, he went deep 29 times with a 121 wRC+ last year. Bauers is well-traveled at age 30 and coming off of one of his better years. In his second season with the Brew Crew, he registered career bests with a .353 OBP and a 114 wRC+ over 218 plate appearances. He’s bashed this spring and profiles as a reliable lefty-hitting spare part with solid power.

The Athletics climb seven spots, with Soderstrom’s strong 2025 season driving the projection-based decision. Emerging as a slugger in his age-23 campaign, the 2020 first-rounder slugged 60 extra-base hits, 25 of them homers, and was worth 3.4 WAR. He was drafted as a catcher. When Ben Clemens wrote about him being signed to a seven-year, $86 million contract extension in January, he wrote, “Soderstrom’s route to stardom is emblematic of this A’s team. He’s always hit well, but figuring out how to plug him into the lineup hasn’t been straightforward.” Prior to last season, Soderstrom had never played as much as an inning at a position other than catcher and first base as a professional. Not a problem. The Turlock, California native finished with 10 DRS and was a Gold Glove finalist.

Cortes has evolved into more than just a left-right fielding curiosity. When he was featured here at FanGraphs in 2021 as a New York Mets prospect, Cortes talked about how he is a switch-thrower and will have his glove on his left hand when playing the infield, and his right hand when he is stationed in the outfield. He does all of his swinging from the left side, and last year got his first chance to do so as a major leaguer. He debuted in July and went on to log 29 hits in 94 at-bats. Rooker, who will primarily DH, has 99 homers over the past three seasons. Thomas is a 25-year-old power hitter with 49 big league games under his belt.

The Nationals lineup is largely young and unproven, and one could reasonably argue that the team’s best two hitters are on this list. Lile certainly looked the part last season, slashing .299/.347/.498 with 15 doubles, 11 triples (!), and nine home runs in just 351 plate appearances. His 132 wRC+ was tops among senior circuit rookies. Did the 23-year-old 2021 second-rounder outperform his true talent — his .498 SLG came with a .449 wSLG, and it wasn’t a huge sample — and will he regress in the upcoming campaign? That is quite possible, but unless the drop is precipitous, his offense should remain that of a quality big league performer. As for the defense, it is badly in need of improvement.

Wood, who will also serve as a DH, is inarguably the team’s top hitter, especially if you factor ceiling into the equation. The 23-year-old lefty swinger entered the 2024 campaign ranked sixth on our Top 100, and last year hammered 31 home runs and 38 doubles while logging a 127 wRC+ and making the All-Star team in his first full big-league season. Strikeouts are an issue — he fanned 221 times in 689 plate appearances last year — and they likely always will be. The power numbers he promises to put up make a high strikeout rate (32.1% in 2025) acceptable, although an improvement in that area would make him even more dangerous, as would a reduced groundball rate.

Hassell has been a bit of an enigma. Selected eighth overall in the 2020 draft by the San Diego Padres, he’s never quite been able to put things together. At age 24, he still has time to grow into his game, which is built around speed.

The defending American League champions were also 11th on this list a year ago, albeit with a different player at the position. Santander was slotted to get the bulk of the at-bats, but he ended up getting hurt and playing just 24 games in the outfield. The erstwhile Oriole subsequently underwent shoulder surgery in February and will miss much of the season, leaving Sánchez and Lukes to hold down the fort.

Sánchez is a recent acquisition, having come over from the Astros last month in exchange for Joey Loperfido. Mostly a Marlin over his five-plus big league seasons — he went from Miami to Houston at last summer’s trade deadline — Sánchez has a solid-but-nothing-special track record. His home run totals have ranged between 13 and 18, and his career wRC+ is a so-so 98. Now 28 years old, he seemingly is what he (a hitter who lowered his strikeout rate by four percentage points last year is part that equation), although the Blue Jays are certainly hoping for more.

Lukes is three years older than Sánchez, but with less big league experience. A late-bloomer who swings from the left side, Lukes logged a dozen long balls and a 103 wRC+ last season while coming to the plate 438 times last year. Schneider, a 27-year-old righty swinger, was productive over 227 plate appearances, swatting 11 homers with a 127 wRC+. Straw is a speedy bench player who supplies good defense. He doesn’t add a lot with the bat, but the former Astro and Guardian does contribute to winning teams, which he’s played on for in all but two of his eight seasons.

