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Cole Ragans 2026 Fantasy Baseball Outlook: Looks to Return to Ace Status After Injury-Plagued 2025
Cole Ragans entered 2025 with high expectations, but ultimately fell short with a 4.67 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in an injury-plagued season, during which he made only 13 starts due to a groin injury and a rotator cuff strain. However, the lefty looked impressive in the three starts he made post-shoulder surgery, striking out 22 in 13 innings to close out the season. The high ERA may be the result of some pretty serious bad luck, as Ragans still posted an excellent 2.45 xFIP with an elite 38.1% strikeout rate, which were both massive improvements over his already elite production in 2024. His 14.30 K/9 was actually the highest mark posted in MLB history by a starting pitcher who threw at least 60 innings in a season. It's not realistic to expect him to match that over the course of a full year, but it shows that he's still very much the same pitcher who flashed top-five upside the year prior. The injury history and inflated ERA are keeping his ADP outside of the top 10 starting pitchers, making him an extremely high-upside pick at that stage of the draft if you're willing to take on some injury risk.
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