Fantasy Baseball Today - FBT Express - 2025 Outfield Tiers! Jackson Chourio in the Second Round!? (1/25 Fantasy Baseball podcast)

Episode Date: January 25, 2025

Download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today Express! You can find FBT Express on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the Audacy App and wherever else podcasts are found. Any concern with Juan Soto and Kyle Tucker in new locations? Is Jackson Chourio worth an early-mid second round pick? Why is James Wood in a tier above Wyatt Langford? To display your continued support of the show, please vote Fantasy Baseball Today in the Sports Podcast Awards in the "Best Baseball Podcast" Category https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-baseball-podcast/ Fantasy Baseball Today Express is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @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/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today Express on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast." 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

Let's break down Scott's Outfield Tears up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express. Welcome into FPT Express on Saturday, January 25th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White, and let's get into Outfield Tears. Worth mentioning that U-Til-only players have been included in these outfield tiers because we're not going to do an episode for just U-Till-only players. So they are included in these. The first rounders include Shohei Otani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betz, Corbyn Carroll, Fernando Tatis,

Julio Rodriguez, and Yordon Alvarez. Of the top 17 picks in NFBC ADP, eight of those have outfield eligibility. Scott, I want to ask you about two players on the move this offseason. Juan Soto signing with the Mets, Kyle Tucker traded over to the Cubs. I have no doubt that both of these guys are extremely talented, but sometimes weird things happen

when a superstar goes from one place, to another. Do you have any concerns? Well, both of them are moving to a worse park for hitters on the full-length podcast. You went to Chris for this question, and he expressed a little more concerned about Soto's move. But I think the more concerning one is actually Kyle Tucker, seeing how, having come to terms with how difficult Wrigley field is down the lines, both left field and right field. Of course, it crushed D.Sach-Paret is last year. Now, Kyle Tucker is a very different problem. profile. He has legit power, not just down the line power, and he doesn't live around that foul

pole. But it does make you wonder if he might lose a couple of homeruns here and there. Ultimately, good play discipline, speed, or at least base stealing ability. There's enough there that he can afford to lose a couple homers and still be a first rounder. So my concern is basically zero, but it is worth noting. Yes, both are moving to. a worse park. The also elite tier includes Jaron Duran, Jackson Churio, Jackson Merrill, Ronald Acuna, and

Jazz Chisholm. And based on January ADP, one of these names is being elevated above the rest. And that is Churio. He is going on average at pick 17.3. Scott, what do you think about the price tag there? Jackson Churio, early second round.

I think it's a little early for me. And when I say a little, I prefer late second round for Jackson Churio. It means he's going ahead of proven early rounders, guys who do it time and time again. And I think he certainly has that upside. He showed it final four months last year.

He did produce like that. But it hasn't been over a full season. It has, there are things that need to be sorted out for Jackson Churio before we know exactly who he is. Do I think he's trending toward a first round outcome? Yes. And certainly the prospect pedigree suggests he had that kind of upside. I think he's going to have a great year.

I'd just rather, for a pick that early, played a little safer than that. And, you know, you might say Jackson's Tury who provides steals while Yorden Alvarez doesn't. That's true. I don't think that's as big of the deals that used to be. Stolen base is much more plentiful these days. All right. For those wondering about Acuna, I did just want to mention his ADP in January is 30.5, because we just don't know right now.

It's a very fluid situation. What we do know is that he won't be ready for opening day. We don't know exactly how much time he's going to miss. It could be a month. It could be six weeks. It could be two months. And it sounds like the Braves are going to be a little bit cautious with him even once he returns after that.

So very fluid situation. Let's see if we can learn more during spring training. Let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in, FBT Express. We are breaking down outfield tears and onto the near elite. Kyle Schwerber and Marcel Ozuna, both are Uto-only, not expected to gain outfield eligibility. Then we have James Wood and Christian Yelich, who was actually one tier lower in categories leagues and Roto Leagues. So what that means is in Roto leagues, if you eliminate the two, you tell only guys, you eliminate Yelich.

It's a tier of one, James Wood. James Wood. Well, let's talk about James Wood, Scott, because you have him in this near elite tier ahead of, I think, similar. excitement players like a Wyatt Langford or maybe even an O'Neill Cruz who are in the next tier why is James Wood elevated above those names? Yeah, I struggled

to come up with an answer for this on the full length pod and it's not like I have a better one now. It's just kind of a feeling. It's okay, consensus top five prospect overall comes up, makes good right away. Of course the profile isn't perfect.

He puts too many balls on the ground. I believe seven of his nine home runs were to the opposite field, so the spray angle isn't optimized yet. And yet, he was still pretty close to a stud as a rookie. And so you just imagine, okay, all that room for growth in those areas, how high does the ceiling go here? And I think it's as high as like a Jackson Juryo. But you can get him for, what, three rounds later, four rounds later?

So is there plenty of upside for White Lankford, too? Yes, there is. Is there plenty of upside for O'Neill Cruz? Yes. But they both have a little more failure on their resume. Certainly O'Neill Cruz does, to the point that he's going to be 25 now. I would have liked to see more growth before I continued to invest in him as a probable first rounder, an eventual first rounder, I should say.

Langford, I may come around to tearing him with Wood, just because even though his rookie season was underwhelming, he came on strong late, and there still seems to be plenty of enthusiasm for him. So I may have just misread the perception of Wyatt Langford's value, and I may have to adjust that one. All right, the next best things tier, buckle up. 19 names.

O'Neill Cruz, Teasca Hernandez, Brent Rooker, who is Uptill Only, Michael Harris, Wyatt Langford, Anthony Santander, Mike Trout. Luis Robert, Lawrence Butler, Brian Reynolds, Sayas Suzuki, Riley Green, Cody Bellinger, Brenton Doyle, Spencer Sear, Randy Orozah Rainup, Brandon Nimmo, Dylan Cruz, and Ian Hap. As I mentioned, lots of names.

19 of them hit there on that list, Scott. Ideally, when you get to this point in the draft, these guys are what, your outfield two, outfield three. If you do wait on outfield early on, would you be okay with these guys as your first outfielder? What do you think? It's very unlikely they're going to be my first outfielder. By this point, I'm more likely to have two outfielders than zero outfielders,

given how many outfielers there are in rounds one and two, as you already mentioned. Could I live with it? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of upside here. There's a lot of security here. It's kind of two different types of players in one big tier. You can go with the boomer bust route with like a Mike Trout or a Lawrence Butler, or you could go the super safe route with a Brian Reynolds, say a Suzuki, and Hap type. I think the security of one versus the volatility of the other makes them kind of similar in terms of just overall value.

And so, yeah, if you don't have an outfielder at this point, you grab two or three of these guys. I'm presuming you're strong somewhere else. And it could work out just fine. But based on the way my drafts have been playing out, it's more likely I'm taking a third outfielder from this group. And I'm almost certainly taking a third outfielder from this group because it's a very large group. And I like the value of some of these players quite a bit. Brandon Nimmo, I think, is the best bang for the buck here. I see him as on very similar footing to Brian Renose, Suzuki, Riley Green. I know his batting average was bad last year. Total aberration seems to be health related.

And if you look past that, you'll see he became more secure in his power and he became a base stealer for the first time, didn't M.O. So I think he's a five-category threat at this point, and I love the value. All right. If you do want to see the rest of Scott's outfield tears, you can read the article on the site, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball, or you can listen to our full-length podcast. Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts are found. Thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball Today Express, and we will be back again next week.

Bye-bye. Thank you.