The Dodgers won the World Series in 2024 with Teoscar Hernández playing both outfield corners (neither all that well), and again last year with him solely in right (again, not all that well); with Kyle Tucker now a Dodger, Hernández will switch corners. Defensive limitations aside, he’s a darn good hitter when fully healthy, which he wasn’t last season. The 33-year-old native of the Dominican Republic played through much of it with a groin injury. That doesn’t mean he didn’t put up solid numbers. Hernández’s right-handed stroke produced 50 extra-base hits, half of which cleared an outfield fence, and a .738 OPS. That’s not too far off from what he’s averaged over the past decade: 54 extra-base hits, 26 homers, and a .799 OPS.

Call has evolved from a low-profile prospect into a credible big league contributor. First featured here at FanGraphs in August 2022 in a piece titled, “Alex Call Had a Cup of Coffee in Cleveland,” the now-31-year-old Ball State University product was never ranked higher than 16th on any of our Top Prospect lists, and that was way back in 2016, shortly after he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox. The Dodgers are his fourth organization. With the Washington Nationals at last season’s start, Call came west at the trade deadline in exchange for a pair of minor league pitchers. He has a 102 wRC+ over 1,005 major league plate appearances, including a 113 mark over 322 trips to the plate last season.

Enrique Hernández will miss the first few months of the season with an elbow injury. The 12-year veteran has a reputation for recording timely hits in the postseason.

Stowers had one of baseball’s best breakouts last year. Playing in his first full season with the Marlins, the erstwhile Oriole dwarfed his career totals despite missing the last six weeks after suffering an oblique strain. Stowers came into the 2025 campaign with just 65 big league hits, six of them home runs, and a .600 OPS. He left it having taken opposing pitchers to school. In 457 plate appearances, the Stanford University graduate stroked 115 hits, 25 of them homers, with a .912 OPS. Not only did he earn All-Star honors for the first time, he essentially went from borderline bust to bona fide big league basher. The Marlins lack impact bats, so they’ll need Sowers to show that 2025 wasn’t a fluke, but rather the onset of late-bloomer success.

Some combination of Hernández, Sanoja, and Conine should garner the playing time that’s left over. Hernández looked promising in his 87-game initial big league action, at least from an extra-base perspective. A 26-year-old former Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays prospect, he counted a dozen doubles, a triple, and 10 home runs among his 68 hits. He batted .266 with a .438 slugging percentage, good for a 118 wRC+. Sanoja is 5-foot-7, has plus contact skills, and posted an 86 wRC+ while playing in 120 games as a 22-year-old rookie. Conine is currently penciled in as the primary DH, which probably says more about Miami’s offense than anything else. The second-generation Marlin — Jeff Conine ranks among the franchises’s more accomplished batters — turns 29 in July and has just 42 hits and five home runs on his ledger. The chances of him becoming a Stower-like late-bloomer probably aren’t great.

When the Cardinals came in at no. 7 on this list one year ago, yours truly wrote, “With Nootbaar, what you see has been what you get.” As it turned out, the now-rebuilding NL Central club got less than expected from the 28-year-old outfielder, who is currently recovering from surgery on both heels and won’t be ready on Opening Day. On the, ahem, heels of a 2024 season that saw him slash a relatively healthy .244/.342/.417, Nootbar played in a career-high 135 games, but it amounted to a .234/.325/.361 slash line and just 0.8 WAR. He’s a better hitter than that, which the Cardinals are counting on once he’s back on his feet.

Church, who ranks 25th on our 2026 Cardinals Top Prospects list, got his feet wet in the majors with a 27-game cameo in the latter part of the season. He notched just eight hits in 56 at-bats, but the minor league numbers that preceded that were encouraging. Church batted .336 with a .943 OPS over 129 plate appearances at Double-A, then .335 with a .921 OPS over 242 plate appearances at Triple-A. James Fegan recently described him as “an undersized contact maven” whose 2025 tweaks gave him “relevant power for the first time.”

Velázquez is a 27-year-old right-handed power-hitting DH-type who did little to impress in 64 games with Kansas City two years ago, then spent last season in the minors. He did have a 133 wRC+ over 179 plate appearances split between the Cubs and Royals in 2023. Burleson is a 27-year-old left-handed power-hitting DH-type who had 18 dingers and a 124 wRC+ in 139 games with the Cards last season.

