Fantasy Baseball Today - 2025 Outfield Recap Part 1! Preseason ADP, Top-20 Finishers & More! (11/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Before we jump into the outfield, the Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series (2:25). ... What is the state of the outfield (6:55)? ... Who were the Top-12 outfielders in preseason ADP (9:10)? ... News (15:50): we got confirmation on a bunch of player opt outs. ... Let's recap the Top-20 outfielders, starting with Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and George Springer (21:35). ... Julio Rodriguez, Corbin Carroll and Fernando Tatis Jr. all performed (28:26). ... Byron Buxton managed to stay healthy and was ridiculous (35:37). ... Cody Bellinger's free agency will be interesting (43:32). ... James Wood faded and Kyle Tucker has battled injury two years in a row (48:39). ... Randy Arozarena and Brent Rooker are ideal OF2s (53:38). ... Andy Pages and Brandon Nimmo are just rock solid (59:22). We're doing a live podcast at First Pitch Arizona next week! We'll be discussing the biggest questions for 2026. You can help by filling out this survey: ⁠https://tinyurl.com/422w5jvv⁠ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. And just like that, the 2025 season is over. Welcome into fantasy baseball today.

And welcome to November. Weird to say it's November already. Hot stove season. for example, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we are diving into the outfield with part one of this position recap. It's a lot of names to talk about, so we'll do a part two tomorrow as well.

We'll look at preseason ADP, what went right and wrong, who finished in the top 24. But first, the World Series has ended the Dodgers. Have gone back to back. Congrats to them and their fans. I understand many people were rooting against the Dodgers here. objectively speaking that was an incredible

series of baseball I mean high drama lots of fun even game seven went into extra endings and it's just like as close as it could possible several crazy moments yeah like several the best game seven ever

Andy Pazes trucking Kike Hernandez in the outfield just the just the ninth inning alone of that game for you had obviously the game tying home run by Miguel Rojas of that.

And then in the bottom half. I don't like Miguel Rojas. He was mean to jazz chisholm. You get, you get on back to back plays, on back to back plays. First, I'm thinking,

oh my gosh, what if, what if the World Series is decided on an overturned call at home play? Yeah. Because it wasn't Christop. I was really, I was really rooting against that.

I was really would have hated that. I think no matter what, even if they had obvious. evidence they couldn't overturned. They just couldn't do that. Split second decision. It goes against the Blue Jays for the win of the world series. And then on the very next play, that ball of Ernie Clement's bat, where, you know, you mentioned it, Andy Paix has colliding with, it was Enrique Hernandez. Ricky Hernandez out there in left field. As there could first, I mean, just off the bat, it looked like, okay, that's it. That's the game. And then as they're converging, it's like, okay, they're going to.

to collide and the ball's going to fall and the World Series is going to end that way. For a Blue Jays fan, that must have been... I can't even imagine. It's heartbreaking. Such heartbreak. Such heartbreak to be that close three times in the ninth inning. And that is what they've done all postseason long. All season long, too, is just they never give up and they always fight back too.

I understand that there are no moral victories, especially here in the World Series, right? But man, that is a magical season for the Blue Jays. Like, I feel bad, but it's still, no matter how you want to look at it, incredible season for the Toronto Blue Jays. Yoshinobu Yamamoto won the MVP, well-deserved. He had three wins in the World Series alone, two games which he started, and then pitching in relief in game seven as well. He threw a complete game, actually back-to-back complete games from the NLCS into the World Series as well.

So how about this? Yep. the game he pitched to get the win in game seven, where he pitched, I think, two and two thirds innings on zero days rest, right? He pitched back to back days. Yeah. That is the first time in Yoshinobu Yamamoto's MLB career at least that he pitched on less than five days rest. And given the way they they use pitchers in Japan and the reason he's been used in a six-man rotation, it's entirely possible. That is the first time Yoshinobu Yamamoto has pitched on less than five days rest ever

or at least since like high school, pee-wee like a travel ball? I don't know. Like that is, that was crazy. Yeah. For two and like almost three full innings to get the win, that was. I saw some like greatest postseason run ever by a pitcher and like we got to calm down guys. Madison Bumgarner was not that long ago. he had a 103 ERA and 52 innings, let's not forget.

It did feel Bumgarner-esque, but yeah, not as, not quite. It was not quite Bumgarner or Randy Johnson, mostly because those guys threw way more innings because it was a different era. Right. Yeah, so here we are, end of the season. Dodgers go back to back as, you know, many people were worried about the past couple of years after them collecting all of these players together. And now, I mean, look, it's.

But doesn't the whole thing feel. feel a little rickety? I mean, there's already... Doesn't it feel like, like, like if Otani is just really good next year, doesn't it feel like this is like not that special of a team? There's speculation that they're going to be in on Kyle Tucker, so that would change the calculation.

Well, you know what, man? The Yankees should have no reason not to beat them for that offer. Let's see if they do. Let's see if they do. And let's talk about Kyle Tucker and the rest of the state of outfield. so much high-end talent at this position. Is it as deep as we thought in season? Because we lost a bunch of names here.

There's some players that are util only, Alvarez, Kyle Schwarber, Christian Yelich, some names that also just lost outfield, Mookie Betts, Janice Chish Chisholm. So, Scott, what do you think? Is Outfield, I know in season we kept saying, you know, it goes 50, 60 players deep we feel really good about. Is it still that deep here in the off season?

It is not. as deep maybe as I indicated at one point or two points toward the end of the season where it was like how could you possibly rank Jacob Marcy in the top 36 given all the other options I could you possibly rank jerks and not rank how could you possibly rank jerks and pro far that high given all the other options and I think I managed to get them both that high because as you mentioned you take schwarber you take ordn alvarez out you take christian yellich out you take jazz chisholm out and okay those are four very high-end bats that are no longer eligible and so now it's like well are there even 12 outfielders that i'd call legit number one outfielders for fantasy

no there aren't yeah having said that especially in points i think having said that compared to all the other positions all the other hitter positions uh i i think short stops the only one that compares in terms of quality and, you know, quantity to, at least from a shallow league perspective. So outfield is strong, just maybe not as crazy strong as I was indicating in September. It's got, it's a little mushy in the middle, I think. Like once you hit, I feel like there's a teardrop around 10. Maybe it's not quite as strong as you'd like in the 20s and 30s, but there's good depth for sure. Mm-hmm.

