Guest Writer, Pablo & the Secret Weapons, is back!

With the 2026 HumBabe Preseason Draft underway, it’s a good time to look back at some of the results from last year’s draft. I’m taking a round-by-round look here (splitting the first round into two) at one highlight pick and one lowlight of each round. The “lowlights” weren’t necessarily bad picks; they just didn’t work out because baseball is so unpredictable. In making the selections, I considered points, position, as well as how long the drafting team held onto that player. One thing that stands out from this exercise is that, even though later rounds are more hit-or-miss, you can find talent in any round. The best pick of 2025 was sixth rounder Byron Buxton so put some thought into those late round picks! They could be the difference that puts your team over the top.

Early Round 1

Highlight: Nashville Stars, RP Robert Suarez (476 FPts)

You have to hold the #2 overall pick to a high standard, but landing the top scoring reliever in baseball will meet that. Suarez finished second in MLB with 40 saves and pitched to an excellent 2.97 ERA and 75:16 K/BB ratio. He will move to a setup role with the Braves but could easily regain a closer role depending on Raisel Iglesias’ performance.

Honorable Mention: Super Smash ‘Stros, RP David Bednar (424 FPts)

Lowlight: London Bag Club, SP Yu Darvish (166 FPts)

Drafting older pitchers is always a risk and this one didn’t work out for the London Bag Club. Darvish wasn’t as bad as his 5.38 ERA suggested but didn’t have the chance for positive regression as injuries limited him to just 72 innings. Sadly, we might have seen the end of this great MLB career as he is reportedly considering retirement after UCL surgery.

Late Round 1

Highlight: Pablo and the Secret Weapons, 3B Matt Chapman (505 FPts)

Salvador Perez and Xander Bogaerts would belong here based on their 2025 point totals, except both had slow starts and were dropped early by the teams who drafted them. The best player here who spent most of the season with the same team was Chapman, who put up a typical solid season with a .770 OPS and stayed on with Pablo until the end of August.

Honorable Mention: Wally Mash, RP Pete Fairbanks (340 FPts)

Lowlight: Eastside Bombers, RP Justin Martinez (92 FPts)

This was a case of good process, bad result. Martinez’ youth and triple-digit fastball made sense as a high-upside pick, but he only managed 15 innings before having to go for Tommy John. Keep an eye on him later this year as he looks to return to the D-backs pen.

Round 2

Highlight: LeBronto Blue James, OF George Springer (721 FPts)

This was an obvious choice. Springer looked like a clear case of decline until at 36 he put up maybe the best offensive season of his career. His .309/.399/.560 performance ranked him as the #17 hitter in the league by fantasy points. To put that in perspective, only one other hitter in this draft (who we will get to later) finished even within the top 80. And the great thing about fantasy is I don’t have to talk about his playoff performance…*cries as a Mariners fan*

Honorable Mention: Say Hey Kids, RP Jeff Hoffman (445 FPts)

Lowlight: Jackal Attack, RP Mitch Spence (166 FPts)

Team Jackal had a lot of elite players make big contributions to their first championship, but Spence was not one of them. He looked like a solid mid-rotation starter in 2024 but regressed in ’25 to a 5-plus ERA and lost his spot in a weak A’s rotation. Spence would have to make a big jump in ’26 to return to fantasy relevance.

Round 3

Highlight: Coastal Splitters, RP Cade Smith (419 FPts)

The third round started to see setup men go off the board and almost no one did better in that role than Cade Smith. Smith put up his second straight season with 100+ Ks from the bullpen and an FIP under 2.00. If you picked him to win Cleveland’s closer role, you really came out as a winner from that bet. (Unlike the last guy who was in that role.)

