Unless you’re playing on easy mode or playing in an eight-team fantasy baseball league, you’re going to face decisions at certain positions and whether you should wait or go all in and use early draft capital on them. This year, outfield is the one position I’ve staked my claim to go all in on early in drafts because of how far it falls off the later we go. I think first base is a position that has some diamonds in the rough if you wait until some of the later rounds. 

Fantasy Baseball First Base Late Round Targets

Andrew Vaughn, Milwaukee Brewers (Composite ADP - 258.28)

The former third overall pick in the 2019 draft has had a very up-and-down career, but clearly found something once he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025. This is what Vaughn’s statcast page looked like last year;

The breakout seems very real. The breakout was largely due to his time with the Brewers. He was traded in the middle of the year after hitting .189 and being sent down by the White Sox, but his slash line with the Brewers was .308/.375/.493. He was a 141 OPS+ player, and the average player across the majors sat at 100 for context. This is a guy who already has a 20-65-80 season under his belt, and slotting into the middle of the Brewers lineup could present him with more opportunity to make it happen for a second time, and possibly a second time on steroids. I don’t think 30 home runs or 100 runs batted in are off the table if he plays 150-plus games.

Jake Burger, Texas Rangers (Composite ADP - 266.13)

If drafting Jake Burger, your ratios will need some balancing because he’s not going to hit for a good average or get on base all too much. In fact, his walk rate dropped to a career-low 3.2%, but the power remained. Across 103 games in 2025, Burger belted 16 homers and posted a .183 ISO. There is more meat on the bone, too, considering Burger’s career-worst .419 SLG that’s paired with a .478 xSLG. Burger posted two consecutive seasons of at least 29 home runs, and a lot of projection platforms assume him to be up near that number again as long as he can stay healthy. Cheap power at first.

Josh Bell, Minnesota Twins (Composite ADP - 373.89)

We’re many years removed from 2019 when Josh Bell hit 37 home runs, 116 RBI, and 94 R, but Bell enters the 2026 campaign with a starting gig in Minnesota. Bell projects to hit second for the Twins this year and is still a very productive player, especially considering his ADP is closer to 400 than 300.

The Twins are actually getting a pretty good player in Bell at this stage of his career.

I think one thing you can point to that improves is his average against left-handed pitching. For his career, he’s had a .751 OPS against southpaws, and yet, he had a .552 OPS against them last season, yet a .162 BABIP suggests he was incredibly lucky. That and his career numbers suggest there’s still plenty in the tank for Bell, who should be playing every day for the Twins.

Coby Mayo, Baltimore Orioles (Composite ADP - 417.58)

It’s not a good sign for the oft-injured Jordan Westburg that he’s injured once again, this time with a torn UCL, and that benefits some Orioles players, specifically Coby Mayo. It’s been a brutal time for Mayo at the major league level in both 2024 and ‘25 when he’s gotten his opportunity.

When it comes to Mayo, it’s all about the power. Here were his prospect grades (per Fangraphs). Just look at his game power and raw power;

The strikeouts have hurt him as he was up near 29% in 2025. It’s interesting to see what he’s done this spring, because through his first 28 plate appearances, he’s only struck out 3.6% of the time and is batting .500 because of it. With Westburg out, we should see Mayo play every day at third. You can see the upside in Mayo’s bat when you look at some of his minor league campaigns. In 2023, he hit 29 homers across 140 games with a .563 and followed that up in ‘24 with 25 home runs in 93 games, good for a .592 SLG%. At his ADP, the upside is worth the draft pick; we just have to hope he gets off to a good start so he sticks around even after Jordan Westburg is back.