And some of those names could regain outfield eligibility. eligibility, right? Alvarez, I mean, on CBS, you only need five games in season to gain it, so Alvarez could play a little bit in the outfield, Yelich still could play a little bit in the outfield. Kyle Swarber will see, you know, where he winds up and what position he's expected to play. So things could change a little bit here at the outfield position. Let's take a look back at the preseason top 12 in ADP. According to Fantasy Pros, that includes Yahoo, CBS, NFBC, fan tracks and RT sports drafts. We had Aaron Judge as the top outfielder drafted,

followed by Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betz, Corbyn Carroll, Fernando Tatis Jr., Julio Rodriguez, Yordon Alvarez, Jackson Shurio, Jaron, Janichism, Jackson Merrill. Again, Betz, Alvarez, Jazz, no longer have outfield eligibility. According to the Fangraphs playerator, only five of those names I just mentioned

finish inside the top 12. It's also a completely different position than the others we've talked about just because there's so many other options and possibilities to move up the rankings as well. So looking at the biggest breakouts at the position, P. Crow Armstrong, James Wood,

first half of the season for both of those guys. On the whole, they still had great seasons all around. This position really highlighted by re-breakouts, right? Like George Springer, Byron Buxton, staying healthy. Christian Yalach. Both of those guys just having massive seasons, and we'll talk about those two a little bit later on.

Biggest bust, lots of options here as well. I mean, Alvarez, the injuries, everything that occurred, he played less than 50 games. Jackson Merrill, just kind of a mess of a season. He missed a month early on with a hamstring strain, then missed a month later in the season with a concussion as well. O'Neill Cruz, we spoke about this on the shortstop recap. He is only outfield eligible now,

but got off to a great start, wound up hitting just 200, over 544 plate appearances. Chris, would you agree those are the top three candidates? Is there anyone else that comes to mind as the biggest bust in the outfield this season? Yeah, I mean, the three I wrote about, or the two I wrote about were Yardana Alvarez and O'Neal Cruz. I think Jackson Merrill obviously makes a lot of sense as well. I think in both, in Merrill's case especially, I think the injury explains the poor season, because before he had the concussion, I want to say he had like a low 800s, mid-800s OPS and was

basically having the season we expected, if I'm remembering correctly. It was like a 300 average. Alvarez got off to a really bad start, missed all that time with that hand injury that ended up being misdiagnosed, comes back and just plays like himself for a month. And then I think he has the ankle sprain that basically ended his season. I, my expectations for Yordon Alvarez, I know he's DH eligible, but we'll talk about him on today's pod. my expectations for him as a hitter remain basically unchanged. And I actually, I don't know, I could be setting myself up for another Byron Buxton-esque series of failures and disappointments.

But I don't really have that much concern about Alvarez from an injury standpoint. Like, obviously he has a higher baseline injury threat than most players, I think. But like, this year just was two complete freak injuries. and one, I don't know, maybe the Astros are just bad at diagnosing fractured bones and that will just continue to be a thing. That feels like something to not be too concerned about and it wasn't the knees this year. He hasn't really missed a ton of time over the past two seasons with the knee injuries as well. So I think Yorna Averaz is going to fall to like the third or fourth round. I'm going to draft a lot of Yorrault on Averroes because I don't think there are more than five better power.

batting average combos than Yordon Alvarez. Yeah, and in that first mock draft that we did last week, I took Yoron Alvarez at pick 29, so the middle of the third round in a 12-team Roto League, and I felt fine about taking him there. It kind of feels like enough of a discount, but we'll see where everyone else kind of settles in here on Alvarez this off-season.

Let's at our first break before we do. Just a reminder, Chris and I are doing a live podcast at first pitch, Arizona. Later this week, discussing the biggest questions for 2026. We've created a Google survey. You can find the link in the podcast and YouTube description. Be sure to fill that out so we can get as much data as possible. Also, if you are going to be at first pitch Arizona,

make sure to pack a Hawaiian shirt. We will be doing a live Kokomo Friday edition of Fantasy Baseball today. So it should be a lot of fun. I actually, right before we started, I ordered a bunch of Hawaiian lays to hand out to people who are there. So it should be a great time. Wow. Yeah.

Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. We'll quickly hit on some news and notes. As mentioned, we're into November now. The season is over. So we're going to start to get some updates and things about, you know, player opt-outs and free agents and all those fun types of things. But a bunch of players have officially opted out or declined their mutual option

and are now free agents. That includes Robert Suarez, Edwin Diaz, Alex Bregman, Pete Alonzo, Cody Bellinger, Brendan Woodruff, Michael King, Lucas Julito, and Hassan Kim. That last one, Scott, you know, we were kind of on the fence with your Atlanta Braves, whether or not he would decline that option. He did. Shortstop markets pretty weak.

We'll see who throws some money at Hassan Kim this offseason. The Brewers exercised Freddie Peralta's $8 million club option for next year. Makes sense. Also could potentially move him this offseason. We've already heard some kind of whispers about the Brewers doing that. Glaber Torres underwent sports hernia surgery on Friday. He played through it for the final couple months, which might explain his bad second half.

Glaber should be a full go for spring training and is also a free agent here. So see if he winds up back with the Detroit Tigers or not. Chris Bubage has been cleared to begin a throwing program. He missed nearly all of the second half with a left rotator cuff strain. Bryce Miller will have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Keith Meister to determine the next steps for treatment of a small, bone spur in his right elbow. I know once he came back, he pitched better.

He looked pretty good in the postseason. Velocity was up. He also said that it was the healthiest he felt all season. So as we learn more about Bryce Miller, we'll let you know. After game seven of the World Series, Max Scher said he plans to pitch again next year. No surprise. That guy is a maniac.