If actions speak louder than words, then Arozarena’s bat and legs have certainly had a lot to say the last few years. Since becoming a full-time player in 2021, he has averaged 22 homers and 25 steals annually, with a 123 wRC+. Adequate defensively, he has been a good player on mostly good teams in Tampa Bay and, since 2024, Seattle. Moreover, he has been especially good in October. The Mantua, Cuba native has slashed .292/.380/.565 with a dozen home runs in 45 postseason games, and in the World Series those numbers are .364/.462/.773 with three homers in six games. Arozarena has been at his best when the lights have shown brightest.

Refsnyder signed with the Mariners as a free agent in December, bringing with him a reputation of being both a lefty-killer and an asset to any clubhouse. A member of Team Korea — he was born in Seoul — who played collegiately at the University of Arizona, the right-handed swinger spent the last four seasons in Boston, slashing .276/.364/.440 with a 124 wRC+ over 936 plate appearances. Versus southpaws, those numbers were .312/.407/.516 and 155 over 501 plate appearances.

Donovan is also a new addition, having come over from the Cardinals in February in a three-team trade. A good hitter no matter where he’s stationed, the versatile defender is expected to see most of his time on the infield.

This ranking represents a four-fold drop, as the Astros are a bearish 16th after ranking a bullish fourth 12 months ago. Altuve’s anticipated return to his longtime home at second base is a big part of that, though the left field experiment didn’t exactly go great. The 5-foot-6 catalyst to Houston’s offense never really fit in an outfield corner, where he made 44 of his 105 starts at a defensive position in 2025. The remainder came at the keystone.

The club’s newly appointed left fielder is an Astro turned Blue Jay turned Astro. Loperfido debuted with Houston in April 2024, was traded to Toronto that same summer, then was reacquired last month in exchange for Jesús Sánchez. His 2025 performance was promising, if a bit fluky. To wit: Over 373 plate appearances in Triple-A, Loperfido batted .264 with seven home runs and a .742 OPS. He then rode a .431 BABIP to a .333/.379/.500 slash line over 104 big league plate appearances, all of which came from July onward. Where he lands once his batted ball luck falls back to earth will go a long way toward determining where he fits in the lineup.

Alvarez is now mostly a DH, with health the only obstacle to his being one of the game’s most prolific hitters. Limited to just 48 games last year due to injuries, the left-handed slugger had the major’s second-highest wRC+ from 2021-2024, a hefty 164 (one point higher than Shohei Ohtani). Dezenzo is a right-hander with good raw pop and 53 games of middling big league success on his résumé.

Knowledge bases are in many ways regional, and that fact comes to the fore each spring when I’m writing these blurbs. Living in an East Coast city that hosts an AL club, I needed a refresher course on Ramos, who, as I suggested here a year ago, is a somewhat perplexing player. Doing my homework, I found that he remains just that. Ramos has gone yard 22 and 21 times in his pair of full seasons, with a .329 BABIP helping lead to a .269 average and 120 wRC+ in 2024, and a .309 BABIP to a .256 average and a 109 wRC+ in 2025. And despite playing entirely in left field after some prior center field duty, his defense declined precipitously (-6 DRS and -11 FRV), marked by poor reads and underwhelming routes that may have partially been the result of being positioned too far back; he and the Giants hope more standard positioning will help in 2026. Even with the recent homework, I’m not entirely sure just what to make of him.

Matos doesn’t seem to have changed meaningfully since I blurbed him a year ago. Recently turned 24, he has a left-handed stroke that produced a 91 wRC+ over 184 plate appearances that, while improved from his first two seasons, didn’t exactly stand out. McCray maybe has changed. He’s batted just .185 in 146 major league plate appearances, but the speedy 25-year-old has looked good this spring, showing batter balance in the box and improved plate discipline.

Brennan is a former Guardian whose background I’m more familiar with. A left-handed hitter with a smooth stroke that doesn’t produce as much power as teams like from a corner outfielder, he missed a good chunk of 2025 after having Tommy John surgery, and later a hernia procedure. Back to full health, he should be a solid bench option.

