RADIO
Ryan Kirksey projects which 10 hitters will finish the season in the top 10 for the 2025 fantasy baseball season, as we head into Week 6 of MLB action.
Offenses are back for the Week 6 edition of our Top 10 Hitters series for fantasy baseball and the 2025 season. Every team in Major League Baseball has now played approximately 20% of their games in the 2025 season. While offense and hitting in general often lag behind pitching to start the season, runs are beginning to pour in as the weather heats up around baseball.
In March/April, MLB teams combined to score 113 runs per day for the first 35 days of the season. In May, that number is already up to 116 runs per game. Like we saw on Tuesday, when multiple teams had nine or more runs in an inning, hitting is starting to come around. This means players who started slowly are beginning to normalize, and our leaderboard looks more and more like what we thought it would be at the beginning of the season.
In some cases, the numbers are starting to stabilize; in others, more plate appearances are needed to make a firm decision. But in fantasy baseball, the stats we have are all that we can use. Making future judgments based on current data is the name of the game! It's a long season, and much baseball is left to be played. I will take a closer look at the current top-10 hitters in fantasy and make some predictions about who ends up there when it's all said and done in October.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball draft tools and resources:- Fantasy baseball draft kit
- Fantasy baseball rankings
- Team Sync platform and Draft Assistant
- Fantasy baseball mock draft simulator
- Fantasy baseball draft cheat sheets
- Fantasy baseball closer depth charts
- Fantasy baseball prospects
Current Top 10 Hitters for Fantasy Baseball
According to Yahoo's player rankings, here are the top 10 most valuable hitters in 5x5 roto leagues as of May 7, 2025.
| Hitter | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
| Aaron Judge | 34 | 12 | 34 | 3 | 0.412 |
| Kyle Tucker | 30 | 9 | 31 | 9 | 0.290 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 38 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 0.296 |
| Pete Crow-Armstrong | 29 | 9 | 26 | 12 | 0.264 |
| Pete Alonso | 26 | 9 | 34 | 0 | 0.341 |
| Corbin Carroll | 29 | 10 | 27 | 5 | 0.288 |
| Teoscar Hernandez | 21 | 9 | 34 | 4 | 0.315 |
| Fernando Tatis Jr. | 26 | 8 | 19 | 8 | 0.321 |
| Elly De La Cruz | 25 | 5 | 25 | 14 | 0.266 |
| Kyle Schwarber | 26 | 12 | 28 | 3 | 0.258 |
After two weeks where Aaron Judge was merely "great," he became superhuman again over the past week, hitting .409/.480/1.000 with three home runs and a .600 wOBA. For the season, his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is an unsustainable .473, but he has shown zero signs of not being able to hit .400 for an extended period of time. Just as his chase for 62 home runs captivated us two years ago, whether Judge can hit .400 for another 120 games will be the story of the summer.
While Kyle Tucker maintains his spot in the top three fantasy baseball hitters of 2025, he is joined for the first time by Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani has had a massive last six games, hitting .333/.429/.875 with three home runs. He is the only player in baseball with a "double-double" (steals and home runs). The only thing holding Ohtani back as he heats up is his 15 RBI. The bottom part of the Dodgers' order rarely gets on base ahead of Ohtani this year.
List of players with 10+ HR and 10+ SB this season:
Shohei Ohtani pic.twitter.com/uJIJhI22Wq
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2025
The two Petes round out the top five hitters as we play in the sixth week of fantasy baseball. Pete Crow-Armstrong continues to have a magical, breakout year despite being unable to crack the top five of the Cubs' batting order. Even a .179 batting average over the last seven days has not been enough to keep him out of this spot. Pete Alonso rises this week as his power plus elite .341 batting average pushes him near the top. Alonso has shaved his strikeout rate to 16% this year, so that high batting average may stick around for a while.
