Best Ball contests are an awesome way to get a season full of fantasy baseball drama with just the investment of the time it takes to complete a draft. The 2025 MLB season is just around the corner, and DraftKings has another full round of exciting MLB Best Ball contests available. As you get your rankings and get ready for drafts, this post will focus on my favorite options to look for as infield Best Ball targets from the American League.
The Best Ball Lobby on DraftKings includes contests at a wide variety of price points and several different league sizes. If you’re unfamiliar with the Best Ball offering from DraftKings, check out this helpful information sheet that explains all the ins and outs of both Tournaments and Sit & Go’s. Most of the biggest contests are 12-player leagues, but there are also three-player and six-player Sit & Go’s if you want a shallower and quicker draft.
A key part of understanding Best Ball strategy is that hitters are classified into just two groups–infield and outfield. You’ll want to stuff your roster with quality options in both spots since the top three infield scores and top three outfield scores are automatically counted as starters for your team each week. Throughout spring training, we’ve gone through sleepers and busts at a variety of positions, but for this post, we’ll focus on some infield Best Ball targets that stand out as strong values based on their ADP in current drafts on DraftKings.
Alex Bregman, Boston Red Sox (ADP: IF25, 70 overall)
Bregman was the last big free agent to find a home this offseason, but he landed in a great spot. Maybe it’s due to uncertainty about how exactly he fits into the Sox’ infield, but his spot as the 25th infielder is way too low given his new digs at Fenway Park. Bregman is a great end-of-the-draft grab in a three-player sit & go as a seventh infielder. In six-player contests, he’s a great first infielder on your drafted bench, and in 12-player contests, having him as your third infielder is amazing! You could easily slot him in as your IF2 at the end of the seventh round after stacking your roster with three outstanding pitchers or outfielders.
Bregman was the No. 2 overall pick in 2015 and quickly climbed to the MLB playing 49 games in 2016 for the Astros at just 22 years old. He improved in 2017 and then broke out with two massive years in 2018 and 2019. He hit .289 with 31 home runs, 103 RBI and a 157 wRC+ in 2018 and followed that up by hitting .296 with a career-high 41 home runs, 112 RBI and a 167 wRC+ in 2019.
In 2020 and 2021, he was solid but not spectacular but bounced back with three strong seasons since then. He had 20+ home runs in 2022, 2023 and 2024 while posting a solid combined .347 wOBA and 127 wRC+.
When at his best, Bregman is a powerful pull-hitting specialist, which should make him an ideal fit for Fenway Park. He has the highest OPS (1.245) of any player in Fenway Park history with at least 95 plate appearances. He isn’t likely to sustain that level of success over a whole season, but it shows how high his ceiling will be.
Bregman got off to a great start to spring training and said that he is “working hard on some mechanical things that I was doing early in my career that I kind of stopped doing the last few years.” If Bregman’s bat bounces back at Fenway, he could be a top-15 infielder with the only real lack being that he doesn’t steal bases. As a pure hitter, though, Bregman is one of my top Best Ball infield targets in this ADP range since he has both a high floor and a high ceiling.
Jordan Westburg, Baltimore Orioles (ADP: IF39, 115.7 overall)
Westburg is going just inside the top 40 IF in Best Ball drafts right now, which means he is available as your last infielder in six-player contests and a high-end IF4 in 12-player leagues. Westburg does come with more risk than Bregman or even some of the other IF4 options, but his upside is huge coming into his third season in the MLB.
He first reached the MLB in 2023 and hit .260 with three home runs, four stolen bases and a .309 wOBA. He opened eyes last year, though, in 107 games in the MLB, hitting .264 with 18 homers, six stolen bases and a .340 wOBA. His teammates Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson took massive leaps in their second full season in the MLB, and the O’s are looking for Westburg to do the same this season.
He sustained a hand injury on a hit-by-pitch on July 31 that kept him on the bench until Sept. 22. When he got hurt, he was on pace for 156 hits, 27 home runs, 86 RBI, 37 doubles and 82 runs scored.
With Anthony Santander leaving in free agency, there should be an opening higher in the lineup for Westburg, who has shown a little stolen base potential in the minor leagues as well. While he struggled as a leadoff option last year, he could get another look this year at that spot. He has a very aggressive approach at the plate, though, so he may be a better fit at second or fifth in the batting order. Wherever he bats, he has the tools to make a big leap this year and provide very solid numbers for this ADP.
Isaac Paredes, Houston Astros (ADP: IF49, 146.7 overall)
Bregman’s exit from Houston opens up 3B on an everyday basis for offseason acquisition Isaac Paredes, who joined the Astros as part of the Kyle Tucker trade with the Cubs. Paredes started last season with the Rays before heading to Chicago at the trade deadline.
Paredes should be in for a good season in Houston, joining a strong lineup in a ballpark that should fit his approach. In the past few seasons, Paredes has shown good power potential, hitting 20 homers in 111 games with the Rays in 2022 and smashing 31 homers in 2023. Last year, he had 19 homers in 153 total games but struggled to generate as much power while he was with the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
He had both the highest walk rate and the lowest strikeout rate of his career in 2024, but his wOBA dropped from .362 to .327 and his ISO slid from .238 to just .155. Much of that decline, though, was due to his time in Chicago. He had a .347 wOBA and .190 ISO at the time of the trade.
Like Bregman, Paredes is a pull hitter who hits plenty of fly balls. In fact, since the start of 2022, Paredes has the highest pull percentage of any MLB hitter other than Joey Gallo. Houston’s Daikin Park, featuring a short porch in left field with the Crawford Boxes, could be a huge boost for Paredes, who also should thrive in a more competitive environment.
His ADP has him as in IF5 in current 12-player drafts. At that point in round 12, you’re really just looking for players with upside, which is why Paredes is one of my favorite Best Ball infield targets at this level. Moving to a better team and a better park can be the jolt he needs to get back to his impressive power production from a few years ago.