So he looked good in the postseason as well. The Braves got your Braves hired. Walt Weiss as their next manager. He has been their bench coach since 2018. He has some managerial experience as well with the Rockies from 2013 to 2016. How do you feel, Scott? Are you fired up for Walt Weiss? It's hard to get fired up for Walt Weiss.

Marlins legend Walt Weiss. Pretty under. Look, I mean, he probably had the greatest defensive play in Braves postseason history. So he's he made the All-Star team for the Braves. Like, he's got some history with the organization. beyond just bench coach. But, you know, as the Braves had this very disappointing season, and everybody was kind of figuring it would be Brian Snitker's last season one way or the other.

So the whole season was speculation, okay, who's going to take over his manager? And there were some interesting names floated, Danny Lehman. The Dodgers bench coach became one of the most cited possibilities, which would be interesting because I can't recall. the time there was a manager with long hair before, which Danny Lehman has. So that that would have been interesting. But ultimately, they decided to, amid all, after all that speculation, and on the heels of that disappointing season, they decide to keep it in-house with the understudy of Brian Snitker, who himself is 61 years old and who has managerial experience without much

success. I'll be it with the Rockies. Not a lot of managers have had. success with the Rockies. So maybe it's not fair to assess Walt Weiss on that. You know, it's because the season was so disappointing, that is why this feels like a disappointing outcome. But the reason the season was so disappointing is because everybody's used to seeing the Braves have so much success. So if any organization is going to keep it in-house and aim for continuity, it makes sense

that this would be one, keep the whole code. coaching staff together, try to run it back after spending a little money this off season, in all likelihood. So that's my full take on Walt Weiss. Hard to get excited. But the more you think about it, you understand why they went the direction they did. The Gold Glove winners were announced in the American League. We had Dylan Dingler, Thai France.

Interesting. Marcus Semyon, Bobby Wood Jr., Michael Garcia, Stephen Kwan, Ceylon, Rafael, Willier, Abraeu, Maricio Dubon, and Max Fried. in the National League, Patrick Bailey, Matt Olson, Nico Horner, Mason Wynn, Kieran Hayes, Ian Hap, Pete Crow Armstrong, Fernando Tatez, Jr., Javier Sinoja.

There you go, Chris, you got a Marlon in there, and Logan Webb. So there you go. Also, the finalists for all the other awards were announced MVP, Coach of the Year, rookie of the year, all that fun stuff. But we don't find that out until November, no, January, right? Something like that. Nah, it can't be that late, can it?

No, it's going to be in November. Yeah. I will say it always seems like the weird choices, like the truly inexplicable ones come at first base, which I just kind of think highlights how, like, even though it's the most straightforward position defensively, it's probably the hardest to actually judge. Yeah. And so you end up with these situations where, like, guys who are like Thai France much less than full-time players end up winning gold glove. Yeah. Like there was probably a more valuable defensive first baseman in the American League than Thai France, right? I don't know.

I have no idea. I don't have a strong opinion about it one way or the other. It just strikes me as odd. You know what I was thinking of? I think the Hall of Fame is announced in January, right? And so the awards are announced here coming up in November. So rookie the year on November 10th, manager of the year of the 11th, Sy Young on the 12th, and then MVP awards announced on November 13th.

Let's get into the top 24 outfielders from this past season. This is according to the Fangraphs Player Raider. This is for Roto slash Category Leagues. I'll throw these at you in trios. We're not going to talk about every single name because a lot of them are, you know, high-end players. There's not really, I guess, much to add, but. And like the players in, say, the top three,

I mean, we all expected all three of these guys to finish at the top of the outfield ranking. So we don't really need to spend any time talking about it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, totally fine. Oh, wait. Let's start there with the top three, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto. Yeah.

And George Springer, just like everyone predicted. Yeah, one of these names is not like the other. Aaron Judge has hit over 310 with 50 plus homers in three of his last four years. He is in contention for the first overall pick next year. Juan Soto, generational talent, slow start. But he went ballistic in the second half, posted a career high 38 steals. I guess we could talk a little bit about that in a bit. but George Springer, man, just stands out like a sort of thumb here, along with Geraldo Perdomo.

One of the biggest league winners in fantasy baseball this season in his age 35 season. 309 batting average, 32 homers, 106 runs, 18 steals, a 959 OPS that continued into the playoffs, where he hit 284 with four more homers and an 899 OPS. Chris, what do you make of this renaissance for George Springer? How did he do it? I don't know. I mean, like, we can look at the specific things that he did. He started elevating the ball a ton more.

He started hitting the ball harder. But, like, how did he do that becomes the answer? And I'm sure there is some explanation that's been offered. This is probably just a dead cat bounce. And we probably shouldn't expect him to be nearly this good next season. and I really have no idea what to do with George Springer. Honestly, it's one of the more shocking turnarounds I've ever seen. This is a 36-year-old who had been in steep, steep decline.

His OPS had dropped four straight years to 674 in 2024. And it's not like there was really anything under the hood in 2024 to get excited about. good plate discipline. He underperformed his expected stats a little bit, but he also had well below average quality of contact, which suddenly turned into really, really good quality of contact this season. Like that, that's the thing is that this is not a situation where George Springer just played over his head. His expected stats were actually better than what he managed. I my guess is that there's going to be more than enough skepticism around George Springer that it doesn't really matter. If you buy into it a little bit, you'll probably be higher than the consensus on him.

And I think I do buy into him. Where do you rank him initially at outfield? Because there are two outfielders who both were great in 2025. And I was surprised how high I ended up ranking them in large part because, as we mentioned, at the top, very high-end bats with outfield eligibility are removed from the outfield. And it's like, well, if I'm going to invest in a high-end outfielder, like, I feel like I have a better chance with George Springer who just, in the second half, George Springer averaged more head-to-head points per game in the second half when he hit 369, by the way.

He just kept getting better, yeah. Then Aaron Judge had for the season, more points per game for George Springer in the second half than Aaron Judge had for the season. And so like, okay, I guess he's, I guess he's not in decline. He could start declining anew because he's in his late 30s, but it's hard to say, well, he's in decline when he just puts together the second best season of this entire career. I finished with him 80, or sorry, 8 first, 21st. In outfield? Yeah.

