Greetings all, hope the offseason is treating you well as we prepare to turn the calendar to March this weekend. Last week we took a broader overall look at early round ADP trends, but as draft season continues to ramp up, we’ll head back to the deeper end of the fantasy baseball pool this week.
First, we’ll start with a quick story. Back when I was still a youngster, and I began hearing about fantasy baseball for the first time, I was immediately intrigued. A long, long time went by, though, before I finally had the opportunity to join a real fantasy baseball league (oxymoron alert), even after sitting next to a guy at one of my first jobs who played and talked about his team incessantly. Every time I mentioned that I’d like to get involved if there was ever an opening, he kind of laughed like it was the silliest thing he’d ever heard, a gal joining his league. Really, you would have thought it was the 1950’s. When I finally did get asked to join a league many years and several jobs later, it was last minute. I was told to just show up at the auction early the next morning, and the guys would tell me how the draft worked. I’m pretty sure now that the only reason I was asked to participate at all was so that the league commish could prove to himself and the rest of the group that he could get a girl to come over to his house voluntarily, and I’m not really even kidding.
My team was a disaster, not surprisingly, but I was just happy to be there. I was thrown in without even being told how the auction worked exactly, let alone given roster requirements or the actual rules of the league. So, let’s finally circle back to present day, where we will be discussing utility players. You see, in that auction, when I saw a U on my roster sheet, I assumed it meant I was supposed to draft a player who was actually considered a utility man for his Major League Baseball team, not the best hitter available that I didn’t have room for at another position. Turns out one of the things I learned that day was just how worthless a real-life utility guy could be for a mixed league fantasy baseball team. And one of the things I’ve learned in the years since that first draft, is how a player who’s undraftable in a standard league, can be very valuable in a deep one.
I’m calling these guys triple threats, not because they are stellar at three of the fantasy baseball categories, but because they all qualify at at least three different positions, using a 20-games played in 2025 threshold. Playing time for these players will be hard to predict since roster situations are still fluid, and especially since much of their value will come if and when a guy ahead of them on the depth chart goes down with an injury. The volume of ABs is a big part of what does or doesn’t make these guys appealing though, so I’m going to list each player’s total plate appearances in 2025, as well as their plate appearance projections for 2026, according to their FanGraphs player profile. For ADP, I’m using NFBC data from January 1st until now, but only from their Draft Champions drafts (mixed 15 team, 50 rounders, where there is no waiver wire or free agent pick ups). The format is the best parallel to mono or other deep leagues when it comes to how valuable a multi-position eligible player can be. There were 99 of those leagues total, so here we go, with players listed in order of their overall ADP over those 99 drafts:
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Jose Caballero (2026 eligible positions 2B/3B/SS/OF), overall ADP 224.
High pick: 175/Low pick: 269. 2025 plate appearances: 370/2026 projected plate appearances per FanGraphs: 315.
Folks may be disagreeing with the low playing time projection here; perhaps the projection models didn’t get the memo that Anthony Volpe is hurt, AND that Caballero spent the offseason at Driveline rather than playing winter ball. There are many outcomes here; I think Caballero could be an absolute bargain or a complete bust at his current ADP. Just know that if you were targeting him late as a cheap source of speed, his price might be higher than you realized. I suppose it should be, since his part-time duty 49 steals last year can be the definition of a category-winner, when employed on the proper roster.
Ernie Clement (2B/3B/SS), ADP 288.
High pick: 241/Low pick: 334. 2025 PA: 588/2026 PPA: 644.
Clement wins the projected volume game by a relative landslide, as he’s the only player on this list projected for over 600 at bats. I really like him this year as a versatile accumulator, and the plus average over a ton of ABs is sneaky valuable. But it’s hard to pull the trigger this early on someone who was unable to hit double digits in either homers or steals last year, even with healthy playing time, and is a little less versatile than some, since Clement only qualifies at infield positions.
Willi Castro (2B/3B/OF), ADP 296.
High pick: 249/Low pick: 402. 2025 PA: 454/2026 PPA: 546.
We’ve already talked some about Castro this off-season, whose ADP has more or less skyrocketed since he landed in Colorado. Love the MI/CI/OF eligibility, love the tons of projected playing time, but it still feels to me like the Rocky Mountain bump might be getting a little larger than it should be. Maybe it makes sense to buy in fully here, though, since he’s still only 28, and with a major batting average bounce back, he could be the closest thing to a 5-category threat that we have on this list.
