Collette Calls: 2026 NL East Bold Predictions

Welcome to the annual installment of my bold prediction series, where I look at a hitter and a pitcher from each of the 30 MLB clubs in an effort to force you to think differently about these players. The series is spread out over six installments, one for each division, and it will include players for all league shapes and sizes. 

If you're coming here looking for me to nail all 60 predictions, you will be disappointed. These predictions are designed to be bold, yet cling to a hope of realism so that you, too, can imagine what is possible. Last season, my best predictions included:

• Kyle Schwarber would hit 50-plus homers
• Shea Langeliers would be a top-three catcher
• Dillon Dingler would be a top-30 catcher
• Lenyn Sosa would be a top-30 second baseman
• Jonathan Aranda would be a top-250 player
• Matthew Boyd would be a top-100 pitcher
• Nick Lodolo would be a top-60 pitcher
• Noah Cameron would be a top-200 pitcher
• Emmanuel Clase would not be a top-five closer
• Michael King would not be a top-50 pitcher

Six of those predictions involved players which were outside the top 300 by ADP when those predictions were made. Please see my hitting and pitching self-reviews from the fall if you have not yet done so, as accountability is a big part of this annual exercise, and I certainly did have a few notable misses last season. 

Again, the one takeaway I would like all readers to get from this series is to think different. As Steve Jobs said in the original Apple campaign back in 1997: "Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes." The rest of the original ad talks about those who push the human race forward and change the world, which is well above my paygrade as a humble fantasy baseball writer. I am just here to get you to look at players in a different light and consider the what-if scenarios, such as a player conquering the one skill they've long struggled with or the playing-time dominoes all falling in the right direction out of nowhere. Projections are mostly made to be safe, but predictions do not have to worry about such constraints, especially bold predictions. 

I will have players in this series that may not even be drafted in many leagues but who will end up with in-season relevancy, such as Noah Cameron last season. Cameron had an ADP of 683 when I wrote him up, yet he finished 175th overall. My prediction was built upon the fact the Royals had experienced an unprededented run of pitching health in 2024, something which was incredibly unlikely to continue the following season. Cameron was on the 40-man roster and was best positioned to be the next man up when an injury happened. Kansas City did in fact have injury issues, and Cameron stepped in and up quite nicely after being drafted in just 25 percent of the 1,636 NFBC drafts last winter. 

This year's format will show the player's current ADP and range in drafts from November 1 onward in Draft Champion formats, which involve 750 players drafted over 50 rounds by 15 fantasy baseball managers. The player capsule will also include the hitter or pitcher I wrote up last season and my self-evaluation for that selection.

With that, let's get started!

Atlanta

Last Year: Sean Murphy would be a top-eight fantasy catcher (1 star)

This Year: Jurickson Profar is a top-25 outfielder

• ADP: 185
• Min/Max: 142 to 209
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 42nd

Profar was popped for an 80-game PED suspension right in the opening week of the 2025 season yet returned to post a 126 wRC+ after the long layoff, with more walks than strikeouts. His career high for RBI came in that suspect 2024 season when he drove in 85 runs, but I believe he is well-positioned to challenge that here in 2026. After all, he drove in runs at the same pace last year in 80 games as he had for that 2024 season while hitting in leadoff in 19 contests and fourth through sixth in another 37 contests. This season, he is projected to hit third (as long as everyone remains healthy) behind two on-base percentage machines in Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson and in front of Austin Riley and Drake Baldwin.

Profar's days of 20 home runs may be behind him, but he doesn't have to hit that many home runs to challenge 100 RBI. Alec Bohm drove in 97 runs in both 2023 and 2024 with 20 and 15 home runs, respectively, because of the favorable traffic in front of him on the bases. Josh Naylor also drove in 97 in 2023 with 17 homers, while Vinnie Pasquantino drove in 97 with 19 homers in 2024. We have seen nine players drive in 90-plus runs with 20 or fewer homers over the past four seasons, and I believe that Profar has the potential to join that list in 2026 if the Atlanta roster has better health than it did in 2025. Profar has value in doing a little bit of everything across five categories, but I see the potential for him to set that new career high in RBI and possibly even runs scored if he and the top half of the Atlanta lineup remains healthy in 2026. 

