With the regular season in the books, MLBTR is taking a position-by-position look at the 2026-27 free agent market. Next up are the corner outfielders. There are a handful of notable bats on among this year’s group — including the very best bats this thin class has to offer. Note that, of course, any of the players covered under the center field entry in this series could also slide over into a corner role.
Player ages are for the 2027 season, and names within each tier are listed alphabetically, not “ranked.” Only players who appeared in MLB (or on major league 60-day injured lists) this year are included normally, though an exception has been made for a big bat coming from NPB.
Previous entries in this series: Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop, Center Field
Top of the Class
Randy Arozarena (32)
Another year, another 20-20 season for the ultra-consistent Arozarena, who popped 26 homers and swiped 26 bags during the ’26 season. That’s six 20-20 seasons in a row, and his 2026 rate stats were the best of his career. Arozarena finished out the season with a .281/.381/.484 batting line — 51% better than league-average output after weighting for his cavernous home park, by measure of wRC+.
The primary knocks on Arozarena will be age and defense. He’s on the tail end of his prime, and it’s quite rare for hitters entering their age-32 seasons to command more than three years in free agency. As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows, only eight hitters have done so in the past decade: Alex Bregman, Kyle Schwarber, Freddie Freeman, Starling Marte, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson, Lorenzo Cain and Justin Turner. Arozarena, who’s a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer, might have a hard time adding his name to that list. Even if he doesn’t do so, he’s a better all-around performer than Teoscar Hernández was when he scored three years and $66MM with the Dodgers.
Arozarena drew below-average marks in left field but wasn’t a complete liability (-2 Defensive Runs Saved, -5 Outs Above Average). He has below average sprint speed but still takes plenty of bags because of his aggressive nature on the basepaths. His quality-of-contact metrics slipped a bit but are still well above average (90.8 mph average exit velocity, 43.2% hard-hit rate). The Hernández deal should be the floor, but Arozarena should top him in terms of AAV if he’s limited to three years — and he has a chance at landing four.
Teruaki Sato (28)
The 2026 MVP frontrunner in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Sato is expected to be posted for major league teams on the heels of a gargantuan .316/.395/.626 batting line. He’s been just over twice as good as the league-average hitter in NPB, by measure of wRC+.
The lefty-swinging Sato has crushed 38 homers, following up on last year’s 40-homer showing, and added 39 doubles, three triples and eight steals (in 11 attempts). He’s drawn walks at a career-best 11.6% clip but has clear concerns with regard to his hit tool; Sato has fanned in 26.5% of his plate appearances, which is nothing new for the slugger (27.3% in ’25, 26.8% in ’24). His 66.9% contact rate is about 10 percentage points shy of the MLB average, and he’s facing lesser pitching. That said, it’s three percentage points higher than Munetaka Murakami’s contact rate from his final year in Japan.
There’s no doubt Sato will command major league interest. He’s played more third base than right field in recent seasons but has ample experience in both slots. The question for interested teams will be one of his defensive alignment and of how big a risk to take. There are surely some teams wishing they’d outbid the White Sox’ modest two-year, $34MM investment in Murakami — but will that prompt them to overpay so as not to miss a player with similar, albeit less-extreme, questions surrounding his contact ability?
It’s extremely difficult to predict how stars from Japan and South Korea will be compensated when major league clubs are bidding, but Sato seems like a slam-dunk candidate for a notable multi-year deal. His relative youth, immense power and generally strong track record will give him a chance at a nine-figure deal.
Seiya Suzuki (32)
Suzuki carries many of the same concerns and strengths to the previously covered Arozarena. He’s enjoying his fourth straight 20-homer campaign and has topped 30 in the past (32 just last year). Suzuki doesn’t run nearly as often as Arozarena, but he has the (much) faster sprint speed, per Statcast. He’s previously graded as a middling corner defender but has drawn positive grades from both DRS (14) and OAA (5) this season. He’s shown career-best range and maintained an excellent throwing arm, leading Statcast to peg him with a +8 overall FRV (Fielding Run Value).
