ESPN's fantasy baseball game introduced a new set of rules for determining player eligibility at the start of the 2024 season. While no changes were made to these rules for 2025, a little refresher can always be helpful.
Using the most recent year's games played, a player must meet the following criteria in order to gain eligibility at a position to begin a new season:
1. For hitters, playing at least 20 games there the previous season OR
2. Playing at least 25% of their games at the position the previous season (minimum of five games at that position).
3. For starting pitchers, making at least five starts the previous season
4. For relief pitchers, making at least eight relief appearances the previous season
For the purpose of determining eligibility, designated hitter (DH) does count as a position, and it is possible for a player to qualify at DH only based on the above criteria.
Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts is sure to be one of 2025's most asked-about players, as far as position eligibility is concerned. Using the ESPN criteria, Betts begins the season eligible at both shortstop and outfield -- specifically right field if your league designates specific positions -- but not second base.
Of his 116 total games played in 2024, 65 were at shortstop and 43 in right field, both meeting the minimum of 20 to qualify. However, he played only 18 at second base (which falls short of 20) and represents only 16% of his total games.
That's not to say that Betts can't regain 2B eligibility during the 2025 season, which he had at the conclusion of last year. The following in-season rule remains in effect:
Hitters add new eligibility at a position once they appear there in at least 10 games, while pitchers gain new eligibility with five starts (starting pitchers) or eight relief appearances (relief pitchers).
St. Louis Cardinals veteran Willson Contreras, a catcher for all nine of his big-league seasons, will be one player to watch in this regard. He begins 2025 eligible only at catcher, after playing 51 out of his 84 total games last season behind the plate (32 others were at DH and another was as a pinch-hitter). The Cardinals, however, have announced that Contreras will permanently move to first base for 2025. Even so, he will only gain that 1B-eligibility once he plays 10 games at the position.
Rookies tend to be popular in fantasy baseball leagues, with such names as Roman Anthony of the Boston Red Sox and Matt Shaw of the Chicago Cubs likely to be among this season's most impactful first-year players. Neither, however, met the five-game MLB minimum in 2024.
If a player (like Anthony and Shaw) played exclusively in the minor leagues or did play in MLB but failed to meet one of the above criteria, such as Cubs prospect Kevin Alcantara, then combined minor league and major league games played by position are used following the same criteria: either 20 games played or 25% of all games played (minimum five games) at a position for hitters, and either five starts for starting pitchers or eight relief appearances for relievers.
Anthony played 81 of his 119 minor league games in center field, earning him eligibility there alone (outfield in leagues that don't differentiate). Shaw played 64 games at third base and 24 apiece at second base and shortstop among his 121 total in the minors, earning himself eligibility at all three positions.
Alcantara, meanwhile, played 114 total games between the majors and minors. He'll begin 2025 eligible in center field, as he made 94 combined appearances there, but not right field, where he played all three of his games in the majors but only 10 combined between the minors and majors to fall short of both the 20-game and 25% thresholds for eligibility there.
The final category of players pertains to injured players, such as Felix Bautista of the Baltimore Orioles and those who played in only foreign leagues, such as J.B. Wendelken, now with the San Diego Padres.
If a player does not play in either MLB or MiLB during a season, such as a player who misses the entire year due to injury or plays only in a non-affiliated league, then the previous season in which he has at least five games played at one position in the minor or major league level will be used to determine his eligibility. If a player has appeared in only a non-affiliated league, then he'll be eligible at the position he played the most in his most-recent season there.
This is designed to specifically grant logical positions to potentially significant players, such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto entering last season, or this season, Bautista, Wendelken and Japanese signees such as Roki Sasaki, Tomoyuki Sugano and Shinnosuke Ogasawara.
Yamamoto, for example, was one of the most popular 2024 preseason picks, going No. 34 overall on average in ESPN leagues, but he played entirely in Japan the year before. His eligibility therefore was decided by accounting for his usage in the Nippon Professional Baseball league.
Bautista is RP eligible for 2025, having made all 56 of his 2023 appearances in that fashion. Wendelken, too, is RP eligible, having made all 28 appearances in the NPB coming out of the bullpen.
Sasaki, Sugano and Ogasawara were all starting pitchers during their time in Japan in 2024, so they all begin their U.S. careers only in the SP pool.