With every new leaked picture from the backfields of spring training camps, we feel the relief that the long, unbearable absence of Major League Baseball is down to its last out. Now that players have reported, the names on our favorite teams’ rosters are no longer hypothetical. They are real and in the flesh, throwing long toss, taking grounders, and treating us to sweet cracks of the bat from the cage.
It is during this time that we start to envision the general outlook of the 2025 season. We remind ourselves of December mid-tier signings (“Oh yeah, Kyle Higashioka is a Ranger now!”) and pitchers returning from Flexor Tendon sabatticals (“Right, Shane McClanahan is healthy again!”). We set our sights on the sunny Florida and Arizona skies and see a healthy, flawless, peak season for all (except Anthony Rendon).
It is also during this reckoning with the crystal ball that we subconsciously let our personal, outdated player evaluations determine the confidence or anxiety we feel about our lineups and starting rotations.
2025’s underrated and overrated outfielders
We’re all prone to it. We may say, “This team has a stellar infield,” not realizing the third baseman is past his prime and the shortstop is never going to live up to that potential everyone thought he had a couple of years ago. Or we might say, “This pitching staff is garbage,” without realizing three nobody starters had quiet breakouts last year and the bullpen has been completely overhauled.
If we want to have accurate understandings of players heading into this season — for the sake of our analyses, online arguments, fantasy teams, and everything in between — we must make the necessary mental adjustments. It’s time to make those adjustments. It’s time to correct the perceptions of the industry. It’s time to see who is underrated and who is overrated.
Starting here with outfielders, this will be part one (of five) for a series in which I will examine three underrated and three overrated players. In my analyses, I will be using a project of mine called LASR (League-Adjusted Standardized Rating) which places all stats onto the same 20-80 scouting scale based on league qualifiers (all data is sourced from FanGraphs).