Last Year: Spencer Schwellenbach is not a top-80 pitcher (2stars)

This Year: Hurston Waldrep is a top-60 pitcher

• ADP: 247
• Min/Max: 205 to 370
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 93rd

This is admittedly a weird guy to focus on because of his unusual pitch mix. Waldrep is a starter whose most frequently used pitch is a splitter, and it is an amazing pitch. The league hit .150 off it and he had a 45.4 percent whiff rate with the pitch. 

Waldrep went from using his four-seamer more than anything in 2024 to making it his least-used offering in 2025 while adding both a cutter and a sinker to his repertoire. The changes helped him post an above league-average strikeout rate of 24.0 percent, but his 14.4 percent K-BB% needs improvement, as he's an early favorite for a full-time rotation spot. Waldrep truly needs a third pitch to rise to the level of his splitter and slider, and should any one of his breaking balls or cutter get there, another level of production is there for the hurler. 

The Pitching+ metrics like Waldrep, giving him slightly better than average grades in stuff, location and overall pitching. He worked 100.1 innings in 2024 and pushed that to 148 innings between Gwinnett and Atlanta last season. Waldrep's biggest competition for the rotation is two-fold: Bryce Elder, and options. Elder is the inferior pitcher by overall stuff, but he is also out of options while Waldrep has one remaining. Waldrep could outpitch Elder and still end up stuck in eastbound I-85 traffic to Gwinnett because of the curse of options, but I prefer to let these issues play out, and many a bet has been lost assuming pitcher health over the years. 

Miami

Last Year: Jesus Sanchez is a top-=200 overall player (2 stars)

This Year: Maximo Acosta is a top-400 overall player

• ADP: 736
• Min/Max: 612 to 741
• % Drafted: 27%
• Position ADP: 69th

I said earlier that there is something in this series for all players, and here is the first example. Acosta only had an ADP in Draft Champions leagues until I took him at 591 in my NFBC 50 a few weeks back with my 50th-round pick. I first came across him while doing his player outlook for the site, and the more I dug into his numbers and video, the more I liked him. 

Acosta was the return the Marlins received for trading Jake Burger to Texas before the 2025 season. He has the athleticism to play three infield positions and swiped 34 bags in 45 attempts last season between Triple-A and the majors. He has also, quite literally, shown power to all fields despite his smallish stature: 

Miami is the land of opportunity, and Acosta has the ability to crach the major-league roster in a reserve capacity or potentially even at third base should he beat out Connor Norby, as both players have options to be used. Acosta will need to make more contact, as he struck out in 26.6 percent of his plate appearances between the two levels last season, but I'm very intrigued by the combination of skills and opportunity in Miami. Intrigued enough to at least exercise a 50th-round selection in a draft-and-hold format, and I'll be looking to get him on NL-Only benches later this draft season as well. Acosta did not have enough plate appearances to qualify, but there is a lot of interesting red in the right areas on his Statcast profile:

Last Year:  Calvin Faucher finishes inside the top 300 overall (3 stars)

This Year: Braxton Garrett is a top-150 pitcher

• ADP: 529
• Min/Max: 369 to 732
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 213th

Garrett missed all of 2025 after recovering from yet another injury. Garrett first had Tommy John surgery in 2017 and peaked in 2023 before 2024 saw him limited by both shoulder impingement as well as a left forearm flexor strain, which led to him receiving a UCL revision surgery in December of 2024 with an internal brace. Garrett nearly made it back to pitch at the end of last season but had elbow discomfort in a bullpen session and those plans were shelved.

This pick is admittedly one with extreme risk, since we haven't seen Garrett throw off a mound in a game since June 17, 2024. That last start was a good way to go out, as he scattered five baserunners in six innings, allowing a solo homer while striking out six. It was a month after he threw a complete-game Maddux against the Diamondbacks, scattering four hits:

I look back to that healthy 2023 and see a guy who commanded the strike zone, enticed batters to chase pitches out of the zone, and generated a lot of groundballs, with his slider leading the way. He throws six different pitch types to both righties and lefties, which helps him make up for the lack of velocity by keeping hitters guessing and off-balance. 

It has been a while since we've seen what Garrett is capable of, but after that game against Arizona, Garrett was 10-7 with a 3.84 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP with a 19.4 percent strikeout rate since the start of the 2023 season. This is not a pick I can recommend for shallow- to medium-depth mixed leagues and is more directed to NL-Only fantasy managers and those in deep, deep mixed-league formats, but I believe there is still good in this guy. He's worth a reserve pick in those leagues to see what plays out. If this plays out as well as my similar affection for Matthew Boyd did last season, around similar circumstances, all the better. 