Honorable Mention: Wally Mash, SS Masyn Winn (437 FPts)

Lowlight: Galactic Crusaders and Florida Squeeze, pitchers Cody Bradford and Jason Foley (zero FPts)

Pitchers always carry an injury risk so I’m not always going with the strictly lowest point total in every round. However, with a third-rounder, you expect some production and it’s a big disappointment for your pick to not see the field at all. Bradford and Foley both had promise, but went down with injuries before being able to make their 2025 debuts. It happens and that’s why pitching depth is so important.

Round 4

Highlight: Lone Star Drillers, SS Jeremy Pena (539 FPts)

Pena felt like a player who was more valuable in real life than fantasy until he took a big step forward with the bat in 2025. While he missed some games, improvements in all his rate stats took him from a not great, not terrible 3.6 points per game in ’24 to a borderline elite 4.3 points per game in ’25. If Pena can keep up those improvements and get back to playing 150+ games per season, Lone Star will have one of the league’s better shortstops for this 4th round pick.

Honorable Mention: Coastal Splitters, SP Andrew Abbott (421 FPts)

Lowlight: Golden City Gatekeepers, SP Jordan Hicks (126 FPts)

The 4th round saw more picks who ended up getting hurt and producing nothing, like Kutter Crawford or Matt Vierling. However, I’m going with Jordan Hicks here because he was so bad in 2025 that he really had less than zero value. His six-plus ERA lost him his starting job, and out of the pen he was somehow even worse. It’s hard to imagine this guy with a 6.95 season ERA, remembering the 105 mph sinkers from his Cardinals heyday, but something he’s doing needs to change. We’ll see if the change of scenery helps him in ’26.

Round 5

Highlight: Super Smash ‘Stros, C Shea Langeliers (553 FPts)

All you can realistically expect from a mid-round catcher is to fill the spot and play over 100 games with passable production. Instead, the ‘Stros got the #4 catcher in the league, tied with Salvador Perez who you might have heard of. Langeliers is only 28 and looks to be a cornerstone hitting in the middle of a high-scoring A’s lineup for years to come.

Honorable Mention: Pablo and the Secret Weapons, 2B Brandon Lowe (544 FPts)

Lowlight: Nashville Stars, SP Lance Lynn (Retired before season)

Lynn had what appeared to be a return to form in 2024, lowering his ERA almost two full runs to a respectable 3.84. However, the age, velo, and advanced metrics were concerning enough that he remained unsigned at the time of the draft. Lynn did receive some major league offers but ultimately decided to call it good on a very respectable career.

Round 6

Highlight: London Bag Club, OF Byron Buxton (677 FPts)

Buxton’s 2025 season is why you have to take a chance on players with his talent level regardless of risk. Buxton made over 500 plate appearances for just the second time and crushed baseballs all year to the tune of .264/.327/.551. He launched a career-high 35 home runs and even stole 20+ bases for the first time since 2017. The sheer value produced for a sixth-rounder makes Byron Buxton my choice for best pick in the 2025 draft. For the sake of baseball, we all hope he can stay healthy like this going forward.

Honorable Mention: Brooklyn Robins, RP Kenley Jansen (372 FPts)

Lowlight: Super Smash ‘Stros, OF Lane Thomas (79 FPts)

Hitters are usually safer picks than pitchers, but not in this case. Lane Thomas looked like a sleeper after back-to-back solid seasons in the Nats outfield. Unfortunately, he seemed to forget how to play baseball with the Guardians. Plantar fasciitis hindered his athleticism, the whiff rate skyrocketed, the exit velocity plummeted, and Thomas was ultimately dropped by the ‘Stros in mid-April after posting a sub-.400 OPS. At age 30, Thomas may be on his last chance to prove he’s still got something in the tank with the Royals.

Round 7

Highlight: Galactic Crusaders, SP Casey Mize (399 FPts)

The rebuilding Crusaders got an important piece of their young pitching staff all the way down in the 7th. Mize was looking like a bust coming off his age-27 season but finally had his breakout in ’25. He set career bests in strikeout rate, walk rate, expected ERA, and FIP and looks to be a solid mid-rotation starter going forward. Also consider that although he will be 29 this year, he has missed a lot of time due to injuries so there is still potential for further development.