Just as Teoscar Hernandez jumps into the top 10 of fantasy baseball hitters, he hits the IL with a leg injury that will keep him out at least 10 days (but potentially longer). His 34 RBI are tied with Judge and Alonso for the league lead, and the nine home runs and .315 average had him on pace for one of his best seasons of his career. Hopefully, this is a short-term injury, and he will get back to fantasy rosters soon.
Players with 5 HR and 10 SB this season:
Elly De La Cruz
Oneil Cruz
Pete Crow-Armstrong pic.twitter.com/jF1k9GvEOJ— MLB (@MLB) April 24, 2025
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Elly De La Cruz remain stable as two of the top home run/stolen base threats in fantasy baseball. De La Cruz's batting average has normalized, but the 14 steals are propping up his fantasy value. Tatis continues to hit well thanks to a reduced strikeout rate and a zone contact rate that is five percentage points higher in 2025 than in 2024.
Joining the top 10 list for the first time is Kyle Schwarber and his National League-leading 12 home runs. The power and run production is to be expected, but three steals (he had five in 2024) and a .258 batting average are nice surprises for those who spent a third or fourth-round pick on the Phillies' DH.
Projected Top 10 Hitters for Fantasy Baseball
Using a blend of ATC projections, Nick Mariano's projections, and my own opinions, here is my projected top-10 finish for hitters in the last five months of the 2025 fantasy baseball season.
| Hitter | Projection | Current Rank |
| Aaron Judge | 1 | 1 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 2 | 3 |
| Kyle Tucker | 3 | 2 |
| Elly De La Cruz | 4 | 9 |
| Corbin Carroll | 5 | 6 |
| Fernando Tatis Jr. | 6 | 8 |
| Oneil Cruz | 7 | 12 |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | 8 | 16 |
| Juan Soto | 9 | 133 |
| Pete Crow-Armstrong | 10 | 4 |
Barring some kind of major injury or unforeseen slump, Judge, Ohtani, De La Cruz, and Tucker will likely end up as one of the top six or seven fantasy bats for 2025. Their track record is too long, and their skills are too good to keep them off this list.
Corbin Carroll's bounce-back season after injury and poor production has been amazing. After hitting .231/.322/.428 last season, Carroll is at .288/.355/.588 with 10 home runs and five steals already in 2025. The power spike has made him sacrifice a few steals based on prior years' pace, but it's unlikely Carroll winds up with fewer than 25 swipes by the end of the year.
What's faster than fast?
Corbin Carroll races home-to-third in 10.87 seconds for his SECOND TRIPLE of the day! pic.twitter.com/gzKaag0kew
— MLB (@MLB) April 27, 2025
Oneil Cruz fell out of the top 10 this week, but only slightly. He currently ranks 12th among fantasy hitters, with just a .246 batting average bringing him down. However, no player has more home runs and steals combined than Cruz. His eight home runs and 15 steals have cemented him as a top fantasy producer, and he has the exit velocity and barrel rate that should give us hope his batting average will rise this year.
Bobby Witt Jr. had a monster last two weeks, hitting .314/.386/.529 with two home runs and four steals. His power is finally coming around, and he already has 11 steals this year. Overall, he has raised his batting average up to .310 recently, and his strong two weeks propelled him to the number 16 spot when he was outside the top-75 before that time.
Bobby Witt Jr. calls game for the @Royals 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PLnN3SseZW
— MLB (@MLB) May 7, 2025
Juan Soto continues to disappoint in terms of his power and his batting average. He did pop two home runs on May 1, but those were his only home runs since April 15, and his batting average still sits at .254 on the season. However, he had five multi-hit days in five of his last nine days since April 25. He is still walking 18% of the time, and his exit velocity is the same as in 2024.
Statcast believes his expected batting average is .302, much better than his current .254, so it's just a matter of time before one of the game's best young hitters starts to see his luck turn around and positive regression hit. Since it is still just the first part of May, Soto has plenty of time to turn this around, especially because the Mets' offense as a whole is starting to catch fire.
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!