Laureano had a laudable 2025 season. Over 488 plate appearances split between Baltimore and San Diego, the 31-year-old put up a robust 138 wRC+ while slashing .281/.342/.512 with 24 home runs. Being healthy for most of the year helped, although “most” is the operative word there. A left ankle sprain sidelined him in late May and a finger fracture in late September kept him out of action in the postseason. Injuries have long been an issue for Laureano, who had similar numbers with Oakland in 2019, but then was hampered by one malady or another. His track record suggests that he can’t be counted on to replicate last season’s stellar performance, but again, health has been the hindrance. At full strength, Laureano can produce with the bat while also providing solid defense at any of the three outfield positions.

Johnson is an erstwhile San Francisco Giant who did little to impress in 2022 and 2023 cameos, then did basically the same in 2024 after coming to San Diego as a free agent. After then becoming a Pirate for all of three months, he was reacquired by the Padres last April in a minor trade, proceeded to rake in Triple-A, and then slashed .342/.383/.434 over 84 plate appearances while primarily being used off the bench. He started in just 16 of the 55 games in which he appeared.

Castellanos, as is well-chronicled, caused a stir on the bench last season, which is part of why he’s no longer wearing a Phillies uniform; declining production also helped grease the wheels that led him out of town. The defensively-limited 34-year-old slugger with 692 career extra-base hits on his résumé now has a home in San Diego.

Last year’s Twins blurb quoted a bullish assessment of Larnach from The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman. Referring to his FanGraphs projections, which included a .242/.327/.417 slash line, the Twin Cities-based scribe wrote that he was “banking on the left-handed batter being better than [that].” Gleeman knows the Twins as well as anyone, but in this case his crystal ball was a little too optimistic. Despite avoiding the injury list — a place he is all too familiar with — the well-built slugger fell short of those numbers, slashing .250/.323/.404 for a 102 wRC+. Moreover, despite coming to the plate 167 more times than he did in the previous year, Larnach upped his home run output by just two, going from 15 to 17. Not exactly a gazelle in the outfield, he needs to produce with the bat in order to add more than a modicum of value.

Martin is a Ferrari compared to Larnach. The athletic former first-rounder (he was taken by Toronto fifth overall in 2020 out of Vanderbilt) has plus wheels, but also a familiarity with the IL that rivals that of his teammate. Recently concussed, Martin has incurred an array of injuries over the years, resulting his having just 143 big league games under his belt.

Roden, who came over from the Blue Jays at last summer’s trade deadline, lacks Larnach’s power and Martin’s speed, but he has solid bat-to-ball skills. Outman came over from the Dodgers at the deadline. He hit well in 2023, but has scuffled since.

Cleveland moving Kwan from left to center — it hasn’t been officially announced, but the Oregon State product has been stationed at the new spot all spring and, as the saying goes, “If it quacks like a duck…” — has markedly changed our rankings. With the three-time Gold Glove winner in left, the Guardians would have been fourth instead of 20th. Regardless of where he plays — shifting back to left is certainly a possibility — Kwan returning to his previous form after a down year offensively would go a long way toward Cleveland capturing the AL Central title for a third straight season.

Production from Valera would also go a long way, which is what happens to the baseball when he squares one up. The 25-year-old has plus power, although he’s yet to prove himself at the highest level. Ranked 20th on this year’s Guardians list as 40-FV prospect, Valera has just 16 big league games and nine hits on his ledger. Martínez has more experience — 182 games and 135 hits — but only a 77 wRC+. Another player on this eight-deep depth chart could supplant either or both.

Jones is a 27-year-old power hitter who looked promising in 2023 when he hit 20 bombs and logged a 137 wRC+ with the Colorado Rockies, but he’s otherwise been replacement level. Schneemann has 204 big league games and an 84 wRC+ under his belt, suggesting that he might just be a bench option. Halpin is speedy but unproven.

Marsh doesn’t mash like your stereotypical left fielder, but he performs well enough to have held down the position on a team that’s won an average of 94 games in the past three seasons. His numbers over than span include averaging 13 home runs, a dozen steals, three Defensive Runs Saved, and a 118 wRC+ annually. Overshadowed by stars, the bearded Buford, Georgia native is popular with the Phillies fanbase, partly because of his quirky personae, but also because of his hustle and dependability. Long-haired and old school, Marsh is a good fit for the club that plays in The City of Brotherly Love.