There’s very likely a split camp among MLB front offices as to who the better buy is between Suzuki and Arozarena. Both are clear above-average, everyday corner outfield options with plus power and strong on-base skills. They should both receive and reject qualifying offers without hesitation. As with Arozarena, the three-year, $66MM deal signed by Teoscar Hernández a couple offseasons ago should be a floor for Suzuki. He and Arozarena should fetch three with a heavier AAV and could both credibly make a case that their consistency merits a fourth guaranteed year.
Everyday Options
Jake Bauers (31)
Bauers has gone from seventh-rounder, to top-100 prospect, to journeyman, to a surprising core slugger for MLB’s best team. Bauers nearly walked away from baseball entirely, and instead he’s probably going to get a multi-year deal paying him eight figures annually as a free agent. As of Sept. 1 last year, Bauers was hitting .184/.309/.331 as a part-time player in his second season with the Brewers. A non-tender looked likely … at least until he exploded to hit .383/.482/.596 in his final 56 trips to the plate.
That was enough to convince the Brewers to tender him a contract that paid a modest $2.7MM. Bauers entered the season a lifetime .211/.307/.365 hitter who may have been on his last chance. He’s going to get plenty more chances now.
In 578 plate appearances this season, Bauer wasn’t just the Brewers’ best hitter — he was one of the best hitters in the entire sport. He batted .266/.389/.484 with 26 homers, 11 steals, a colossal 16.3% walk rate and a 27% strikeout rate. That’s still a lot of swing-and-miss, but when you’re walking and hitting for power like that — against both right- and left-handed pitching, no less — teams aren’t going to care.
Bauers already had elite bat speed in 2025, but he’s benefiting from a better approach and better pitch selection in 2026. His 40.5% swing rate is the lowest of his career. After years of floundering against sliders, he’s batting .250 and slugging .536 on plate appearances that end with such pitches. Bauers entered the 2026 season with 1962 career plate appearances and … 50 (!) total hits against sliders. He’s collected 28 knocks against sliders in 2026, nine of which have left the yard. (He had five total homers versus sliders entering the season.)
There will be teams skeptical of Bauers’ ability to sustain this output, but dating back to his September surge last year, he’s hitting .276/.396/.494 with 28 homers, a 16% walk rate and a 26.1% strikeout rate in 631 plate appearances. He is, outrageously, tied with Pete Crow-Armstrong, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto for the third-best wRC+ (148) among 132 qualified hitters in that time, trailing only Yordan Alvarez and Ben Rice. This would have sounded nonsensical not long ago, but Bauers has spent more than a calendar year as one of the five or six best hitters on the planet.
Ian Happ (32)
The 2026 season was a down year for Happ, but only relative to his typical standards. He hit .218/.326/.412, offsetting that low average with a characteristically excellent walk rate (12.7%) and the same level of power to which we’ve grown accustomed for the switch-hitter (24 homers, .194 ISO). Happ is remarkably consistent. He’s logged between 148 and 158 games in each of the past six seasons and played 57 of 60 games in 2020. Add it all up, and he’s appeared in 95% of the Cubs’ possible games in the past seven years.
Typically good for 20 to 25 homers per year, Happ is a low-average, high-OBP walk machine who is usually — usually — effective from both sides of the plate. That “usually” is an important caveat, because in 2026, he’s been terrible against left-handed pitching. From the left side of the plate, Happ has knocked righties around at a .239/.352/.457 clip. As a right-handed hitter? He’s batting .145/.217/.267. Part of the struggles stem from a fluky .200 average on balls in play, but he’s punched out at a 36% clip against lefties — about 10 percentage points higher than the rate he carried into the season.
Time will tell whether that’s an anomaly or the start of a trend, but it’s going to give some teams a bit of pause. That’s also true of the general shape of Happ’s season. He was on pace for one of his best years into mid-June, but he batted .206/.311/.355 in just over 300 plate appearances across the final three months of the year.
