Spring training stat leaders: Could Rhys Hoskins, Reese Olson be draft values?

Spring training stats are mostly useless, but are they? While we don’t want to focus too much on things like batting average, it is important to see which players are not only playing consistently but consistently playing well. In order to do that, I thought we would take a look at some of the spring training stat leaders and see what we can make of their small sample size success.

Below, I have hitter and pitcher leaderboards for spring training. For pitchers, we’re just looking at K-BB% leaders for starters who have pitched over five total innings this spring because K-BB% tends to stabilize early and shows us who is missing bats and not giving up walks. Those are simple stats but important stats. For hitters, I looked at the OPS leaders for hitters with over 10 plate appearances so far this spring, and then I cross-referenced that with the Statcast leaderboard for exit velocity. My goal there was to find guys who are not just getting hits but guys who are hitting the ball with authority regularly. That could tell us who is seeing the ball well or whose swing feels good.

It should go without saying, but please don’t simply take a player’s presence on this leaderboard to mean that you should draft him. I’ll show you the names below and then we’ll try and parse through which of the names might actually be fantasy-relevant and why.

Spring Training Hitting Leaders

All stats are updated as of March 12th

Matt Chapman is one of my favorite targets at 3B if I wait at the position. I don’t really care about his spring numbers, but I just wanted to highlight that he’s doing well so that I could say that I think his approach change last year was legit, and he’s a solid target who could also chip in 10 steals.

Cam Smith has obviously been the talk of spring. The Astros have been so impressed by his plate discipline and perhaps so unimpressed by their outfield options that they’re now giving Smith a chance to win the RF job. He did play some OF at FSU, so it might not be a hard transition for him. At this point, it’s not a given that he breaks camp, but it’s looking likely that he’d be up soon, even if he doesn’t.

People were up in arms when Rocco Baldelli said Ty France would play a lot, but all he’s done this spring is play well enough to cement his job as the starting first baseman. At least to begin the season. We should also note that France got off to a solid start in 2024, hitting .251/.329/.403 with seven home runs and 27 RBI in 237 plate appearances with a 9.6% barrel rate before fracturing his heel at the beginning of June. Those numbers don’t make him 12-team viable, but he could be worth a late dart throw in 15-team leagues.

Miguel Amaya popped onto the fantasy radar last year after a swing change unlocked a solid second half. Much like with a pitcher throwing a new pitch, these new mechanical tweaks tend to get better with more time, so it wouldn’t be a shock if Amaya saw even more success in 2025. I’m still only considering him in two-catcher formats, but if you’re desperate for one at the end, I don’t mind it and he’s been my third catcher in a few draft-and-hold leagues.

Rhys Hoskins has five home runs in eight games this spring and has hit at least 26 home runs in every full MLB season of his career. His batting average plummeted last year; however, this spring, he mentioned that he finally feels like he’s playing “on two legs,” which indicates that he never felt fully recovered from ACL surgery last year. He also changed his stance this off-season to keep his head quieter on his swing. A quieter head means less eye movement, which means it’s easier to track the ball which means it’s easier to hit the ball. Hoskins may be back to his old self as a .240 hitter with 28 home runs.

Jeremy Peña is another swing change guy. He spent time this off-season working to add more pull power to his game, and perhaps it’s working. Peña has always provided a solid floor with a good batting average and a little bit of production in all categories. If he can become a 20-homer bat then that makes him a really solid MIF target in most formats.

Remember when the A’s kept Miguel Andujar over Esteury Ruiz last year, and people lost their minds? Well, Andujar is healthy again this spring and could be in line to start again in Oakland/Sacramento/ Las Vegas/ No Name. At the very least, he seems likely to platoon with Seth Brown in left field.

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I cherry-picked some of the interesting hitters not at the top of the leaderboard who were having good springs.

Let’s start with Blue Jays teammates Davis Schneider and Ernie Clement. Clement is the starting 3B and was solid for the Blue Jays last year. He’s a good defender who makes an elite amount of contact and can chip in a bit of pop and a bit of speed. Considering he’s 3B/SS eligible, he’s a good late-round pick in deeper formats. Schneider is also doing his thing, where he is getting tons of production from pull power. It’s not our favorite profile, but we’ve seen it work at the big-league level. He’s being more patient at the plate this spring, with a much higher walk rate than we’ve ever seen, but he also has just a 60% contact rate overall, which is not ideal. Schneider is going to make the roster in Toronto and could even be the regular designated hitter if he hits well enough. The most likely outcome is that he, Anthony Santander, and Will Warren make up Toronto’s LF/DH spots.

Unless Addison Barger can play his way in there. The K% isn’t great, but he has just a 10.2% swinging strike rate this spring, so he’s not really swinging and missing. Barger is on the Stacast exit velocity leaderboard and did pop for me when I made a leaderboard of rookies whose underlying metrics were better than their surface-level stats in 2024. I eliminated Barger because he was unlikely to make the team, but maybe we should be taking notice. He does have a little more pop than the other young INFs that are on the fringe of the MLB roster.

Austin Hays is going to play most days in Cincinnati. He was solid enough in Baltimore and is now in a much better ballpark. You can get him in round 28 of 15-team drafts, so maybe that’s not a bad gamble.

I think Kyle Teel is a more advanced and more fantasy-friendly catcher than Edgar Quero. I think we should see Teel up before Quero, and I’d be interested.

I spoke to Kyle Manzardo when I was in Arizona, which you can read here. I think he’s in for a solid season, but I also don’t think he plays much 1B while Carlos Santana is healthy.

