Oh, guess what, snitches? We’re done with the fantasy baseball rookies and onto the 2026 fantasy baseball sleepers! Can I get a what-WHAT?! No, the 2nd “what” is louder, not from the standing position. That’s what caps mean: louder. You thought caps meant it was said while wearing a baseball cap? You have a malfunctioning brain. Okay, forget it! I’m moving on! One ground rule about fantasy baseball sleepers says you can’t question my fantasy baseball sleepers. I kid, kinda. You can question them if you want, but please keep in mind the caveat: There’s many different types of sleepers. One kind of sleeper is the guy who is drafted in the last round of a 30-team league. Another type of sleeper is the guy who is drafted around pick 85 overall, because he can return value that is better than pick 85. So, is Kyle Stowers going to be drafted around pick 7,000 out of 7,001? No, guys and five ladies. He’s not that type of sleeper. Maybe last year he was that type of sleeper. Stowers is the type of sleeper who has already broken out and a lot of people may not realize it. He’s the type who I will be drafting around the top 75, will be drafted after that in most leagues, and will return more value than his draft spot. The “more value than his draft spot” is really all sleepers are. So, please, don’t say Kyle Stowers is not a sleeper. If he’s not a sleeper, then draft him in the 2nd round. So, what can we expect from Kyle Stowers for 2026 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
PSYCHE! I’m going to begin rolling out my 2026 fantasy baseball rankings on the Patreon starting today. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out next month. Anyway II, the Kyle Stowers sleeper:
“Kyle Stowers broke out already.” That’s Paraphrasing Previous Paragraph Grey. Get your PPP loan from Grey, because he needs to say that a few more times. “Kyle Stowers broke out already.” What’s that? He’s already broken out? Whoa, first I heard it! Left fielder barrels:
Sorted by HardHit%:
Barrels for all players across every position:
Had to lower it to 250 batted ball events to make sure Kyle Stowers would show up, so smaller sample size, but large enough sample size that it works — that’s what she never said, which is not very nice of her. Here he is:
Kyle Stowers hit .273 vs. breaking pitches, .288 vs. offspeed and .295 vs. fastballs; .253 vs. lefties with no power (1 HR), but he hit well enough on average vs. lefties that a platoon doesn’t seem incoming. Against everything and everyone: 61/25/73/.288/5 in 399 ABs with his season cut short by an oblique injury, that will be healed by 2026. Under hood, he had a 10.5 BB% and 27.4 K% as a 27-year-old, but most importantly, because the Orioles don’t understand how to develop players, this was his first real chance in the majors. “Should we let prospects actually hit vs. MLB pitchers? That would mean we have to promote them…Hmm…” That’s the Orioles’ front office. On the Marlins? Ha! Wait, I have one more for you — HA! They’ll let Kyle Stowers get 600 ABs, if he stays healthy and a “Daddy’s throwing you into the water for a sink or swim demonstration” Stowers has already proven he can swim.
Coming up, Kyle Stowers was pegged (hey now!) as a guy with 50-grade power and speed. The latter point first. His speed seems pretty mediocre now. 27.1 ft/sec. and a bit below average. Could he have The Naylor-27 propel him to a 30-steal season? Anything’s possible, but 5-7 steals looks a lot more likely. By the way, I was just looking at his MiLB numbers and, as a 22-year-old — five years ago! — he went 27/8/.278 in 449 ABs, hitting .272 in Triple-A, and the O’s squandered that for how many years? They are the worst organization. They rebuilt for seven years and never promoted guys! Awful! So mad! That’s what these staccato exclamations indicate.
Now, about that power?
