Sports Ethos Fantasy Baseball Flag Plants – Outfield

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  • By SportsEthos Staff

    Last Updated on March 24, 2026 2:07 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: March 24, 2026

    The team here at Sports Ethos is going position-by-position to plant their flag on what players they fully trust and will draft whenever, and wherever possible.

    These are more than just sleepers.

    These are the dudes our experts fully trust and want on as many rosters as possible.

    We continue our series with our top outfield options.

    Larry Vannozzi

    I’m going to do it one more time. I’m talking about a Yordan Alvarez flag plant. I just cannot quit this guy. He’s a stud yet carries a third- or fourth-round draft pick this year due to his injury history.

    Yes, last year was a wasted year for him, and yes, I have my doubts about the Astros medical history (recall Kyle Tucker’s months-long shin saga?). However, Alvarez averaged playing in 135 games across the four years before last year’s disaster. That’s not exactly Cal Ripken, but it’s not THAT bad, either. He was ranked #30, on average, during those four years despite missing about one month each season. And let’s not act like this is some old man using a wheelchair to outrace Father Time. Alvarez is still just 28 years-old!

    So, Yordan is my OF flag plant. Fair warning: If he misses a ton of time again this season, I will finally quit him. No, really, I mean it this time. Well, probably.

    Anthony Kates

    Taylor Ward – Orioles – Ward had a career year in 2025 and then was traded to a team with a much better lineup (Mike Trout and Zach Neto are not Pete Alonso and Gunnar Henderson) and moves to a park that shouldn’t affect his production much, if at all.

    He doesn’t strike out much, walks a decent amount, his batting average is worse than you’d expect with his swing decisions (20.7% chase, 87.9% zone contact, 78.3% contact, 8.2% swinging strike – and none of these were career bests), but he has cinder blocks for feet and has had a below average BABIP for three straight seasons.

    When healthy, though, he is a top-30 fantasy outfielder and a guy you just throw in your lineup and don’t worry about. He’s boring, he’s milquetoast, but he is reliable and is the 35th outfield off the draft board, even though he consistently finishes the year with more value than his ADP.

    Nathan Baker

    Daylen Lile – It’s not uncommon for a non-contending team to allow playing time to younger, unproven players after the trade deadline, nor is it uncommon to see end of season breakout stars go unnoticed while eyes are on playoff races around the league.

    The tools that Daylen Lile brings to the table, however, are uncommon, combining elite speed with excellent bat-to-ball skills, solid swing decisions and power that plays up with his line drive swing. Those tools translated into results immediately once he was trusted as a lineup regular; Lile OPS’d .956 after the all star break, with 7!!! triples in the month of September alone. He’ll be given the chance to play every day in 2026, potentially as a DH, and with 20/30/.280 upside, there’s far too much to pass up on outside of the top 200.

    Paul Williamson

    Anyone who listens to me on the Fantasy MLB Today pod knows this and I got to stick to my guns.

    Roman Anthony is going to be a stud this year and will be a first-round pick in the hypothetical 2027 season (Get a deal done y’all!).

    He played in 71 games lasts year in his first taste of MLB action. The numbers were solid on the surface.

    8 HR, 48 runs, 32 RBI, .292/.396/.463.

    That slashline made up for the lack of power.

    He hit the CRAP out of the ball with a 94.5 MPH avgEV, 15.5% barrel% and a 60.3% hard-hit rate.

    Yes, he has always had a lift problem but that can be over come with those kinds of statcast numbers (numbers we saw from him in the minors so not flukey)

    The hit-tool numbers were not ideal but they were definitely good enough to work with.

    The in-zone contact% was 82.2% and the contact% was 71.5%. But the SwStr% was just 10.7%.

    That happens with selective swingers like Anthony who only swung 35.6% of the time (that is very, very very selective).

    He really picks and chooses what to swing at.

    With those elite quality of contact numbers, the hit tool just needs to be OK and Anthony has shown very little chase and should be even better in year 2.

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    March 24, 2026, 2:07 pm