All 30 MLB Teams' Worst Player of 2025 Regular Season

While the American League Most Valuable Player race between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh just might end in a tie vote for what would be the first time since Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell shared the 1979 NL MVP, what about the other end of the player value spectrum?

How we're defining "worst" here is, admittedly, kind of vague.

It's not a "worst return on investment" article, though we will note (via Spotrac) how much each player cost against his team's luxury tax payroll.

It's also not simply a list of each team's player with the worst Wins Above Replacement rating, though we have included both the projected FanGraphs WAR from the preseason as well as actual FanGraphs WAR for each player.

More than anything, we're looking for each team's biggest disappointment; players who were almost actively hurting their team by falling short of expectations.

There's no minimum threshold of plate appearances or innings pitched to be considered, however, we're not including guys like Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon who were simply well-paid spectators on the IL. We're looking for healthy-ish strugglers as opposed to injured investments.

Finding a worst player on the Milwaukee Brewers was tough. Settling on just one worst player from the Colorado Rockies was equally difficult. But we've pinpointed one player from each of the 30 teams, presented in team alphabetical order within each division.

Baltimore Orioles: RHP Zach Eflin ($16.2M)
Projected: 173.0 IP, 3.85 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 2.6 fWAR
Actual: 71.1 IP, 5.93 ERA, 6.3 K/9, minus-0.2 fWAR

With Corbin Burnes out of the picture and Grayson Rodriguez forever on the mend, Zach Eflin was supposed to be Baltimore's ace this season. And, initially, he was, tossing quality starts against the more-than-capable offenses of Toronto, Boston and Arizona in his first three outings. But after missing more than a month with a lat strain, he made just 11 more starts with a 6.92 ERA before undergoing season-ending surgery on his lower back.

Boston Red Sox: RHP Tanner Houck ($3.95M)
Projected: 182.0 IP, 3.91 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 3.0 fWAR
Actual: 43.2 IP, 8.04 ERA, 6.6 K/9, minus-0.3 fWAR

Heading into the 2024-25 offseason, the general feeling about Boston's pitching staff was: Keep Tanner Houck and burn the rest of it to the ground. He was their lone All-Star on the mound last year with a 3.12 ERA in 30 starts, projected by FanGraphs to be the 10th-best pitcher in the American League this year. Instead, he made just nine starts—twice posting a calamitous line of 2.1 IP, 11 ER—and underwent Tommy John surgery late enough in the year that he may well miss all of 2026, too.

New York Yankees: SS Anthony Volpe ($879k)
Projected: .241/.309/.402, 19 HR, 76 RBI, 28 SB, 4.0 fWAR
Actual: .211/.273/.397, 19 HR, 72 RBI, 18 SB, 1.0 fWAR

For much of the season, Devin Williams would have been the obvious pick here. But with 11 fielding errors and a .169/.224/.352 triple-slash while the Yankees went 27-35 from mid-June through late-August, Anthony Volpe gradually became the primary target for the rage of Yankees fans—aside from Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman, of course. After starting darn near every game at shortstop over the past three seasons, whether he'll do so this October is both an unknown and a heated discussion point.

Tampa Bay Rays: LF Christopher Morel ($772k)
Projected: .232/.310/.430, 21 HR, 65 RBI, 1.4 fWAR
Actual: .223/.292/.401, 11 HR, 31 RBI, minus-0.1 fWAR

Last summer, the Rays put together one of the more aggressive trade deadline fire sales in recent memory, part of which was shipping Randy Arozarena to the Mariners and shortly thereafter bringing in Christopher Morel from the Cubs. But while Arozarena closes in on a possible 30/30 season as one of the most valuable players for a Mariners team that is going to make the playoffs, the Morel Experiment in Tampa has been a disaster, the Rays going 42-60 when he plays compared to 34-20 when he doesn't.

