Four Outfielders: Marte, Doyle, Stowers, & Butler

Syndication: The Enquirer

With no ADP yet, I’m going to start diving into some deeper outfielders. For the players, I used the last outfielders drafted in the first 11 rounds of the Too Early Meatball Draft. One caveat: I’m not going to feature anyone who is still playing (sorry, Andy Pages) or should be a free agent. I want as much information as possible on the player. There are plenty of outfielders to examine now and then later.

Noelvi Marte (Pick 126)

I want to believe in the 24-year-old, but he has several red flags. On the positive, he’s a 20/20 threat with a solid .254 AVG while qualified at third base and the outfield. For his career, he has 21 HR and 25 SB in 725 PA. That’s a solid season.

The “problem” with Marte is figuring out who he is. He’s only accumulated just over one season’s worth of plate appearances during the past three seasons. His best core results were in 2023, then they tanked in 2024, and partially rebounded in 2025.

Season: avgEV, Contact%
2023: 91.3, 77.0%
2024: 87.0, 71.5%
2025: 88.5, 75.6%

And just looking at his 2025 splits, he tanked in the second half

Half: K%, BB%, ISO, OPS
1st: 16%, 8%, .263, .884
2nd: 27%, 3%, .156, .695

To add to the confusion, the right-handed hitter has a massive career reverse split.

Split: OPS
vs LHP: .593
vs RHP: .727

Finally, here are some core trait comps from each of his first three seasons.

2023 (average 120 OPS)

2024 (average 83 OPS)

2025 (averaged 108 OPS)

Besides the comps from two seasons ago, most of the names aren’t that exciting.

If a person wants to invent a good or bad narrative about him, there are stats to back the story up. With his profile all over the place, I’m going to value him with a non-adjusted projection. Right now, his Steamer600 has him with 19 HR, 18 SB, and a .256 AVG. That works.

Final Take: Over his first three seasons, Noelvi Marte showed several different versions of himself, with any narrative having an explanation. His value is tough to set beyond a basic projection.

 

Brenton Doyle (Pick 132)

Doyle was having an amazing season (.888 OPS) until he and his wife found out the horrifying news of losing their unborn child. From that point on, he posted a .622 OPS. Before going on Bereavement Leave, Doyle played 13 games, so here is his career 13-game rolling OPS.

His early-season ups and downs were not out of the norm until a talent crash started in late August (.181/.209/.276 from August 4th on).

Here is his monthly OPS

Month: OPS
Apr: .712
May: .544
Jun: .431
Jul: .751
Aug: 1.028
Sep: .448

The stretch from July to August gives me hope for the future upside.

Comparing his 2024 to 2025 stats, his 2025 stats are just a little bit worse across the board, but no stat tanked. That should be expected considering what he was going through.

In all fairness, I’m giving the guy a mulligan on the season and going back to his 2025 preseason projection of .246 AVG with 21 HR and 26 SB. That he even played the rest of the year after getting that news ought to be lauded on some level.

Final Take: The 2025 season was a turbulent season for Brenton Doyle on and off the field. I’m going to give him a mulligan and rewind to his 2025 projections.

 

Kyle Stowers (Pick 134)

After struggling to make enough contact to pair with his power, Stowers solved that problem and then some in 2025. He raised his Contact% from 66% to 70%, lowered his K% from 35% to 27%, increased his ISO from .125 to .256 and Barrel% from 11% to 19%. Among qualified hitters, his 11.6% Barrel/PA is the fifth highest.

The power increase can be seen with his maxEV going from 109.7 mph to 113.7 mph. And the same numbers improved from the first half to the second half.

Half: ISO, K%
1st: .250, 28%
2nd: .274, 25%

It was a solid improvement.

It’s not all roses for Stowers. He has a defined platoon split (.801 OPS vs RHP, .669 OPS vs LHP). The Marlins didn’t seem to care, with him starting against six of the last seven lefty starters before going on the IL (oblique). Before going on the IL that lasted until the season’s end, he was struggling (.694 OPS in August). He could have been playing through the oblique injury. There has been no news on Stowers since mid-September. An update would be nice.

Finally, no part of his portfolio points to his .288 AVG and .356 BABIP being legit. Projections point to a .230 AVG, and my batted ball comps point to a ~.250 AVG (career .253 AVG). A .240 AVG with 30 HR and a few steals is still a useful bat.

Final Take: Kyle Stowers turned his career around with career bests in power and contact metrics. He should be good for 25 HR to 35 HR. His batting average could dip as his BABIP regresses downward, but at least the average isn’t a major drain like in his first two seasons.

 

Lawrence Butler (Pick 143)

After a breakout season in 2024 (22 HR, 18 SB, .262 AVG in 451 PA), the 25-year-old took a step back last season (21 HR, 22 SB, .234 AVG but in 630 PA).

The major culprit behind the decline was a drop from a 75% Contact% to 70% Contact%, with his strikeout rate jumping from 24% to 28%. Additionally, his power numbers were slightly down across the board.

Stat: 2024, 2025
ISO: .228, .170
Barrel%: 11%, 9%
HardHit%: 47%, 44%
avgEV: 91.1, 90.5

Finally, he was slower. His Sprint Speed dropped from 27.6 ft/s to 26.9 ft/s.

While there was no reported injury during the season, news came out after the season ended that he would need knee surgery.

A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler underwent successful surgery on his right patellar tendon Friday with Dr. Mike Banffy at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Banffy performed a partial tendon tear repair and debridement of chronic scar tissue. Lawrence also received a PRP injection into his left patella tendon, under ultrasound guidance, to address chronic tendonitis.

Butler will rehab throughout the offseason in preparation for Spring Training 2026.

The injury explains the backtracking, but the line that worries me the most is “chronic tendonitis”. I’ll have to ding his projection, which has no idea of the chronic injury.

Besides the injury, Butler struggles against lefties. Over his career, he’s posted a .656 OPS against lefties, and that value was down to a .570 OPS in 2025. Against righties, it’s a .751 OPS for his career and .745 OPS this year. The team noticed the decline. In the last eight games which the team faced a lefty starter, he only started in three of those games.

One final note, here are Butler’s Steamer600 comps.

All four of the outfielders profiled today make the list as power-speed threats.

Final Take: After a breakout 2024 campaign, Lawerence Butler took a step back, likely because of a couple of knee injuries, one chronic. Additionally, he started getting platooned to end the season. Mute expectations because his talent and playing time could be at risk.