Ottoneu Position Eligibility Gainers

Every year, some player gains or loses eligibility and I totally miss it. Sometimes it’s because I didn’t have that player on any of my rosters and so I never noticed when they gained a new position. Sometimes it’s because I had a guy locked into a position this year and didn’t realize they weren’t playing their for their real team. To make sure I am caught up, I spend a little time pulling a positional eligibility change report – a list of all players who gained or lost a position (or both) in 2025.

I started this process by pulling a full player universe from before the season and another from after the season, and create a comparison of the position columns in each. I then filter out the following groups:

• Anyone who has the exact same list of positions
• Anyone who was a pitcher and is still a pitcher, even if they added RP or SP (or lost one of those two)
• Anyone who was Util-only and is now a pitcher
• Anyone rostered in less than 1% of leagues

All of that filtering left me with 167 players who had a positional eligibility change – either gaining a position since the start of 2025 or losing one at the end of 2025. There is also one player who was filtered out but should be at least briefly mentioned. Shohei Ohtani got SP eligibility back. This was expected and should surprise no one, but he was filtered out by the third bullet above and should at least be noted.

With that, let’s start with a look at players who gained value with new positions this year.

There isn’t a ton here that matters much. Rodriguez is a former prospect who hasn’t done enough to have much Ottoneu value yet; Quero is an interesting catching prospect who had an okay-but-not-great season (and is buried behind William Contreras, pending a trade); Briceño is an intriguing catching prospect who isn’t quite ready yet. None of the three have immediate enough value that adding C helped this year and none of the three were ever at risk of not having it for 2026.

This list has some more of the same. You have players new to the Ottoneu player universe, multiple prospects who weren’t going to contribute in 2025 anyway, but there are some interesting names.

• Matt McLain – After losing all eligibility due to injury, there were some questions what McLain would get back. He came up one game short of SS eligibility, playing primarily as a 2B. While that hurts a little, 2B is a bit weaker than SS (especially at the top) so his chances of re-establishing his value are probably not meaningfully hurt by failing to add SS. They are, however, meaningfully hurt by failing to hit.
• Jace Jung – He earned 2B in the minors, playing only 3B in MLB. But being primarily a 2B in Triple-A is interesting, as that may well be an open job with the Tigers coming into 2026.
• Ronny Mauricio – Is Mauricio adding 2B eligibility a good thing? That depends. I really expected him to perform well and having 2B might be enough to make me take a shot on him again. So maybe that’s bad?
• Jazz Chisholm, Jr. – He immediately become an elite option at 2B. His 3B and OF value wasn’t low, but 2B makes it much higher.
• Jordan Lawlar – Probably the most interesting – he is still highly regarded and still has some real breakout potential. And now he brings that at three key infield positions, including both MI spots. His slow progress into Arizona’s 2025 plans gave him a chance to move around and make himself more valuable for 2026. I think flyer/prospect/breakout types like Lawlar are great because you don’t have to count on them for any one position, but can fit him in wherever you need if, in fact, he breaks out.
• Hyesong Kim – He is in a similar boat to Lawlar, but with less potential, I think. He’s an interesting talent, but likely remains a utility/bench guy for the Dodgers. Being 2B/SS/OF gives him a lot of paths to fantasy value, but only if he actually plays regularly, which seems unlikely.

This list is much longer and a bit harder to parse. Some names on this list pretty clearly gained value by adding OF eligibility. Giancarlo Stanton is far more interesting as a guy you can move in and out of your 4th/5th OF spot when he is healthy than as a guy who can only be used at util, but can’t actually be relied on as your everyday util. There are a bunch of MI on this list and while a MI/OF combo has value, adding OF to MI is only a marginal upgrade in the player’s utility, rather than a meaningful jump in the player’s value. But let’s call out some interesting names, other than Stanton, whose value has been impacted:

• Jac Caglianone – He needs to adjust to MLB hitting but if/when he does, having OF eligibility will definitely boost his value. Perhaps more importantly, it signals the possibility that he could be used in the OF in the future. That was his primary position in MLB last year and he needs to stick, because Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvardo Perez will be eating up 1B and DH quite often.
• Otto Kemp – He will show up on a later list, as a player who lost MI, but adding OF helps to block some of the hit his value took by losing 2B. Like Caglianone, Kemp still needs to adjust to MLB. But he also needs space to open up and for the Phillies to give him a real shot to hold a job. He isn’t in Caglianone’s class as a prospect, but having OF eligibility gives him some intrigue for managers. If he were 1B-only he would be uninteresting, and the 3B/OF combo makes him far more useful than just 3B.
• Cam Smith – He basically swapped 3B for OF and, to be honest, I am not sure it matters. I think I like him a bit better with OF eligibility than 3B, but at the end of the day, he is either going to hit like we hoped or he isn’t, and if he does, his bat will play at either spot.
• Noelvi Marte – A bit like Jac, the big thing here is that in a crowded lineup, Marte has multiple paths to playing time. He’s a guy I want to have on my rosters and being OF eligible is a little boost.
• Tyler Soderstrom – As discussed with Kemp, Soderstrom will come up later, with players who lost eligibility. Beyond that, they aren’t that similar. Soderstrom has a safe job, has established himself as a quality hitter, and now managers are left to ask themselves how much he is worth as an OF. The drop off from “everyday player who is eligible at catcher” to “regular in the OF” is pretty steep, but Soderstrom is still a useful bat.

I was surprised how long this list was. A lot of players were given a shot at 3B this year. As with the OF, there are a bunch of MI-eligibles who added 3B, and as with OF, adding 3B to MI is nice, but not game-changing. The players who stand out here are:

• Justin Turner – He can’t keep sticking around, right? But if he does, he would have been really hard to roster as a 1B-only. With 3B…he is still not a guy you likely want to roster, but a dead cat bounce is much more intriguing at 3B.
• Christian Encarnacion-Strand – He was a popular choice even with 1B only, but as his performance has stumbled and his stock has fallen, being locked into the least valuable spot on the field wasn’t helping fantasy managers find room for him. If he can find his swing, 3B lowers the bar quite a bit.
• Miguel Andujar – Andujar isn’t a star, but he has been useful two of the last three seasons. As a depth piece, which is really all he is, the ability to slot him into an extra spot on your lineup card has some real value.

And this is the least interesting list. The only way 1B is an interesting add is if you are going from Util only without adding anything else, and the only players doing that are Kurtz and Condon; two 2024 draftees we knew would add 1B during the year.