RADIO
Nick Mariano gives out his year-end fantasy baseball awards for the 2025 fantasy season. Which players led you to fantasy championships, and which disappointed?
Allow me to welcome you to the official 2025 Fantasy Baseball Awards Show, presented by RotoBaller. These awards came together as the fantasy season finally settled into the history books, and we can all take a deep breath. We now gather to celebrate the good, the ugly, and all of the tilt in between.
I, Nick Mariano, will be your host. My bosses told me that I can't just find 20 different ways to siphon awards to Trevor Story, though I know you all agree with me that he was incredible and led many a championship squad. Okay, let's get to laughing, crying, and celebrating the year that was.
The fantasy baseball season wrapping up typically coincides with everyone going hard into the football blitz, so let's take one last walk down memory lane. If you're truly down with the baseball sickness, you'll be happy to know that 2026 rankings and content are just around the corner. But for now, it's awards time!
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Fantasy Hitter MVP: Cal Raleigh
Raleigh bopped 60 home runs with a consensus ADP of 87.8, including a wild 109 figure in Yahoo drafts. His soaring to the fourth-best player in 5x5 scoring (per Yahoo) at a premium position like C, and we’ll gladly slide the fantasy MVP hardware his way. (Only slightly because the "real" MVP award does not belong with him.)
Fantasy Pitcher MVP: Cristopher Sanchez (HM: Nathan Eovaldi)
Sanchez not only gave us over a strikeout per inning after last year’s 7.58 K/9, but he also did so as one of three pitchers to surpass 200 innings this year. Fellow olds will fondly recall when going 200 was light work, but the Livan Hernandez era is in the past. Sanchez held an ADP of 161 and became a top-10 ace, leading many staffs to the promised land.
Fantasy Rookie of the Year: Nick Kurtz
Kurtz crushed it over 117 games of MLB action, mauling 36 home runs with a .290 average and 1.002 OPS to help smooth over that 30.9% strikeout rate. He swung a blazing bat over 420 at-bats, including the offensive performance of the year on July 25 at Houston, when he went 6-for-6 with four HRs, six runs scored, and eight RBI.
6-for-6, 4-HR games since 1900:
- Shawn Green, 2002
- Nick Kurtz pic.twitter.com/cOg2npHVKt— MLB (@MLB) July 26, 2025
Power Plant: Kyle Schwarber
It feels wrong not to shout Schwarbs’ 56-homer, 132-RBI campaign out, so here we are. He finished the year ranked seventh overall in 5x5 scoring, chipping in 10 steals and 111 runs to offset that .240 average. He played in all 162 games and will be a fringe first-rounder next year.
Speed Racer: Chandler Simpson (HM: Josh Naylor & Juan Soto)
At 24 years old, Simpson’s first season was abbreviated by a demotion to work on his defense, but he still delivered 44 swipes with a .295 average over 109 games. Juan Pierre is smiling somewhere!
Simpson may be a zero in the power department, but he stole 104 bases in 110 minor-league games in 2024 and should only get more comfortable running in the bigs. While many worry about adjusting the power projections down for most Rays as they go back to the Trop, Simpson’s tools are unfazed.
Most Underrated Bat: Brandon Nimmo
Nimmo chipped in across the board in 2025, adding 81 runs, 25 homers, 92 RBI, and 13 steals to his ledger. These are nearly identical to his 2024 campaign, except his .262 average was far closer to career norms than last year’s .224 mark.
It turns out that a sudden downturn to a .267 BABIP for a guy who regularly sits above .300 (career .318) is unlikely to stick! Available near pick 150 in most drafts, he ended the year as 64th in 5x5 value.
Most Underrated Arm: Carlos Estevez (HM: Emilio Pagan)
This writer was among those who were shook seeing the middling 23.6% strikeout rate and 115-point BABIP drop in 2024 from his ‘23 with the Halos. Naturally, he turns around and leads the league with 42 saves despite a career-worst 8.2% swinging-strike rate that mirrored his rising walk rate.
In 2024, he had a 2.45 ERA that was over a run better than the 3.57 SIERA. He laughed at the resulting doubt by once again posting a 2.45 ERA, only this time it outpaced a 4.43 SIERA. You win another round, Mr. Estevez.
Much Better On Fantasy Paper Award: Oneil Cruz
It’s difficult to recall a more frustrating and flat campaign that approached 20 HR/40 SB thresholds, but here we are. The dynamic Cruz only hit .200 and was abysmal against southpaws, hitting .102 with one homer over 125 plate appearances.