Toronto Blue Jays: LF Anthony Santander ($13.72M)
Projected: .247/.319/.482, 35 HR, 101 RBI, 2.9 fWAR
Actual: .179/.273/.304, 6 HR, 18 RBI, minus-0.9 fWAR

What we have here is a bizarro version of the Ewing Theory popularized by Bill Simmons decades ago. Instead of losing what had been their biggest star and somehow improving by leaps and bounds, the Blue Jays brought in what had been one of baseball's best sluggers, got absolutely nothing good from him and inexplicably put together their best season in at least three decades. Despite the team's success, though, Anthony Santander remains maybe the biggest individual disappointment in all of baseball in 2025.

Chicago White Sox: 1B Andrew Vaughn ($5.85M)
Projected: .257/.316/.433, 23 HR, 82 RBI, 1.4 fWAR
Actual (with White Sox): .189/.218/.314, 5 HR, 19 RBI, minus-1.3 fWAR

The No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 draft was one of the few things worth feeling optimistic about heading into this White Sox season. But in one of the most drastic examples ever of a player who just needed a change of scenery, Andrew Vaughn slugged .314 in his 48 games played with Chicago before batting .315 in his first 57 games played with Milwaukee.

Cleveland Guardians: CF Lane Thomas ($7.825M)
Projected: .243/.313/.415, 19 HR, 72 RBI, 24 SB, 2.3 fWAR
Actual: .160/.246/.272, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 4 SB, minus-0.5 fWAR

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Lane Thomas hit the legendary grand slam off Tarik Skubal in Game 5 of the 2024 ALDS, but a .518 OPS sprinkled around three separate trips to the IL has turned Cleveland's Opening Day center fielder into a 30-year-old impending free agent who might be lucky to receive a $2M offer this winter to enter the 2026 campaign as someone's reserve outfielder.

Detroit Tigers: C Jake Rogers ($2.64M)
Projected: .213/.278/.382, 14 HR, 46 RBI, 2.9 fWAR
Actual: .193/.285/.345, 3 HR, 19 RBI, 0.4 fWAR

Between 2023 and 2024, Jake Rogers hit 31 home runs while providing a good amount of value behind the dish. FanGraphs evaluated him at just barely outside the top 10 among primary catchers and expected similar production in 2025. But an oblique injury suffered in early April put him out of commission for more than a month, and it wasn't until July that he finally hit a couple of home runs. The silver lining is that now-primary catcher Dillon Dingler has unexpectedly become the most valuable Tiger not named Tarik Skubal.

Kansas City Royals: UTIL Jonathan India ($7.05M)
Projected: .254/.354/.400, 14 HR, 59 RBI, 11 SB, 2.4 fWAR
Actual: .235/.326/.343, 8 HR, 42 RBI, 0 SB, minus-0.3 fWAR

After a 2024 season in which Bobby Witt Jr. had to do seemingly everything for the Royals offense, their big offseason move to get him some lineup support was sending Brady Singer to Cincinnati for the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year. Instead of bolstering the offense, though, Jonathan India somehow made the Royals worse, now dead last in the American League in runs scored to squander what was a mighty fine pitching year.

Minnesota Twins: SS Carlos Correa ($36M)
Projected: .268/.351/.446, 19 HR, 69 RBI, 4.0 fWAR
Actual (with Twins): .267/.319/.386, 7 HR, 31 RBI, 1.1 fWAR

Purely from a WAR perspective, Correa was nowhere near Minnesota's least productive player this season. However, he was supposed to be their most valuable player, and he instead became the face of their demise, that trade of Correa (and a reported $33M) to Houston serving as the fatal, most prominent blow of a fire sale from which it may take this franchise a long time to recover. That he all of a sudden started playing well again upon landing with the Astros only made the whole ordeal that much more frustrating for the Twins.

Athletics: CF J.J. Bleday ($770k)
Projected: .231/.325/.423, 24 HR, 77 RBI, 3.2 fWAR
Actual: .211/.296/.403, 14 HR, 38 RBI, minus-0.1 fWAR

Both in late May and in late June, the A's sent their Opening Day center fielder back to Triple-A Las Vegas, and both times he mashed his way back to the majors in relatively short order. And since his return to West Sacramento in early August, he has been the force they hoped he would be. Prior to the trade deadline, though, he was batting .191 and only got another shot at semi-regular work because Denzel Clarke got hurt.

