There’s little that Ramírez is yet to accomplish in MLB, though winning MVP might forever be his white whale. (He’d also love to go 40/40 at least once, I’m sure.) His counting stats at the plate took a little bit of a step back as he had even more wear and tear than usual in 2025, but he’s showing no long-term signs of slowing down and continues to command the zone while not striking out as well as anyone.

At the onset of the 2025 season it looked like Caminero would be missing some valuable plate appearances as he was frequently replaced for defense, but he improved enough at third to actually play full games with the Rays leading as the season went on. The massive homer power is Caminero’s calling card and considering his precocious youth combined with a lack of big swing-and-miss, the sky is the limit. He was weirdly average away from Steinbrenner Field but I don’t have much concern there since his BABIP was a ridiculously low .197 on the road.

Enjoy the 3B eligibility while you can! Jazz won’t be sniffing the hot corner any time soon after couping DJ LeMahieu out of a roster spot so he could move back to second base, and he responded with a career year despite missing time with an oblique strain. Coming off back-to-back almost-fully-healthy seasons in which he proved he’s got star output to go with his star-level skills, here’s hoping we can finally see what 150 games of Jazz looks like.

Are Garcia’s gains at the plate legit? The Royals sure think so, rewarding his breakout with a five-year, $57.5 million extension. He’s got almost three years of service time but is still just 25 years old, so it’s entirely possible we haven’t seen the best of him yet. He’s more of a “jack of all trades, master of none” than a guy who will give you insane production in a particular category, but there’s .300/20/40 potential in there.

The very definition of borderline between the top tier and second tier, Machado continues to perform like a metronome. The only thing that concerns me is Father Time’s undefeated record, and Machado is entering his age-33 season. His bat speed is still excellent but it has been going down each year for the three years it’s been tracked by Statcast, so it’s not as if he’s completely ageless.

I want Riley to go back to being great, and I’ll concede that it’s entirely possible if not likely that injuries are part of the explanation for his wRC+ declining each year since his career-high in 2022. But we can’t just ignore that in 2025 he walked less and whiffed and struck out more. This is about as high as I’m comfortable putting him.

Paredes would be higher on this list if I was fully confident that he’s (a) fully healthy after rushing back from a horrible hamstring strain and (b) definitely an Astro in 2026. So much of Paredes’ value comes from his elite ability to pull the ball in the air, and there’s nowhere better to do that than Daikin Park. But with the Astros probably needing to offload an infielder to open up DH for Yordan Alvarez and Paredes’ name being the most-often mentioned, I’m just wary enough to ding him a bit.

Muncy has been as good as ever on a rate basis in the last two seasons, but I’m conscious of his age (35) and the fact that he’s only played 173 games in the last two seasons. Plus, he had his worst showing ever against lefties, albeit in only 80 plate appearances, and he could continue to be shielded from them by Miguel Rojas and Alex Call.

I moved Bregman down just a tad because Wrigley isn’t an amazing ballpark fit for him. He’s not as dead-pull as Paredes (nobody is) but he still relies on pulling the ball in the air. Wrigley’s dimensions themselves aren’t a huge needle-mover for me; yes, left field is deep, but Bregman has the pop to hit homers there. The bigger concern is the wind, which will knock down would-be homers for even the most prolific of power hitters — something Bregman isn’t.

Paredes and Suárez are similar in that I really hope they’re playing in a ballpark good for them. Suárez’s second act in Seattle went even worse than his first one after absolutely mashing in Arizona, and it’s pretty clear to me that he needs a ballpark where the ball will carry well and give his dead-pull swing some extra juice.

This is a pretty aggressive placement for a guy who’s yet to be fully healthy for a season, I’ll admit. But he’s been rock solid when he’s been able to play in 2024 and 2025, and his expected metrics in 2024 — slugging especially — were so good that I think there’s another level in there.

With Kazuma Okamoto in the fold, Barger’s going to be spending more time in right field than at third base, so enjoy that 3B eligibility while you can in 2026! The power has always been real, but getting to it in MLB games was a problem in 2024. No longer was that the case in 2025: Barger mashed 21 homers in 135 games followed by another three in 17 postseason games. With a fantastic hard-hit rate above 50%, I’m taking the over on 24 homers if he can get into 152 games this year. The biggest impediment to that will be solving lefties, against whom he had a wRC+ of 69 in 89 plate appearances.

Montgomery burst onto the scene in his rookie half-season last year, with 21 homers and 55 RBI in just 71 games. If you’re a fan of extrapolating stats out to 162 games and dreaming from there, that’s 48 homers and 125 RBI. No, I don’t think he’ll reach those heights in 2026, as his HR/FB was a ridiculous 26% and his hard-hit rate was a very good but not elite 44%. But he’ll be playing every single day at short (again, enjoy that 3B eligibility while it’s there!), and unimpeded playing time is important.