Fantasy Baseball: Early Roto Outfield Rankings

Ben Rolfe
January 18, 2018

Trying to do outfield rankings for roto leagues is always a tough one because drafting this position more than any other is dictated by needs. Given that leagues can have anywhere from three outfield slots and above it is the perfect position in which to target specific stats and make up for any deficiencies you have at the other position. What this means is that sometimes you have to go away from taking the best player available at that point in the draft and look slightly lower for a guy who can fulfil your needs. This year outfield is headlined by a couple of young players in Judge and Bellinger who could easily end the year as top 5 options at the position but equally could end up as sophomore busts come the end of the season. Choosing to draft one of those over some more established names such as Upton, Springer and Marte will all depend on how you feel you can build your team around them and the value you can get for them on draft day.

Deeper in the position there are some real intriguing tiers full of aging players, who have the quality to be top 10 options but haven’t shown us it now for a couple of years, and younger options who might be primed for their break out. All of this is going t make outfield a real delicate balancing act but also makes me feel confident that I can fill five outfield spots without too many worries.

There are a lot of outfield eligible free agents right now. The one I feel really confident about is J.D. Martinez because I think wherever he signs he is a full time player based on last year’s performances. Other guys who are currently unranked are Lorenzo Cain, Melky Cabrera, Carlos Gonzalez, Ben Revere, Cameron Maybin and Carlos Gomez. All of those could easily be top 50 or higher options if they get full time roles but I have question marks right now that any of them will so I have chosen not to rank them.

Right now I have only gone 60 deep which should cover all starters in a five outfield 12-team league but closer to the season I will go deeper. I should point out that at this time of the season it isn’t the rank that is important but the tier. Use the tiers to make most of your decisions but if I have tiered guys together I can make a case for most of them anywhere in that tier. At this position perhaps more than any other if your decision boils down to two guys in the same tier then you will likely be making that decision based on need. For that reason I haven’t provided a rank for outfielders just the tier. For now here are my top 60 ESPN eligible outfielders.

Tier	Player	Team	Eligibility
1	Mike Trout	LAA	OF
2	Charlie Blackmon	COL	OF
2	Bryce Harper	WSH	OF
2	Giancarlo Stanton	NYY	OF
2	Mookie Betts	BOS	OF
3	Aaron Judge	NYY	OF
3	Cody Bellinger	LAD	1B, OF
4	Justin Upton	LAA	OF
4	George Springer	HOU	OF
4	Starling Marte	PIT	OF
4	Ryan Braun	MIL	OF
4	Khris Davis	OAK	OF, DH
5	J.D. Martinez	FA	OF
5	A.J. Pollock	ARI	OF
5	Marcell Ozuna	STL	OF
5	Rhys Hoskins	PHI	1B, OF
5	Andrew Benintendi	BOS	OF
5	Tommy Pham	STL	OF
5	Yoenis Cespedes	NYM	OF
5	Andrew McCutchen	PIT	OF
5	Steven Souza	TB	OF
5	Domingo Santana	MIL	OF
5	Corey Dickerson	TB	OF, DH
6	Billy Hamilton	CIN	OF
7	Ender Inciarte	ATL	OF
7	Christian Yelich	MIA	OF
7	Adam Jones	BAL	OF
7	Eddie Rosario	MIN	OF
7	Odubel Herrera	PHI	OF
7	Adam Eaton	WSH	OF
8	Nomar Mazara	TEX	OF
8	Yasiel Puig	LAD	OF
8	Brett Gardner	NYY	OF
8	Michael Brantley	CLE	OF
8	Kevin Kiermaier	TB	OF
8	David Peralta	ARI	OF
8	Jay Bruce	NYM	OF
8	Avisail Garcia	CWS	OF
8	Nick Castellanos	DET	3B, OF
8	Chris Taylor	LAD	2B, OF
8	Eduardo Nunez	FA	2B, 3B, OF
9	Josh Reddick	HOU	OF
9	Dexter Fowler	STL	OF
9	Trey Mancini	BAL	1B, OF
9	Kole Calhoun	LAA	OF
9	Shin-Soo Choo	TEX	OF, DH
9	Gerardo Parra	COL	OF
9	Stephen Piscotty	OAK	OF
9	Mitch Haniger	SEA	OF
9	Byron Buxton	MIN	OF
9	Mark Trumbo	BAL	OF, DH
9	Manuel Margot	SD	OF
9	Denard Span	TB	OF
9	Gregory Polanco	PIT	OF
9	Ian Desmond	COL	1B, OF
9	Marwin Gonzalez	HOU	1B, 2B, SS, OF
9	Kyle Schwarber	CHC	OF
10	Albert Almora	CHC	OF
10	Nick Markakis	ATL	OF
10	Jorge Bonifacio	KC	OF

Fantasy Baseball: Early Roto Outfield Rankings

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