We have half a week of MLB games under our belt, it’s high time to take victory laps on all those picks we got right. Well, unless you are like me and don’t want to upset the Karma Gods. Anyone I have a lot of shares of that came blazing out of the gate is a small sample size fluke that will receive no mention. Those outfielders that I have few to no shares of that have either jumped out of the gate or are about to explode without me on board? Those are my FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) guys. I have 22(!) teams but with various price points. For the guys here, I will show the percent in overall dollar terms as well as just as a percent of total teams. I am not counting elite guys; I wish I had more than 3.72% of my money in Aaron Judge shares, e.g., but he’s never there past pick 2. These are guys I targeted to some extent and got fewer shares than I wanted, or none at all.
Chase DeLauter 0.0%
Andy Pages 0.0%
Yes, my shares of both equals Bluto’s GPA.
DeLauter was, of course, a bit of a prospect who just could never stay on the field. And he still might not be able to; it’s only been 4 games. But yowza, what a start, he has popped 4 homers already in 17 PA’s
Obviously, he will not keep this pace up, but why is he smoking the ball so far? He has a 96.2 EV in his first 11 batted ball events. And that’s with profiling more as an elite plate skills guy, not some monster power bat. His Bat Speed is just 50th percentile early, but that seems really encouraging if he can get some power without just swinging from his heels. Who knows where this is going? Pitchers will clearly start adjusting their approach soon, and then it’s on DeLauter to adjust back. Plus, can he stay healthy, as he had just 177 PA’s in 2025 and 164 in 2024? The projection systems have him batting about .250 with mid 20’s homers, which is very playable.
I made the mistake of cutting Pages in my Main Event last year, right before he took off on the way to his .272, 27 homer, 14 steal breakout. But upon first glance in the offseason, it looked a bit fluky. His power numbers were all kind of meh; 8.4% Barrel% (45th percentile), 88.6 E (28th percentile), et al. He’s fast (69th percentile) but only walks 4.6% of the time, so the OBP could easily dip. Oh, and he was just a brutal 4-51 in the playoffs and rode the pine at the end.
But upon further review, there’s a lot to like here, too. His Pulled-Air% was an excellent 20.1%, he finds the Launch Angle Sweet Spot at a 38.9% rate (88th percentile), and his Whiff% is pretty good (68th percentile). And his glove is elite in CF, which is huge for the Dodgers give they employ mediocre to weak gloves in the corners. He might have trouble getting to 27 homers again, but low 20’s with 10-15 steals and a plus batting average repeat definitely remains in the cards. He’ll bat late, of course, but the end of the Dodgers order isn’t so bad. He went in the 10th round in late Mains and cost $9 in late auctions when I had him worth $13. I should have gotten him somewhere, but I never did.
Roman Anthony 0.83% money, 4.55% shares
Wilyer Abreu 9.09% money, 9.09% shares
Yes, I do have some Abreu, so it’s not total FOMO, but I wish I had more. It just feels like an All-Star breakout season is on the table here. He’s an elite 90th percentile glove in RF in Fenway who hit 22 homers in just 417 PA’s in 2025 as a strong side platoon bat. But for 2026, he’s going to get full-time run and right in the middle of a deep Red Sox lineup. He had a 12.7% Barrel% and elite 25.7% Pulled Air%, so a 30 homer season with 10 steals (he had 6 in 2025) looks well within the realm of possibilities. He’s already popped 2 bombs in 3 games, so he’s well on the way there. It will come with about a .250 Avg. and plus counting stats. His draft cost lifted late after his big WBC for Venezuela, but was still just about a 13th round pick in Main Events and $10 in auctions, so it was far from prohibitive.
Anthony had a much higher price tag; 5th round in late Mains and $21 in auctions, so I know why I hardly got any. He looks like an absolute superstar already. He had a .396 OBP last year, and he’s still just 21. I just questioned whether he’s going to provide enough Fantasy Juice because at that cost, you really need to. He’s going to be a huge plus producer in runs batting leadoff, but the RBI’s could suffer there, and he’s not a major steals guy….he’s projected for about 10. He had elite huge EV and Barrels, but not a lot of Pull, which screams lots of lasers off the Mahnstah in Fenway, but maybe not huge HR totals. At least that’s what I was worried about at the price. Upon further review? I wish I had just bitten the bullet and gotten a share in one of my bigger drafts or auctions. He’s going to be a superstar on (not) my watch.
Ramon Lauerano 3.31% money, 9.09% shares
I totally believed in his .281/.342/.512 age 31 breakout in 2025 and targeted him in 2026 as his draft cost was just 16th round in Mains and $6 in Auctions, and I somehow got virtually nothing. He already has a homer and a steal in his 1st 3 games.
Raw talent was never the big issue for Laureano, it was really health and eventually K’s. He burst on the scene in 2019 with a 24 homer, 13 steal, .282 breakout, but never played more than 105 games until last season’s 132, and his K% exploded from the mid 20’s to 31% in 2024.
But he got that down to 24.4% in 2025, which isn’t fantastic, but works just fine with his 13.8% Barrel% and 49.1% HardHit%. He’s in a good but not great Padres lineup, but there’s no reason why he can’t repeat his 2025 production, and if he does, he’s a steal at cost.