So many Brewers on here with Oliver Dunn, Vinny Capra, and Joey Ortiz. Capra is a fun spring story, and I do think he makes the team as a backup infielder, so that’s something to note. Dunn should also be on the strong side of the platoon at 3B. He struggled in his first MLB action. Last year, but there is a fantasy friendly profile in here and a good offensive environment. Keep an eye on him in deeper formats, but draft Joey Ortiz in most formats. Not sure why he doesn’t get more respect. He makes a lot of contact and a lot of loud contact. He may not hit for a ton of power, but he’s not a slap hitter.

I just wanted to note that I saw C.J. Kayfus live in Arizona, and I think he’s going to be good. He could be in Cleveland later this season.

Brett Baty is hitting the ball well, and there might now be a spot for him with Jeff McNeil out for a month (two weeks of the regular season) with an oblique injury. Baty has played a bit of second base in the minors and started two games there so far this spring, so if the Mets feel like he can hang there defensively, they could give him the first shot during the regular season, thanks to his good spring.

Victor Scott III and Robert Hassell III are both former hyped-up prospects who have put together solid springs this year. They are also both likely to be on the outside looking in for starting jobs coming out of training camp, but we should keep their names in the back of our minds. Scott would mainly be a play for steals, but he could hit for a decent enough average to not hurt you there. Hassell has a long way to go since he’s coming off a season in which he hit .241/.319/.328 with five home runs and 15 steals in 85 games across Double-A and Triple-A. However, he has looked good this spring and could push for an outfield spot in Washington this summer if he keeps it up.

Pitching Spring Training Leaders

Robbie Ray and Max Scherzer are established veterans, and we know what they can do when they’re healthy. They’ve both looked good this spring, as evidenced by their presence here, and I’m inclined to get shares of both of them. Scherzer is going around pick 250 in 12-team leagues, so you don’t have to use anything more than a late-round pick to add him as your SP7, but Ray will take a bit higher of a cost. However, I’m OK paying that, considering he pitches in a good park and looked, mostly, solid coming off Tommy John surgery last year before he hurt his hamstring.

By this point, you know I love Gavin Williams this season since I’ve written about him here and here and talked about him a lot.

Cristopher Sanchez is another popular breakout pick who has looked really good this spring, thanks to a bump in velocity. He also claimed he was added a cutter, but we haven’t seen it a lot this spring, and it doesn’t look great, so I don’t think he’s a drastically new pitcher. However, the bump in velocity will certainly help his strikeout rate.

Reese Olson and Kenta Maeda are both on here, but I have differing reactions to each. I’m fully in on Olson, who has also had a bump in velocity and had multiple plus breaking balls last year. However, I’m not in on Maeda. He had a velocity bump early in spring when he racked up a lot of those strikeouts, but he was back down to 91 mph in his last start, and I just don’t see it.

I do think Michael Soroka is worthy of being drafted in 15-team leagues. He’s going to be in the Nationals’ rotation, and he’s come into spring with some added velocity and a new, sweepier slider that is missing plenty of bats. He was good for the Braves when he first came up and was solid for the White Sox last season in relief, so I think we may have written him off too soon.

Cade Povich and Zebby Matthews are two young starters who are having good springs but may not crack their team’s rotations to start the year. Povich has a better shot after the injury to Grayson Rodriguez, but it seems like Albert Suarez will get the first chance. Povich has improved is changeup this off-season, which is important for him, and I’d be interested in adding him when he gets a shot in the rotation. I also love how Zebby Matthews looks with his increased velocity, and I wrote about him as a possible breakout here. If he gets a shot in the rotation, you should absolutely add him.

Walker Buehler is a tough one for me because his spring stats are good, but we have basically no Statcast data for him. I don’t know how hard he’s throwing or if he’s changing his pitch mix in any meaningful way. I do think he’s worth a gamble in most formats, and I’m hopeful the Red Sox are asking him to use his cutter and sweeper more and dial back on the four-seam use, but I just don’t have the information right now to tell you if that’s happening. I do know he’s pitching to try and earn the last long-term contract of his career, and that’s a powerful motivation.

Griffin Canning, Tylor Megill, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson are all on here, so the Mets clearly have the best rotation in baseball. OK, they don’t, but I do think that David Peterson and Tylor Megill are worth late-round dart throws as they start the year in the rotation, and I explained why here. Clay Holmes has been electric with his new kick-change and has tweaked his arsenal to have six pitches as he moves from the bullpen. He’s worth drafting in all formats.

Landen Roupp is another young pitcher who came into spring training having clearly worked on addressing his weaknesses. He added a kick-change and a cutter to help him combat left-handed hitters better, and he has been great this spring. With Kyle Harrison struggling, there’s a real shot that Roupp opens the season as the fifth starter in San Francisco, and I’d be taking some chances.

Many people think Will Warren will be the fifth starter for the Yankees with the injuries to Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, but I’m not so sure. The Yankees also have Carlos Carrasco, who is not impressive anymore but has no minor league options. If they don’t keep him to start the season, they’d have to waive him, and their next best starting pitcher would be Sean Boyle or Allan Winans. Major League Baseball teams really care about starting pitching depth, so you’d have to assume the Yankees don’t want Winans as their SP6 to start the season. If Warren does break camp with the Yankees, then he is worth having on your team because he has looked strong this spring, and his sinker, slider, and changeup combination gives a lot of Michael King vibes.

Shane Smith is just a name to keep an eye on because he was a Rule 5 pick from the Brewers, so he needs to be on the White Sox opening day roster. The Brewers started to transition him to the rotation last year in the minor leagues, and he has looked good for Chicago this spring. The White Sox could start with Bryce Elder as their fifth starter and Smith as their long relief option, but Smith could push for that job in short order. Of course, you’re not really being aggressive about targeting starters on the White Sox for your fantasy team.