Houston Astros: RHP Lance McCullers Jr. ($17M)
Projected: 108.0 IP, 3.77 ERA, 8.8 K/9, 1.2 fWAR
Actual: 52.1 IP, 6.88 ERA, 9.8 K/9, minus-0.2 fWAR

In fairness to Lance McCullers Jr., the man missed all of 2023 and 2024 and was on the IL for more than the first month of the current campaign. Expecting him to just waltz back in for more than 100 innings of work with only marginally worse production than his career 3.48 ERA from 2015-22 was a bit much. All the same, he's almost the highest-paid pitcher on this roster, he simply hasn't been good and he's back on the IL for the fourth time this season.

Los Angeles Angels: C Logan O'Hoppe ($790k)
Projected: .240/.311/.427, 20 HR, 58 RBI, 2.1 fWAR
Actual: .219/.262/.383, 19 HR, 43 RBI, minus-0.7 fWAR

Early on in the season, Logan O'Hoppe was something special. Through 50 team games, the Angels were a .500 ballclub and he had an .861 OPS with 14 home runs. To that point, he was only two dingers behind Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh for the American League lead. Since then, however, they've gone 45-61 and he has a barely .500 OPS with five home runs in 69 games played.

Seattle Mariners: RHP Bryce Miller ($800k)
Projected: 173.0 IP, 3.78 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 2.1 fWAR
Actual: 80.2 IP, 5.58 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 0.1 fWAR

Last year, Bryce Miller was the pleasant surprise who gave the Mariners arguably the best top-to-bottom rotation in the majors, logging 18 quality starts with a 2.94 ERA. But this year? One quality starts in 16 tries with an ERA close to double what it was in 2024. He might have been their Game 1 starter if they had made the playoffs last year, but he might not even make the postseason roster this time around.

Texas Rangers: DH Joc Pederson ($18.5M)
Projected: .251/.350/.481, 24 HR, 69 RBI, 2.2 fWAR
Actual: .180/.287/.324, 8 HR, 25 RBI, minus-0.8 fWAR

Yes, Joc Pederson has been a bit better since his two-month stint on the IL with a fractured hand. But he merely went from "God Awful" (.131 AVG, .507 OPS) to "We Still Expected More" (.234 AVG, .734 OPS). Texas made a big offseason investment to make sure its DH spot wasn't the reason it missed the playoffs, but Pederson may well be the biggest reason they're going to come up a bit short.

Atlanta Braves: CF Michael Harris II ($9M)
Projected: .292/.336/.484, 23 HR, 85 RBI, 18 SB, 5.0 fWAR
Actual: .241/.262/.389, 17 HR, 80 RBI, 16 SB, 0.6 fWAR

Harris was supposed to be Atlanta's most valuable position player. And though he did have a scorching hot 25-game stretch with a 1.239 OPS that began shortly after the All-Star Break, it was too little, too late. They needed him to be that star back in April when Ronald Acuña Jr. was recovering from his torn ACL and Jurickson Profar was serving his PEDs suspension. But by the time Harris heated up, Atlanta was already 14 games below .500.

Miami Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara ($11.2M)
Projected: 190.0 IP, 3.61 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 3.5 fWAR
Actual: 167.2 IP, 5.48 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 1.7 fWAR

Like Harris in Atlanta, major "too little, too late" vibes with Sandy Alcantara's delayed arrival. At the All-Star Break, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner had a 7.22 ERA, Miami going 7-11 in his 18 starts. As a result, the Marlins entered the trade deadline at seven games back for the last wild card spot, but unable to get fair value for what we long assumed would be one of this summer's top trade chips. His 2.70 ERA over his last seven starts (six of them of the quality variety) would've made both Miami and the trade deadline in general a whole lot more interesting, if it had come a few months prior.

