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Español2026 Fantasy Baseball Breakouts: Who's ready to make a splash at C, 1B, 2B, SS and 3B?
Drafting a team of safe, boring players is a great way to finish in third place. While those with a high floor have their place in a fantasy baseball draft, managers need to chase high ceilings at some point in the selection process if they want to build a truly special roster. The infielders listed below have a good chance to take a major step forward this year and are excellent targets in any draft.
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Please note that I omitted rookies, as any production from first-year players would constitute some degree of a breakout season.
Shea Langeliers, C, Athletics
Coming off a pair of productive seasons, Langeliers is a step away from a Cal Raleigh-esque campaign. The slugger was dominant in the second half of 2025, when he used improvements in fly ball rate and pull rate to hit .328 with 19 homers and 45 RBI in 57 games. He boosted his year-over-year batting average by more than 50 points, thanks to a vastly improved 19.7% strikeout rate. Langeliers barrels up the ball often, is part of a rapidly improving lineup and calls home to a hitter-friendly venue. He could produce 35-40 homers and 100 RBI.
Luke Keaschall, 2B, Minnesota Twins
Managers in categories leagues should be excited to draft Keaschall at his ADP (123.6), as he will be among the steals leaders this year. The 23-year-old has an exceptional ability to get his bat on the ball and maintains a strong line drive rate, which will ensure a high batting average. He also knows how to use his plate patience to reach base, as he posted elite walk rates in the minors and logged an impressive 9.2% mark as a rookie. Keaschall doesn’t hit the ball hard, but that is the case with several speedsters, and his 86.2 mph average exit velocity is similar to the mark Brice Turang posted when he stole 50 bases in 2024. The rebuilding Twins will let Keaschall run aggressively from a premium lineup spot, which will result in 40 steals and 85 runs.
Colson Montgomery, 3B/SS, Chicago White Sox
In some cases, breakout seasons are merely a repeat of skills shown in smaller sample sizes, but this time stretched over a full campaign. That will be the case with Montgomery this season, after he homered 21 times in 71 games as a rookie. Although he won’t stay on that 45-homer pace, the 24-year-old will use his penchant for pulled fly balls to go deep 35 times, and even in a weak White Sox lineup, he can drive in 85 runs. It’s also worth noting that although Montgomery could stand to lower his strikeout rate, he achieved his .239 average with a .263 BABIP, which means that his batted-ball luck could improve in Year 2.
Ezequiel Tovar, SS, Colorado Rockies
Several small changes could lead to a breakout season for Tovar, who has already had some solid campaigns and is still just 24 years old. The youngster will never be confused with Juan Soto or Bryce Harper when it comes to plate discipline, but he made minor improvements to his strikeout and walk rates last year. He also posted a career-best 89.4 mph average exit velocity, and his xBA, xSLG and xwOBA were career-high marks. Finally, his line drive improved to a lofty 27.8% last year, and he dealt with an unfortunate 9.0% HR/FB rate that held his home run total down.
Beyond his skill gains, Tovar should be helped by the fact that the Rockies offense is bound to improve. The team scored just 587 runs, which was the lowest total in a 162-game season in franchise history. Even in a down year, Colorado’s lineup uses the benefits of Coors Field to score roughly 700 runs. I’m not predicting the Rockies to make major strides as a team, but their offense should be significantly more productive this year.
Otto Lopez, 2B/SS, Miami Marlins
Think that we saw the Lopez breakout season last year? Think again. Through a consolidation of skills he has already shown, Lopez could take another step forward this year. Thanks to more playing time and an improved fly-ball rate, the infielder produced a career-high 15 homers, which is a repeatable total. This year’s improvements will come in the batting average category, as last year he was hampered by a .264 BABIP, which negated an improved 13.8% strikeout rate.
With better batted-ball luck, Lopez could hit .280 while using the increase in base knocks and his 81st percentile sprint speed to post career-high marks in steals and runs scored.
Miguel Vargas, 1B/3B, Chicago White Sox
For the deep-league crowd, I offer Vargas as a late-round breakout candidate. The 26-year-old who debuted way back in 2022 finally played a full season in 2025. The results were respectable but not impressive. Still, we saw some improvements, most notably major strides with a strikeout rate that was cut to 17.6%. Vargas has always produced many fly balls (career 50.3% rate) and respectable exit velocities but has been saddled by a lowly lifetime 7.3% HR/FB rate. That mark will finally push past 10% this year, which will give Vargas 25-homer potential.
Syracuse Olympic Sports update:
We’re back today to get you caught up on the latest from Syracuse’s Olympic Sports as winter sports hit championship season.
