Fantasy Baseball: Outfield

In fantasy baseball teams, outfield provides a unique position due to its obvious depth and the fact that you can find serviceable and helpful players even in the later rounds. After round 15 you can draft outfielders who will hit .300 or 30 home runs or steal 40 bases, which you can’t say about any other position. For the first time since our rankings started, Burga and I have had substantially different rankings, so take a closer look and see who we like this year.

Burga's Rankings:
Ryan Braun
Carlos Gonzalez
Carl Crawford
Josh Hamilton
Matt Holliday
Matt Kemp
Nelson Cruz
Justin Upton
Andre Ethier
Shin-Soo Choo
Jason Heyward
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jayson Werth
Jay Bruce
Andrew McCutcheon
Alex Rios
Hunter Pence
Ichiro Suzuki
Chris Young
BJ Upton

• Finally, a little bit of differentiation between our positional rankings. Plenty of people would prefer Carlos Gonzalez over Ryan Braun, and I’ve even seen mock drafts where CarGo went first overall, believe it or not. However, Braun is one of the sure things in fantasy and he’s been consistently one of the top players in baseball. Gonzalez had a surreal season last year, but I’ll need to see him do it again before taking him as the first outfielder off the board.
• The only thing that prevents Nelson Cruz from being as high as a 2nd round pick is injury concerns. Like his teammate, Josh Hamilton, when Cruz is healthy he can put up MVP numbers and he showed us that last year. If he stays off the DL he’ll reward owners kindly with good numbers minus SBs.
• There are many young outfielders that could reach elite status this year, headlined by Jason Heyward, who showed us a glimpse of the excellence that lies in his future. Don’t sleep on guys like Jay Bruce, Mike Stanton, Andrew McCutcheon, Colby Rasmus, and Drew Stubbs, especially in keeper leagues.
• Jacoby Ellsbury was a 2nd round pick in 2010 before falling to injuries. When he’s being drafted in the mid rounds this year, he could turn into one of this year’s draft bargains. However, with Crawford in Boston Ellsbury might shift to the 9 spot, which might limit numbers just a bit.

Average Joe's Rankings:
Carlos Gonzalez
Carl Crawford
Josh Hamilton
Ryan Braun
Matt Holliday
Shin-Soo Choo
Andre Ethier
Jacoby Ellsbury
Justin Upton
Nelson Cruz
Jayson Heyward
Ichiro Suzuki
Andrew McCutchen
Vernon Wells
Jayson Werth
Matt Kemp
Chris Young
Corey Hart
Alex Rios
Hunter Pence

• Braun drops on my list based on last year’s numbers. If he has a solid year, he can easily make a case to be the best OF in baseball again. But last year, Gonzalez was a triple crown/MVP candidate. He takes the top for me.
• Matt Kemp may seem quite low. However, he only had a .249 average last year, and was extremely unmotivated at times. He could bounce back; in fact you should probably expect him too. But choose wisely, because, as seen last year, if he’s not happy, you won’t be happy with his numbers.
• My Boston bias puts Jacoby Ellsbury fairly high. But do not forget that this guy is a year removed from a 70 steal season. If he’s healthy, he can easily do it again. Possible steal in some leagues (although most of you are Boston people, so I’m sure some of you will see him taken far too prematurely in the first round.
• I’ve got Vernon Wells and Corey Hart on my list, contrary to Burga’s (Jay Bruce and BJ Upton). Hart had his career year in 2010, after a terrible 2009 campaign. Wells saw his power numbers return to 2006 form, and a change of scenery to Anaheim may help him try to maintain.