New York Mets: RHP Frankie Montas ($17M)
Projected: 102.0 IP, 4.35 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 1.0 fWAR
Actual: 38.2 IP, 6.28 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 0.0 fWAR

Aside from re-signing Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas was the biggest offseason addition (from an AAV perspective) to New York's pitching staff. But what a colossal waste of $34M that turned out to be. He didn't make his season debut until New York's 80th game, made zero quality starts and is now going to miss the entire 2026 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Philadelphia Phillies: RHP Jordan Romano ($8.5M)
Projected: 59.0 IP, 3.80 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 23 saves, 0.7 fWAR
Actual: 42.2 IP, 8.23 ERA, 9.9 K/9, 8 saves, minus-0.4 fWAR

Nick Castellanos cost the Phillies more than twice as much in 2025 and was just as underwhelming as far as WAR is concerned. At least the right fielder was playable on an everyday basis until they upgraded ahead of the trade deadline, though. Jordan Romano was—save for a solid run through the month of May—the poster boy of a bullpen that long felt like the Achilles heel that would keep Philadelphia from making a deep run in October. Though, with Jhoan Duran now at closer and Romano on the IL, late inning pitching no longer feels like an imminent disaster for the Phillies.

Washington Nationals: 1B Nathaniel Lowe ($10.3M)
Projected: .267/.352/.415, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 2.1 fWAR
Actual (with Nationals): .216/.292/.373, 16 HR, 68 RBI, minus-0.8 fWAR

Trading for Nathaniel Lowe during the offseason was never going to be the singular move that brought Washington back from the dead. But the hope was that the former Rangers' first baseman would be a two-year solution at what has long been a problematic position in the nation's capital. Instead, the lefty with what had been a career OPS of .789 never amounted to much beyond the occasional homer. Worse yet, after the Nationals released him, he went right back to his old self in Boston with a .776 OPS in 28 games played.

Chicago Cubs: RHP Ryan Pressly ($9.2M)
Projected: 61.0 IP, 3.40 ERA, 9.4 K/9, 25 saves, 0.9 fWAR
Actual: 41.1 IP, 4.35 ERA, 6.1 K/9, 5 saves, minus-0.3 fWAR

If you take out the implosion of all implosions on May 6 when he allowed eight earned runs without recording an out, Ryan Pressly actually had a 1.24 ERA across his first 39 appearances with the Cubs. That's a mighty difficult outing to forget, though, and that ERA felt fluky against the backdrop of a strikeout rate that was barely half of what Pressly had averaged over the previous seven years. Thus, when he went through a rough patch in late July and they acquired both Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers, they released Pressly.

Cincinnati Reds: 1B/3B Jeimer Candelario ($15M)
Projected: .244/.313/.439, 19 HR, 68 RBI, 1.2 fWAR
Actual: .113/.198/.213, 2 HR, 10 RBI, minus-0.7 fWAR

Though signed through 2026 with a club option for 2027, too, the Reds—far from your typical candidate to set a few million dollars on fire—gave up on getting anything good out of Candelario. He appeared in 22 of their first 28 games with a .410 OPS before landing on the IL and never returning, released in late June after several weeks of continued struggles at the Triple-A plate.

Milwaukee Brewers: SS Joey Ortiz ($776k)
Projected: .250/.322/.402, 14 HR, 71 RBI, 13 SB, 2.4 fWAR
Actual: .232/.280/.320, 7 HR, 45 RBI, 14 SB, 1.5 fWAR

In the field, Joey Ortiz has been solid, possibly in the mix for the Gold Glove among NL shortstops. And for the 72-game stretch from late-May into mid-August in which the Brewers had a .750 winning percentage, he was at least respectable at the plate. For the most part, though, Milwaukee has been burying Ortiz in the 9-hole, as he has been both considerably less productive than he was in 2024 and drastically worse at the dish than former shortstop Willy Adames was. That the Brewers' "worst" player might win a Gold Glove, though, speaks volumes to the type of season they've had.

