Chad Young’s Most Rostered Players of 2025

Every year, before the season starts, I go through my rosters and see who I roster most (and poke around at players I wish I rostered more). And every year I learn something about my fantasy baseball management from the exercise. So every year, I end up deciding to share those results with you.

We’ll focus on my seven Ottoneu leagues, where I have nine players rostered on four of more of my rosters.

Parker Meadows – 5 rosters

I really wonder if this number would have been different if his nerve issue had crept up earlier. I had him on one non-Ottoneu roster with a late keeper deadline, and I ended up letting him go. But then added him back in the auction, anyway (at a discount, too!). He’s on so many of my rosters because he falls into a nice in-between space where he was good enough last year to be interesting, but not so good that everyone else is clamoring for him. He takes walks and has 20-HR power (20 in the minors in 2022; 22 across the minors and MLB in 2023, and 17 across the minors and MLB in 2024). He’s made improvements in his k-rate throughout his pro-career and made similar strides during the season in 2024, continuing on into the playoffs. I haven’t had to pay double digits for him anywhere and there is enough to like in the profile to make him a good gamble. Given how quickly OF prices have gone up in auctions this year, bidding on or holding him at low prices feels like a no-brainer.

Max Kepler – 5 rosters

I’ll probably still be picking up Kepler in 2032, after he has retired, believing that this, finally, is the year he (unretires and) puts it all together. But while Kepler has regularly disappointed, it’s not like he’s been consistently bad. As recently as 2023 he was excellent, he still his top-end max EVs, meaning he still has elite power that he can get into – he just needs to do it more often. His bat speed is up slightly this spring vs. last season. He’s moving to a park that should be much better for him. And, again, the price has been right – never over $5, and often just $1.

Grant Holmes – 5 rosters

This really comes down to other managers, more than me, I think. I have a list of pitchers that I expect to go low cost but who I am not all that excited to bid on and the ones I end up with are the ones that don’t get pushed too high for my taste when they get nominated. This means that early on, I might only go $1-$2 on them, but later in the auction, if I need pitching and have cash, I might go to $5-$6. Grant Holmes keeps being the guy who a) comes up last and b) doesn’t get pushed too high. He’s on my target list because of what he has done the last two years. After starting his pro career as a starter, Holmes had some real struggles and moved to the pen. After missing the COVID year, 2021 and 2022 were disasters for him. In 2023, however, he found success, posting big strikeout rates, bringing down his walks. He continued that in both the pen and as a starter for Atlanta last year. Add in Atlanta’s ability to find success with pitchers we don’t expect to succeed, and Holmes looks like a nice upside play.

Beau Brieske – 4 rosters

This one will be quick: I am honestly not sure why I have him so many places. I think he likely has a back-end of the pen role, maybe even closing, which is part of why I have him. He kept his HR/FB rate low, which (especially in my 4×4 leagues) is always appealing. But honestly, I am not sure his low HR rate looks super sustainable (other than using his home park to his advantage). Honestly, he may not even make it to Opening Day on some of these rosters and he’ll be on a short leash if he does.

I mentioned that I learn something about myself through this process and here is one thing I learned this year: especially in my 4×4 leagues, I think I may have over-indexed on 2024 HR/9. That’s how I ended up with Brieske all of my rosters and I don’t think it was a smart decision. HR/9 isn’t a stable or reliable stat. Relievers are even less stable and reliable. It’s not the right route to go. If I want to use RP to limit HR/9 risk in 4×4, I should be going after big K-rates and high GB%.

Isaac Paredes – 4 rosters

I have never been shy about my love of Paredes. Give me a guy whose batted ball data scares off other bidders, but who has a special knack for turning on the ball in the air, and I am all in. Move him back to a park designed for his swing and I am smitten.

Spencer Arrighetti – 4 rosters

The Arrighetti roller coaster was a wild ride and that bouncing FIP is maybe the most obvious thing on this graph.

But the thing that stands out to me is the overall trend on – as the season wore on, his FIP still swung wildly, but it has a clear downward slope. As does the BB% graph, while the K% graph went the other way. He possibly ran out of steam in September but his second half was very strong and his August was even better. I want that upside.

Chase DeLauter – 4 rosters

Another thing I learned about myself is that I have a weird relationship with prospects. When the season ended, I had Brandon Sproat and Travis Sykora on more rosters than Delauter. Sykora, in particular, has been gaining hype, yet he’s not on the list – I mostly moved on – and Delauter is still here. Like Meadows, the fact that his most recent injury was post-deadline is a factor here, but I am not shying away from adding Delauter. Basically, I find I am hesitant to let injuries change my perspective on prospects other than immediate impact on timeline. Delauter has been on the IL a ton; we have barely seen him play. But I really believe in the skills and if all this injury does is push him from early 2025 debut to mid-2025 debut, I can live with that. Is that a good thing, because I am patient and will get a just reward? Or should I be quicker to move on from oft-injured prospects, given all prospects are high risk and adding injury-concerns certainly doesn’t help? To be honest, I am not sure.

Colby Thomas – 4 rosters

The other kind of prospect I love is one that should probably be up really soon. Thomas isn’t highly rated, in large part because he is a better fantasy prospect than a real prospect, which makes him relatively easy to acquire. And the A’s lineup has room for him. Yes, the OF is much stronger than you might thing with Lawrence Butler, JJ Bleday and now Brent Rooker expected to get time out there, but Rooker should still primarily DH and Seth Brown shouldn’t block Thomas. My hope is he is up soon and I can move on quickly if it isn’t working.

Juan Soto – 4 rosters

This is somewhat surprising as this list usually chock full of non-elite players who I can pick up cheap. Soto, however, is all over my rosters this year. Only two of the four were keepers from last year – one was a late January pickup, the other an auction add. The big takeaway for me here is that a relatively rough 2024 for my teams meant I went into January with a lot of cap space. 2024 sell trades, cutting underperformers, etc., left me with plenty of cash to go get Soto (or other top players). This has historically been a challenge for me when my teams are better. Strong teams mean I am buying and need to cut more aggressively. Plus it means my stars performed and I am tempted to keep more of them. I haven’t quite figured out what that means for me and how I should adjust my play (if at all) as a result, but it was an interesting take-away from this exercise.