The result feels so much worse considering he had eight homers and 12 steals with a .253 average after April. The world was his oyster! No amount of HR+SB appeal will overwrite the 33.3% K rate and .185/.278/.336 slash from May 1 on, however. But you know that hot start is enough for some to keep buying in.
Breakout Bat: Geraldo Perdomo
Perdomo went off with 20 homers, 27 steals, and a .290/.389/.462 triple slash with more walks than strikeouts after smacking just three taters with nine steals in 98 games last year. The switch-hitter posted a .902 OPS as a lefty and .829 from the right side, only logging a monthly OPS below .800 once in June.
The calls for regression simply went unanswered, which left many so afraid of the other shoe falling that he was rarely given his due.
#Dbacks SS Geraldo Perdomo's 2025 season landed him in the top 10 of the following categories of any single-season in club history:
WAR: 7.0 (3rd)
oWAR: 6.8 (t-2nd)
Games played: 161 (3rd)
Plate appearances: 720 (3rd)
BB: 94 (t-6th)
Times on base: 277 (7th) pic.twitter.com/79oeywpvds— Arizona Diamondbacks | Stats & Info (@DbacksStatsInfo) September 30, 2025
Breakout Arm: Bryan Woo
Woo had a preliminary breakout last year, posting a 2.89 ERA/0.90 WHIP with 101 Ks over 121 ⅓ IP, showcasing elite control as a building block. This year, he made the leap by maintaining a similar ERA/WHIP profile over 186 ⅔ IP, except he struck out 198 with an improved heater and slider.
Not only did he prove he can succeed over a full year, but he did so with fantasy-relevant whiffs. If you prefer this be someone like Nick Pivetta, Quinn Priester, Randy Rodriguez (darn), or Adrian Morejon, then I’ll rock with you.
Biggest Flop, Bat: Marcell Ozuna (HM: Jasson Dominguez)
Between 2023 and ‘24, Ozuna had re-established himself as a premier designated hitter by producing 40-homer, 100-RBI years. Heck, 2024 even saw that average surge above .300 again for the first time since the 2020 pandemic year.
His power output of nine HRs in April and May was a tad low, but hitting .280 with a .425 OBP was solid. Then he hit .188 in June to slide into part-time work before hitting .167 in July and .195 in August. When will 2026 drafters gamble on a bounce-back?
Biggest Flop, Arm: Roki Sasaki
While he’s currently showing life as a late reliever, Sasaki was going within the top 100 in many drafts, only to record a ghastly 24:22 K:BB over 34 ⅓ IP, never striking out more than four in a start. Hope springs eternal, especially on a winning team, but much will be made about health and overall form this offseason.
Houston Medical Curse: Yordan Alvarez
After last year's strange timeline around Kyle Tucker's shin injury, this runout for Alvarez felt like an echo. Jeremy Pena's rib fracture was originally side soreness following a HBP, but Alvarez's poor 2025 trumps that.
Lost in the “just write it off due to injury” mindset is just how badly April went for the slugger. He reportedly started feeling an initial muscle strain in mid-April and tried to play through it for nearly two weeks before the team took imaging. Despite robust plate discipline, the 28-year-old held a .210/.306/.340 slash with three homers over 121 PAs.
Amazing Year, But I Don’t Buy It: Trevor Rogers
I must point out that, while still very good, Rogers significantly outperformed his expected stats. His 1.80 ERA had a 3.34 xERA, with that 1.54 gap standing as the fifth-largest gulf among 151 pitchers with at least 250 balls in play. The 67-point difference between his .293 xwOBA and .226 wOBA was the largest. Just keep this in mind as we pop bottles.
Comeback Hitter(s) of the Year: Trevor Story & Byron Buxton
You all should know by now that Story is my guy. My office is decorated with several autographs and jerseys that go back to his debut in Colorado, which I originally covered for the RotoBaller news desk back in 2016. My headliner bold prediction this year was that he’d blast back onto our radar with 60 HR+SB, and while he fell a few shy, we’re still calling this a massive win. Welcome back!
As for Buxton, he crushed it with 35 HRs while going a perfect 24-for-24 on steal attempts, hitting .264 with an .878 OPS over 126 games. Doing this while still missing a month of play is both incredible and just a sad reminder of what this man’s career could be with true, full health. Still, these are the most games we’ve gotten out of him since 140 back in ‘17, and it was still enough to finish as a top-25 overall player in 5x5 scoring.
