Early ADP Analysis: UTIL

Dave Shovein breaks down the ever-expanding UTIL universe from an ADP standpoint in the lead up to spring training.

Even for the most casual fantasy drafters, entering a draft without any type of plan at all is a sure recipe for disaster. One of the most important tools at the disposal of any fantasy manager is average draft position. It’s the data that gives everyone insight into the going rate for each player in fantasy drafts.

ADP isn’t a static tool though, it evolves over time. It will show us trends, whether a player is moving up or down in the rankings. It also gives us insight into the maximum and minimum picks made for every player. Using this data should be absolutely critical in developing your plan of attack for your next fantasy draft.

Every week in this series I’ll take an early look at how ADP is shaping up at each position. I’ll attempt to highlight where the tiers fall at each position, areas of the draft that you may want to target the position and players that I may be avoiding at their current draft cost.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, we have already gone through the entire infield and the outfield, but we didn’t want to overlook the players that don’t qualify at any positions except utility.

Full disclosure, nearly all of my fantasy endeavors are done at the NFBC where both their 12-team and 15-team formats utilize rosters that start 23 players (14 hitters, 9 pitchers). That includes two catchers. The analysis will be viewed primarily through that lens but there should be plenty of insights that can be taken away to other formats as well.

There’s only a handful of draft-worthy players on this list, but that doesn’t mean we should gloss over them. You can only handle one of these players on your roster, as you can’t start two at the same time, so be sure to be mindful if choosing to shop in this area.

Here’s a look at how ADP is shaping up at the position as of now. For this exercise, I’m looking at the data from NFBC Draft Champions leagues (15-team, 50 rounds) from the last two weeks. As we get closer to the season and drafts become more prevalent, I’ll start to shrink that window a bit to make sure we’re looking at the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Obviously, Shohei Ohtani is amazing and well worthy of being the top overall pick in most fantasy baseball drafts. The fact that he can be deployed on a weekly basis as a pitcher if you so choose just adds to his aura and flexibility – even if it’s likely only on his two-start weeks (if he has any).

Keep in mind that on offense, he’s only eligible in that utility spot though – so unless your league happens to have two of them, drafting Ohtani means that you really can’t be looking at anyone else on this list.

After Ohtani we have a grouping of three similar players between picks 69 and 79 overall in Marcell Ozuna, Brent Rooker and Kyle Schwarber. I’ve got the three of them ranked in the same order that ADP does and all valued very similarly. They’ll all provide terrific power production, just how they get there is a bit different.

Schwarber has the highest power projection of the bunch, but he’s also a major liability in batting average. As the Phillies’ leadoff man, he’ll also score the most runs of the group while chipping in a couple of steals while still finishing right around the other two in RBI. If you structure your team properly and can handle the hit in batting average, Schwarber makes for an intriguing option at the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth round in 15-team drafts.

Ozuna’s power projection is right under Schwarber’s, but instead of the batting average drain he’s likely to actually help in the category. His counting stats should also be improved with the Braves’ lineup back at full strength for the 2025 campaign. The only thing that he won’t provide is speed, you should expect a straight zero in the category.

That leaves Rooker somewhere in the middle. He has the lowest power projection of the trio, but should still clear the 30-homer plateau – especially with the major upgrade in home ballpark. If we believe the gains that he made in 2024 are real (which I do), his batting average should be at worst neutral and more likely a slight positive. He also incorporated speed into his game in 2024 and should finish somewhere in the 5-8 range for stolen bases – which adds plenty of value to that skillset. He’s the most balanced of the three and would probably be the guy that I pull the trigger on in the sixth round if he’s there.

After those top four options, there’s a drop of nearly 250 picks until another UTIL only player comes off the board. There, you have Giancarlo Stanton and Joc Pederson right around pick 325 with Guardians young slugger Kyle Manzardo right behind them at pick 375. To me, the clear play from that group would be Pederson. Stanton has proven throughout his career that he simply can’t stay healthy, and while the power production is good while he’s in the lineup, that’s the only thing that he provides. Pederson, meanwhile, has done nothing but mash right-handed pitching in his career and now he gets to do so in the heart of a loaded Rangers lineup. If I make it to Round 20 and don’t have my utility spot locked up already, Pederson will definitely be near the top of my list.

Manzardo really struggled in his debut with the Guardians and is a tough player for me to get a handle on this season. He’s going to split time between first base and designated hitter with Carlos Santana and would actually be much more interesting to me if he gained that eligibility at first base. That could wind up taking months though.

After that, you have Masataka Yoshida on an island of his own at pick 430 before dropping down to former Cubs sluggers Kris Bryant and Eloy Jiménez at picks 546 and 600 respectively. Even when Yoshida is healthy and going right, he’s empty batting average and that isn’t the skillset that I’m normally looking to add. I have had a hard time quitting Bryant over the years – especially at Coors Field – and I don’t hate gambling on him again after pick 500. Just know going in that it’s a lottery ticket and be prepared to cut bait as soon as he hits the injured list for the first time.

I don’t see Jiménez getting enough playing time with the Rays to return to relevancy from a fantasy perspective, so he’ll probably prove me completely wrong by crushing 40 homers. He’s a player that I’ll monitor if he starts out hot, but not someone that I’m actively looking to roster at the moment.

Andrew McCutchen is next by ADP at pick 645. He’s going to play regularly and hit in a good spot in the Pirates’ lineup to start the season, which has value in Draft Champions leagues and other deep formats.

The player that I’m actually the most intrigued by on this list is way down at pick 655 – and that’s J.D. Martinez. It’s shocking to me that we’re into the second week of February and Martinez is still sitting on his couch without a team to play for. Eventually, someone is going to scoop him up at a ridiculous discount to mash against left-handed pitching. Countless metrics show that Martinez was among the most unlucky hitters in the league in 2024 – especially in the power department – and seeing him jump back up to the game’s elite ranks in 2025 would not surprise me in the slightest. Maybe it’s the homer in me, but I can see the Tigers bringing him back on a one-year deal and him having another monster season in Motown.

The final UTIL only player on the list is Matt Mervis. I have always liked the skills, he just hasn’t been able to put anything together at the big league level. I don’t think that Jonah Bride is going to be a major roadblock to playing time, so if he has a strong spring and cracks the Marlins’ Opening Day roster, he’s a player that I’ll have some late-round interest in.

Hopefully at some point in my ramblings here you were able to at least glean some valuable information that you can take with you when attempting to craft your draft plan for the upcoming season. If you perform the same types of exercises at every position, know the player pool forward and backwards and know in which pockets of the draft you’re more likely to target each position, then you’re already a few steps ahead of the competition and well on your way to competing for a league title.