Brooks Lee (2B/3B/SS), ADP 322.
High pick: 254/Low pick: 369. 2025 PA: 527/2026 PPA: 595.
Lee helped me out in a couple ultra deep leagues last year, but I was surprised to see him this high on the triple threat list. I guess you’re paying for volume, and if the projections are close, around 15 homers with a not-awful batting average.
Zach McKinstry (SS/3B/OF), ADP 341.
High pick: 296/Low pick: 386. 2025 PA: 511/2026 PPA: 469.
I’ve drafted McKinstry once or twice already, and have him a notch ahead of Lee on my rankings. This may be a giant mistake with a guy who likely had a career year and then some in 2025, and is no doubt in line for significantly fewer at bats if everything breaks anything close to right for the Tigers. Still, I love that MI/CI/OF eligibility. And if the overall hitting improvements from last year are real, I’ll take a decent average with plus speed and a little pop.
Josh Smith (1B/3B/SS), ADP 344.
High pick: 265/Low pick: 406. 2025 PA: 563/2026 PPA: 511.
I’ve been a fan of Smith for deep leagues for a couple years now, and if he qualified at outfield, I’d probably be over-drafting him regularly. The fact that he scored 70 runs last year but only had 35 RBI reminds us that even this late in a draft, you should pay attention to categories if it makes a difference, as you’re putting what are hopefully the finishing touches on your roster. Also, is there really only one Josh Smith now? Like, I don’t need to include the middle initial? My, how times have changed!
Jonathan India (2B/3B/OF), ADP 363.
High pick: 293/Low pick: 436. 2025 PA: 567/2026 PPA: 553.
It took me way longer to jump off the India bandwagon than it should have, so for my own sake, I hope this isn’t the year he suddenly comes roaring back to fantasy life, since I probably won’t roster him anywhere. The at bats should be there, but I just can’t trust that the production will be. I mean, not only did India hit just .233 last year, he stole one base. One! Then again, not much to lose this late, so there could be value to be had here, I suppose.
Kody Clemens (1B/2B/OF), ADP 392.
High pick: 329/Low pick: 475. 2025 PA: 386/2026 PPA: 231.
The projection model hates Clemens’ playing time, but even with a lot of moving parts in Minnesota, I think 231 plate appearances feels light. There’s some legit power here if nothing else, and it should be noted that Clemens is one of only three players on this list who qualifies at first base. That distinction may be a bit more valuable this year than I initially thought — to paraphrase myself from a few weeks ago, a good backup first baseman is hard to find these days.
Jared Triolo (2B/3B/OF), ADP 399.
High pick: 337/Low pick: 473. 2025 PA: 373/2026 PPA: 553.
I drafted Triolo in my first draft of the season, but have backed off after the Pirates surprisingly active off season. The projection models still love Triolo’s playing time hopes, but after the Marcell Ozuna signing, I just can’t quite figure out how that roster is going to shake out if everyone stays healthy. If he falls to me around that low pick mark though (which he hasn’t in my last couple of drafts), I’m still definitely interested as we see how 2026 unfolds.
Mauricio Dubon (2B/3B/SS/OF), ADP 463.
High pick: 290/Low pick: 560. 2025 PA: 398/2026 PPA: 336.
The only player here besides Caballero to qualify at four positions, Dubon has some extra draft helium of late since it looks like he’ll play regularly for the Braves with Ha-seong Kim injured. That’s a good thing, sure, and he may make an impact in the runs category at least. But let’s do remember that we’re not even assured the batting average (let alone OBP) won’t hurt more than it’ll help, and that’s there no legit power or speed here.
Javier Baez (3B/SS/OF), ADP 472.
High pick: 401/Low pick: 563. 2025 PA: 437/2026 PPA: 385.
Ah, how the once-mighty in fantasy have fallen, though at least Javy makes the cut in of guys being drafted in the top 500 rather than being relegated to the addendum blurb below. He’s also already made at least one of my deep rosters. This late, somewhere around 400 potential plate appearances and a smattering of stats, combined with his appealing eligibility trifecta, starts to look pretty good.
Just to make this list complete, here are the rest of the players who qualify at three positions, but who I’d only look at very, very, very late or, preferably, not at all. They all have ADPs outside the top 500, and in most cases outside the top 600: Javier Sanoja, Tim Tawa, Miguel Rojas, Daniel Schneemann, Orlando Arcia, Enrique Hernandez, Max Schuemann, and Jose Iglesias.
As always, thanks for reading and happy drafting!