Ice Hockey (14-16-4, 10-11-3):
Syracuse’s season came to an end with a 2-0 series loss to #3 Penn State. The Nittany Lions dominated game 1 with a 7-1 rout, but the Orange pushed them in game 2 before falling by a 2-1 score. Jackson Kinsler scored the lone Syracuse goal while Ava Drabyk made 28 saves in game 2- limiting the powerful Penn State offense to just two goals.
The Orange have a solid piece to build around in Drabyk, who had an outstanding first season. Can they find more scoring and improve the special teams? Syracuse averaged under 2 goals per game this season and their power play was 6th in the AHA while the penalty kill was last. Without a billionaire funding the program, the Orange need to find ways to win in the margins and improving the special teams will be key.
Softball (10-6):
Syracuse went 3-1 at the Terrapin Classic with wins over Fairfield, UMBC and Providence. This triple from Gabby Lantier helped the Orange close out the weekend on a winning note over the Friars.
The Orange head back to Maryland next weekend to compete in the UMBC Tournament in Baltimore.
Track and Field:
Jamir Brown’s 2nd place finish in the 60m hurdles in a time of 7.56 seconds was the top Syracuse performance at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The other scorer for the men was Drew Zundell, who placed 8th in the mile in a time of 4:06.
For the Orange women, Talea Buxton (8.29) took 4th in the 60m hurdles while Tia Outlaw was 8th in a time of 8.50. Both teams finished in 16th place in the team competition, which were won by the Florida State men and Clemson women.
Tennis (5-5, 1-2):
Syracuse got their 1st ACC win with a 5-0 sweep over Boston College. Anastasia Sysoeva and Nelly Knezkova were able to secure the doubles point and then the Orange swept the singles matches.
The Orange will be back home next Sunday to take on SMU with an 11:00 am start at Drumlins
Check out The Feed for this week’s schedule of Syracuse games. We’ll have more updates next week.
NHL Trade deadline: Penguins primer
The NHL trade deadline is approaching this Friday afternoon, March 6th at 3pm Eastern time. The Penguins find themselves in an interesting spot, tied for third currently in points percentage in the Eastern Conference. They have been the most active team at trading this season, having added Egor Chinakhov, Stuart Skinner and Sam Girard during the season, while acquiring and sending out Brett Kulak.
There’s good reason to believe that GM Kyle Dubas isn’t done putting the final touches on his team and making more moves to shuttle players and picks around in order to accomplish his stated goals of positioning the team now and in the future.
What we shouldn’t expect is any bold rental moves aimed solely with short-term ideas. The Pens weren’t involved at all in the Artemi Panarin sweepstakes and they won’t be involved in deals like the ones that included impending free agents like Rasmus Andersson and Kiefer Sherwood.
What’s left? Let’s get into it.
Areas to at least keep an eye on
Draft pick pile — no team has more quality draft depth in the next three or four years than Pittsburgh. The Pens have two second round picks in each of 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 and two third round picks in 2026, 2027 and 2028 thanks to previous trades made. That’s even after trading a second and third round pick for Chinakhov. If an opportunity arises to acquire a young-ish NHL player (like perhaps defenseman Zach Whitecloud) it makes a lot of sense that the Pens can use their excess picks to make that trade.
Connor Clifton —Clifton is an impending free agent that has been in and out of the lineup throughout the season. Lately he’s been a staple on the third pair, bringing his physical game and helping the team. While Clifton shouldn’t necessarily have his bags packed, if the Pens shuffle pieces to bring in a defenseman (like the aforementioned Whitecloud) it might make some sense to make a subsequent trade to send Clifton out to recoup some of that trade price. Hanging onto Clifton for depth’s sake also makes sense, but moving an impending free agent plays into what the team has frequently done.
Stuart Skinner —We wrote about this in detail last week, which all still applies today. Looking at the bigger picture, Arturs Silovs has only given up 16 goals in his last nine games. That has has to be noted if the Pens think Silovs might be turning into the main goalie for the rest of this season, where does that leave Skinner? It’s an intriguing question. Pittsburgh could always opt to stand pat and keep their goalie depth, but standing pat hasn’t been the typical M.O. as of late. You would have to think if a goalie-hungry team like Ottawa or Vegas was interested in Skinner that the Pens would at least hear them out.
Justin Brazeau — This might be months or even a year early, but if there was a time to sell high on Brazeau it would be now that he’s in a career-year in every major category. Brazeau is under contract for next season, so the onus would be on improving that third line for a player that might fit stylistically better with Anthony Mantha and Ben Kindel. Brazeau has been slowing down from his torrid early-season production, he found the back of the net against Vegas (scoring the fifth goal in a 5-0 win) but only had one goal in the 10 games prior to that. If the Pens think Avery Hayes or a trade addition might surpass Brazeau then dealing him could be a proactive move to make. Usually a player like Brazeau would be out of trade considerations at this time, but the Penguins have been so active at shuffling pieces like this around that it’s at least worth a mention.
