The "shrouded stator" bit works best when it's a convergent duct, yielding a higher exit velocity for greater cruise efficiency. This can be done with a smaller rotor diameter, bringing the drag down.
And by the time you do all this, you might as well drive it with a gas turbine and call it a turbofan.
Turboprops are also driven with gas turbines.
Why do turbofans find the swirl-compensating stators to be efficient, rather than a source of extra drag?