One of the biggest drafts in the fantasy baseball industry took place on February 24, 2026, in the latest edition of the Tout Wars Mixed 15 SOLDS draft ahead of the 2026 fantasy baseball season. A group of industry experts assembled their teams ahead of the new campaign in a league with 15 teams in a snake format.
Here are some of the most notable takeaways following the draft.
The Debate Over Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani at No. 1 Overall
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are essentially the 1.1 and 1.2 players in fantasy baseball ahead of the 2026 season, and there are strong arguments to select both players with the first overall pick. Greg Jewett of The Athletic, who was lucky enough to get the first overall selection as the 2025 SOLDS champion, went with Judge over Ohtani.
The New York Yankees slugger won the American League MVP in 2025 and is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, hitting .331 with a 1.145 OPS, 53 homers, and 114 RBI. That is elite production worthy of the first overall pick, even if you are a die-hard fan of what Ohtani brings to the table.
With either Judge or Ohtani, you cannot really go wrong. The top five picks were Judge, Ohtani, Juan Soto, Bobby Witt Jr., and Jose Ramirez. There were not many surprises overall in that range.
First-Round Focus on Elite Starting Pitching
Starting pitching proves to be a hot commodity once again. There were as many starting pitchers as shortstops (three) selected in the first round, and it is hard to justify any of the three selections not being worthy of a first-round pick in a 15-team draft.
Tarik Skubal went seventh overall, Paul Skenes was selected with the following pick, and Garrett Crochet went 14th overall. Skubal and Skenes won the 2025 Cy Young in the American League and National League, respectively, while Crochet led the majors in strikeouts with 255 in only 205.1 innings.
Capitalizing on Value with Yoshinobu Yamamoto
In terms of starting pitching, one curious case was that of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He is an ideal top-of-the-rotation starter from a fantasy perspective, but he was the seventh pitcher taken off the board despite being a consensus top-five arm entering the season.
Aside from the three first-round picks already mentioned, Bryan Woo, Cristopher Sanchez, and Hunter Brown were all taken before Yamamoto, who was selected with the fourth pick of the third round by Kev Mahserejian of Razzball. Chances are, Yamamoto will deliver better value than his draft slot.
Evaluating Potential Reaches: Naylor, McLean, and Altuve
Several players could have been selected way higher than they should have. Some examples include Josh Naylor going 51st overall, Nolan McLean being selected in the sixth round, and Jose Altuve being a fifth-round pick.
Naylor might be one of the best first basemen in fantasy baseball in 2026, but it is hard to justify a scenario in which he goes off the board earlier than Freddie Freeman. Naylor will have to play 81 of his games in a pitchers’ park like T-Mobile Park, and he is unlikely to steal 30-plus bases after posting career-best numbers in that category in 2025.
McLean has all the potential in the world to be a top-of-the-rotation arm at some point in his career, but 2026 will not be that moment. He was the 25th pitcher taken off the board with the 14th pick of the sixth round, but his ADP is in the 110-115 range, so he could have easily been taken one or two rounds later.
McLean posted a 2.06 ERA across eight starts and 48 innings in 2025, but that is not enough of a sample size to believe he is a top-30 pitcher in the majors.
Altuve is a curious case as well. He remains an elite hitter, but he already showed signs of declining in 2025, and that is not expected to stop in 2026. If anything, his best years are behind him, and his power is also likely to trend in the wrong direction despite hitting 26 homers in 2025.
He was the 11th pick of the fifth round by Tim Heaney of Lindy’s Sports, but it is hard to see him deliver top-70 value ahead of 2026 based on his 2025 struggles.
Gerrit Cole as a High-Value Draft Stash
CJ Kaltenbach of Mayhem Sports gets the honor of being awarded the sleeper pick in this draft since he scooped up Gerrit Cole with the ninth pick of the 14th round (204th overall).
Cole fluctuates between 150 and 250 in terms of ADP depending on your favorite go-to source, but if he proves to be healthy, he is going to outplay that ADP with absolute ease.
Cole made a successful spring debut on March 18, 2026, tossing one inning against the Boston Red Sox while touching 98.7 mph. He remains on track to rejoin the Yankees’ rotation between late May and early June as he completes his recovery from Tommy John surgery.
Kyle Soppe’s Strategy for Drafting from the Turn
Kyle Soppe of PFSN had the final pick of the draft, meaning he chose last in the first round but first in the second. That position implies a lot of strategy, and he did a good job. The combo of Corbin Carroll (No. 15) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (No. 16) is a solid floor to begin with.
Soppe banked heavily on power with the picks of Wyatt Langford, Bryce Harper, and Teoscar Hernandez in the third, fourth, and seventh rounds, respectively. He waited until the fifth round to select a starting pitcher, and while Joe Ryan is a solid bet, he has to stay healthy to deliver.
Ryan represents decent value with the 75th overall pick given his ADP of 67.7. Picking last in the first round is always tricky in a snake format, but based on the scenario, Soppe found a way to assemble a strong core of players in the opening seven rounds.
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