Potential trade targets
Right side defense — The addition of Girard has seemingly set the left side for now with Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea in tow. The right side is the area that looks prime for improvement. Whether that means a potential big swing like Dougie Hamilton or Justin Faulk remains to be seen, the options could expand to a rental like Connor Murphy or something in between like Whitecloud. If you had to place a shiny nickel on what position the Penguins will add to this week before the deadline, the right side defense would be a very good selection in whatever form that might be.
Center — There’s no need to overreact managerially to the Sidney Crosby injury since the Pens’ captain should return to the team in a few weeks, yet center could be a place to monitor. Evgeni Malkin has shifted to the wing, leaving the non-center Crosby options of Kindel, Tommy Novak and Rickard Rakell sticking out at the moment. Someone like Vincent Trocheck (32) has been older than what Pittsburgh has been targeting, though the positional flexibility of players like Novak and Rakell could open up possibilities to bring in a center now and figure out the pieces as they go. This could be a longer-term play too, if Malkin isn’t going to be a center on the Pens in 2026-27 then there would be more of a need for a second or third line center next season to join the Crosby-Kindel tandem.
Expect the unexpected – Many of the trades, like Jarry/Skinner and Chinakhov have come out of the blue without much indication until a deal was finalized. Dubas operates in the shadows, and often counter to the conventional wisdom or reports of the day, going back to the ‘reach’ of taking Kindel 11th overall in the draft. Dubas’s next move might very well be something that isn’t seen coming, like adding a Bobby McMann or an even deeper cut for a different target that isn’t mentioned commonly on the trade rumor mill. Given the team’s draft surplus and significant cap space, their hands are free to operate about as creatively as they dare to dream. Lately there has been no shortage of surprising and unpredictable moves, the next one very well could follow that path as coming out of left field.
Distance Runner Loses Half-Marathon Title and $20,000 Prize After She’s Led Off Course by Officials
Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- The runner leading the U.S. Half Marathon Championships was guided off the race's course less than two miles from the finish line
- Jess McClain finished ninth, while Molly Born — who was more than a minute off McClain's pace — claimed the top spot and won the $20,000 prize
- USA Track and Field's jury of appeals ruled that it found no reason to alter the results to finish
Distance runner Jess McClain was poised to win a crucial race — until she was mistakenly guided off the course.
On Sunday, March 1, McClain was among scores of runners competing in the 2026 U.S. Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta, all vying for a top-three spot to qualify to represent Team USA in Copenhagen later this year.
That goal appeared well within reach for McClain as she approached the last two miles from of the race, The Athletic reported.
As the frontrunner, McClain was following the lead vehicle supplied by the race's host, Atlanta Track Club.
But then the vehicle erroneously veered off the course, and when McClain realized and returned to the established path, she had run an extra 400 meters (about one fourth of a mile).
Credit: Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty
McClain arrived at the finish line in ninth place, well behind the race's winner Molly Born — who had been more than a minute off McClain's pace at the time of the error, The Athletic reported. Born was given the $20,000 prize, awarded to the men's and women's winners.
Behind McClain were runners Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat, who had also veered off course. Hurley and Kurgat came in 12th and 13th place, respectively, according to Athletics Illustrated.
Following protestation filings by the impacted athletes, the jury of appeals for USA Track and Field said that it found the half marathon violated a rule that the path should be adequately marked at the point where the lead vehicle and the three runners were misdirected. But the error bears no impact on the results, their statement read.
"However, the jury of appeals finds no recourse within the USATF rulebook to alter the results order of finish. The results order of finish as posted is considered final," the jury of appeals concluded.
Runners are responsible for knowing the course, The Athletic reported, citing the race's rules.
USATF emphasized that Atlanta Track Club was charged with supplying and managing the lead vehicles. In its own statement, also released March 1, track club CEO Rich Kenah claimed "full responsibility" for the error.
Credit: Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty
"Athletes should never have to make a split-second decision between following a pace vehicle or trusting the official course," Kenah stated, adding, "Atlanta Track Club will make best efforts to ensure the affected athletes — Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat — are made whole."
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Both Atlanta Track Club and USATF are reviewing the events of the half marathon, each organization's statement said.
The final selection for runners representing Team USA in Copenhagen will not officially take place until May, USATF stated. McClain previously represented the United States last year in the World Championship Marathon in Tokyo, where she finished in eighth place.
Read the original article on People
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