2026 Preseason All-DiamondCentric Team - Hitters

In 2012, four Minnesota Twins bloggers consolidated their websites to create Twins Daily. Some of you may have even been around since the mid-00s when Twins Geek, SethSpeaks.net, Nick's Twins Blog, and Over the Baggy, and the Battle Your Tail Off forum were among dozens of sites for Twins fans. 

Just recently, we have added a ninth MLB organization to the DiamondCentric family. Here are those nine sites and nine organizations: 

Twins Daily - Minnesota Twins 
Brewer Fanatic - Milwaukee Brewers 
North Side Baseball - Chicago Cubs 
Talk Sox Baseball - Boston Red Sox 
Jays Centre - Toronto Blue Jays 
Fish on First - Miami Marlins 
Padres Mission - San Diego Padres 
Royals Keep - Kansas City Royals 
Grand Central Mets - New York Mets 

That's nine out of 30 MLB teams, 30% of the organizations in the league. We have five National League teams and four American League teams. We have some big spenders, and a few of the organizations with the smallest payrolls. Five of these teams participated in the 2025 playoffs. 

1st Team Preseason All-DiamondCentric Team (Hitters)

Catcher
William Contreras, 28, Milwaukee Brewers  
The younger Contreras made the All-Star team in 2022 with the Atlanta Braves. After the season, the Brewers acquired Contreras as part of a crazy three-team, eight-player trade. He has been remarkably consistent and been able to stay healthy. He has averaged 4.1 bWAR and 149 games played, and he will spend the 2026 season at 28 years old. 

First Base 
Vlad Guerrero, Jr., 27, Toronto Blue Jays 
Vladdy Jr is entering his eighth major-league season and just turned 27 years old. Last year was the first season of his half-billion dollar contract, and he was the leader of the American League champion Blue Jays. A solid hitter all-around, Guerrero gets on base and slugs. In addition, after playing all 60 games during the Covid-shortened 2020 season, the Canadian-born Guerrero has played in at least 156 games or more in each of the past five seasons. 

Second Base
Brice Turang, 26, Milwaukee Brewers 
Guerrero is the son of a Hall of Famer. Turang's father, Brian Turang, also spent time in the big leagues. Milwaukee made the California prep star the 21st overall pick in 2018 draft. He made his debut in 2023. In 137 games, he hit just .218 and had an OPS+ of 61. In 2024, he played 155 games and bumped his OPS+ up to 86. Not great, but he won his first Gold Glove and also received a Platinum Glove award as well.  In 2025, it all came together. He hit .288 and his .794 was 21% better than league average. 

Third Base
Manny Machado, 33, San Diego Padres 
Machado was the third overall pick in the 2010 draft out of high school in Miami. An elite talent, Machado debuted with the Orioles about a month after his 20th birthday.  He became a free agent after the 2018 season and signed a 10-year, $300 million with the Padres. He had an opt-out after the 2023 season and now is his Year 4 of a new 11-year, $350 million deal. He is a seven-time All Star including three of the past five years. He has played in at least 138 games each of the past 11 seasons (I'm counting the 60 games he played in 2020's 60 game season) and at least 150 games in 10 of the 11 seasons. He's good for 30-35 doubles and 20-25 homers a season.  

Shortstop 
Bobby Witt, Jr., 25, Kansas City Royals 
One of baseball's most exciting young stars, Witt is another son of a big leaguer. His father, Bobby, won 142 games over his 16-seasons in the big leagues. The elder Witt was the third overall pick of the 1985 draft. Junior was the second overall pick in the 2019 draft. Few people in the game fill a box score the way Witt does. He debuted in 2022 and in 150 games, he posted a 0.9 bWAR. Since then, he's had bWARs of 4.3, 9.4, and 7.1. He has led the league in hits the last two seasons. His 47 doubles in 2025 led the league, and that came after 45 doubles in 2024. He has averaged 8 1/2 triples per season. In four years, he's got 105 home runs and 148 stolen bases. He's won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards at shortstop the past two seasons. 2026 will be Year 3 of his 11-year, $288,777,777 contract. 

