Fantasy Baseball: 3 Sell-High Hitter Candidates

With the 2025 MLB regular season about two months old, there's a large enough sample size for fantasy baseball managers to begin drawing conclusions on what the rest of the campaign could potentially hold.

It's also a great time to see who is performing above expectations and determine whether or not that makes them a sell-high candidate.

Even stars can be good sell-high candidates. It's all about whether or not a hitter's early season success is sustainable. If it isn't, it might be best to try and acquire a different player who hasn't gone through his best hot streak of the 2025 season yet.

Here are three potential sell-high candidates as the 2025 MLB season approaches Memorial Day.

Pete Alonso, First Base, New York Mets

There's been a lot of attention on right fielder Juan Soto and what he is or isn't doing for the Mets. Meanwhile, Alonso, who struggled to land a big-time free agent contract over the winter, is slashing .294/.400/.544 while leading the Mets in several offensive categories.

Alonso leads the entire National League with 16 doubles. He also has nine homers, 37 RBI and 28 runs scored.

The Mets first baseman is experiencing his most well-rounded start to a season ever at the plate. He owns a career-high walk rate and his best strikeout rate since 2022.

No one will be surprised if Alonso increases his home run rate over the final four months of 2025. He's averaged 43 homers in an 162-game season during his career, but so far in 2025, he's on pace for only 27.

But it's doubtful Alonso continues to display such well-rounded fantasy value. His 2025 BABIP is 70 points higher than what he posted last season, which means going forward, he could see a sharp decline in success with balls hit in play.

Alonso's good fortune already appears to be changing. He's batting .157 with no home runs and three doubles in the past 13 games.

Fantasy managers willing to sacrifice batting average for home run potential should feel fine about keeping Alonso. Otherwise, it could be prudent to trade him to a manager who hasn't noticed his recent dry spell.

Sean Murphy, Catcher, Atlanta Braves

Murphy returned from a Spring Training rib injury mashing. He hit a home run in his first at-bat of the season and went deep another six times in April for a total of seven bombs.

However, the Braves catcher has just one home run in May and is hitting .186 with a .573 OPS. As a result, he's begun losing at-bats to rookie catcher Drake Baldwin.

Given those facts, Murphy was probably a much better sell-high candidate three weeks ago. But a catcher who's hit eight homers in 30 games to begin a season is likely still a strong trade chip in most formats.

Unlike last season, Murphy is also healthy, and the Braves pitching staff has been performing better with him behind the plate than Baldwin. That means Murphy should continue to receive enough at-bats to have fantasy value.

Just don't bet on his value getting any higher than it is right now.

Taylor Ward, Outfielder, Los Angeles Angels

Quite frankly, the 31-year-old outfielder is arguably a sell-high and buy-low candidate right now.

Ward is on track to blow away his previous career best mark in home runs. However, he's pretty much struggling in every other category. Ward isn't hitting enough doubles for his slugging percentage to be significantly better than last season's, and due to a .250 on-base percentage, Ward owns just a .717 OPS.

The outfielder, though, has an .804 OPS over the last 30 days because he's hit eight of his 13 homers this season in the last month.

Fantasy managers who need home runs are probably best off retaining Ward. But even if he sets a new career high in the category, he's unlikely to maintain his current pace.

Ward could see an uptick in batting average going forward because his .203 BABIP is, by far, a career low.

But Ward's walk rate is a career-low 6.1% and his strikeout rate has increased from last season. That's not the receipe for anyone maintaining an .264 ISO.