Comeback Pitcher of the Year: Jacob deGrom
There’s no choice except the deGrominator, who tallied 172 ⅔ IP over 30 starts with a 2.97 ERA/0.92 WHIP and 185 Ks. We hadn’t gotten more than 100 frames out of the 37-year-old since 2019, so his throwing at less than 100% for longevity’s sake sure paid off.
Rebound Hitter of the Year: George Springer
As much as I dislike giving Cheater McGee’s recognition, there’s zero skirting that he went from an abysmal 2024 campaign (.220 AVG, .674 OPS, 35 HR+SB in 145 games) to producing a top-10 season. Hitting .309 with 50 HR+SB over 140 games was impressive, with a second-half surge seeing him bat .369 in 50 contests after the All-Star break.
Rebound Pitcher of the Year: Freddy Peralta
Peralta wrapped up his 2025 season as the SP8, helping vault many fantasy teams to the top by cutting down on hits, homers, and walks, all while maintaining the usual ~28% strikeout rate. Winning 17 games obviously helps, but being more efficient goes a long way. After issuing five or more walks in four separate outings in ‘24 as the SP48, he never crossed that threshold in ‘25.
The Breakout Was Real, And It’s Still Spectacular: Hunter Brown
The gains shown after Brown added the sinker to his repertoire held up! He may have faded a bit in the second half, but he still posted identical 2.43 ERAs in each half and did a great job at limiting both lefties (.195/.281/.323) and righties (.208/.260/.312).
Worst Second-Half Faller, Bat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (HM: James Wood):
PCA was everywhere across the first four months of the season, producing an .868 OPS with power, speed, and regular centerfield highlights that had folks wondering if he could dethrone Ohtani as NL MVP. However, the red flags surrounding his aggression at the dish would multiply in droves over the final two months, which yielded a measly .188/.237/.295 triple slash.
Wood went 5-for-5 with his 23rd home run of the year on July 3, raising his slash line to .294/.395/.563 with a palatable 26.4% K rate. He must’ve eaten some bad hot dogs at the July 4 party, because we got a .210/.291/.369 line after that, pulled down by a mighty 39.4% K rate. At least he hit four homers over the last week of play, as we endured a 65-game stretch with only four longballs and three steals before then!
Worst Second-Half Faller, Arm: MacKenzie Gore
One glance at Gore’s overall numbers (4.17 ERA/1.35 WHIP, 5-15 W/L) and you’d never guess how his season began. Create the delineation wherever you like, but the 3.02 ERA/1.20 WHIP before the ASB sure works.
The following 6.75 ERA/1.70 WHIP in the second half came with a 10-percentage-point drop in the strikeout rate as well, leaving him abandoned on waiver wires by September.
xStats Champion: Ben Rice
Rice’s 26 HRs, 28 doubles, and four triples came with stellar contact metrics, yet the flashes of greatness never seemed to stick around despite the xStats illustrating an elite hitter. His .358 wOBA was the lowest of any qualified bat with an xwOBA north of .400, and the 44-point gap between his xBA and actual BA was the starkest among anyone on the top 40 xBA leaderboard.
Given his offensive environment and newfound catcher eligibility, I’m sure his blood-red Savant page will be plastered in many offseason articles going into the 2026 season.
xStats Fraud: Lucas Giolito (3.41 ERA, 5.05 xERA); HM: Cade Horton (2.67 ERA, 3.93 xERA).
Choosing Tyler Mahle (2.18 ERA, 4.36 xERA) felt like low-hanging fruit, as everyone readily acknowledged there were shenanigans afoot. Admittedly, picking on Giolito feels wrong, as he made a triumphant return from a major injury that forced him to miss 2024, but misleading results demand a spotlight.
His average exit velocity (90.3 mph), launch angle sweet spot rates (38.3%), xBA (.274), and xSLG (.477) were the worst we’ve seen from him since the abbreviated rookie year. His 19.7% K rate was also a massive dip compared to the 25-34% rates seen between 2019-23.
While some of this is due to a second-half fade (4.66 FIP, 5.18 xFIP vs. 3.68/4.01 in the first half) that can be chalked up to fatigue, or possibly this elbow issue that has forced him from playoff starts, his sabermetrics rarely backed the surface stats. We hope he can be healthy for 2026 to prove us wrong.
