Article: Out Of The Park Baseball 26 On The 2025 Red Sox

[Adam Morgan]

Are you an Out Of The Park fan? We look at the new game through the lens of the Boston Red Sox roster.

If you are a longtime Out of the Park Baseball franchise player, you have seen many Red Sox-affiliated names grace the loading screen. While the game is loading, various baseball quotes flash in the loading bar. Some are funny. Some are fun facts. Some are testimonials. One of those testimonials is from principal owner John Henry, who said, “OOTP is an astonishing accomplishment.” Another is from post-season hero Curt Schilling, who said, “There is no comparison to any sports sim I’ve ever played.” So, when looking at the 2025 season, I figured, why not see what the highly touted game thinks of Boston’s team?

OOTP allows you to choose different ways to view player ratings; to keep things consistent with baseball scouts, I am using the standard 20-80 scale in this article.

Looking at the Red Sox roster, it should be no surprise that Garrett Crochet is the top-rated player. He grades out as a 70 overall with an 80 fastball, a 75 cutter, a 70 slider, a 55 sinker, and a 55 changeup. While the game does think he has mostly reached full potential, it does allow for the possibility that his changeup could reach a 60 grade.

There is a tie for the Red Sox's second-best player between Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran. Both grade out as 65 overall. Duran has 55 contact, 50 power, and 45 eye, while Devers rates out as having 55 contact, 65 power, and 50 eye. Surprisingly, Devers rates as a 50 defender at third base, a position we won't be playing very much this season.

Alex Bregman, who will actually be playing third, grades out as a 55 defender, which seems surprising considering he won a Gold Glove at the position and Devers was widely panned as plain bad. Bregman’s rating is 55 overall, with 50 contact, 55 power, and 55 eye.

In between Duran/Devers and Bregman are a couple of surprising names: Triston Casas (60 overall, 65 potential), Wilyer Abreu (55 overall, 60 potential), and Aroldis Chapman (60 overall). While Casas and Abreu have been touted as young stars in the making for years, Chapman has had a rocky career on the field since leaving the Yankees. Chapman has not averaged less than five walks per nine innings since 2020 and has not recorded more than 14 saves in a season since 2021. Still, OOTP gives him 80-grade stuff with a paltry 35 control.

Chapman is the Red Sox's highest-rated reliever. There is a tie for second-best reliever between Garrett Whitlock and Liam Hendriks, who are both 50 overall. Compared to Chapman, Whitlock has 50 grade stuff and 65 control, while Hendriks has a more balanced 50 stuff and 50 control.

If you let OOTP’s AI manager choose the roster, it puts Whitlock in the 8th inning and Hendriks in the 7th, which might seem like a longshot considering the way Hendriks has pitched in spring training. That’s not the only surprising decision the computer makes, though. It chooses Quinn Priester and Josh Winckowski as the Red Sox's fourth and fifth starters, respectively. We know this will not happen in real life, with Winckowski officially being reassigned to minor league camp.

More surprising still is the starting lineup, which has Romy Gonzalez as the starting shortstop over Trevor Story. Trevor Story has a 45 overall rating with 55 defense at shortstop, while Gonzalez has a 50 overall rating with 50 defense at shortstop. Maybe if injuries beset the Red Sox, we‘ll see Romy at shortstop, but there is no way this happens on Opening Day.

Almost as strange is how OOTP’s AI sees third base developing. It has Devers playing third against right-handers with Bregman not in the starting lineup and Roman Anthony at DH. Against lefties, it plays Bregman at third with Devers at DH. If you were wondering, it has Kristian Campbell as the starting second baseman in both scenarios.

The AI manager has Romy Gonzalez and Trevor Story listed as the backups for second base, which means David Hamilton, Vaughn Grissom, and Marcelo Mayer all start in the minors. While we know Grissom will be in Worcester, it is hard to believe that neither Mayer nor Hamilton will be on the Opening Day roster. OOTP lists all three as currently 45 overall, with Grissom having a 55 potential and Mayer having a 60 potential. The game sees Hamilton as a true 45.

Despite not believing that Aroldis Chapman is the Red Sox's best reliever nor that Romy Gonzalez is better than Trevor Story (when healthy), the rest of the player ratings check out pretty well.  If everything goes right, you would expect Garrett Crochet to be the ace of the staff with Walker Buehler and Tanner Houck battling it out for number two starter, and you hope Devers and Duran will be driving the offense with Casas being a major contributor, provided he stays healthy. The AI manager could work, but we must hope Alex Cora can outthink the computer.

View full article