New York

Last Year:  Brandon Nimmo is a top-100 overall player (5 stars)

This Year: Jorge Polanco drives in 100-plus runs

• ADP: 249
• Min/Max: 172 to 319
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 18th

When the prediction is this much higher than the projections, it needs explaining. Polanco has the unenviable task of stepping into the giant shoes vacated by the departure of Pete Alonso, who headed down I-95 South to Baltimore. Polanco can only replicate Alonso in two ways — playing first base and hitting cleanup — and that latter point is what excites me when it comes to Polanco overperforming in 2026.

Besides, it's not like Polanco hasn't nearly accomplished 100 RBI previously. It was just a few seasons ago that he fell two RBI short while playing with Minnesota, where he drove himself in with a career-best 33 home runs but also drove in 65 other runners that season while hitting in the following lineup spot:

• Leadoff: 27 times
• 2nd: 33 times
• 3rd: 43 times
• Cleanup: 9 times
• 5th: 16 times
• 6th: 16 times

It's unlikely Polanco hits in the first three spots, because Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Marcus Semien will be occupying them. The Mets are obviously hoping for a Semien rebound, and that would only help Polanco's chances with the traffic that healthy trio could put on the bases in front of him. Polanco hit .333 with a 1.048 OPS with runners in scoring position in his 98-RBI campaign. That split is notoriously noisy, and he showed that by doing little in those situations from 2022 to 2024. However, a healthier Polanco rebounded to hit .337 with a .985 OPS in those situations last season, spending most of the year hitting fifth or sixth in the lineup. 

I don't envy the pressure Polanco is under this season as the replacement for Alonso on the roster, but the veteran has the opportunity to overperform his projections by a significant margin in runs and RBI and should be going much higher than 18th at his position this winter. 

Last Year: Clay Holmes is a top-250 pitcher (4 stars)

This Year: Nolan McLean is not a top-60 pitcher

• ADP: 99
• Min/Max: 65 to 142
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 40th

These were the top 10 rookie pitchers last year and where they went in 2025 RotoWire Online Championship drafts:

One could argue that undrafted guy, Cameron, was better than all of them, yet here we are with McLean going inside the top 100 as the 40th overall pitcher. He is currently being drafted just after Nick Pivetta and Framber Valdez, with Spencer Strider, Tyler Glasnow and Brandon Woodruff the next three starters behind him. 

These are pitchers going outside the top 60 while McLeain sits in the top 40: Drew Rasmussen, Robbie Ray, Luis Castillo, Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Tanner Bibee. Those are proven track records, and in some cases, proven volume, going 50 or more picks later than someone who hasn't even thrown 50 innings at the major-league level. This is where Bailey Ober, Spencer Strider, Aaron Nola, Hunter Greene, Joe Ryan and Roki Sasaki were being taken in drafts last season. The first two names worked out terribly, while the level of success varied with the remaining names.  Jeff Zimmerman also had a great BlueSky post about this earlier this month:

Raise your hand if you have previously been burned chasing some of those names. I see a few former roster killers of mine on that list, and you likely do as well.

McLean also saw his workload jump 47.4 percent from 2024 to 2025, albeit with no signs of concern in his eight major-league starts. However, this is not a declaration of a skills concern as much as it's about workload concerns and fading the upside play for more proven options later. I sense a lot of buyer's remorse posts in the future from those taking McLean in the top 100.

Philadelphia

Last Year: Kyle Schwarber hits 50-plus homers (5 stars)

This Year: Justin Crawford is a top-60 outfielder

• ADP: 362
• Min/Max: 257 to 496
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 82nd

Yep, that's me, being high on a rookie who has not yet had a major-league plate appearance just after telling you to fade a rookie pitcher. It's easier for me to say that when this rookie has the potential to be extremely good in one category. Crawford is being penciled in as the starting center fielder for Philadelphia as they are putting an emphasis on their outfield defense for the first time in a few years. Crawford is coming off a strong season in Triple-A where he hit .334/.411/.452 with 46 steals in 57 attempts while leveraging the Triple-A strike zone to nearly double his previous season's walk rate.