Happ will still have a case for a nice multi-year deal. He’s as durable as they come, and the broad track record is that of a quality regular. And, while he’s had a down year against lefties, he’s having a stronger-than-usual season versus right-handers and is enjoying one of his best defensive campaigns. Happ is a generally solid left fielder, but this year’s 10 Defensive Runs Saved is the second-best mark of his career, and Statcast is also a fan of his work (2 Outs Above Average, 6 overall FRV).
The Cubs have a borderline call on issuing Happ a qualifying offer, but there’s a reasonable chance they’ll make it. MLBTR’s estimated $23.1MM QO value isn’t far north of Happ’s annual value on his expiring three-year, $61MM deal and the Cubs could lose both him and Suzuki to free agency. If they both reject, the Cubs would be in line to recoup a pair of draft picks. If Happ accepts — Suzuki is very unlikely to do so — they’d fill one outfield need and check an item off their to-do list ahead of a winter where pitching needs to be the primary focus.
Taylor Ward (33)
If there were an award for “strangest season of the year,” it might go to Taylor Ward. The 32-year-old (33 in December) slugged 36 homers for the Angels in 2025 and connected on all of seven round-trippers for the Orioles and Mariners in 2026. It’s not due to any sort of major reduction in playing time; Ward was an everyday guy in both seasons, reaching 663 plate appearances in ’25 and 607 in ’26.
Ward showed a much more patient approach, walking at a sky-high 16.3% clip and cutting his strikeout rate from 26.4% to 21.4%. Was his approach too cautious? It’s certainly arguable. On the one hand, it’s good that no qualified hitter in baseball chased off the plate less often than Ward’s 14.9%. Hell, no one was even close. Steven Kwan’s 19.3% was second-lowest, and no other hitter checked in shy of 21%. But Ward also swung at the second-lowest rate of pitches within the strike zone, just 54.1% (trailing only Kwan). His overall 34.4% swing rate was the lowest in baseball and the third-lowest mark of any qualified hitter in a 162-game season over the past decade.
Ward has always been patient, but this was a new level — a downright passive approach. He’s been among the game’s most patient hitters for years now, but this was a whole new level. Ward did increase his swing rate a bit following a trade to Seattle … but not in a good way. His chase rate climbed more than four percentage points while his in-zone swing rate dropped by close to two percentage points.
Ward’s run with the Mariners was one he’d like to forget. He hit .125/.238/.148 with Seattle, dropping his season line to a bizarre .225/.359/.311. He’s a fine defensive corner outfielder — serviceable, not great — who’ll draw walks and until this season had averaged 25 homers over a four-year stretch. At 33, a multi-year deal is possible, but some teams might be put off enough by the power outage and terrible finish that he settles for a one-year offer.
Platoon / Part-Time Options
Miguel Andujar (32)
Andujar hasn’t played any outfield this season, but left field was his primary home in 2024-25. Realistically, however, if you want to call anywhere “home” for Andujar, it’s in the batter’s box against left-handed pitching. He’s not the star he looked like he might become when he finished second to a young up-and-comer named Shohei Ohtani in 2018 AL Rookie of the Year voting, but Andujar has settled in as a positionless tormentor of southpaws. He’s a career .292/.329/.461 hitter versus lefties, although he’s had a curiously pedestrian season versus them in 2026.
Even with a lackluster performance in platoon settings this year, Andujar has still wrecked left-handed pitching at a .339/.377/.506 pace across the past four seasons. He’s played third base and left field, dabbled at first and in right field, and graded out poorly in all spots. But if you want a cheap bench bat with good contact skills and a big track record against lefties, he fits the bill.
Michael Conforto (34)
Conforto was a star for the 2017-20 Mets, had a down season in 2021 and then missed all of 2022 due to a shoulder injury that required surgery. A brilliant finish to an otherwise middling two-year run in San Francisco netted him a weighty one-year deal with the Dodgers for the 2025 season. It flopped. Conforto hit .199/.305/.333 and took a minor league deal with the Cubs. He’s back on the map now, slashing .240/.331/.469 (119 wRC+) in a season that saw him afforded only 12 of his 315 plate appearances versus southpaws.