Pittsburgh Pirates: C Henry Davis ($760k)
Projected: .229/.318/.386, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 0.1 fWAR
Actual: .163/.233/.267, 6 HR, 20 RBI, minus-0.1 fWAR

Henry Davis wasn't expected to play a ton this season, only penciled in for 16 games in FanGraphs' preseason projections. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft has actually appeared in more than half of Pittsburgh's games, though certainly not because of any sort of greatness at the plate. He and Oswald Peraza are the only players in the majors with at least 250 plate appearances and an OPS of .500 or worse. And getting that little out of a player they hoped would be a star by now might be the biggest reason they're dead last in runs scored.

St. Louis Cardinals: RF Jordan Walker ($771k)
Projected: .249/.310/.414, 17 HR, 67 RBI, 1.1 fWAR
Actual: .219/.279/.303, 5 HR, 37 RBI, minus-1.1 fWAR

Just like Davis in Pittsburgh, Jordan Walker has been a major draft disappointment for St. Louis. The 2020 first-round pick had an OPS+ of 113 for his debut year in 2023, but managed just a 72 last year and is sitting at a 65 this season, which would be last among qualified players if he had enough plate appearances to fit that description.

Arizona Diamondbacks: OF Jake McCarthy ($804k)
Projected: .267/.332/.398, 9 HR, 56 RBI, 26 SB, 1.8 fWAR
Actual: .209/.255/.335, 3 HR, 19 RBI, 6 SB, minus-0.1 fWAR

Two months ago, the easy pick here would've been Zac Gallen. But while Gallen has been a crucial part of Arizona's unlikely journey back into the postseason conversation, Jake McCarthy has just never made it back to his level of production from 2022 or 2024. (Though, he has at least rallied somewhat from opening the season 3-for-41 and spending two months at Triple-A Reno.)

Colorado Rockies: 1B Michael Toglia ($765k)
Projected: .227/.308/.434, 25 HR, 73 RBI, 0.3 fWAR
Actual: .190/.258/.353, 11 HR, 32 RBI, minus-2.2 fWAR

So much for that breakthrough 2024 campaign. Michael Toglia had 25 home runs, 10 stolen bases and a .767 OPS last season, the 2019 first-round pick blossoming into one of the few positive pieces of this big-league club. But while he has posted an OPS north of 1.000 during his three separate stints back at Triple-A Albuquerque, his production at the MLB level has been the worst in all of baseball.

Los Angeles Dodgers: LF Michael Conforto ($17M)
Projected: .239/.320/.428, 20 HR, 69 RBI, 1.5 fWAR
Actual: .203/.305/.342, 12 HR, 36 RBI, minus-0.4 fWAR

Credit where it's due, Michael Conforto has been much better as of late, batting .322 with three home runs over the past four weeks. But that only came after a stretch of more than five months with an OPS of .606, forcing the Dodgers to give up a couple of prospects for Alex Call to at least mitigate the damage of letting Conforto start the vast majority of games in left field.

San Diego Padres: UTIL Jose Iglesias ($3M)
Projected: .266/.303/.374, 5 HR, 31 RBI, 0.7 fWAR
Actual: .223/.294/.268, 1 HR, 32 RBI, minus-0.5 fWAR

Decent cases to be made for Yu Darvish or Luis Arraez here instead, but Jose Iglesias going from the Mets' heart and soul (and anthem) with an .830 OPS last season to a .562 OPS this year has been brutal for the Padres. His versatile glove hasn't been nearly as good as it used to be either, meaning this replacement option at most positions hasn't even contributed at a replacement level.

San Francisco Giants: 1B LaMonte Wade Jr. ($5M)
Projected: .244/.357/.399, 15 HR, 48 RBI, 1.6 fWAR
Actual (with Giants): .167/.275/.271, 1 HR, 15 RBI, minus-1.0 fWAR

Over the previous four seasons, LaMonte Wade Jr. was a .248 hitter who averaged close to 20 home runs per 162 games played. Whether at first base or one of the corner outfield spots, he was a regular in San Francisco's lineup. But after 50 games played with one home run and a .546 OPS, they traded him to the Angels for a player to be named later. (More than three months later, that player still has not been named, proof that what they actually traded him for was a little peace of mind.)