Left Field 
Juan Soto, 27, New York Mets 
15 years and $765 million. It is crazy to think that Juan Soto is already 27 years old. Just as crazy is that 2026 marks his ninth season in the big leagues. He debuted with the Nationals in 2018 was provided 3.0 bWAR in 116 games. With one exception, the lowest bWAR that Soto has put up in a season was 5.3 in 2023 with the Padres. The exception was a 2.3 bWAR Soto accumulated in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. That year, he led the National League in batting average (.351), on-base percentage (.490), slugging percentage (.695) and OPS (1.185). He has had six seasons with more than 100 walks. In his career, he has 896 walks and 833 strikeouts. You like to see players continue to add pieces to their game. Almost out of nowhere, Soto led the National League in 2025 with 38 steals (in 42 attempts). He had never had more than 12 steals in a season. He's got power. He's hit more than 40 homers the past two seasons. Soto is a four-time All Star. He has finished Top 10 in MVP voting six times (five times Top 6). He has won six Silver Slugger awards. He hit .333 with three homers in helping the Nationals to the 2019 World Series championship. 

Center Field 
Byron Buxton, 32, Minnesota Twins 
The career of Byron Buxton has been filled with ups and downs, injuries and web gems. The second overall pick in the 2012 draft debuted as a 21-year-old in 2015. He was a 5.0 bWAR player in 2017 when he played in 140 games and hit .253 with 14 doubles, six triples, and 16 homers. He was 29-for-30 in steal attempts. He also won his only Gold Glove and Platinum Glove Awards. Unfortunately, between 2018 and 2023, he never reached 100 games played. When he did play, he was terrific. In just 61 games in 2021, he had 4.9 bWAR. He was an All-Star in 2022, but he ended up playing 92 games and had 3.9 bWAR and 28 home runs. 2025 was a huge breakout season for Buxton, and he was able to play in 126 games. He hit .264/.327/.551 (.878) with 21 doubles, seven triples, and 35 home runs. He also went 24-for-24 in steal attempts. He played in his second All Star Game and won his first Silver Slugger. 

Right Field 
Fernando Tatis, Jr., 27, San Diego Padres 
You've got it. Another star player on our list with big-league genetics. The elder Tatis played for five big-league teams and spent parts of 11 seasons in the big leagues between 1997 and 2010. His best season (3.0 bWAR) came in 1999 when he hit 34 homers and drove in 107 runs for the Cardinals. He totaled 6.3 bWAR. The younger Tatis debuted in 2019, and in 84 games, he had 4.0 bWAR. In just two of his six seasons, Junior has had a bWAR below 2.8. In 2024, he played in 102 games, was an All-Star and was worth 2.6 bWAR. In 2020, Tatis posted just 2.8 bWAR, but calculated to a 162-game season (instead of 60 games), it would be 7.8 bWAR. Of course, Tatis Jr. was injured in 2022 in a motorcycle accident. Later, he was also suspended for failing a PED test. Before the 2021 season, Tatis signed a 14-year, $340 million contract. In six seasons, Tatis has two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers, three All Star appearances, and three Top 10 finishes in MVP voting. 

Designated Hitter 
George Springer, Toronto Blue Jays 
The old man on this list, Springer had a huge resurgence in 2025 after a couple of more disappointing seasons. Springer spent the first seven seasons of his big-league career with the Houston Astros. It began with some really bad teams, and Springer was one of key players that led the Astros to the playoffs and even a World Series title. He was a three-time All Star in Houston. After the 2020 season, Springer signed a six-year, $150 million with the Blue Jays. He's play alright, but he's been hurt at times, and he's moved from the outfield to DH over the last couple of seasons. After posting a 1.1 bWAR in 2024, Springer rebounded with a 4.8 bWAR season in 2025. After posting a .674 OPS in 2024, Springer hit .309/.399/.560 (.959) with 27 doubles and 32 home runs. He was also 18-for-19 in stolen base attempts. He will be a free agent at season's end. Can he put up another big season and get another nice payday?

2nd Team Preseason All-American Hitters
Catcher - Alejandro Kirk , Toronto Blue Jays 
First Base - Vinnie Pasquantino, Kansas City Royals 
Second Base - Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs 
Third Base - Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals 
Shortstop - Francisco Lindor, New York Mets 
Left Field - Jackson Chourio, Milwaukee Brewers  
Center Field - Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs 
Right Field - Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs
DH Jarren Duran, Boston Red Sox

3rd Team Preseason All-American Hitters 
Catcher - Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals 
First Base - Michael Busch, Chicago Cubs 
Second Base - Ernie Clement, Toronto Blue Jays 
Third Base - Alex Bregman, Chicago Cubs 
Shortstop - Otto Lopez, Miami Marlins
Left Field - Roman Anthony, Boston Red Sox 
Center Field - Jackson Merrill, San Diego Padres 
Right Field - Wilyer Abreu, Boston Red Sox 
DH - Moises Ballesteros, Chicago Cubs 

What are your thoughts on the preseason hitters? In the comments, be sure to leave your preseason team. It will be fun to look back at season's end to look back and see how we did.