The lefty-swinging Conforto is now in his mid-30s. He’s probably due for a part-time role, but it’s at least possible a club gives him one more crack at everyday work. The Cubs had no interest in doing so, but over his past 196 left-on-left plate appearances (dating back to 2024), he’s batted .275/.362/.509 with a 9.7% walk rate and 24.5% strikeout rate.
Randal Grichuk (35)
A perennial masher of lefty pitching, Grichuk signed a minor league deal with the Yankees after a down year in 2025. He broke camp with the club but was cut loose after just 33 plate appearances. That has to sting over in the Bronx, as the White Sox swooped in, signed Grichuk and have received 247 plate appearances with a .299/.328/.598 batting line and 15 taters. Grichuk has annihilated left-handers this season (.327/.371/.655), bumping his already terrific career line against them up to .274/.323/.515. He shouldn’t need to take a minor league deal this time around.
Austin Hays (31)
Let’s play musical chairs! I say that because it was Hays who started the season with the White Sox in the role that’s seen Grichuk thrive. He spent the bulk of the season on the IL though and was cut loose upon returning, as Grichuk had filled the need intended for Hays. He caught on with the Padres and hit .316/.344/.456 in 61 plate appearances down the stretch. Hays is a career .289/.343/.484 hitter against lefties and should get another one-year deal this winter.
Infield/Outfield Hybrids
Mauricio Dubón (32)
Dubón can play pretty much anywhere on the field and do so at a high level. He’s an immensely skilled defender with good bat-to-ball skills but limited pop and a free-swinging approach that leads to poor walk rates and middling on-base percentages.
This year’s 11 homers are a career-high for Dubón. He logged a career-high 602 plate appearances with Atlanta and turned in a nice .273/.318/.393 batting line, but he posted sub-.300 OBPs in each of the two prior seasons due to his lack of discipline. The overall skill set works, but the lack of walks and power makes him very dependent on putting the ball in play and leaves him susceptible to BABIP fluctuations; when his average on balls in play dipped to .255 last year, Dubón hit only .241/.289/.355 in 398 turns at the plate.
Limited as the offensive profile is, Dubón’s versatility will be in high demand. Some clubs will want him to fill a versatile utility role. Others might eye him as an everyday option at second base, left field or even shortstop. Age and a lack of power are going to limit his earning ceiling, but Dubón should still get a multi-year deal.
Edmundo Sosa (31)
Sosa has had an odd season, posting awful numbers in May and July, roughly league-average numbers in April and June, and then finishing the season on a blistering hot streak in August and September. Such is life for a versatile utilityman who typically tallies 250 to 300 plate appearances per season and thus is prone to some bizarre small-sample streaks in either direction. In the aggregate, his 2026 offense (.247/.285/.417) is below average but not egregiously so. It’s also not far off the combined .261/.301/.438 pace he set from 2023-25 in Philly.
The righty-hitting Sosa is very good against lefties, poor against righties and can play all over the field. He’s held his own in limited left field work but is more frequently deployed as an infielder. Sosa has plus defensive marks at second base, shortstop and third base. He’s a nice bench piece.
Injury/Rebound Candidates
Jake Fraley (32)
From 2021-25, Fraley was a decent platoon corner outfielder, hitting .252/.339/.411 while rarely facing left-handed pitching. The Rays paid $3MM to see if Fraley could continue that production in 2026, but Fraley missed the majority of the season due to a hernia that required surgery. He appeared in 31 games, took 97 plate appearances, and hit only .216/.289/.364.
