Draft Prep

2018 Fantasy Outfielder Rankings: New Names & New Places

by
Michael Tomlin
March 7, 2018

Photo Credit: Corn Farmer

Maybe it is just recency bias, but I cannot remember a time where there was this much movement at the top of the outfielder rankings in Fantasy Baseball. Between the blockbuster trades and expected breakouts of young players, a single year’s difference seems more like five or six.

I mean, just pulling up a random 2017 outfielder rankings list and you can see the difference. 14 of the Top 25 players either changed teams or are no longer in the Top 30 at the position.

Whether it was age (Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Braun), over-hyped (Jackie Bradley Jr.) or extenuating circumstances (Starling Marte’s suspension) some guys completely letdown their ranking last season. On the other hand, there were surprise breakouts from younger players (Aaron Judge) or huge bounce-back, healthy seasons (Giancarlo Stanton).

The biggest move, without a doubt, is Stanton putting on pinstripes. After one of the best non-steroid era power seasons ever, Stanton joins arguably the second-best ewer hitter in the game, Aaron Judge, in the same outfield. Talk about lineup protection. If I give you an over/under of 100 combined home runs from those two, what do you take?

Joining Stanton in the American League East is J.D. Martinez after signing with the Boston Red Sox. As powerful as the Yankees outfield now is, the Red Sox outfield represents a third of the Top 9 in my outfielder rankings. Good luck to the pitchers in that division.

These outfielder rankings are for mixed leagues, with no designation on which position in the outfield. Personally, I much rather prefer LF/CF/RF designations in your lineup. However, for outfielder rankings purposes, the blurred line of positional eligibility becomes an absolute muddled mess. There is no definite on which outfield position a player is eligible for.

So we are going to look at the Top 80 for mixed leagues that have no designation for these outfielder rankings. The Average Draft Position and Expert Consensus Rankings (both overall and by position) are relative to FantasyPros.com as of February 28th. For outfielder rankings eligibility, the player had to play at least 20 games at the position last season.