Okay, I have him 13th. Yeah, I feel, I mean, I feel like it's probably too low as I say that. But I honestly have no idea. I think him and Buckson is sort of sort of a separate issue because a lot of his was just he stayed healthy for the first time in a long time. But in both cases, you're paying for honestly, this might have been the best season of George Springer's career as a hitter. By OPS, it was the second best. Yeah, but it was the second best. Either way, I mean, you're talking about a guy who's not.

going to the Hall of Fame, but he's just outside of going to the Hall of Fame, who who had this good of a season this late in his career after appearing to be undecline. I stole 18 bases? Yeah. Just had a huge season. Yeah. Like I said, I want to be skeptical of George Springer, but when I'm looking at the outfielders who I could rank ahead of him, okay, Randy a Rosarana, he's fine, but he's flawed.

He's not going to deliver an early round outcome. Riley Green, same thing. Cody Bellinger. Let's see if he ends up back with the Yankees. If he does, maybe I'll move him ahead of Springer. I assume you have Jackson Merrill behind him. I know you're a little more. I have Jackson Merrill quite a bit behind him.

Yeah, I know you're out on you hate Jackson Merrill. Well, he had a pretty bad season. I have. Even with a monstrous September to try and redeem it. He's still. Yeah, there are plenty of very soft rankings ahead of him that it would be. very easy to move George Springer up. That's one where I think what I want to do with George Springer is end up a little bit

ahead of consensus, but not a ton. Just give yourself a chance to get it. Yeah, it'll be a soft ranking until I see where everybody else has him. And then I'll figure it out just because I because the underlying data backs it up, I do mostly want to believe in it. But it's really hard at his age, given how bad he was. in 2024. I do also want to give a shout out to Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins, who was hired last October and really helped elevate this entire team's approach and coincides with George Springer

having this huge bounceback kind of re-breakout season. And he helped a lot of other Blue Jays, like Dalton Varsho was a legit power hitter hitting the ball harder than ever before. I think you can make the case that Dalton Varsho and George Springer were like the two most surprising hitter breakouts of 2025. Yeah. And there are both. on the same team. And I think that hitting coach had a lot to do with it too. Four, five, and six in the outfield from this past season. Julio Rodriguez, Corbyn Carroll, and Fernando Tatis Jr. All three were expected to deliver. They all had an ADP inside of the top 16 picks overall. We could just do a quick thought on each, pass it around 30 seconds to a minute. I mean,

I don't think we need to spend too much on these. But Scott, I'll let you take Julio Rodriguez, Chris, you could take Corby and Carol and I'll take Tatees Jr. So, Scott, we'll start with you. quick thought on Julio, you wearing your Mariner's shirt. How about that? I am wearing my Mariners shirt. And, you know, I try to choose my shirt based on what we're talking about. And I knew we'd get around to Julio Rodriguez. So anyway, I think by now we know not to apply Rodriguez's typically big second half,

which he had again over a full season. Say, okay, look what he did in the second half. He just did that all year. Yeah. But taking his full numbers is what they are. It's a 30-30 man who won't hurt you too much in batting average. So I think that's still pretty easy first round pick. Certainly in Roto, it probably slides to round two in points because of the poor plate discipline.

But I just don't think there's a lot of reason to wring our hands over Julio Rodriguez anymore. He may not be as good as we once dreamed he could be when we were taking him like second overall a few years ago. but he's still really good. Yeah, just make sure to buy low on him on July 1st. That'll probably work out pretty well next year. Chris, over to you for Corby Carroll. Yeah, I mean, it's also worth noting with Julio and Corbyn Carroll, they're such established superstars that it's easy to forget.

Julio's 24 and Corbyn Carroll's 25. Yeah, there's still probably a career best season in here for both of them. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, it's still possible Julio Rodriguez improves, but it's actually been so consistent, the year-to-year-year, But if he goes out this year and hits, if he goes out this year and hits 2.95 with 40 homers and 30 steals, I really wouldn't be surprised at all. Yeah. Sure.

And that's, that's who you were talking about. Yeah. I don't know. I think I'd be a little more surprised if Corby and Carroll got to 40 homers. He's a, he's a little guy, relatively speaking. But he basically only has like a mediocre batting average as the knock against him at this point. It was 259 this year, 231 the year before. I think the 285 as a rookie is probably the high watermark unless he changes some things.

But he's so tuned for power that I think batting average is going to be a relative liability for his game. But it's only relative. I don't think the 231 is something you should expect. It's probably something like 265 to 275. 230-Homers. What he hit in 2024. Yeah. I think he's a good bet for.

30-30. I think there's more home run ceiling than 31 homers this year. I think there's more stolen base ceiling than the 32. He plays in the lineup that's generated a ton of plate appearances over the past few years for him. I think Corby Carroll's awesome. I think he's just like a half step less awesome than some of the other super high-end guys, but he's a clear first rounder. Here's what I want to say about Corby and Carroll because I don't know that this got a lot of discussion as it was happening. It's easy to say he sells out so much for home runs that he can't produce a high batting average. And that's fine because we want the home runs. But he was one of the biggest gainers in exit velocity this past year.

His average exit velocity in 2024, 89.3. In 2025, it was 92.1, about three miles per hour. Max exit velocity was up like four miles per. Like he was clobbering the ball unlike we've ever seen Corby and Carroll do it. So that gives me a little more hope that he could find his way into more batting average since he doesn't need to sell out as hard for the power anymore. 274 was his expected batting average, which is actually really good. 73rd percent actually hit 259. I think Corby and Carroll might be a better bet for batting average than Julio Rodriguez.

I think my expectation is probably pretty similar for both. I mean, the XBA for Carol was 274, and I feel like Julio's been right around there his entire career. So, yeah, it was 284 this year. I just think, given that Carroll has a lower strikeout rate, is up a little this year, but still not as high as usually has. It was actually higher than Julios this year. Oh, was it? Okay. About two points.

it's generally been lower and much lower than Rodriguez. So if Carroll continues to hit the ball this hard, I don't know. I see a little more room for improvement with batting average for him. And I'll just mention with Fernando Tatis Jr. again, he finished as the sixth best outfielder this year. It feels like a down season. Technically it was.