Adolis García (34)
García was a driving force behind the Rangers’ 2023 World Series win, but his bat tanked in 2024 and especially ’25 before he was non-tendered. The Phillies signed him for a year and $10MM, got poor results for 67 games, and then kissed the rest of that investment goodbye when García suffered a torn lat that required season-ending surgery in June. Since crushing 39 homers and batting .245/.328/.508 with strong defense for the World Series Champion Rangers, García has taken 1443 plate appearances with a .220/.277/.385 batting line (84 wRC+). He’s in his mid-30s and coming off major surgery. There are worse fliers to take, but he’s a pure roll of the dice at this point.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (33)
Gurriel suffered an ACL tear with the D-backs early last September and was remarkably back on the field for his 2026 debut on April 18. Whether he was ever fully healthy is hard to say. Gurriel hit poorly for five weeks before a hamstring strain sent him to the injured list. He returned for another month, hit poorly, and went back on the IL due to an adductor strain. He returned for four games in September before being designated for assignment and released. Gurriel mustered only a .210/.254/.290 slash this season but hit .271/.317/.437 in 2725 trips to the plate across the five preceding seasons. He’s a pure left fielder/designated hitter with a lower-than-average strikeout rate, modest-at-best power, and a perennially low walk rate.
Ramón Laureano (32)
Laureano’s career looked to be on the downswing not long ago. He was outstanding through his first four MLB seasons (2018-21) before being hit with an 80-game PED suspension. Laureano hit poorly upon his return to the A’s in 2022, and those struggles continued all the way into 2023, when the then-Oakland club designated him for assignment. Laureano’s bat ticked up down the stretch in ’23 upon being plucked off waivers by the Guardians, but he hit so poorly for them in ’24 that he was released in May.
A move to Atlanta rejuvenated him. From 2024-25, he logged 714 plate appearances between the Braves, Orioles and Padres, slashing a combined .286/.336/.510 (136 wRC+). He was locked into a starting role with the Padres this year, but hip pain eventually revealed a labrum tear, requiring season-ending surgery. Laureano will turn 33 next July. Among the listed rebound candidates here, he’s had the most recent high-caliber play.
Gavin Lux (29)
Lux, a former first-round pick and top-five overall prospect in the game, was hobbled by injuries early in his MLB tenure and has settled in as a low-end second base/left field option. He didn’t play at all this season due to a left shoulder injury.
From 2021-25, Lux was a roughly league-average bat with a strong walk rate, average bat-to-ball skills and below-average power. The Reds made a regrettable trade to acquire him from the Dodgers in exchange for outfielder Mike Sirota — who has emerged as a top-50 prospect in the entire sport — and a Competitive Balance draft pick. Cincinnati played him more in left than at second base and received a .269/.350/.374 slash for one season before cutting bait and trading him to Tampa Bay for reliever Brock Burke. Lux is still relatively young and draws a good number of walks, but he’s never topped 10 homers in a season and doesn’t bring much defensive value to the table.
Depth Options
Dylan Carlson (28), Adam Frazier (35), Sam Haggerty (33), Enrique Hernández (35), Max Kepler (34), Starling Marte (38), Andrew McCutchen (40), Dylan Moore (34), Tommy Pham (39), Rob Refsnyder (36), Jorge Soler (35), Austin Slater (34), Mike Tauchman (36), Alex Verdugo (31)Option Decisions
Ronald Acuña Jr. (29): $17MM club option with a $10MM buyout
There’s little point in going beyond a sentence or two here. The Braves have a net $7MM decision on a face-of-the-franchise former MVP who even in a “down” season was 20% better than average at the plate. There’s zero chance this is bought out.
Victor Robles (30): $9MM club option with a $500K buyout
Robles was brilliant down the stretch with the 2024 Mariners after they scooped him up following his release by the Nationals. He parlayed that into a two-year, $9.75MM extension and has been injured more often than not during the two years on said contract. Robles can play all three outfield spots, run well and provide league-average offense against lefties. This will be bought out, and he’ll be a depth option on a minor league deal or perhaps a very small guaranteed salary.
Myles Straw (32): $8MM club option with a $1.75MM buyout
The Jays have an $8MM option on Straw, who has been an integral part of their clubhouse and a decent speed- and defense-oriented role player. Even though the Guardians are sending them $1.75MM as part of the trade that sent Straw from Cleveland to Toronto, the net $6.25MM price might be steep for a fourth outfielder who hit .251/.308/.354 in two seasons. This will probably be bought out, if the Jays don’t first renegotiate a smaller deal to keep him.
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