Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Outfield tiers for 2025 drafts

We’re moving along with the Shuffle Up series — my version of tiered rankings — for the new fantasy baseball draft season. The dollar values you’ll see below are unscientific in nature but reflect how I see the clusters of talent for outfield-eligible players (I have also included Shohei Ohtani the hitter, who obviously is only eligible at utility).

Use these tiers however you like.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2025 MLB season]

Have some disagreements? Good, that’s why we have a game. I welcome your reasoned disagreement over at X (@scott_pianowski) or on Blue Sky (@pianow.bsky.social).

The Big Tickets

• $44 Aaron Judge

• $43 Shohei Ohtani*

• $41 Juan Soto

• $40 Kyle Tucker

• $36 Corbin Carroll

• $36 Fernando Tatís Jr.

• $35 Mookie Betts

• $33 Yordan Álvarez

• $32 Julio Rodríguez

• $30 Jackson Chourio

• $30 Jarren Duran

You thought Judge was unstoppable in 2022? He was actually even better last year, giving us the highest OPS+ since Barry Bonds broke baseball two decades ago. The center field chore didn’t wear down Judge, though we prefer him in the corner slot he’ll have for 2025. The loss of Juan Soto stings, but I was satisfied with the other moves New York made in the offseason. Even if Judge shifts back down to 2023 levels of production, this is a player who belongs in the top three of any draft, and could certainly command the No. 1 slot.

Tucker was headed for a career season — more fly balls, an improved home-run rate, perfect on the bases and new bests for OBP and slugging percentage. Alas, a fractured shin wrecked half of his season. Chicago’s often a run-suffocating park due to erratic weather patterns, but Tucker is the type of talent who can’t be stopped anywhere. He’s entering his age-28 season and playing for his next contract; all the signals are pointing to a strong buy.

These are the floor seasons for Betts, as he no longer runs aggressively (though the efficiency is there) and the loaded Dodgers have the luxury of being careful with any player who’s dinged up during the year. Los Angeles has given us a top-five scoring offense for seven straight seasons, which underscores how appealing any slot in the LAD lineup is — especially those at the top. Betts qualifies at second, shortstop and outfield, which pushes his salary a buck or two. But understand you’re thinking more safety with this pick, not shooting for the moon.

Carroll was a disappointment for almost four months, perhaps tied to a nagging shoulder problem. But he was back to fantasy royalty over his final 10 weeks, producing like a legitimate first-round talent. Given his tender age and five-category skill set, this looks like someone to give the benefit of the doubt to.

The Brewers didn’t want to overload Chourio in the first half of the year, settling him in the bottom third of the order for several months. But Milwaukee finally took the training wheels off and Chourio was top-three in the lineup for the stretch weeks. Chourio’s late production spike spoke for itself; only Aaron Judge, Corbin Carroll and Brent Rooker had more 5×5 value among outfielders in the second half of the year. Player development isn’t always linear, but what Chourio did in 2024 has to put a bounce in your step. A perfect second-round pick.

Legitimate Building Blocks

• $27 Jazz Chisholm Jr.

• $27 Jackson Merrill

• $24 Michael Harris II

• $23 Wyatt Langford

• $22 Teoscar Hernández

• $21 Oneil Cruz

• $21 Anthony Santander

• $21 *Ronald Acuña Jr.

• $20 Bryan Reynolds

• $20 Riley Greene

• $19 James Wood

• $19 Lawrence Butler

• $19 Brenton Doyle

• $19 Seiya Suzuki

• $19 Cody Bellinger

• $18 Luis Robert Jr.

• $18 Spencer Steer

• $17 Christian Yelich

• $17 Marcell Ozuna

• $16 Brent Rooker

• $15 Ian Happ

• $15 Kyle Schwarber

Rooker’s breakout season was another post-hype kid making good — remember, he was a first-round pick in his draft class. The shift in ballparks is an unknown, but I dare the Sacramento park to suffocate offense like the Oakland yard did. What’s amazing about Rooker’s standout campaign is that he had nagging soreness in his right arm, which cost him time in the outfield. Even if last year ultimately stands as the best season of Rooker’s entire career, he can give back a fair amount of the stats and still justify a modest Yahoo ADP in the mid-50s.

It’s basically impossible to fairly rank Acuña right now, as he’s coming off ACL surgery. The Braves say they’ll be cautious as they bring him back, making it unlikely that Acunña will play in April. And given that it’s Acuña’s second ACL surgery in four years, will he continue to run aggressively? He’s currently commanding a top 30 pick in Yahoo ADP, a ticket I can’t write. So often in fantasy sports, injury optimism is not your friend.