2018 SCFE Outfielder Rankings

Rk.	Player, Team	ADP	ECR	ECR (Pos.)
1	Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels	1	1	1
2	Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox	8	7	3
3	Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees	10	9	5
4	Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies	9	8	4
5	Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals	7	6	2
6	Aaron Judge, New York Yankees	16	20	6
7	J.D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox	24	28	8
8	George Springer, Houston Astros	28	23	7
9	Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox	43	40	12
10	Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers	54	47	14
11	Marcella Ozuna, St. Louis Cardinals	44	45	13
12	Nelson Cruz, Seattle Mariners	49	36	19
13	Starling Marte, Pittsburgh Pirates	52	39	10
14	Justin Upton, Los Angeles Angels	42	41	11
15	Khris Davis, Oakland Athletics	68	54	17
16	A.J. Pollock, Arizona Diamondbacks	60	53	16
17	Tommy Pham, St. Louis Cardinals	61	58	18
18	Yoenis Cespedes, New York Mets	83	66	22
19	Andrew McCutchen, San Francisco Giants	78	68	23
20	Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins	57	64	21
21	Lorenzo Cain, Milwaukee Brewers	86	74	24
22	Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers	94	80	25
23	Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati Reds	66	81	26
24	Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles	124	102	29
25	Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers	114	101	28
26	Ender Inciarte, Atlanta Braves	123	104	30
27	Nomar Mazara, Texas Rangers	162	135	38
28	Domingo Santana, Milwaukee Brewers	84	99	27
29	Eddie Rosario, Minnesota Twins	130	128	35
30	Adam Eaton, Washington Nationals	141	115	32
31	Ian Desmond, Colroado Rockies	118	111	33
32	Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates	142	125	34
33	Trey Mancini, Baltimore Orioles	173	170	55
34	Kevin Kiermaier, Tampa Bay Rays	174	149	45
35	Odubel Herrera, Philadelphia Phillies	209	157	46
36	Jay Bruce, New York Mets	144	141	40
37	Brett Gardner, New York Yankees	170	145	41
38	Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs	147	152	44
39	Steven Souza, Arizona Diamondbacks	175	159	48
40	Adam Duvall, Cincinnati Reds	154	151	43
41	Kyle Schwarber, Chicago Cubs	167	163	51
42	Avisail Garcia, Chicago White Sox	194	183	56
43	Shin-Soo Choo, Texas Rangers	244	191	60
44	Manuel Margot, San Diego Padres	153	154	47
45	Michael Conforto, New York Mets	185	169	53
46	Mitch Haniger, Seattle Mariners	232	203	63
47	Mark Trumbo, Baltimore Orioles	228	192	58
48	Josh Reddick, Houston Astros	240	210	67
49	David Peralta, Arizona Diamondbacks	274	207	65
50	Dexter Fowler, St. Louis Cardinals	241	193	59
51	Jackie Bradley, Boston Red Sox	246	198	62
52	Ronald Acuna, Atlanta Braves	146	177	52
53	Marwin Gonzalez, Houston Astros	136	168	54
54	Kole Calhoun, Los Angeles Angels	301	241	75
55	Bradley Zimmer, Cleveland Indians	212	205	64
56	Max Kepler, Minnesota Twins	264	249	81
57	Stephen Piscotty, Oakland Athletics	270	222	73
58	Corey Dickerson, Pittsburgh Pirates	220	200	61
59	Willie Calhoun, Texas Rangers	257	239	72
60	Aaron Hicks, New York Yankees	243	251	78
61	Michael Brantley, Cleveland Indians	236	217	70
62	Delino Deshield, Texas Rangers	216	229	71
63	Carlos Gonzalez, Free Agent	341	232	69
64	David Dahl, Colorado Rockies	234	262	84
65	Nick Williams, Philadelphia Phillies	316	286	85
66	Randal Grichuk, Toronto Blue Jays	327	265	82
67	Aaron Altherr, Philadelphia Phillies	289	244	77
68	Michael Taylor, Washington Nationals	245	263	83
69	Scott Schebler, Cincinnati Reds	319	292	87
70	Mallex Smith, Tampa Bay Rays	386	371	103
71	Hunter Renfroe, San Diego Padres	351	288	92
72	Carlos Gomez, Tampa Bay Rays	422	303	101
73	Cameron Maybin, Miami Marlins	372	411	109
74	Jason Heyward, Chicago Cubs	369	392	114
75	Gerardo Parra, Colorado Rockies	416	384	108
76	Jessie Winker, Cincinnati Reds	375	311	93
77	Melky Cabrera, Free Agent	295	323	95
78	Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers	287	267	80
79	Lewis Brinson, Miami Marlins	373	290	86
80	Joc Pederson, Los Angeles Dodgers	343	318	91

Some of the highest players in these outfielder rankings bring some of the highest risk in the early rounds, so keep that in mind in your roster construction.
Garion’s write-up about possible busts convinced me to lower Domingo Santana in my rankings.
Some of the best NL Rookie of the Year candidates can be found in these outfielder rankings with Ronald Acuna and Lewis Brinson
I am quite a bit higher on Trey Mancini than most. I was higher on him last year and that really worked out so I will keep riding the Trey-train.
On the other hand I am a bit lower on Bryce Harper. This is mostly due to the fact I am not sure he can play a full season.
My favorite late-rounder in the outfielder rankings is Max Kepler. Byron Buxton gets all of the hype in Minnesota, but Kepler had a solid first full year. In his last full minor league season, he hit .318 with 19 stolen bases. I think he provides more in both categories (.243 and 6 last season) this year to go with 25+ home run potential.
There are also still some solid free agents available with Melky Cabrera and Carlos Gonzalez among those without a team as of this writing.

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Michael Tomlin

Michael Tomlin is an ESPY-nominated, former college football player who stays associated with the game through Fantasy Sports. He has been writing his personal blog, Dirkland.blogspot.com, for three years and it focuses on Fantasy Sports, as well as handicapping. He was born and raised in the DFW Metroplex, and he follows all of the Dallas teams, along with Texas Tech athletics and Manchester City F.C.

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