Look Past The Injury: Jacob Wilson
Wilson held an 85.4 mph average exit velocity before the wrist injury, which fell to 82.8 mph after the HBP. Not only did Wilson not receive a proper diagnosis of the fracture until roughly three weeks later, but his OPS also dropped by 150 points.
On competitive swings, Wilson had a .332 average against a .301 xBA before the injury, which fell to a .242 BA and .268 xBA after. If you remove those couple of weeks where he was battling with an injury and just look at late August through September, the .290 BA and .272 xBA aren’t as alarming.
His bat speed and hard-hit rate remained constant, so hopefully, he just needs to recover and reset this offseason. Don’t forget that he did all of this as a rookie who will continue to develop and gain experience!
Worth The Price of Admission: Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Jose Ramirez, Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes
These were the early, top-15 picks that paid off the ADP. Folks may hem and haw about certain details, but facts prevail over feelings, and these guys had the fantasy finishes to match.
Playoff Hero (Bat): Daylen Lile (HM: Ivan Herrera, George Springer)
Here are your top three offensive fWAR leaders in September: Judge (17.6), Ohtani (15.5), and Lile (15.5). That gets you some hardware around here!
The National parlayed 100 PAs into six homers, 39 runs + RBI, and an eye-popping .391/.440/.772 slash line. If you don’t love fWAR, then check out weighted runs created plus (wRC+), where Lile’s 230 mark trailed only Judge (241) and bested Ohtani’s 209. Yowza!
The 15 Most Impressive Rookies of 2025
8. Daylen Lile (OF-WAS)
351 PA, .299/.347/.498, 9 HR, 8 SB
Lile was highly impressive over the final two months of the season and was so close to a .300 AVG and .500 SLG while having a 17/15 pace.#Natitudepic.twitter.com/BKbZcwYiLy
— Eric Cross (@EricCrossMLB) October 2, 2025
Playoff Hero (Arm): Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, and Cade Smith (HM: Emmet Sheehan)
Guardians of your championship aspirations, this trio stepped up over the final month or so to deliver us to glory. Williams cruised to a 1.74 ERA and 38:11 K:BB over 31 IP in his last five outings of the year. Bibee did his best to erase a lackluster campaign with four straight quality starts, punctuated by a two-hit shutout with 10 Ks on Sept. 12.
Smith started September on a sour note before allowing four total hits with a pristine 22:0 K:BB, two wins, and seven saves over his final 13 appearances. Hopefully, those of you who lost Emmanuel Clase were able to keep Smith close by!
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: Jesus Luzardo
Hand up if you enjoyed Luzardo’s Dr. Jekyll run to start the year, only to be blindsided by a 12-run shellacking on May 31. It was quite the way to break a streak of 11 starts with three or fewer runs allowed to start the year. And then he gets lit up for eight runs over 2 ⅓ IP the following turn!
Reports of pitch tipping are buzzing, so he’s unstartable, right? Just when he’s out of your trust, he throws a 10-strikeout gem over the Cubs, so we’re back in, only for a nasty four-run, four-walk, 2.00-WHIP game against Miami.
Are you out again? Because then he blanks the Mets over 6 ⅔ IP and does well against the Braves after that, before allowing five runs in two innings to Cincy.
Then seven scoreless against San Francisco preceded two ugly games with 10 runs allowed in 9 ⅔ IP to the Angels and Red Sox. After this, he would only have one true clunker, but the reputation was solidified.
Greener Pastures Award: Eugenio Suarez
In other words, who should be most helped by becoming a free agent? Suarez’s return to Seattle saw him hit .189 with 13 HRs in 53 games after supplying a .248 average with 36 HRs in 106 games for Arizona. Luckily for him and us, he was a rental for their ongoing playoff push and should go elsewhere for ‘26.
Statcast’s 2025 Park Factors have T-Mobile Park as the worst offensive environment for right-handed bats by a substantial margin, sitting at 11% below average. Chase Field was the second-best, although it only had a 97 Factor for HRs (which is 3% below average).
The "Real" MLB Awards
And nobody asked, but here are my picks for the "real" awards:
AL MVP: Aaron Judge
NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani
AL CY: Garrett Crochet
NL CY: Paul Skenes
AL ROY: Nick Kurtz
NL ROY: Drake Baldwin
AL RP: Aroldis Chapman
NL RP: Robert Suarez
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