This article is part of our Sorare MLB series.
Welcome back, MLB fans, and welcome back Sorare MLB players. The true Opening Day for the 2025 season is here, and so it's time to start thinking about your Sorare lineups again.
I have some upgrades for you, who are players that have the proverbial up arrow next to their names. Holds are players who have surprised and I am still not quite sold, or guys who come with an asterisk on their performance. Then, the downgrades, who are heading in the wrong direction, for one reason or another.
Obviously, this season is only beginning, so my assessments here are based on the 2024 campaign, largely looking at matters related to luck and underlying performances.
Card prices shown reflect the most recent limited card sale price for each player on the Sorare Marketplace as of March 26.
UPGRADES
Bo Bichette, TOR ($15.13): Last season was a lost year for Bichette. That's partially due to injuries limiting him to 81 games, but also some brutal luck. Prior to last season, he had never finished a year with a BABIP below .339. In 2024, he posted a .269 BABIP. His previous low for HR/FB percentage was 15.6. Last season? A mere 5.3. It's almost fundamentally impossible for Bichette to have that poor of a season again, so expect more Sorare points in 2025.
Spencer Arrighetti, HOU ($5.21): Arrighetti walked too many batters and conjured up too few groundballs as a rookie, but there's a lot to like. His 4.53 ERA is paired with a more respectable 4.17 FIP and a robust 27.1 strikeout percentage. Arrighetti has added a two-seam fastball to his repertoire because his four-seamer was tuned up by righties. If that pans out, it's possible in his sophomore season the Astros pitcher will see his ERA drop by a full run.
Nick Lodolo, CIN ($3.65): Hunter Greene has gotten plenty of attention, and his improvements (not to mention his fastball velocity) merit that. However, there's also a reason to keep an eye on Lodolo. Yes, he had a 4.76 ERA, but that was paired with a 3.94 FIP. The lefty only allowed 1.01 homers per nine innings in 2024, and in his career he's struck out 10.67 batters per nine innings. Lodolo wasn't able to pitch down the stretch, but after the All-Star break he had three starts with over 20.0 Sorare points before bowing out at the end of August.
Matt Wallner, MIN ($3.10): Wallner has only played in 151 games over the last two seasons, but across those games he's slashed .254/.371/.515 and hit 27 home runs. Four times last September he had double-digit Sorare points, and you can thank matchups with righties for that. In his career, the southpaw has a .510 OPS versus lefties and a .951 OPS versus right-handed pitchers. Wallner also had a 92.8 mph average exit velocity last season, the same as Orioles star Gunnar Henderson. That kind of power stands out, especially from a player who is not the name that Henderson is.
HOLD
Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL ($9.46): You know all about Paul Skenes, but Schwellenbach was an impressive rookie pitcher in the National League as well. He made 21 starts, and earned over 25.0 Sorare points in each of his final four. The Atlanta hurler had a remarkable 5.52 K/BB rate, but I have him as a hold because of the closeness of a few particular stats. Schwellenbach had a 3.35 ERA, a 3.28 FIP, and a 3.32 xFIP. What we saw is what we got for the young pitcher.
Jose Altuve, HOU ($8.85): If you are worried that Altuve, now in his age-34 season, may be ready for a decline, well, clearly I'm saying hold on. One, playing left field may be easier on his body and thus help him at the plate. Two, and a bigger reason for me to continue to trust the Astros legend's bat, is that he had a 24.6 line-drive percentage last year. Even, in theory, if Altuve has lost half a step, he can turn those line drives into doubles, or at least singles, which will deliver steady Sorare points.
DOWNGRADES
Jameson Taillon, CHC ($3.92): I grant you that Taillon's ERA dropped from 4.84 to 3.27 from 2023 to 2024, but his FIP only dropped from 4.60 to 3.92. The takeaway there is that last year the Cubs hurler had a 3.92, so his 3.27 ERA flattered him quite a bit. Taillon also saw his K/9 rate drop down to 6.80, and it's easy to see why. His swinging strikeout rate was a mere 8.7. In September he had five starts with over 20.0 Sorare points. In August, he had four starts under 20.0 Sorare points. My expectation is that the latter is more reflective of how 2025 will turn out.
George Springer, TOR ($2.89): Now here's a player of a similar vintage to Altuve (and a former Astro at that) who, if not cooked, is cooked-adjacent at this point. From a counting-stats perspective, Springer did have 19 homers and 16 stolen bases, and that gave you some Sorare points. However, he hit .220 and slugged .371 all in all. Always a substandard BABIP guy, in 2024 his BABIP fell to .245. Not only that, but Springer's line-drive rate fell to 16.4, and his groundball rate rose to 50.7. This is a hitter who put half of his balls in play on the ground who is now heading into his age-35 campaign. That is not a winning combination by any stretch of the imagination.
Tyler Fitzgerald, SF ($2.69): When a guy comes out of nowhere in his age-26 season to post 15 homers, 17 stolen bases, and a .289 average over 96 games, it turns heads. It also lends itself to skepticism, especially when in seven of his last 13 games he had negative Sorare points. Well, unfortunately for Giants fans, that skepticism is well-warranted. Fitzgerald had a .380 BABIP, highest among players with at least 300 at-bats last season. In Triple-A he hovered around .340, but that isn't .380, and it's also the minors.