Kemp is easy to like if you appreciate overachievers. Signed by the Phillies in 2022 as a undrafted free agent out of Point Loma Nazarene University, a Division II school in San Diego, Kemp doggedly climbed through the minors, eschewing concerns about his contact skills and defensive chops. He reached The Show last June, then homered eight times with a 95 wRC+ over 218 plate appearances. He gets extra credit for being named Otto.

Sosa and Moore deserve some affection, as well. The former is a 30-year-old infielder who has dabbled in the outfield and is expected to do both in 2026. He shows occasional pop, as evidenced by his 11 dingers in 261 plate appearances last year. The latter is a former Mariner who likewise plays multiple positions and flashes occasional power. He gets extra credit for extolling the value of “FanGraphs-type stats” in an interview last spring.

Jurickson Profar started 79 games in left field for the Braves last season, and barring the unexpected, that is 79 more than he’ll play anywhere this year. Instead of donning an Atlanta uniform for a second year running, the 33-year-old Curaçao native will be serving a 162-game suspension after testing positive for a PED. That opens up a full-time spot — assuming he earns it — for Yastrzemski, whom the Braves signed as a free agent over the winter. At age 35 and with good-but-not-great numbers over the course of seven big league seasons, Yaz’s grandson isn’t exactly a sure thing. That said, he’s off to a good start in games that don’t count. And while spring training results need to be taken with a large salt grain of salt, raking is raking, and Yastrzemski has been doing just that.

Dubón is another newcomer, and unlike Yaz, he wasn’t brought on board in hopes that he’d hit. The erstwhile Astro will be counted on for his defensive versatility, as he can shuttle between multiple infield and outfield positions with ease. Dubón has been awarded Gold Gloves in the utility category in two of the past three seasons.

White and Gamel are more in the Yaz category; they’ll be expected to help produce runs when they’re in the lineup. Both are in their early 30s with role-player backgrounds. Mateo had 35 steals while serving as Baltimore’s primary shortstop in 2022, but he did so while hitting .221 (his career average) and posting a .267 OBP. He’s super athletic, but can’t really hit.

My October 6, 2024 Sunday Notes column included six paragraphs on Isaac Collins, whom I’d spoken to a few weeks prior. Then 27 years old and playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, Collins told me about his first big league hit, which constituted exactly half of his career total at the time. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have wagered on him upping that number by more than a handful. Never much of a prospect, he finished his cameo 2-for-17, then was 38th with a 35+ FV when our Brewers rankings came out the following spring. Can you say outperformed expectations? Collins not only earned a spot on the roster, he added 98 hits to his ledger, notched his first nine home runs, registered a 122 wRC+ over 441 plate appearances, and garnered Rookie of the Year votes. Duly impressed, the Royals traded for him in December — they also received Nick Mears in the deal — sending lefty reliever Angel Zerpa to Milwaukee.

Thomas is also a recent import, having inked a one-year contract in December on the heels of an underachieving season in Cleveland. The 30-year-old’s best season came in 2023 with Washington. Playing in all but five games, he amassed 28 homers, 20 stolen bases, and 101 runs scored. Rave is nothing to write home about, at least not yet. No. 27 with a 35+ FV in last year’s Royals rankings, he is 28 years old with limited time, and little success, in the bigs. Sounds a little bit like pre-2025 Collins, actually.

Pirates left fielders were second from the bottom in WAR last season — only the White Sox were worse — finishing in negative territory at -1.3. Moreover, their 73 wRC+ was dead last in baseball, as was their .277 wOBA. Don’t expect a repeat of those woeful results in the forthcoming campaign. Reynolds is the reason. Pittsburgh’s best-performing position player since 2019 — the year he joined the club — is moving to the position after spending 2025 patrolling the opposite corner. Those things said, he probably needs to rebound from a down year in order for the Bucs to be truly competitive for the first time in a decade (they won 82 games in 2018, but that counts as damning with faint praise in terms of competitiveness). Reynolds was merely a league average hitter in 2025, whereas he’d previously flown under most radars as a well above average one. Having recently turned 31, he is by no means over the hill.