Honorable Mention: Eastside Bombers, SS Jesus Made (#2 ranked prospect in MLB)

Lowlight: Pablo and the Secret Weapons, 1B Michael Toglia (187 FPts)

Other picks in this round produced fewer points, but only because Toglia somehow got over 300 at-bats on his way to “leading” baseball with a negative 2.2 WAR. Coming off a decent 2024 season, he looked like a potential value pick but then put up a .190/.258/.353 slash line that would be unacceptable for a backup catcher, let alone a first baseman playing in Coors Field. Toglia was so bad from the get-go that he lasted only a week on Pablo’s roster before being swapped out for Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins wasn’t amazing, but his .237/.332/.416 line was like prime Albert Pujols in comparison.

Round 8

Highlight: Florida Squeeze, RP Abner Uribe (372 FPts)

Brewers pitchers always seem like good investments, and the Squeeze found a gem of a setup man here. The 25-year-old had a breakout year with a 1.67 ERA, 2.75 FIP, and 10.75 K/9 over 75-plus innings. Uribe was good enough to be one of the few relievers kept for 2026, where he will pair with new first-rounder Ryan Helsley to form a strong duo in the Squeeze bullpen.

Honorable Mention: TJ Friedl, Lebronto Blue James (562 FPts)

Lowlight: Jackal Attack, SP Austin Gomber (47 FPts)

All you need to know about Gomber’s 2025 season is that he was cut midseason…by the Rockies. Gomber had previously had decent results for the brutal pitching environment of Coors, but an ERA of 7.49 isn’t going to work anywhere. Gomber will be happy to get out of Colorado and compete for innings with the Rangers in ’26.

Round 9

Highlight: Jackal Attack, 2B/OF Ceddanne Rafaela (543 FPts)

Elite defense does have a positive impact in fantasy because it gets a player on the field every day. Rafaela was not spectacular with the bat, but a .708 OPS with decent power and speed was enough to make him the #11 second baseman in 2025 by total points. For a ninth-round pick, you’ve got to be happy with that outcome.

Honorable Mention: Nashville Stars, RP Jeremiah Estrada (341 FPts)

Lowlight: Say Hey Kids, OF Joc Pederson (207 FPts)

There aren’t really any “bad” picks this late in the draft. Most everyone here typically gets dropped and shuffled around quickly, so the cost of a pick that doesn’t work out is low. However, the Say Hey Kids had to be disappointed by what they got from Pederson. At draft time, he looked like a solid platoon bat with a .908 OPS over 367 at-bats with the D-backs in 2024. Instead, he made it only two weeks before being dropped with a .070/.184/.093 slash line and a total of FIVE fantasy points. For how terrible Pederson’s final 2025 line was, you have to remember that before a strong August, it was even worse.

Round 10

Highlight: Nashville Stars, SP Kris Bubic (326 FPts)

Bubic worked out similarly to Casey Mize: formerly good prospect who finally arrived after a few ineffective and injury-hampered seasons. The Stars had to be thrilled to get a 3-WAR starter with the second-to-last pick in the draft. The peripheral stats indicate his results were mostly sustainable, although his ERA is projected more in the mid-3s going forward. Kris Bubic is proof that every pick matters, no matter how late.

Honorable Mention: Florida Squeeze, 1B Jonathan Aranda (410 FPts)

Lowlight: Nashville Stars, SP Kyle Gibson (retired)

Again, you’re not losing much if a pick doesn’t work out here. I’ll go with the Stars’ other 10-rounder who didn’t work out quite as well as Bubic. Gibson had a solid career but decided to hang it up after 12 ineffective innings with Baltimore. He looked like a good pick at the time based on his 2024 results, but Father Time comes for everyone at some point.

– Pablo & the Secret Weapons