Yordan Alvarez

Alvarez set career-high marks in games played (147) and plate appearances (635) while clearing 30 homers for the fourth consecutive year. He suffered a right knee sprain during the final week of the 2024 regular season, but Alvarez was able to return for the wild-card round. It's almost scary what Alvarez has been able to do with his strikeout rate, lowering it to just 15 percent last season while keeping his Statcast page crimson red with elite batted-ball numbers. He has a long history of knee problems, including double knee surgery in August of 2020, but Alvarez has few peers when on the field, ranking behind only Aaron Judge in wRC+ (165) over the past four seasons. Alvarez retains outfield eligibility after making 53 starts in left field, but he should continue to see most of his time at designated hitter. Taking advantage of the bigger bases and new rules limiting pickoff attempts, Alvarez added six steals last season, after coming into the campaign with two career steals. Fantasy managers would probably prefer he not run at all given his injury history. Read Past Outlooks