Early-round landmines, 2025
Feb 26 2025
We've taken a rosy approach to most of the Speculator columns this season with "UP:" siders (hitters | pitchers), speculating on more playing time, and speculating on recency bias rebounders.
It's time to flip that switch with a more pessimistic tune this week — dodging those potential duds early in drafts.
Stepping on early-round landmines can quickly wipe out gains made hitting on a late breakout, so instead of dreaming on what some players' 80th-percentile outcome might look like, we need to consider their 20th-percentile outcome as well.
This week, we'll tour the first few rounds to uncover potential missteps as we make the case against several early picks. Some of this may seem like blasphemy—these are premier players going...
Almost!
You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!
Already a subscriber? Sign in here
More From Speculator
To the mound this week. We list out all "UP"side pitchers from the Baseball Forecaster with comments on outlooks that may have changed.
Jan 28 2026 3:09am
Jan 28 2026 3:09am
Reviewing the entire list of "UP:" batters with thoughts on those whose outlooks may have changed.
Jan 21 2026 3:02am
Jan 21 2026 3:02am
A look back at some early/mid-season Speculator calls to see how things shook out.
Sep 17 2025 3:08am
Sep 17 2025 3:08am
Our annual exercise of giving out second chances to those who, frankly, stunk up the joint in 2025.
Sep 10 2025 3:11am
Sep 10 2025 3:11am
Can we extract fantasy value from September auditions? Plus, a quick check on how team schedules shake out over the final month.
Aug 27 2025 3:06am
Aug 27 2025 3:06am
