OF Playing Time Battles: AL Edition

The WBC is in full swing, but Spring Training still rolls on and we have playing time battles galore as we do every season. Let’s look at a few AL Outfield situations that have implications for our drafts and auctions, generally those of the deeper variety. The number next to everyone is their Average Draft Position (ADP) over the last 14 drafts.

Orioles

Colton Cowser (246.9) vs. Dylan Beavers (319) vs. Tyler O’Neill (378.9)

The Orioles tried to address their lack of impact righty bats in the 2024 offseason by signing Tyler O’Neil for 3 years/$49 million. So far, it looks like they lit the money on fire as O’Neill played in just 54 games and slashed an anemic 199/.292/.392 with 9 homers. This go around, the O’s got serious and added Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward while also retaining Ryan Mountcastle for no apparent reason. That, and the expectation that Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo will occupy the DH spot vs. righties, has spilled over into the OF, where there are now essentially 3 bats for 2 spots. O’Neill will almost certainly start against all lefties, but is he a weak side platoon bat only now? That seems unlikely, which means one of Cowser and Beavers will have to sit vs. all southpaws and an occasional righty. And maybe both sit at times, since the O’s also have Leody Taveras on a major league contract and Jeremiah Jackson possibly spotting in vs. lefties as well.

That’s good news for Baltimore, but it makes it tough on Cowser and Beavers Fantasy owners. And that’s a shame, as both have interesting power/speed profiles. Cowser had an excellent rookie campaign in 2024 as he popped 24 homers with 9 steals and hit a passable .241 while playing excellent CF defense. But then he missed nearly half of 2025 and slashed a pretty awful 196/.269/.385 in 360 PA’s, He overcame a high 30.7% K% in 2024, but that spiked to 35.7% last year with a 34.7% Whiff% that ranked him in the 2nd percentile. He had 16 homers and 14 steals in 92 games, so if he can get the K’s under control and get back to hitting in the .240 range, he’s really a good Fantasy play. But will he fully get that chance? He doesn’t have enormous career splits, but that’s mostly because he hasn’t really established himself as an MLB hitter. He has a 103 wRC+ vs righties and 83 vs. lefties.

Beavers looks like the better all around hitter, but he’s limited to the corners and will almost certainly start the season as just a strong side platoon bat at best. He had a 125 wRC+ in his 125 PA cameo in the majors last year with 4 homers, 2 steals, and a very encouraging 19% BB% vs, 26.3% K%. Those plate skills look pretty real as he had a 16.3% BB% vs. 18.2% K% in AAA before his callup, while slashing .304/.420/.515 with 18 homers and 23 steals. That’s really encouraging stuff, but he’s just got an uphill climb to get full time PA’s. 

Blue Jays

Addison Barger (191.5) vs. Jesus Sanchez (322.2) vs. their platoon partners

With Anthony Santander down for the duration, both Barger and Sanchez figure as strong side platoon bats in the Blue Jay corners. And while we would all like more PA’s for the guys we root for, sometimes it’s for the best that they get used like this.

Barger got fantasy hearts aflutter last season with this dual 3B/OF eligibility and this sea of red at the top of his Statcast page.

Unfortunately, he has some big splits as he sports a 104 wRC+ vs. righties but just a 53 vs. lefties. He’s probably not looking at a full platoon but he’s certainly sitting vs. some southpaws, and with a .195 career avg against them, albeit in just 126 PA’s, that’s maybe not the worst.

Sanchez, however, has a longer record of same-side futility, and as long as there’s a healthy RH bat who can handle left, will not see any starts vs. lefties. In 378 career PA’s he has an unplayable 41 wRC+

Against righties, however, he can mash at times. He has a 111 wRC+ and .253/.324/.450 triple slash. He’s also good for about 10-15 steals per year with maybe 18-20 homers, so he’s pretty useful in weeks he sets up to mostly start. 

Barger is the better all around player and likely to get more PA’s, but he’s going way higher in drafts. High enough in fact that it’s a tough spot to roster a non full timer. I like him, but not at price, I’d rather just pick Sanchez later, where basically everyone is a platoon bat.

Royals 

Isaac Collins (360.6) vs Kyle Isbel (649.8) vs. Lane Thomas (414.2)

Ok, we’re really dumpster diving here, but Thomas has had major power/speed appeal in the past, while Collins had a bit of that too in Milwaukee last year, out of nowhere. The 3rd wheel here is Isbel, who really can’t hit but plays excellent D in center and impacts everyone’s playing time.

Roster Resource pegs Isbel and Thomas in a platoon with Isbel on the strong side, while the switch hitting Collins gets full time starts. But most likely it’s just each of them getting roughly ⅔ of a job, mostly because their skill sets don’t particularly lend themselves to a straight platoon.

Thomas has played mostly corners in his career, and his glove has rated negatively in all but his first season, a 34 game cameo back in 2019. But he’s hit well at times. He had a 109 wRC+ in 2023 with 20 homers and 28 steals, with a 15 homer, 32 steal follow up in 2024. He does mash lefties, with a 135 career wRC+ vs. 84 vs. righties

That does, of course, suggest he might weak-side platoon, but that 84 wRC+ is actually better than overall Isbel’s career 78 wRC+. He makes up for it with a CF glove that rated in the 93rd percentile in 2025 and has been a plus in all 4 of his full MLB seasons. 

You can safely ignore Isbel in all Fantasy formats. He had 4 homers and 4 steals last season and has 23 and 33 total respectively in his 496 game career. 

Collins provides more of a middle to the other two. I’d say he “burst” onto the season as a 27 year old rookie in Milwaukee last year, but “burst” is likely too strong a description. He got regular PA’s thanks to some injuries and really ran with it, slashing .263/.368/.411 with 9 homers and 16 steals in 441 PA’s and playing slightly above average defense in mostly left. That makes him mildly interesting, but even in a full time role, he’d have something like 10-20 with a .250 average. The Brewers, with an excellent record of maximizing their assets, decided to throw in a deal to KC that really only gave them a minor RP upgrade. So if they don’t see much here, not sure I do either.

Thomas clearly has the most potential fantasy appeal of the 3, but he perhaps will get the least playing time since he’s not a good enough hitter to overcome his lousy D. Collins is just deep roster filler on the hope he plays enough to accumulate, while Isbel is a valuable real-life player with zero fantasy juice.