Mangum is coming off of a quietly successful season as a 29-year-old rookie. A switch-hitter with good bat-to-ball skills and a paucity of power, he batted .296 with three home runs and 27 steals with the Tampa Bay Rays. Best suited as a fourth outfielder, he is a good defender who can handle center as well a corner.

O’Hearn is a good hitter who will also play right field and first base, as well as DH. Jhostynxon Garcia is a 23-year-old power-hitting prospect who came over from Boston via trade and is nicknamed “The Password.”

One year ago, I wrote that then-Arizona outfielder Jake McCarthy “doesn’t have [Lourdes] Gurriel Jr.’s track record, but at 27, he has a brighter long-term future — at least that’s what the D-backs are hoping.” Twelve months later, the Rockies are hoping that the speedy outfielder can do what he didn’t in Arizona: turn promise into consistent performance. McCarthy seemed on the verge of… well, not stardom, but of becoming an impactful player in the batter’s box, on the bases, and in the field. Instead of building on a strong 2024, he posted weak numbers in 2025. For whatever reason — Michael Baumann delved into one possibility at the end of February — McCarthy batted just above the Mendoza line, was 40 points under water by wRC+, and posted negative WAR. Showing more faith in a reversal of fortune than the Snakes did, the Rockies traded for him at the cost of a dime-a-down pitching prospect named Josh Grosz.

Moniak is player who hasn’t reversed fortune so much as found it. Drafted first overall by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2016 out of a Carlsbad, California high school, Moniak mostly floundered before finally gaining a foothold with the Angels in 2023. Subsequently released and signed off the scrap heap by Colorado prior to last season, he swatted 24 home runs and logged a 110 wRC+. Veen is a former first-rounder yet to gain a foothold. Now 24 years old, he has four hits in 34 big league at-bats, though he reported to camp with improved physicality after an offseason spent making a number of important lifestyle changes.

Like several teams within these rankings, the Reds have a left field group whose statistical output was less impressive in 2025 than it had been previously. Bleday is a prime example. Taken fourth overall in the 2019 draft by the Miami Marlins, the Vanderbilt product finally began living up to his billing in 2024, slamming 20 home runs and registering a 120 wRC+ with the Oakland A’s. Rather than building on his breakout, Bleday instead did a 180 in Sacramento, batting .212 with an equally abysmal .294 OBP, just 14 homers, and a wRC+ 10 points below league average. The Reds signed him to a free agent deal two days after Christmas, hoping that he can present them with a repeat of his lone stellar season.

Friedl, Benson, and Steer [not a law firm] are all returning Reds, each of them a player with skills, but also frustrating flaws. Friedl is the best of the bunch. A lefty swinger who has primarily played center, he led Reds regulars with a .364 OBP last season, but also had a .378 slugging percentage that ranked among the lowest. Steer profiles differently. A defensively limited right-handed hitter, he posted a .312 OBP to go with a solid .411 slugging percentage and a third straight season of 20 or more homers (23, 20, 21). Benson is a left-handed hitter who possesses both power and speed, but has lacked consistency. His performance has never quite matched his tools.

Gurriel will begin the season on the injured list after tearing his ACL last September, and while his timeline for return is uncertain — it could be as early as mid-April — the D-backs will be looking for him to bounce back from a somewhat down year. The 32-year-old son of a legendary Cuban baseball player and manager, “La Piña” posted career lows in multiple offensive categories, including batting average (.248), OBP (.295), and wRC+ (95). Moreover, he went backwards with the glove, going from 3 to -3 in both DRS and OAA. He finished his eighth big league season with just 0.8 WAR.

Thomas is on tap to start in the near term, and he’ll do so with a different type of résumé. Once a high-profile prospect — he was no. 23 on our Top 100 four years ago — he is seemingly now at an early-career crossroads. A month short of his 26th birthday, Thomas has just a .234/.277/.362 slash line over 1,385 big league plate appearances, and last season’s 81 wRC+ is the best he’s produced. The raw skills are there, but to this point, he has clearly underachieved his potential.

Waldschmidt is likely the long-term answer at the position. Currently slated to begin the campaign in Triple-A, the 2024 first-round pick out of the University of Kentucky excelled at two levels last season, putting up a 141 wRC+ with nine home runs in 301 plate appearances at High-A, and a 143 wRC+ with nine home runs in 300 plate appearances at Double-A. He can hit.

