Shohei Ohtani Holds Firm as Young Stars Surge in 2027 Fantasy Baseball ADP

Fantasy baseball 2027 early ADP takeaways: Shohei Ohtani holds firm, Aaron Judge slides and young stars soar.

The Fantasy Baseball offseason is officially here.

The MLB offseason has kicked off with teams setting their 40-man rosters earlier in the week.

The hot stove will kick off eventually — but it's hard to say how this offseason will play out.

A lockout looms in less than a month.

A potentially transformative new collective bargaining agreement is set to be ironed out over weeks or months.

But one thing is for sure: Fantasy baseball is still happening.

Drafts are already underway on the NFBC platform.

As of this writing, the NFBC platform has seen 18 completed drafts.

None of them are your traditional 12-team, managed league.

These are best-ball-type leagues with no waivers, no trading and, in some leagues, no bench spots.

This is not how most of you will play Fantasy baseball in 2027.

The results will look pretty different, even without accounting for whatever shakes out over the next five months.

Still, it's data.

It's very noisy data, subject to many caveats and changes.

But it's a neat snapshot of where things stand right now.

Here are the key takeaways from the very first ADP data for 2027.

SHOHEI OHTANI IS STILL NO. 2

One of the toughest calls for 2027 is what to do with Ohtani.

The case against him is clear: He finished as the No. 40 hitter in 2026.

He will be 33 by the time the 2027 season starts.

He hasn't pitched in two years.

Yet in the early NFBC drafts, Ohtani is still being selected second overall.

That means fantasy managers are betting on a return to MVP-level form.

David Adler of MLB.com noted that Ohtani's Game 4 home run in the NLCS could help him get back on track hitting-wise before the start of the 2027 season.

When we're seeing Ohtani connect with the baseball with bat speeds like that, we know his swing is in the right place.

Are we overanalyzing one home run? Maybe.

But that one home run was a harbinger of what's coming next year: the return of MVP-level Ohtani.

AARON JUDGE SLIDES

Aaron Judge's ADP is dropping compared to previous years.

The exact numbers are still emerging as more drafts are completed.

But the trend is clear: Fantasy managers are cautious about Judge's age and injury history.

YOUNG STARS SOAR

The biggest story in the early ADP data is the surge of young players.

Names like Paul Skenes are climbing the board rapidly.

Skenes' recent Japan visit exposed just how much he looks up to the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The young Pirates ace is seen as a foundational piece for fantasy rotations.

Other young stars are also rising, reshaping the top of the draft board.

THE DODGERS FACTOR

The Dodgers are at the center of multiple offseason storylines.

Left-hander Tarik Skubal is atop the list of the most highly coveted free agents this offseason.

The Dodgers are not the only bidder for his services.

Jeff Passan at ESPN reports that the New York Mets will compete with the Dodgers for the highest offer.

The Chicago Cubs want Skubal badly.

The two most obvious suitors are the two teams with the highest payrolls in baseball: The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

The Chicago Cubs badly want Skubal but are skeptical they will compete at the sort of dollars Skubal is expected to get.

That's well in excess of $300 million, potentially in the $400 million-plus range.

Alden Gonzalez of ESPN is more optimistic about the chances of Skubal returning to Los Angeles for 2027 and beyond.

Skubal truly seemed to relish his 2½ months in Los Angeles.

He loved the culture, particularly being among so many established, veteran players who were singularly focused on winning.

He became besties with Blake Snell.

He was awed by the organization's resources.

Overall, he seemed to fit in seamlessly.

Buster Olney of ESPN noted that a deal for Skubal would resemble Kyle Tucker's current deal with the Dodgers compared to Yoshinobu Yamamoto's record-setting deal.

OHTANI'S HEALTH DILEMMA