He finished 29th overall in Roto and category leagues. But even if he has to dial it back a little bit in order to stay healthy, it still was a fine season. 268, 25 homers, 10011 run scored 32 steals with an 814 OPS, the best plate discipline of his career. He walked more, he struck out less. You know, it led to less power, but it did help us in head to points leagues. And again, it's, you know, 2530 player. I still feel like maybe he can get a little bit better than this.

I don't think you can. I actually, I think the highest and upside outcome for all three of these guys is Fernetta Tatis. and I actually don't think it's particularly close. I am done thinking Fernando Tatis is going to hit 30 home runs and playing at least as long as he's playing in San Diego. And you know what the tipping point for me was? Seeing as Polari, which we didn't have access to before. It's pretty much always been in the blue.

The one year it wasn't was the one amazing year, 2021 pre-PED suspension for whatever that's worth. But we've all we've kept hoping Tatis would get back to that level. I believe he's not as good at San Diego, which isn't a surprise. And then he has a horrible pull air rate. So it explains why we keep seeing Fernando Tatis underperform as expected stats. And I think we just got to take that as it. Oh, I agree.

We should just take it as just take him at face value. Yeah. I just think if he makes the tweaks he needs to, I just think the upside's higher for than I just think he's a more physically gifted player than Julio Rodriguez or Corbyn Carroll, which is not a knock on those guys. And I'm not saying you should draft Fernando Tatis as if that's likely to happen. I just, I think that 90th percentile outcome for Fernando Tatis is higher than Julio Rodriguez or Corbyn Carroll's 90th percent.

I mean, if he makes a priority to improve the pull air rate, then sure. But he's seemed pretty satisfied with where it's at the last few years. Yeah. 7, 8, and 9 in the outfield this past season. We had Hunter Goodman, who no longer has outfield eligibility as well, catcher only. P. Crow Armstrong was number 8, and then Byron Buxton was number 9. PCA, we spoke extensively on the pod where we recapped our preseason sleepers,

breakouts, and busts. It was an awful final two months for PCA. He's really aggressive. He chases pitches off the plate a lot, so it could lend itself to being a pretty streaky player for fantasy purposes. Pete Kro Armstrong. Byron Buckson, man, look, the twins and him, they came up with a plan last offseason to keep him on the field more, and it

mostly worked. He played 126 games his most since 2017, the second most of his career, and when he played, he was outstanding. He hit 264, 35 home runs, 97 runs, 24 steals, in 878 OPS. He still hits the crap out of the ball.

The athleticism is still firmly intact. He was 100th percentile in sprint, speed. Chris, I feel like this is kind of another toughie here for ranking for next season. Still incredibly talented and, you know, makes a huge impact, but we just don't really know how many games to project for Buckson next season. There is going to be a big change in how Byron Buxton is valued this offseason. And I don't really think there should be. As a hitter, he stole a bunch more. That was the biggest change for Byron Buckson, the 24th

deals. Maybe that's a sign that he was just feeling much better and that whatever the plan was that kept him healthy worked in a way that will prove sustainable. I would love it if that was the case. I think the baseline should be deep skepticism, that there is something the twins have finally figured out that they can keep Byron Buxton healthy. I'm not writing it off. I just don't think get something you should bet on and he's probably going to go out of 80 picks higher than he was oh he went so late last year his preseason 80s 10 225 and in that that first my draft you going as aggressively after him this past year i would have had a much better season with the cost that at the lowest that first mock draft we did he was a top 60 picks so yeah i just like that's understandable

i just i just don't i had a combined 60 59 technically home runs and steals. Like, I just don't think we learned anything new about Byron Buxton this season. There are, like, maybe, I don't know, I'm looking the steel, like, you can find, but like, he's 31. Mm-hmm. I just think it's really unlikely that Byron Buckson both unlocked a new level of performance, which, frankly, it's not that different than what he'd been doing for the past half

decade. He just stayed healthy. his per 162 averages from 2021 through 24 251 batting average okay he was a little better

than that this year but 13 points that's basically nothing 39 homers 106 runs 86 RBI 15 stolen bases again the steals were better yeah

but I think he mostly just stayed healthy he also had those two years 2022 and 2023 when he hit 224 and 207, respectively. So at least for me, when I'm assessing Buxton year by year, it hasn't purely been just, oh, well, what if he stays healthy?

There have been performance questions in the past. I'll admit the OPS looks more consistent than that memory with health sample sizes. True. But, you know, the fact he also stole bases this year, which we've seen him do in the past, but pretty distant past. So he went from being just a fringe contributor and stolen bases to a plus contributor in stolen bases, and that does make a difference.

If we can count on him to have a respectable batting average to be a plus contributor on stolen bases, then I have an easier time gambling on Buxton, kind of for the same logic where, by the same logic I'm gambling on George Springer, where it's like, would I rather gamble more on a much higher end outcome, or would I rather take Randy or Rosarena?

And I think I would rather gamble more on the much higher end outcome that we saw from Buxton and Springer this past season. I mean, saying that, I know, well, why, if I really believed they were capable of this, why wouldn't have I invested more in them last year when they were cheap? And I don't have a good answer

for that. But as I'm making out my outfield rankings now, it's like, oh, that's too high for Randy Roserana or whoever you want to put in that range. Brent Rooker, who didn't have as good of a season this year as he did in 2024. Or I don't know. Like I feel like they're good. They're good, solid starting outfielders, but for how high they would have to rank if I rank. ranked to them ahead of Byron Buxton and George Springer. I don't think they're good enough for that range of the outfield rankings. So do you basically have Buckson right behind Springer in your rankings?

