5 Hitters I LIKE for 2026

You know what they say about hitting. They say you gotta hit that baseball with that bat. Well, I think these guys will do that in 2026. They're gonna hit the baseball with the bat and preferably hit it hard. This is my annual pick of a player yet to debut in the big leagues. This year, it's Justin Crawford, son of Carl. Like his father, Justin is a left-handed hitting, speedy, contact-oriented outfielder. And even though he's coming off a season where he batted .334 as a 21-year-old in the Phillies organization, some prospect evaluators have doubts centered around his distribution of batted balls. Crawford actually has some bat speed and thump, but his swing causes that power to underachieve. He doesn't pull the ball in the air. He hits it on the ground, often the opposite way. His 2025 average launch angle was 0.6. And this is where I'm testing out a theory. Opposite field ground balls are good, actually. They had a .403 batting average in the big leagues in 2025, .432 when hit by a lefty, and .505 when hit hard by one. If Crawford does that consistently in the big leagues with his wheels, he might be a good big league hitter based on his average alone. Or, there's another way. He taps into his power potential. Crawford hit only 7 home runs in 507 plate appearances last year, but 3 of those came in the final 8 games of the season, so perhaps he was turning over a new leaf in the run-up to his MLB debut. For what it's worth, the Phillies definitely believe. They didn't give him much competition for a spot on the opening day roster, and the prospect promotion incentive, well, incentivizes them to let him break camp with the big league squad. Despite a profile with some red flags, I like Justin Crawford for 2026. He might not be my rookie of the year pick, though. That's the next guy. But first. This video is brought to you by Surfshark. 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Sal Stewart is going to absolutely mash this year, slowly climbing the prospect ranks since the Reds drafted him in 2022. He exploded in 2025 with an OPS over 900 in the upper minors, carrying him to an 18 game cup of coffee in the big leagues that keeps him rookie eligible for 2026. As small a sample 18 games may be, he showed that he has the skills to be a middle of the order bat for Cincinnati. The first obvious strength was his power. His average exit velocity was the same as Aaron Judge's. He barreled 18% of his batted balls. That's a 97th percentile barrel rate, but he also distributed those batted balls quite nicely with a 98th percentile pulled fly ball rate. No wonder he was able to hit five homers in those 18 games. Another interesting development was his contact rate, which was slightly above league average. This was in spite of his long swing. Seems that Stewart's bat control allows him to take big cuts without too many whiffs, which would explain why he only struck out 16% of the time in minor leagues. Reds manager Terry Francona has praised the 22-year-old's approach this spring, calling him one of the most advanced young hitters he's ever seen. The data seems to bear that out. Stewart was always hitterish in the minors, but made massive strides in the power department in 2025 to create the total package for 2026. I like his chances of delivering the goods. This pick is both high floor and high upside. Might not be the bravest breakout pick, but I would hate to exclude him. I'm not just a young, hyped rookie merchant. I can pick seemingly washed veterans too. And we'll jump to the American League with Cedric Mullins, who signed a one-year $7 million deal last offseason to become the Rays' primary centerfielder. Mullins hit pretty well in 91 games for the Orioles in 2025, but was disastrous for the Mets after a deadline move to Queens. The season splits told a tale of decline. He was OPSing over .900 at the end of April, but had a .198 average, .263 on base, and .355 slug the rest of the way. But I do still think Mullins, who finished ninth in MVP voting back in 2021, has bounce back potential in 2026. The core skills are still there. Mullins makes some of the best swing decisions in the league. He swung at 78% of pitches in heart of the zone last year, league average was 72%, while going after only 13% of pitches in the stat-cast chase zone, league average was 23%. Mullins also pulled the ball in the air more often than he ever had in his career, a necessity if he wants to hit homers as the Rays move from Steinbrenner Field back to the trop. Entering his age 31 season, it's important to make sure his athleticism is still intact, and for what it's worth, both his bat speed and sprint speed have held up. Those tend to slip with age, but not in the case of Mullins. At least, not yet. I'm counting on a savvy Rays signing to make this like-pick work. The reports of Cedric's decline are greatly exaggerated. The results of the Angels' Moncada experiment were inconclusive, so they ran it back on a cheap one-year deal this past offseason. For what it's worth, in the 84 games Moncada played last year, he hit pretty well, with an OPS plus of 116. Injury issues have plagued his last few seasons, but he does have a .256 average, .333 on base, and .450 slug across his last 150 games. The problem is, that span goes back to July 2023. If he can stay on the field, I think Moncada surprises people this year. To passive a hitter at times, Moncada was able to maintain his always low chase rate in 2025, but combine it with a respectable amount of in-zone aggression. The result was a lower strikeout rate and higher walk rate than career norms. He might be able to tap back into some power as well. Moncada's 14% barrel rate was also a career best, even higher than his 2019 breakout with the White Sox. Some of this is the result of platooning. The Angels will again limit the switch hitting Moncada's playing time versus lefties, which makes sense. His bat speed is over five miles per hour quicker as a lefty than as a righty. But if that's the role he is to play, I think he can play it well as the strong side of an infield platoon. Considering his hype as a prospect, Yuan Moncada's career has been up and down, mostly down if we're being honest, but I'd like to think of this year as an up. If the Angels are out of it, don't be surprised if a contender makes a deal for him at the deadline. And now for my annual catcher pick. Bo Naylor has developed into a solid enough defensive backstop for the Guardians, but he's never really hit. In a thousand career plate appearances across four seasons, his OPS is 670. So what am I seeing in Josh's younger brother? Honestly, a little bit of everything based on his underlying 2025 data. Naylor's bat to ball skills and swing decisions are sound. He chases less than the average big league hitter while making more contact. He hits the ball in the air, and his 2025 bat speed and barrel rate were slightly above league average. At a certain point, the math ain't mathin'. It looks like this guy should be a league average hitter or better, but he batted 195 last year, and it could have been even worse if he didn't show late signs of life. Naylor actually had a strong September to close out the regular season, then hit a late three-run homer in the only playoff game the Guardians won. If he's truly average or better at the things that really matter, swing decisions, contact, power, batted ball distribution, I just have to think the results will come. Otherwise, what am I using all these stupid underlying metrics for? This is an existentialist pick. I need Bo Naylor to hit just so I know I deserve to exist. I have no choice but to like him. Maybe it starts with a strong World Baseball Classic performance from the Ontario native. Those are the five hitters I like for 2026, hopefully a fun mix of pre-hype, hype, and post-hype. But up next are the guys I'm down on. Stay tuned to this channel, Foolish Bailey, for the 2026 five players I dislike.