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Speaker 4How does Scott rank the top 12 second baseman for 2027? Find out next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome into FBT Express on Wednesday, October 28th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White. And let's take a look at Scott's top 12 second base rankings for next season. And we will start with the top three. Fernando Tatis Jr., that's right, second base eligibility. Followed by Bryce Terang and Jazz Chisholm. Scott, down season here for Jazz, who still got to 19 home runs and 41 steals, but the batting average and accounting stats were a big letdown. I see a wide range of outcomes for him, but this is also a pretty bad position, so I get it.
Speaker 5Yeah, I don't know. I feel pretty optimistic about him next year. If the wide range of outcomes means his 2026 is on the lower end of the spectrum, maybe it could get lower, but it's the worst we've seen from him in a while. So you've got to think it's on the lower end. And you said it, 19 home runs, 41 steals. A combined 60 home runs and steals in a Roto League, what is a 30-30 season? That's a combined 60 home runs and steals. Like that still seems like a great number of home runs and steals. The biggest issue that happened for Jazz Chisholm from a fantasy perspective is the decline in RBI and runs, particularly the RBI. He went from 80 in 2025 to 55 in 2026, even though he played seven more games. But for a player who hits 19 home runs and steals 41 bases, like you should have more than 55 RBI if you're playing 137 games. You know, like that, I don't think that's going to happen again. And there's a very good chance he does bounce back with more home runs. It'll be for another team in all likelihood as he hits the free agent market and he'll miss playing at Yankee Stadium some, but he was a star before he ever went to the Yankees. So I don't, I don't think that's going to be a deal breaker. And as you say, it's a weak position. So I have a pretty easy time slotting Chisholm in at number three, him and, you know, Patel Marte's four. So they're still paired together. They're just 3-4 instead of 1-2.
Speaker 4Speaking of Cattell Marte, you have him at No. 4, followed by Brandon Lau and Luke Kieschel. Tale of two seasons here for Kieschel. His first three months, 245 batting average, two homers, 12 steals, 645 OPS. His final three months, 324, eight homers, eight steals, 930 OPS. Scott, who is the real Luke Kieschel?
Speaker 5I think he's trending up. You know, this was obviously his first full season in the majors, so he's still a work in progress, but we saw huge strides in the second half. He slashed in the second half, or not even the second half, final three months, so from July 1st on, he slashed.324,.422,.508. He hit eight of his 10 home runs in those final three months. And the polarity improved. It wasn't just a fluky thing that happened. The underlying data supports improved power, improved home run production, I should say, even though he doesn't hit the ball hard. And I'll note that he was kind of that player in the minors, too. Didn't hit the ball hard, but would hit 15-plus home runs just by pulling the ball in the air enough. And he's fast. We've seen him steal. He stole 20 this year, which isn't a bad total, obviously, but he did even better his previous year in the majors. We've seen him do better before. Great on base skills, safe batting average. I think Lou Kieschel is like a more powerful Nico Horner or a less powerful Bryce Terang, somewhere between those two. I think there is a scenario where he ends up challenging Bryce Terang in five-category production because it'll require him hitting for enough power. I think the power comes more easily to Terang, but there is enough there for Kieschel, I think, to threaten to hit 20 homers someday, and maybe it'll be next year. Or even if he's a 15-25 guy or even a 12-25 guy, I think the batting average will be good, the counting stats, especially the runs good with as good as his on-base ability is. And he'll be well worth taking here at second base, sixth.
Speaker 4All right, let's take a quick break. Back into the second base rankings right after this. Baseball season is in full swing and there's no better place to be than Calchi, America's number one prediction market platform. Atlanta is currently trading at 7% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out over $1,200 with a win. On Kalshi, you're trading against other people in a live market. No house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out anytime throughout the postseason. Download the Kalshi app and use code FAN to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. K-A-L-S-H-I. Kalshi. Trade on anything. 18-plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CalSheet products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calsheet.com slash regulatory. Welcome back in to FBT Express, taking a look at Scott's top 12 second baseman for next season. 7, 8, and 9, we have J.J. Weatherholt, Nico Horner, and Travis Bazzana, Two second-year players here in Weatherholt and Bazana. As expected in their rookie year, they were very up and down. We saw very high highs. We saw very low lows. What are your expectations here for Weatherholt and Bazana in year two?
Speaker 5Well, obviously, I feel better about Weatherholt. That's why I've sandwiched Nico Horner right in between the two. Weatherholt had a huge first month. He was respectable right up until the All-Star break. Looked like the easy choice for NL Rookie of the Year at that point, and I think everybody was pretty happy with him and Fantasy. But he was playing through a wrist injury and the numbers tanked thereafter and he ended up going on the I.L. for most of September. But we've seen a lot of examples of this from players this past year where we come to find out they're playing with an injury for weeks at a time and that explains why their numbers fell off so. I think Weatherholt's a clear example of that. Since it's his rookie season, we don't have a lot of track record to draw on here, which raises some doubts. But he was a top-of-the-line prospect and hit the ground running as a major leaguer. So I still feel really good about him moving forward. Bazana, less so. Bazana, he also got off to a very hot start in the majors, But he's not – I'd like the data to be better. He gets on – he draws walks, he pulls the ball in the air well, and maybe the contact quality will be good enough because of that for him to be impactful. but you know it was just such an up and down showing from him and data that is not especially encouraging so part of the reason bazana is ninth here is because well at least there's some upside you know because we start to run out of it after after the point where i rank him here yeah i think
Speaker 4with bazana too you do have to worry about does he play against lefties too he wasn't very good against him, he actually was quite bad in his rookie season. Of course, he could still First overall pick, so the Guardians have a lot invested in him and he did look good at times but yeah very up and down we'll see if he plays against lefties that is Travis Pazana 10 11 and 12 you have Ozzy Albies Bryson Stott and Luis Arise with Stott and Arise I think we have a good understanding of what to expect from those guys Ozzy Albies man he was really bad in the second half there's a chance he might be cooked
Speaker 5yeah maybe and look I just got finished saying I'm ranking Pazana 9th because I don't think there's a lot of upside after that and he at least offers some so I'm including Ozzy Albies in the I don't think there's a lot of upside here group but with all the ups and downs he still hit 22 home runs he still scored 85 runs he drove in 73 runs which isn't an amazing number but you're not going to do much better than that from the remaining second baseman like he started every single game two years in a row now he's played at least 157 games so he gets a lot of volume doesn't hit the ball very hard but I think it would be a mistake just to say okay his August and September numbers were hit 178 that's just the Ozzy Albies going forward I think it's more of a full season statistics are more are more revealing than the partial season statistics here because he is he's not even 30 yet but he doesn't hit the ball very hard and you know there's a lot of downside with the batting average for sure he ended up hitting 237 for the season so I don't think he deserves to be ranked any higher than
Speaker 4this and again those are Scott's top 12 second baseman for next season if you want to see the top 20 you can find that in the article on the website cbsports.com slash fantasy baseball or on the CBS fantasy app for more extensive fantasy baseball coverage listen to our full-length podcast fantasy baseball today on Spotify Apple podcasts or anywhere else podcasts are found thanks for listening to FBT Express and we'll be back again later this week bye-bye Paramount Podcasts
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