Fantasy Baseball 2025: Outfield Sleepers

When it comes to fantasy baseball, and fantasy sports in general, everyone is always trying to find the next potential star player who nobody else is aware of. It’s a fair goal. Fantasy managers will try to find value wherever they can. 

I will be providing as many draft tips as possible now that we’ve hit February, and getting started with sleepers is a phenomenal way to do so. My definition of ‘sleeper’ refers to players being taken outside the top 180 NFBC rankings. This means guys to focus on after the 15th round of a 12-team format. 

Not many people know all of these names. That could soon change. 

Let’s take a look at these silent advantages roaming the outfield!

Can Jesús Sánchez Tap Into His True Power? – #245

If Jesús Sánchez can find a way to tap into his true power, we could have a star in Miami.

It’s true — including any Marlins player heading into 2025 is a questionable decision. But I’m here to tell you to forget lineup context at the back end of your drafts. Instead, go with upside.

I really like a lot of the metrics on Sánchez. His impact on the ball is clear and the swing has sped up over the past few seasons. Being in the 93rd percentile in average exit velocity and 95th in hard-hit rate is nothing to sneer at. 

We often forget that Sánchez is still only 27 years old. He continues to collect experience with each at-bat, and his career in the minors suggested good things to come in the majors.

The good news is he’s trending in the right direction, as his OPS and home run totals have grown in his first two full seasons, and I expect a true breakout to happen in 2025. If Sánchez smacks 30 homers, I wouldn’t be surprised. 

Matt Wallner Is Blessed With Incredible Strength – #275

Out of everyone on this list, here’s a guy who I am most confident in for 2025. Lots of guys who have success in the power department are blessed with good strength. Wallner is a player with incredible strength. 

Back in July of 2024, Wallner hit a ball with an exit velocity of 116.7 mph. This was the second-hardest hit home run by any Twins player in the Statcast era. At that point, Wallner joined Oneil Cruz, Giancarlo Stanton, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, and Shohei Ohtani as the only players who hit multiple balls at least 116 mph. 

We’ve seen incredible analytical studies done based on why a certain player will break out. But the fact of the matter is even if someone has these types of underlying data, it doesn’t do much unless the batter produces.

Wallner did just that in 2024, despite only playing 75 games. A .259/.372/.523 line with 13 long balls and an .894 OPS is beyond a healthy sign. Get ready Twins fans, he could be a franchise-type player if everything breaks right. 

Of course, I love the raw force he puts on baseballs. But knowing manager Rocco Baldelli was confident enough to send him out against several lefties put even more trust in my view of Wallner.

He also takes his walks and is a pretty patient performer up at the plate. His OBP in 2023 was .370 while 2024 was essentially the same at .372. We have yet to see a full season of production, but at this point next season he could be going within the top 100 players.

And if you don’t believe me, just look back at his 2024 stint in Triple-A. 19 moonshots in just 67 games isn’t a bad ratio at all in my opinion. Let’s not forget that power is what everyone craves when it comes to fantasy, and it’s a mighty hard thing to find in the back end of drafts. 

The formula is simple: Sccoop up Wallner and your outfield depth will become much healthier.

Time Is Still on Jordan Walker’s Side – #281

Patience.

It’s hard, I know. A top prospect who isn’t immediately successful is kinda like someone telling you to buy a stock because the company is destined for greatness, only for it to fail miserably and shut down within a year.

The good thing about Walker is that his leash is long and time is on his side. He will not be shut down within a year. 

We forget just how young Walker is. Entering 2025, he’ll be 22 years of age. When a guy has this sort of raw talent, the only thing left is confidence. Walker does not have any at the major league level. Confidence comes from experience and time. 168 games at the major league level is a cup of coffee. 

Walker also recently stated publicly that his swing path and approach were off in 2024. This has led to him making necessary adjustments, something which could be an interesting development in 2025. The bat speed was high last season, which is one of my favorite signs, causing me to believe he’s headed in the right direction.

Another thing we forget about Walker; the 2023 figures weren’t too bad. Everyone acts like he’s been a complete failure in the majors, and that’s just not true. 16 homers and a .787 OPS was great for a then 20-year-old. 

Walker had too much success at the minor league level to just wash out. And because many fantasy managers think he’s overrated, better for us. It just means we will be getting a massive discount on someone with great promise. 

Draft and Stash Roman Anthony As Much as You Can – #286

I trust everything Roman Anthony has shown us over his minor league career. The only concern I have with him up front is opportunity.

The Boston outfield is packed at the moment with Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Masataka Yoshida. The whole picture could get even cloudier if Alex Bregman takes significant playing time at third base, pushing Rafael Devers to DH.

The Red Sox have a good problem on their hands, though it might not be the best for Anthony’s playing time.

Even so, it takes just one injury to throw a wrench in all of the depth mess. And once Anthony gets the call, I don’t think he’ll look back. There’s a reason most people in the game are thinking he’ll be a future All-Star.

I enjoy watching how a player reacts to Triple-A action, and I couldn’t be more excited in this case. In 35 games, he produced a .344/.463/.519 line. He has the ability to spit on pitches he doesn’t like while taking advantage of in-zone pitches with high contact rates. In other words, everything you want to see in a young hitter.

Of course, I’d like to keep things in perspective. The kid is still only 20 years old. You just saw how I talked about Jordan Walker, it takes time. And on a team that now thinks they can compete for a World Series, the leash may be shorter this year than in the future. 

Yet, I still think fantasy managers should draft and stash Anthony as much as they can, especially with a price around 287th off the board. Because do we really want someone with a floor like Lars Nootbaar who goes a few rounds before? Or someone who could potentially be a league-winner power/speed threat? Go with Roman.