KYLE STOWERS
WALK-OFF BLAST
ARE YOU KIDDING?! ? pic.twitter.com/V9AF0js8a6— MLB (@MLB) July 19, 2025
Looks easy to me. Looks, actually, like his number one attribute and he’s got a lot of attributes. His career (Career!) HardHit% is 50.4%. Only 22 players last year had a 50% HardHit rate. Stowers 52% HardHit rate last year, was 13th best (sorted by 450 PAs). Above him, are all names you want or have massive holes in their game (swing) like Oneil Cruz. Kyle Stowers is the 1st 2026 fantasy baseball sleeper because he’s the most obvious slam dunk. A guy who is a star, who will be drafted below where he should go, because he’s actually a top 20 outfielder disguised as something below that. For 2026 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Kyle Stowers projections of 86/33/104/.272/7 in 588 ABs with a chance for even more!
My only concern is it wasn’t just one oblique injury. He blew out both sides in the second half. I have extreme Kris Bryant PTSD with back stuff. But I got the Stower of Power with FAAB last year and he’s a fairly cheap keeper at $10 and I might do it.
Last year was a disaster for my keepers. We keep 4, and I kept Doyle & Westburg at $5 each, Jackson Merrill $2 and Skenes $1. What bargains!! Only one of those guys worked out (though Westburg was on a 30 HR pace if not for 30 injuries).
This year, I’ve got 2 spots for either Stowers, Barger or Westburg (all $10) or Jake the Rake Wilson at $5. Any suggestions?
That should say – any suggestions are welcome, but not expected. Thanks for all the analysis
No problem
Stowers, Westburg
Thanks for the heads up, Hope you have a great Holiday!
Thanks you too!
Saved by Grey,I was going to drop Stowers, Unlike James Coburn in “Charade” my Mother raised a dumb child. Gracias.
That’s a helluva reference, well played
Morning! Will the early patreon ranks be up this week?
I’ve started rolling them out, yup!
Great. When/how can we pay?
https://www.patreon.com/razzball
It’s interesting to note which team in your 2025 league was riding high on Stowers until they weren’t. Tough break for them! P->erhaps it stood out more to me because that team* in my league had traded for Stowers (Xavier and O’Hearn).
*The same owner traded for Alvarez in May. Double-ouch!
Xavier’s nice, but that trade doesn’t sound that overwhelming even getting nothing from Stowers
I didn’t mean to imply the trade was huge. It would suck to trade for a guy, see him perform like you made a smart move, only to lose him to injury.
Yeah, agreed
In NL only league: Traded Stowers, Herrera and DeVries for Marte, Steer and Harper (expiring contracts). Won the league but will miss a low cost Stowers. Weirdly was able to pick up DeVries in my AL league
Gotcha
Do you think Stowers is more likely to out-James Wood (1H 2025 version) James Wood himself? Or still like Wood first over Stowers? (obviously Stowers going to be much cheaper)
No, I like Wood more
Wood has 40/40 potential. Stowers has 40/14 potential. 14 sounds like 40, but it’s not.
Yeah
For 2026 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Kyle Stowers projections of 86/33/104/.272/7 in 588 ABs with a chance for even more!
You had me at hello……….
Haha
I traded Trevor Rogers to get Stowers on my squad! People talked trash but I am happy way with that deal…
Nice!
Dang! That’s a lot of red! Hard to dismiss that……. He’s really betting on himself, having turned down a $50 mil extension.
Can you imagine someone offering you $50 million for the next 8 years? 50,000,000
Someone offered me $1 mill for the next eight years I’m listening
Grey,
As a Marlins fan, I appreciate Stowers being your first 2026 Sleeper !!
Norby is gonna be a stud too, give it time, he’s young!!
Hope you’re having a great winter and enjoy the holidays !!
Norby was horrific last year. I had that guy in half my leagues, for a 2B…. Only 3B eligible this year…. I will give him a pass, as he was injured. He will probably be rated so low, that it will be a good dart throw.
Yeah, not great, but a dart throw
I agree for sure. He was injured, but I do believe he’s gonna blossom into a good player.
Yeah, he could be solid
Thanks! I looked at Norby, nah, but maybe
I’ll take a star from one of the return pieces from the T Rog trade any day!! Hopefully Norby blossoms.
Yup