Fredrick’s Bold Predictions for 2026

Fantasy sports news, analysis, and waiver wire advice.

By Tyler Fredrick · March 24, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

Opening day should be a national holliday. Spring is here, the sun is out more often, we need a way to celebrate surviving the winter, and is there a better way to do that than by watching baseball? I don’t think so. Many people take the day off regardless. Others, like me who can never seem to get the day off, end up watching box scores from our desks until we can finally escape. Why not just give everyone the day off? Who says no? In honor of opening day, I’m making nine bold predictions. Let's get right into it. Kyle Tucker hits 40 homers and is a top 3 fantasy OF next to Soto and Judge Kyle Tucker signing with the Dodgers was a disaster for Major League Baseball but fantasy owners should be salivating. Dodger stadium is typically not thought of as a hitters paradise, at least not on the same level as Coors Field or Great American Ballpark, but it has actually been the best park for home runs over the past three years. The HR park factor of 127 is significantly higher than Coors Field (106), Yankee Stadium (119), and only Great American (123) comes close. Tucker has never hit more than 30 homers in a season but the combination of playing at Dodger Stadium and hitting in a lineup with Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman is the perfect storm for a career year. Combine the homers with 20 plus steals, a solid average, and Dodger counting stats and you’ve got a fantasy goldmine. Zach Neto goes 40/40 I love players that consistently improve and Zach Neto is one of those guys. Last year was his third year in the league and he made significant EV gains and pulled the ball in the air more than ever. It led to a personal best 26 homers in just 128 games and he added in 26 steals to go along with that. A full year of that is 33 homers and steals and he’s now 25 years old entering his prime. With the Angels projected to do poorly and not have much to play for, I’m anticipating them unleashing Neto on the basepaths and for him to put together a career year. Is that enough for him to get to 40/40? Maybe, maybe not. He might need to hit the ball a bit harder to do it but I’ll bet on Neto to keep making improvements over most others. Cam Schlittler is a top 10 pitcher Schlittler went from off of most people’s radars to one of the biggest breakouts in 2025. He finished his season with a flourish by shutting down his team’s biggest rivals on the big stage and I’m convinced that that was only the beginning for him. One of the reasons to get excited is a new and improved cutter that’s coming in at almost 95 MPH, up from the 92 MPH version that he was throwing last year. It looks dangerous so add that to his elite fastball, a 92 MPH sinker, and two breaking balls that all are above average stuff-wise and you’ve got one of the better arsenals in the league. He’s got the stuff to strike guys out and he threw over 150IP last year so if he stays healthy then workload shouldn’t be a problem. I see all the ingredients for an ace-like breakout. Cade Horton is a top 20 pitcher Horton had an impressive debut season for the Cubs, putting up a 2.67 ERA in 22 starts and finished as the runner up for the NL ROTY. I was skeptical at first, his advanced stats point to strong ERA regression, his 20.4% K rate wasn’t too great, so why am I so bullish for 2026? First, his second half of 2025 was extremely impressive. After the All Star Break, Horton put up a 1.03 ERA backed by a 2.79 FIP. Second, and more importantly, I anticipate many more K’s in his future thanks to two very good secondaries. The 47.8% whiff rate on the changeup was elite and 37.6% whiff rate on the sweeper is very good too. There’s a reason Horton put up K rates around and above 30% throughout his minor league career and I anticipate numbers closer to that mark as he gets more experience pitching in the majors. I think he puts it all together for a big season this year. Jacob Wilson fails to hit 10 HR and is barely rosterable in 12 team leagues Wilson’s 2025 season was very respectable and might have even been better had he not fractured his forearm halfway through the year. Still, there’s a reason that most projections have him hitting around 11 or 12 homers. He just doesn’t hit the ball that hard and his 2.2% barrel rate only beat out Xavier Edwards, Luis Arraez, Chase Meidroth, and Steven Kwan last year. On top of that, he only stole 5 bases so without homers, he’s really only giving you a good average and that just isn’t going to cut it in most leagues, especially at a position as loaded as shortstop. Jacob Misiorowski struggles with walks, finishes with an ERA over 4.25 It’s really hard to succeed in the bigs with elevated walk rates. Since 2010, the only guys that have consistently been successful with a walk rate at 10% or higher have been Tim Lincecum, Blake Snell, Dylan Cease, Robbie Ray, and Lance McCullers Jr. That isn’t exactly a long list and even those guys have had plenty of up and down seasons. I get that Misiorowski has ridiculous stuff that is probably better than all of theirs, but his 11.4% walk rate, which was the best in his career so far, is also higher than theirs as well. Like the others, Miz will probably have some great seasons, but I’m predicting that he’ll have plenty of down seasons as well so I am staying away. Bryce Eldridge struggles with K’s in both the majors and AAA, falls down prospect lists throughout the year I’ve been skeptical about Eldrige’s hit tool for a while now. He’s consistently run below 70% contact rates in the minors and while some guys with huge power can make that work, it isn’t always a sure thing. He’s still young so it may just be too early for him, but he struck out 35% in his major league debut to end last year and is now striking out 38% in 50 spring training PA’s against mostly AA and AAA pitching. He’ll head back to AAA to start the season so don’t be surprised if his surface numbers look good in the hitter friendly PCL. But I’ll be watching for the K’s and if they continue, we may see people beginning to ask questions. Anthony Eyanson has a Trey Yesavage like debut season and dominates the minors before pitching in the bigs by the end of the year I wrote about Eyanson and his velocity gains last week in my 2026 Fantasy Risers article and said that I am all in. A day later, Eyanson pitched in the spring breakout game and looked unhittable, going one inning and striking out the side on 14 pitches. The velocity gains that I mentioned are real and even more impressive than we could have imagined. He’s not just sitting 95+, he averaged 99.1 the other day. All three strikeouts came on the curveball which isn’t even his best pitch. The slider, which got a 70 grade from fangraphs, is ridiculous. This guy is real and I can see him cruising his way through the minors next season. Bishop Letson is a top 25 prospect by end of season I wrote about Letson as a guy I’m buying in my top 100 prospects article and I’m echoing that sentiment here. I absolutely love the fastball and I think he has the secondaries to play off of it. I think the command and stuff is there, I just need him to show that he can maintain it over a full season and against better hitters before his value really explodes. I anticipate him spending the majority of the season in AA and if he can stay healthy then I think the results will speak for themself.