2026 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers: Third Base

Typically regarded as a deep, power-laden position, third base is barely represented at the top of draft boards this year. Jose Ramirez is the only player occupying the hot corner valued as a first-round pick, by our rankings.

There are a lot of familiar faces at the position who will occupy starting roles in your fantasy league. Manny Machado, Alex Bregman, Eugenio Suarez, and Matt Chapman have all been in the league since the 2010s. Some newer household names include Junior Caminero and Maikel Garcia, each of whom were a bargain last draft season.

To identify sleepers at third base, we’ll be looking for undervalued players that are being drafted outside of the top 250 on the National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) platform. By using their average draft position (ADP) tool, we can analyze the value of players based on their draft cost.

The players listed below could provide value as a bench piece or free agency pickup in 10-12 team leagues. In deeper competitions, these third basemen may be late corner-infield or utility-slot options.

Alec Bohm is a Safe Pick — No. 257 NFBC ADP

Nobody in the draft room will let out any “oohs” or “ahhs” when Alec Bohm comes off of the board, but he’s a solid, high-floor pick.

When healthy, Bohm should play every day and be an average-or-better hitter in a good lineup. Bohm may not have a great deal of raw power, but he can benefit fantasy teams in other ways.

Even though Bohm has only hit 20 home runs in a season once, he routinely posts high batting averages and drives in runs. The lowest average we’ve seen from Bohm over the past four seasons is .274, and he recorded 97 RBI in back-to-back campaigns in 2023 and 2024.

ZiPS DC, which alters ZiPS projections based on curated depth charts, is the fondest of Bohm. ZiPS DC sees Bohm batting .282 with 16 home runs and 78 RBI, which would rank him as the 12th-best third baseman (3B12) for 2026.

THE BAT X, which heavily weights Statcast batted-ball metrics, is less excited about Bohm. THE BAT X has Bohm hitting .271 with 14 homers, which ranks him as 3B15 in that valuation algorithm.

Bohm is currently going as 3B21, but the projections agree that his contributions will be more valuable.

Miguel Vargas is Finding His Stride — No. 287 NFBC ADP

In his first full season with the opportunity to play every day, Miguel Vargas held his own.

He’d been blocked by the Dodgers for the first few years of his big-league career, but with the rebuilding White Sox, his spot in the starting lineup should remain secure. In 2025, Vargas posted career bests in plate appearances (569), home runs (16), and wRC+ (101).

He doesn’t swing the bat very hard (25th-percentile bat speed), but Vargas still posts a league-average barrel rate. Where Vargas thrives is plate discipline; his strikeout (17.6%) and walk (9.8%) rates were both above average. Vargas’ chase rate (21.6%) was nearly in the top 10% of all batters as well.

Unlike Bohm, THE BAT X seems to really like Vargas. THE BAT X projects Vargas for a .244 average with 22 home runs and a 110 wRC+, which ranks him as its 3B12.

ATC, a projection system that incorporates the aggregate outputs of other systems, is a bit lower on Vargas from a batting-average standpoint. ATC has Vargas as 3B17, batting .233 with 18 homers.

Since he’s currently being drafted as 3B25, Vargas seems like another safe, high-floor third baseman to draft at a discount.

Colt Keith Does a Lot Well — No. 311 NFBC ADP

Colt Keith hasn’t been phased by major-league pitching in his first two big-league seasons. Keith has batted .260 and .256, respectively, while hitting 13 home runs in each of those campaigns. In 2026, he’ll be a big part of a Tigers team that hopes to win the AL Central.

Keith’s main weakness, from a Statcast perspective, is that his bat speed is below average (27th percentile). Other than that subpar metric, there’s plenty to like with Keith. His 90-mph average exit velocity is right at league average, his 25% chase rate was in the top third of the league, and his 10.3% walk rate was in the top 27% of all batters.

RosterResource projects Keith as the Tigers’ leadoff hitter against righties in the upcoming campaign. The projections all agree that Keith will hit between .253-.265 with 13-16 home runs. Where the projections disagree is with Keith’s playing time, which ranges from 462-525 PA. THE BAT X, which has the lowest wRC+ projection for Keith (104), has him finishing as 3B26.

Seeing as though Keith is being selected as 3B27 (and 2B24), he seems likely to at least return value at this draft position. Given his multi-position eligibility, he could be a nice fill-in as a corner or middle infielder in leagues with 12 teams or more.