I have Buxton 11th and Springer 13th with Wyatt Langford in between them. All right. Let's take our final break when we return back into the outfield position from this past season right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. We're recapping the outfield position from this past season. and moving outside of the top nine. We've only gone through nine names. 10, 11 and 12, we have Christian Yelich, who again no longer has outfield eligibility. Cody Bellinger, who is outfield only,

no longer has first base. And number 12 was Riley Green. So three interesting names here. Yelich had the back surgery last year, came in and played 150 games his most since 2022, and performed really well when he was on the field. Cody Bellinger, strong season with the Yankees. 29 homers, 13 steals, 813 OPS, opted out of his deal,

where will he wind up in free agency? And Riley Green had his best season yet 36 homers, 111 RBI. I didn't think he had the power to get to this level while playing his home games in Comerica Park, but he proved me very wrong with a nice little breakout season here. I kind of open it up to you guys because I think three pretty interesting names

and at three different points of their careers as well. So wherever you want to go with this guy. You're up. Yelich, Bellinger, Riley Green. I mean, I start with Bellinger, whose free agency is going to be one of the most interesting to watch for fantasy purposes. We talked about that with Alex Bregman at third base.

But I think Bellinger, even more so, because Yankee Stadium, not surprisingly, did him a lot of favors this past year. he slashed he had 18 of his 29 home runs at home he hit 302 with a 909 OPS at home versus 241 with a 715 OPS on the road and he is the sort of power hitter

who relies more on optimizing the angle off the bat than just hitting the ball really hard and that profile is is more dependent on having the right venue. Yankee Stadium was a perfect fit for Cody Bellinger. It played out the way we hoped. I hope he comes back.

If he doesn't, I hope he goes somewhere else with a right field fence that isn't so daunting. And it's definitely going to affect my ranking for Bellinger, whether he resigns with the Yankees or goes someplace else that's favorable for a swing. Chris, how much are you buying it on this big power breakout that we saw from Riley Green? Um, all right. So the problem is when we're talking about the top 12 at any position, and especially a position like outfield where so many of the top 12 guys were not who we expected to them to be.

I think my default is going to be, I don't really buy it. And in Riley Green's case, it feels worse than I expect to buy into it because he was so bad in the second half to batting out. average just completely collapsed in a way that makes a lot of sense he's a really really bad plate discipline guy he's got great power he hits the ball really hard i think he's a legit 30 plus homer guy but this is one where i could see it being a 215 batting average pretty easily i'm not saying that's the expectation but he hit 218 in the second half um the power was still there which was nice to see. And I feel like that provides a decent backdrop, backstop for him.

But I do think there is some real bottom out potential with Riley Green and the batting average. I've made the comp to Nicholas Castellanos in the past. And the nice thing is Cassadiano's kind of fell off hard really quickly. It's because his breakout came so late. So Riley Green's breakout coming at 24, 25 should give him a little more runway. But it's a profile that I think is pretty. pretty strong, but with some huge red flags that I, I just kind of depends on what the price is going to be. If he's a top 12 outfielder, I'm out.

But, you know, the lower he goes, the easier it is to buy into it. I mean, he's in that second tier I keep referring to where it's like, do I really want to take this guy over Springer and Buxton? Because Green is such a one-note player, which isn't, wasn't the read on him coming out of the miners at all. He's been much more power focused as a hitter, but he strikes out more than 30% of the time. And the average exit velocity this year actually wasn't that good. It was in the lower half of the league. He still hit the ball very hard at the high end,

so I think the power's legit. But there are definitely some flaws here as a hitter that really makes it dependent on him having a high home run total. He had a pretty good year in 2024, but that was just 24 home runs versus the 3060 hit in 2025. What if he regresses just back to 24 home runs? Suddenly, with that very high strikeout rate and the impact that losing those 12 home runs would have on batting average,

I don't know. It does make me a little queasy. Again, that was Riley Green. 13, 14, and 15 in the outfield. We had James Wood, Jazz Chisholm, who again no longer has outfield and Kyle Tucker. So James Wood's season went simple. Similarly to Pete Crow Armstrong, he looked like a breakout, then stumbled in the second half where he hit 2.23, 690 OPS, a 39% strikeout rate for James Wood in that second half.

And then Kyle Tucker, I mean, he was cruising. And then his season kind of got thrown off by injury. He suffered a fracture in his right ring finger in June and then a strained calf in September. You know, he's kind of been derailed by injury two years in a row here. But before the injury, he, looked like like he could have been in the mix for the top player in fantasy, Kyle Tucker. But James Wood, I think,

is the one that kind of stands out more just based on, you know, his prospect pedigree, how he started the year, but then also, unfortunately, how he ended it. Yeah, I think Kyle Tucker's just a superstar.

And any discount you want to give me on Kyle Tucker, out's like anything past like the seventh pick. I think he's a great pick. I just think his, his five category potential is just almost unmatched. I think he's a phenomenal player. I don't care where he signs. I don't really care about the injuries. It's been, I don't know, man, like, maybe he's just a really compelling

liar. And that's how he was able to get to stay on the field with a fractured shin that was misdiagnosed in 2024 and then a fractured hand that was also misdiagnosed in 2025 that he played through. Maybe that's just, I don't know, maybe there's something about him that, Maybe he moves too much in the X-ray machine and they just can't get a guy. I don't know what the possible explanation for why I should be especially concerned about Kyle Tucker. I'm not. I will draft Kyle Tucker in the first round. If he makes it to the second round in any drafts, consider yourself super lucky.

James Wood. If I could interject with a quick note on Kyle Tucker, since we were talking about him, I think getting out of Rigley will help. lot too. I remember I saw somebody had somebody on Twitter or X had put together a video showing all the fly balls he hit that would have been home runs in Yankee Stadium, which isn't necessarily where Kyle Tucker's going. But the flip side of that, we've talked about how bad Wrigley field can be for pull side power.

