Fantasy Baseball Position Eligibility

Check out all the qualifying positions for each batter (stats include appearances as well as starts).

Why should I care about positional qualifications?

In a word, flexibility. A player who qualifies at multiple positions lets you mix and match more guys at each position. The single biggest advantage is the ability to stack your lineup against today's starter. That's extra important in daily lineup leagues that have few or no UTIL spots. For example, if your team is facing a tough southpaw that routinely mows down left-handed batters, you'd be wise to start as many solid righties as possible. Be sure to check the hitter vs pitcher matchups for each combo before locking in your lineup. Of course, all that takes extra time but if you're a fantasy junky or in an uber competitive league, it's well worth the effort. Bottom line, positional flexibility frees you up to get an advantage over your leaguemates, but only if you take advantage of the matchups. At the very least, put in the time against tough pitchers with extreme left/left or right/right splits.

Players that qualify for the most positions

Based on the 2024 season, here are the batters who have the most positions to their name (minimum of 10 games at each in 2024). A fair number are light-hitting utility players or defensive specialists. The rest of legitimate fantasy players that could be guys to target in your next draft. Below, the positions after each name are listed in order of decreasing number of game appearances (i.e., the first is typically their primary position).

• Blaze Alexander: SS, 2B, DH
• Luis Arraez: 1B, DH, 2B
• Cody Bellinger: OF, DH, 1B
• Mookie Betts: SS, OF, 2B
• Cavan Biggio: 2B, 3B, 1B, OF
• Jonah Bride: 1B, DH, 3B
• Vidal Brujan: 2B, SS, OF, 3B
• Kris Bryant: DH, OF, 1B
• Jake Burger: 3B, 1B, DH
• Alec Burleson: OF, DH, 1B
• Jose Caballero: SS, 3B, 2B
• Jeimer Candelario: 3B, DH, 1B
• Mark Canha: 1B, OF, DH
• Willi Castro: OF, SS, 2B, 3B
• Yainer Diaz: C, DH, 1B
• Brandon Drury: 2B, 3B, DH, 1B
• Mauricio Dubon: OF, 2B, 1B
• Ezequiel Duran: 3B, OF, 1B, DH
• Adam Frazier: 2B, OF, DH
• David Fry: DH, 1B, OF, C
• Romy Gonzalez: 2B, SS, 1B, 3B
• Hunter Goodman: OF, C, DH
• Vladimir Guerrero: 1B, DH, 3B
• Enrique Hernandez: 3B, OF, 1B
• Spencer Horwitz: 2B, 1B, DH
• Andy Ibanez: 2B, 3B, 1B
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa: 2B, 3B, SS
• Alex Kirilloff: OF, 1B, DH
• Brooks Lee: SS, 3B, 2B
• Brandon Lowe: 2B, DH, 1B
• Zach McKinstry: SS, 3B, OF, 2B
• Whit Merrifield: 2B, OF, 3B
• Jose Miranda: 3B, DH, 1B
• Dylan Moore: SS, 3B, 2B, OF
• Christopher Morel: 3B, DH, 2B, OF
• Tyler Nevin: 1B, OF, 3B
• Ryan O'Hearn: 1B, DH, OF
• Salvador Perez: C, 1B, DH
• Amed Rosario: OF, 2B, DH, SS, 3B
• Daniel Schneemann: OF, SS, 3B
• Gavin Sheets: OF, 1B, DH
• Josh Smith: 3B, SS, DH
• Donovan Solano: 3B, 1B, DH
• Edmundo Sosa: SS, 3B, 2B
• Chris Taylor: OF, 3B, 2B
• Abraham Toro: 3B, 2B, DH
• Ildemaro Vargas: 3B, 2B, OF
• Tyler Wade: 3B, OF, 2B, SS

Position Eligibility Rules for Yahoo, ESPN and others

Of course, every league site handles position qualification just a little bit differently. It's all based on what happened over the last full season (2024). Here are the latest batter rules from the most popular providers:

• Yahoo - 5 starts or 10 appearances at a position
• ESPN - 20 appearances
• Fantrax - 20 appearances
• CBS - 20 appearances (or 5 games in the current season)

If a player doesn't qualify for the above, most sites will default to the MLB position they played the most in the previous season.