Dynasty: too close to call. Redraft: Elly De La Cruz. The FanRanked staff dynasty board has them nearly level, Cruz #5 and DH #7, but the expert consensus has DH ahead (#1 to #8). The community leans DH, FRV 93.6 to 80.5. For 2026 redraft, the consensus has Cruz ahead, #4 to #20, and the rest-of-season engine agrees ($50 and $42).
JD on Elly De La Cruz (Sep 24, 2026): Elly has come on like a bat out of hell in the last month, and gone from my 10th-ranked dynasty asset to the 5th-ranked in the process. He is one of the bonafide faces of the MLB at this point, despite being only 24 years old, because he's been around since he 2023 and has performed at an elite level every year. This year he has taken another step forward and improved in basically every measurable category but the two that I find the most compelling are the nearly 3 mph jump in avg exit velocity and the 11% walk rate, despite keeping his swing and miss largely the same compared to 2025. We are one launch angle adjustment away from him being a perennial 40-plus home run threat, but I do love that in general his game seems to be shifting from more of a speed-based profile to a power profile. Another a unique aspect of Elly's profile is that he suddenly became a lefty masher in 2026 after being clearly deficient against lefties for his career. Prior to this year I would have argued that Elly should only hit from the left side but this year he slashed over 1,000 OPS against lefties, with 10 home runs in only 181 PA (vs 18 HR in 428 PA vs righties). I'll be curious to see if this is just an aberration or something that persists on a yearly basis going forward. I don't really have any complaints with Elly. The only reason he's not the top tier for me is the same reason James Wood's isn't: the inflated K rate is going to lead to streakiness and that's not something I can overlook. I can see an argument for taking Elly over James Wood but I don't have him over my top three guys right now.
JD on Shohei Ohtani DH (Sep 24, 2026): Ohtani is going to start my 3rd tier of dynasty players, and I think we are in for a wake-up call when it comes to how we can expect to see Ohtani used going forward. I think Ohtani's days of playing 150+ games every season are gone. The most responsible thing for the Dodgers to do would be to throttle his usage and make sure that he is healthy for the full season, including the playoffs, and not risk an overuse injury in July. Can he still be an elite player at 140 games per season? Absolutely. Is he also 32 years old and subjecting himself to a completely novel workload that we don't know how it will affect him in the future? Also yes. To be fair I think this workload effect manifests itself more with his pitching exposure rather than him being able to DH but I think you'll see a little bit of an effect on his offensive statistics regardless. Part of me wants to move him down even more (because this is supposed to be a 7-year dynasty projection) but I also think Ohtani can continue to be an absolute force at the plate into his late 30s. No projection methodology can account for the unique athlete that Ohtani is, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and not trust the aging curves here. To be clear this ranking is just the hitter version of him. I'm not going to try to rank the hitter/pitcher version of him because I think it's too difficult to compare him to everyone else in the league when you have the whole package working for you.
Data as of . Consensus boards refresh daily; the staff board moves when it is republished.
| Metric | Elly De La Cruz | Shohei Ohtani DH |
|---|---|---|
| Team | CIN | LAD |
| Position | SS | DH |
| Age | 24 | 32 |
| Staff Dynasty Rank | #5 | #7 |
| Dynasty Consensus Rank | #8 | #1 |
| Redraft Consensus Rank | #4 | #20 |
| FRV (FanRanked Value) | 80.5 | 93.6 |
| Expert Sources | 11 | 11 |
| Dynasty Rank Range | #5–#20 | #1–#18 |
| Rest-of-Season Value | $50 | $42 |
| $ Earned Year to Date | $34 | $24 |
| ROS Rank (Top 300) | #5 | #10 |
| 30-Day Consensus Move | Up 2 spots | No move |
| Stat | Elly De La Cruz | Shohei Ohtani DH |
|---|---|---|
| PA | 614 | 596 |
| HR | 29 | 30 |
| R | 97 | 89 |
| RBI | 76 | 80 |
| SB | 29 | 11 |
| AVG | .288 | .277 |
| OBP | .370 | .380 |
| SLG | .521 | .522 |
| OPS | .891 | .902 |
| wOBA | .384 | .381 |
| xwOBA | .378 | .399 |
Price a Elly De La Cruz-for-Shohei Ohtani DH trade in the Dynasty Trade Calculator · compare their rest-of-season dollars in the Roto & Redraft Trade Analyzer