And he only hit seven of his 22 home runs there this past. year Kyle Tucker so another one whose free agency you'll want to watch closely I think I'll be fine if he does go to a bad hitters part but he I I think the ceiling could be even higher than we're getting credit giving him credit for if he does go to a good hitter's park San Francisco would not be good that would be good if he goes to Yankee Stadium we might get 40 Homer Kyle Tucker so that that would be very very fun as far as James Wood he is so young still and so physically gifted and everything that has always been true about him remains true

i i have to wonder and i haven't seen anything but i have to assume he was not healthy in the second half that's the only thing that would make sense for how badly he fell off because it wasn't just 39% strike i right in the second half much less productive. He also only attempted six steals in the second half after attempting 16 in the first half. His sprint speed was down. It just, I know he dealt with the quad tendonitis in the spring. And I wonder if that was just a nagging issue all season because if not, that's a really, really scary second half regression from James Wood, who, you know, still hasn't really shown the ability to lift the ball consistently was better than I thought against lefties

actually this season. So that's less of a concern. But yeah, just very much an incomplete player right now. I lean towards James Wood just maybe having a hole in his swing that opposing teams exploited, right? I mean, that was kind of a big concern for him as a prospect, as just being as big as he is, that there is going to be some swing and miss in his game. and the zone contact went way down.

The swinging strike rate went way down. And I noticed they started throwing him more breaking and off speed pitches in the second half of the season as well. He crushed fastballs. He really struggled with anything that was not a fastball. So that has to be a point of emphasis and focus for James Wood here in the off season. 16, 17, and 18, we have Randy Rosa Rana,

Jackson Trio, and Brent Rooker. Randy Rosederona bounced back from his down 2024, hit 27 homers, 31 steals, 95 runs scored. He also plummeted over the final two months of the season with a 21-bating average and a 641 OPS. Jackson Turyo, eerily similar rookie in sophomore seasons. He was limited to just 131 games due to a strained right hamstring, which caused him to miss about a month of the season.

But he's a very aggressive hitter at the plate. He's got power, he's got speed. He reminds me of a, you know, slightly less, version of Julio Rodriguez, I think, for Jackson Trio. And then Brent Rooker, he also took a step back, but he proved the bat is legit. Hit 30 homers, counting stats were good, 814 OPS, has dropped his strikeout rate two seasons in a row. He got it all the way down to a 22% strikeout rate. So pretty impressive stuff there for Rooker who will continue to play in Sacramento next year. It's a great hitters park, an improving lineup as well. So these three, obviously Trio has much higher-end

upside and he's going to be drafted in likely the second or third round. These other two kind of feel more like, I guess, outfield twos that you would draft in the middle rounds, Randy Rosarina and Brent Rooker. I agree, and I think they're decidedly second tier. I mean, a Roserena, you know, we could harp on the rough last couple months there, but we've had similar concerns from him in the past thinking, oh, he's falling off Randy Roserena.

He's so streaky, too, just throughout his career. Right, right. He's who he is. Yeah. So he always bounces back with another 20 homer, 20 to 30 homers, 20 to 30 steals. The batting average probably isn't going to be great. But overall, I don't have worries about a Rose Arena. Churio, I think we're guilty of doing with Churio,

the same sort of thing we were doing with Julio Rodriguez early in his career, where it's like, oh, look at how strong he finished. If you could just apply that to the next season. So it feels like Cheerio's sophomore season was a disappointment. You know, the stat line was virtually identical to his rookie season, the final stat line. He's only 21, so I'm not saying he won't get better. For being as high end of a prospect as he was and for as productive as he's been his first two years, it is surprising how low his contact quality is.

And I can see that improving as he gets older and strong. presumably. And then he could, he could make a leap. But I don't know about you guys. I'm not going to be, I'm not going to draft Jackson Churio with as much just unbridled optimism this year.

I'm going to expect basically who he's been the past two years. That's more like a late second rounder than an early second rounder. And if he takes a step four, great. But that's not going to be my expectation. I mean, I think the thing we have to keep in mind, one, he'll be 22 on opening day next year. I think he turns 22 in like November or something. If all you do is draft him as if he'll hit 275 with 25 homers, 25 steals, 100 runs, and 90 RBI, which is basically what he was on pace for if he didn't miss that month, that's a second round player.

The thing is you don't have to. bet on him taking a huge step forward. But it also feels like a pretty good bet to make. Because even if you miss, Jackson Turyo should still be awesome. Yeah. And if you hit, you're hitting on a 22-year-old

who has been awesome already. Yeah. Which is a generally good. A very good bet to make. He was getting pushed into round one. Yeah, no. It's just the question of, Yeah. Is that going to happen in 2026 or 2027 or 28? I don't know.

The breakout. You're talking about. Yeah, the breakout. I said no. I meant, is he going to be first in the round one? That's what I was saying. The thing is, I just mentioned 2028. And that's a long time from now. I can't even think about that. I will be 40 that year. It's not so bad. That will be Jackson Trio's age 24 season. That's crazy. Like that is like he might not become a world-conquering superstar until he's 25. And that would be four years from now. Yeah. You know?

Like that's the thing we have to keep in mind here. I'm totally fine with him being a kind of mid to late second rounder for next season. I keep referencing this first mock draft that we did. But I had the fifth overall pick. I started Bobby Witt Jr., I took Jackson Trio in the second round and then Yordaun alvarez in the third round. That's an awesome start. Yeah, and I wasn't really trying to avoid high-end pitchers. I just, okay, if I'm not going to get one of the top three,

they're not going to make it back to me in round two. I'm not going to be the first one to take the SP4 in round three, so then I just took whoever was left in round four, and I think it was Brian Wu. And I went, you know, Wu, Regens, and, you know, the pitching turned out okay. But, yeah, just I can see a lot of drafts kind of working out that way. In my mind, there's no starting pitcher worth taking in round three.

Yeah. I'm more open to taking the very high. In scuba, crochet and skeins in late round one or early round two. That's what we did. But yeah, we did do that in that, Mike, you're right. Yeah. But in round three, there's nobody worth taking there. 1920 and 21 in the outfield, Andy Paez, Brandon Nimmo, and Tyler Soderstrom.

