One of the essential differences between fantasy baseball and fantasy football is the impact that any single player can possibly have on the success of your roster.
In football leagues, your likelihood of winning a championship will often be determined by your team’s best player. In baseball, this is rarely the case. In fact, in the deepest fantasy baseball leagues, it’s more accurate to suggest that your teams will go as far as your worst players allow.
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Fantasy football is generally the sort of game in which a very small number of key players determine outcomes. The fantasy baseball season, however, is a puzzle that can be solved in countless ways, with endless combinations of pieces. This is either a feature or a bug, depending on your fantasy preferences.
If you’re gonna win a competitive fantasy baseball league, you will need to identify multiple players who ultimately exceed their preseason projections. A few of these successes need to be true breakout performers — players who absolutely obliterate whatever expectations we have for them during draft season.
Today’s mission is to flag several candidates to break out in massive and meaningful ways in 2025. If you want to argue that certain names mentioned below have already broken out, at least to some extent … well, you aren’t wrong. But each of them has a shot to level up again in the season ahead.
Wyatt Langford, OF, Texas Rangers
If the breakout already happened for Langford, it occurred in the final month of the 2024 season when he launched eight homers, swiped seven bags and slashed a healthy .300/.386/.610. He managed to tread water for a full year in the big leagues at age 22, which is no small achievement.
After being drafted fourth overall in 2023, Langford screamed through the minors, hitting .351/.469/.649 with 29 XBHs, a dozen steals and more walks (37) than Ks (34) over 47 games. He’s a still-developing potential star with five-category potential, plus he’ll do his hitting in a privileged spot in the Rangers’ lineup. Langford showcased elite bat speed, chase rate and sprint speed as a rookie, so there’s no doubting the tools.
Xavier Edwards, SS, Miami Marlins
Edwards has been one of the more slept-on young talents in the game, with an ADP only barely inside the top-120 picks (118.1). He’s a near-lock to be a serious asset in runs, steals and average.
Last year, over 70 games for the Fish at age 24, he…