Santander’s homer spike is tricky to accept at face value, as he outkicked his expected home run count by 7.4, the most fortunate gap in baseball. He also gave us a modest .235 average and .308 OBP, and stole just two bases. The ballpark change is probably a mild step forward, and Santander is merely entering his age-30 season, so he’s close enough to the peak years. Take the homer projection down to something around 30-33 and you’ll be in the right neighborhood.

I’ve been patiently waiting for a major move forward from Suzuki — maybe the timing is right in 2025. He ran more aggressively last year and although he did strike out more, he also put the ball in the air more often. Having OBP machine Kyle Tucker in the Chicago lineup certainly helps. The ADP prices Suzuki as a boring-value vet, which is fine. But entering his age-30 campaign, I’ll still dream of some upside.

Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down

• $14 Mike Trout

• $14 Steven Kwan

• $14 Randy Arozarena

• $14 Adolis García

• $14 Dylan Crews

• $14 Brandon Nimmo

• $12 Pete Crow-Armstrong

• $12 Colton Cowser

• $12 Nick Castellanos

• $11 Lane Thomas

• $11 Josh Lowe

• $11 Tyler O’Neill

• $10 Jasson Domínguez

• $10 Taylor Ward

• $10 Tommy Edman

I wish the Angels would shrug and decide it’s time for Trout to be a full-time DH, but apparently that’s not the plan yet. The last four years he’s played 29, 82, 119 and 36 games. It’s no fun to play fantasy sports like an actuary, but it’s often correct. Trout did steal six bases in his 29 games last year, after four seasons of essentially no running. To keep him hale, it’s probably best if he shuts down that part of the game, too.

I’m under market on Arozarena and I was tempted to go lower after his slash line collapsed and he stayed in Seattle — easily the worst-hitting park in the majors. Arozarena isn’t special as a base stealer, but his willingness to do that chore is the key to keeping his fantasy value afloat.

Crow-Armstrong is an outstanding defender and his offensive game kicked forward in the second half (.262 average, seven homers, 10 steals). He probably starts the year as a bottom-third batter, but it’s possible his batting eye could get him promoted at some point in 2025. The upside might not be huge, but there is some growth potential here.

Some Plausible Upside

• $9 Jurickson Profar

• $9 Kerry Carpenter

• $8 Heliot Ramos

• $8 Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

• $8 Giancarlo Stanton

• $7 Cedric Mullins II

• $7 George Springer

• $7 Ceddanne Rafaela

• $7 Victor Robles

• $6 Parker Meadows

• $6 Alec Burleson

• $6 Jorge Soler

• $6 Nolan Jones

• $6 Jake McCarthy

• $6 Byron Buxton

• $6 Evan Carter

• $6 Michael Toglia

• $5 TJ Friedl

• $5 JJ Bleday

• $5 Willi Castro

With Stanton and Buxton, it always comes down to how many games you can reasonably expect. Stanton has averaged 116 over the last four years, while Buxton is down at 85. It’s a shame we can’t fairly project Buxton for something in the 120-130 range because he was a fantasy monster last year — he kicked his average back up to .279, he whacked 18 home runs in 102 games, and he even stole seven bases. But we’re talking about someone who’s basically played one quasi-full season in his 10-year career.

Carpenter’s production against right-handed pitching excites me, but you worry that he might do nothing against left-handed opponents — or not be allowed to face them. You need to be wary of possible platoons as you assemble your mixed-league rosters. Then again, players are capable of improving, or perhaps injuries in Detroit could keep Carpenter on the field more proactively than he has been in prior seasons.

Castro is a nifty target outside the top 240, as he qualifies at four Yahoo positions and can adequately contribute in all five roto categories (even if his stolen-base efficiency did drop last year). Maybe the Twins need to have injuries for Castro to push past 500 at-bats again, but look at the roster — there are plenty of injury-prone candidates jumping out at you.

Bargain Bin

• $4 Jung Hoo Lee

• $4 Brendan Donovan

• $4 Lars Nootbaar

• $4 Jordan Walker

• $4 Wilyer Abreu

• $4 Daulton Varsho

• $4 Tyler Fitzgerald

• $3 Garrett Mitchell

• $3 Matt Wallner

• $3 Jesús Sánchez

• $3 Joc Pederson

• $3 Luke Raley

• $3 Christopher Morel

• $3 Roman Anthony

• $3 Michael Conforto

• $2 Jo Adell

• $2 Brandon Marsh

• $2 Jacob Young

• $2 Andrew Benintendi

• $1 Starling Marte

• $1 Masataka Yoshida

• $1 Andy Pages

• $1 Matt Vierling

• $1 Jake Fraley

• $1 Jeff McNeil

• $1 Chas McCormick

• $1 Harrison Bader