To be clear, I do not think Crawford is anything more than a ninth-place hitter for the Phillies all season, but he has the ability to use his approach and speed to reach base frequently enough to utilize his best skill to both steal bases as well as score runs when the stars at the top of the order drive him in. Crawford's current ADP is two rounds later than where Chandler Simpson was being taken last winter, but pitchers won't be able to overpower Crawford as easily as they did Simpson because Crawford can actually drive the baseball to and over the wall.

The fact this lineup is already star-laden and all Crawford is being asked to do is flash his leather and speed while hitting ninth makes this declaration easier to handle, as there isn't as much pressure on him as there would be in other situations. This is 40-plus stolen base potential if everything goes well, but it would be amazing if he somehow matched his father's stolen base total (55) from the elder's first full season in 2003. 

Last Year: Jordan Romano is a top-75 pitcher (negative 1000 stars)

This Year: Zack Wheeler is not a top-80 pitcher

• ADP: 134
• Min/Max: 34 to 296
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 55th

I wrote about the Wheeler situation at length shortly after he went down for the season back in late August, and I encourage you to revisit that article if you missed it the first time around. The only data point we have to work off in regards to Wheeler is a pitcher (who was four years younger than Wheeler) missing just seven starts the following season after surgery to repair venous TOS.  I am expecting a single-digit win total and 20 starts out of Wheeler, which means I expect him to miss a third of season assuming he has no other issues once he returns. The list of other pitchers I am more comfortable rostering instead of Wheeler in a reset league is too long to type here, but I will add I did spend $11 to roster Wheeler in the XFL dynasty league where I am looking at a multi-year value. I am not so certain I go to a double-digit value in a redraft auction format.

Washington

Last Year: Nathaniel Lowe drives in 100-plus runs (2 stars)

This Year: Nasim Nunez is a top-25 shortstop

• ADP: 480
• Min/Max: 349 to 639
• % Drafted: 100%
• Position ADP: 43rd

Nunez is a former Rule 5 pick who had to lose a season of reps in 2024 to stay with the Nationals, but who then earned a promotion back to the club in 2025 after stealing 36 bases in 42 attempts while in Triple-A. He went 9-for-10 on the basepaths in his time with the Nationals. Nunez is another ninth-place hitter whose fantasy value will wholly hinge upon his ability to use his elite speed.

I like Nunez for 2026 because the club cared enough about his potential to keep him on the major-league roster for the entirety of 2024 and, to date, have not done anything this winter to block his path to the starting job at second base. The front office started giving Luis Garcia Jr. time at first base and worked with him to get him ready to handle more of the position in 2026. This would further free up time for Nunez to handle the starting second base spot and be a pest on the bases. The big unknown is whether Blake Butera will be as aggressive/careless on the bases as Davey Martinez was in previous seasons, but it would be surprising to see the new skipper slow this team down. Every projected starter on this club is under the age of 28 and could be fun to watch as they play without any pressure of contending.

Nunez, with his switch-hitting abilities, could even see some time higher in the lineup against some southpaws, since four of the top five bats in this projected lineup are lefties. Nunez is only shortstop-eligible on draft day but will pick up second base two weeks into the season and has a pathway to vault into the top 25 if he can maximize his speed potential. After all, those 38 steals in Triple-A last year came in just 63 games played. 

Last year: Zach Brzykcy is a top-200 pitcher (1 star)

This year: Clayton Beeter is a top-200 pitcher

• ADP: 572
• Min/Max: 343 to 726
• % Drafted: 94%
• Position ADP: 232nd

Regular readers might remember this is who I used for the Yankees bold prediction last season because I was intrigued by Beeter's ability to strike out minor-league hitters in bunches as well as how great he looked on video against Philadelphia regulars. Beeter did strike out 33 in 25.1 innings last season pitching for both the Yankees and Nationals, but he also walked 18 batters in those innings. Still, the nasty stuff was still there last season around all the walks:

Beeter showed it all after August 1, striking out 32 batters and walking 14 in 21.2 innings while allowing a single home run and holding the league to a .114 batting average. The closer role is there for the taking in the wide-open Nationals bullpen as the free agent market for established closers is all but empty unless the club is intrigued by Seranthony Dominguez or Pierce Johnson. There is a path for Beeter to get to 20-plus saves for Washington, but that path is likely going to be filled with some walk-related potholes when facing more disciplined teams who can lay off the nasty slider that dives out of the zone more often than not. I cannot quit this guy, because as Larry told the skipper Joe in an early scene in Bull Durham...