The Angels were 14th on this list a year ago, with Taylor Ward projected for 616 plate appearances and 2.4 WAR. He went on to slightly exceed both numbers, but that is only tangentially relevant to this year’s rankings. Ward is now an Oriole, with a left-right platoon projected to take his spot in LA’s lineup. One of those players is a slugger coming off of a disappointing season and who has lots of home runs and strikeouts on his ledger, while the other is a new acquisition who is likewise on the heels of a down year. Lowe is the latter, having relocated west from Tampa Bay in January via a three-team trade. Performance-wise, he has been going the wrong direction for two years running. In 2023, he had 20 home runs and a 130 wRC+ with the Rays, only to see those numbers drop to 10 and 98 in 2024, and 11 and 79 in 2025.

Soler is the slugger whose profile is heavy on homers and strikeouts. The 235-pound Cuba native had just a dozen dingers last season — as well as a 29.8% strikeout rate — but that was largely because lower back inflammation and groin tightness combined to limit him to 315 plate appearances. He was terrific in 2019 — 48 home runs with Kansas City — and four years later was a 36-homer monster in Miami. When healthy, the right-handed-hitting side of the Angels’ new left field platoon is a threat to go deep at any time. He’s also slated to see time at DH, which is a better fit; his defense is pretty poor at this point.

Another Ward replacement is also a Taylor, this one a surname. The 35-year-old longtime Dodger changed LA teams last May.

Might Simpson step up his game and swipe 70 bases? Might Melton live up to his billing and bash in the bigs? Both scenarios are feasible, making this one of more intriguing left field mixes in the majors. Let’s start with Simpson, who doesn’t homer — nor does he walk very often — but is plenty swift. Blessed with sprint speed that Statcast ranks in the 97th percentile, the 2022 second-round pick out of Georgia Tech has 269 stolen bases as a professional, including 104 across two minor league levels in 2024. After debuting in the majors last April, he legged out 44 steals in 56 attempts while posting a .295/.326/.345 slash line over 441 plate appearances. Accepting just 20 free passes contributed heavily to his light OBP, and his career home run total remained where it was at season’s start: exactly one, an inside-the-park job in Double-A.

Melton, whom the Rays acquired in a three-team trade a week before Christmas, ranked second on our 2025 Houston Astros Top Prospects list. Per our own James Fegan, Melton displays “comfortably plus left-handed pop,” and overall skills that “are typically the bones of an everyday regular projection.” His 32-game big league cameo yielded poor results, but the erstwhile Oregon State Beaver is a good bet to claim regular left field reps if Simpson somehow slips.

Fraley and Vilade present more as bench options than regulars, although the former did have some success with Cincinnati in 2023, when he had 15 homers and 21 steals. Vilade hasn’t had big league success, as evidenced by his nine hits in 64 at-bats over parts of three seasons, spanning five years. Because the 27-year-old has hit well in the minors, he’s getting an opportunity with his sixth organization.

Last, but arguably not least, are the White Sox. Four spots lower than a year ago, Chicago’s South Side team resides on the bottom, with Benintendi returning as the primary starter at the position — this after he was better in 2025 than he’d been in 2024. Moreover, the 10-year veteran actually had his best season with the bat in three years. Despite a paucity of batted ball luck — his .250 BABIP was sixth worst among the 177 players who logged at least 450 plate appearances — he managed to register a 103 wRC+. He also tied his career high with 20 home runs. Far removed from his halcyon days as one third of Boston’s Benintendi-Betts-Bradley outfield from 2017-2019, the lefty swinger nonetheless showed he still has something left in the tank.

Hays is a right-handed complement to Benintendi, and when healthy, he is arguably the better hitter. Burdened by a multitude of maladies — a kidney infection in 2024 among them — in each of the past two seasons, Hays’s home run totals from 2021 onward have been 22, 16, 16, 5 (the kidney-scare year), and 15, while his wRC+ has consistently been in the 105-110 range. With the caveat that spring training stats mean little, Hays is also 15-for-42 with seven extra-base hits in Grapefruit League action. Pereira, who never emerged as the player the New York Yankees were hoping he would become — an elbow injury didn’t help — is now getting a chance with a new team. He turns 25 in early April.