2026 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Second Baseman Rankings: Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ketel Marte headline 2B class

With the fresh fantasy baseball season approaching, it’s time to get you some tiered rankings from my Shuffle Up series. Use these for salary cap drafts, straight drafts, keeper decisions or merely a view of how the position ebbs and flows. Tuesday, we opened with the catcher position. Today’s assignment is second base.

The numbers are unscientific in nature and meant to reflect where talent clusters and drops off. Assume a 5×5 scoring system, as usual.

Additional positions will follow regularly for the next two weeks. I have removed all catcher-eligible players from the first base shuffle, since those players will be used at catcher for 99% of fantasy teams.

More Tiered Rankings

The Big Tickets

$32 Jazz Chisholm Jr., Yankees
$30 Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
$22 Maikel Garcia, Royals
$22 Brice Turang, Brewers

The re-signing of Cody Bellinger means the Yankees will have a lefty-heavy lineup again, and MLB managers tend to separate lefty swingers to avoid platoon disadvantages. Thus, Chisholm could be batting as low as sixth on Opening Day. But 30-30 commodities don’t fall from trees, and Chisholm still might have a career year percolating as he steps into his age-28 season. He’s worth second-round consideration and a snap-call pick in the third.

Turang will probably be one of my preseason targets, a versatile player who doesn’t have one jaw-dropping skill. Bill James told us moons ago that versatile players tend to be underrated and specialists tend to be overrated; these rules also correlate to fantasy baseball. The Brewers have turned into what the Rays once were, the smaller-market team that gets more value for its dollar. Turang is an eat-your-veggies type of pick.

Altuve’s 26 homers last year obscured some leakage elsewhere — he lost 30 points in his batting average and his steals dropped from 22 to 10. And his bat speed has been well under league average ever since Baseball Savant started tracking it. Altuve is a guess hitter at this point in his career, and he’s readying for his age-36 season. I’d rather be a year early than a year late with a player holding this career arc.

Legitimate Building Blocks

$16 Luke Keaschall, Twins
$15 Jordan Westburg, Orioles
$15 Xavier Edwards, Marlins
$13 Ceddanne Rafaela, Red Sox
$13 Brandon Lowe, Pirates
$12 Brendan Donovan, Mariners

It was curious to see Polanco hit a career year at age 31, and in Seattle, no less. Most of his Baseball Savant sliders are supportive, decent plate discipline and good contact numbers. He might open the year as the cleanup man for the Mets. I’m interested.

Westburg has already proven he belongs in the majors; his 162-game averages include 88 runs, 24 homers and 79 RBI per season. It’s unrealistic to expect anyone to play every game and Westburg missed half of last year with injuries, but give him credit for being a plus offensive player the last two years and get excited about the speculative No. 2 slot in a good Baltimore batting order. Westburg is currently a 10th-round pick in Yahoo drafts, a ticket I’ll happily sign.

I can’t rank Albies any lower because he’s still bringing category juice, but he swings at too many pitches out of the strike zone and he’ll probably open the year in the bottom third of the Atlanta lineup. He’s a distant cry from the player who made All-Star teams and collected down-ballot MVP votes. Shorthand, he’s more name than game entering his age-29 season.

Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down

$11 Gleyber Torres, Tigers
$11 Bryson Stott, Phillies
$11 JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals
$10 Luis García Jr., Nationals

It’s encouraging that García had 16 homers and 14 steals in what could fairly be termed an off year — that’s probably his floor. He’s still just 26 and a year removed from a .282 average and .444 slugging percentage. It’s possible García will shift to first base this year, and he could fall into a platoon as well — at least it would be the heavier side of the platoon. There’s no reason to jump the line with García’s ADP. But he’s affordably priced for a player who’s already shown the ability to be a top-100 fantasy asset.

Wetherholt probably has a starting job in his back pocket now that the Cardinals have moved Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan. Wetherholt was the No. 7 pick in the 2024 draft and had a robust .306/.421/.510 line between two stops in the minors last year, with 17 homers and 23 steals in just 109 games. He’s one of the prime Rookie of the Year contenders.

Some Plausible Upside

$7 Jackson Holliday, Orioles
$7 José Caballero, Yankees
$7 Jake Cronenworth, Padres
$6 Ernie Clement, Blue Jays
$4 Marcelo Mayer, Red Sox

Holliday tumbled down this list when the hamate bone injury came public. I am never going to be the injury optimist in my league. If a big discount doesn’t apply on draft day, count me out.

Mayer is going to do whatever the Red Sox ask, but perhaps his offensive growth would be cleaner if the team would let him settle in at one defensive position.

Baty has a capped upside as spring training opens, holding the heavy side of a DH platoon with Mark Vientos. His play to this point has mandated the caddy; his career slash against lefties is a punchless .200/.247/.300.

Bargain Bin

$3 Andrés Giménez, Blue Jays
$3 Jeff McNeil, Athletics
$2 Chase Meidroth, White Sox

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