We spoke about Soderstrom in our first base recap. Andy Pahez and Brandon Nimmo, eerily similar stat lines for these two. Pahez, 272, 27 homers, 14 steals. For Nimmo, it was 262, 25 homers, 13 steals. So very similar players. I think, I mean, look, Pahez is still young enough where he can, I guess, improve. We don't know exactly what he is yet. But if they are these players again next year, that's kind of like a, you know,

borderline outfield two, outfield three. You know, I don't think that there's crazy upside with either one of these guys, Pahas or Nino. No, no, but I think we're beyond the point where there is. that crazy upside in the outfield. So I look at, if we're comparing these two, I mean, who's more likely to repeat the stat line? Nemo. My Pahas was so bad he got benched in the World Series, so bad during the playoffs, which I don't think that's his future coming off the Dodgers bench.

I think it was just a bad streak for a player who's, his profile makes him streaky. But, you know, there are reasons to doubt. whether his breakout was totally what it appeared to be at face value, given that the ex of honesty readings are pretty suspect. Nimmo, though, I mean, he's the one I really want to focus on here because I ran, as I was putting together, my outfield rankings and this very jumbled stretch in the second tier at the position, I ran a few polls on Twitter to help me sort it out.

which of these four guys would you take first kind of things. I have a series of like five poles with some of the names crossing over between the polls. My biggest takeaway from that process was that Brandon Nimmo is severely underrated because he was two years in a row. He's proven his power production now two years in a row. He's proven that he's of some help and stolen bases. I think you can basically pencil in Brandon Nemo for a 260, 24. 85, 85, 12 line. Yeah.

Which isn't a stud, but again, we're beyond the point where we're drafting studs in the outfield. Like that is, I have him 27th at the position. He finished 20th. I have him 27th. The way those polls were running, people weren't even going to take them in the top 36. Yeah. And that's insane because Nimmo's very valuable. And that's a great outfielder to have in a five outfielder league where you just kind of want to like continue banking stats.

Brandon Nimmo is one of those guys that's pretty much just going to bank stats. I do want to just bump on Pahas for just a second because I want to be careful not to overstate the certainty with which I am saying this because he is young and the Dodgers tend to ring every bit of value they can out of everyone they have

and all that's true. I feel like he is, he is someone I have just like zero interest in drafting in 2026 unless the price is I don't know close to 200 I just I really really don't think this guy is close to 200 overall yeah yeah yeah he's that's that's no way he's going that late I I think that the the best things he has going for him one he's pretty good okay I think he's okay two the Dodgers just have nobody in center field. And that is kind of, he's an amazing defender. Yeah, he's a very good defensive player. And they even like, the Dodgers have like four outfielders who might be top 50 prospects this year. I don't really think any of them are centerfielders.

And most of them aren't going to be up in 2026 anyway. So I think there's some semblance of safety when it comes to playing time for Andy Pahas. but he was pretty bad in the second half. The underlying numbers do not back up what he did overall. And then he was... They're not that far off. The expected stats aren't terrible. They're not that far.

They got better as the... They got better as the season went on. Expect a batting average 266. So six points off there. He pulls the ball in the air a pretty good amount of two. You know what I think Andy Pahas is? What? You can take this as a...

criticism or an insult if you want. I think he's Lordus Gueriel. And Lordis Gariel has been a useful player for fantasy for a while. I think he's a little bit better. He's never been much more than... He was a four-win player, Andy Pazas. I mean, that's...

Oh, that's deep sense. I think he's talking for fantasy. He was a positive contributing player, you know? So I want to go back and check Gurriel steals because I think that might be where you're selling Paha short. He had 10.

this year. Yeah, that was the first time Gurriel had ever had double digits. Pa has got 14. He's fast enough to get more than that. So if, if, if,

if Gurriel was a 15 steel guy and batted in the Dodgers lineup. That's fair. I, I think we'd feel a lot better about Lord of Gariel than we do. Yeah. 15 to 20 steel guy,

let's say. Yeah. Yeah, I just, I think Paa has has a very slim margin for error as a hitter. That's, I mean, look, he got benched.

He got benched in the World Series, so that kind of shows the margin for error right there. But at the same time, I think the cost is going to be reasonable. I don't think he's going to last to 200. I rank him 118. Just behind Brandon Nimmo. My outfield rank is 28th for a guy who had a 27th Homer 14th steel season.

Plays for the Dodgers. And I'm not going to rank him 200th, to be clear. Yeah, that's more like he's my in my first round of rankings. He was my outfield of 40. Um, you said it was 30, uh, round 30s. Yeah. Am I around 30 in my, yeah, 28th. Yep.

Okay. So yeah, that mostly just comes down to I'm going to rank him probably 150th or whatever it comes out to. I'm just not going to be very excited to draft him there. And that's, that's fair. Like I, I wish I could look at Andy Pahas and say yes this is totally on the up and up average exit velocity was only 28th percentile doesn't walk very much was benched into postseason like there are reasons for concern here

but you know there comes a point where it's like do i just take andy pa has with those concerns or do i take jacob marcy yeah no who wasn't as high end of a prospect much worse lineup was terror had a pretty awful September the final number still ended up great because the August was so good but like we're getting to a range of the outfielders where it's there's a lot of room for doubt with all of them yeah again I keep referencing this first mock draft we did it's on the website if you want to check it out CBSports.com

slash fantasy slash baseball a couple outfielders that went right after Andy Pahas in round 13 by the way that's pick 146 that he went so you know closer to that 150 range but right after him. Nelvi Marte, Lawrence Butler, Luis Robert, Jacob Marcy.

All those names, yes, they have some more. They all have some... They all have some upside too, I think, so I don't know. Yeah, no, I mean, interesting range.

But Pa has included. You could see a... A, uh, even more favorable outcome. You could see the bottom falling out for all of them. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair.

All right. We're going to leave off there. The next three names are, Jaron Duran, Sayy Suzuki, and Taylor Ward. So I want to give those a little bit more time. I don't want to rush through those. So we'll save that for tomorrow's podcast. Yes, we're going to be live again on Tuesday night

because Chris and I are gone later in the week. So yeah, we're going to be podcasting two days in a row here. And we will be talking about outfield rankings in particular on the Express episode. So make sure to check those out as well. We're going to wrap there for Scott Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple.

Spotify and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.