RotoGraphs Consensus Ranks: Outfielders

by
February 26, 2014

The Outfield. It’s a bear. If you’re in a three-outfielder league, it’s easy: wait. There are so many outfielders that actually play the outfield, and then when you add outfield-eligible players, there’s even more. Most leagues have responded by going to five outfielders to create a little positional scarcity, so we rank with five outfielders.

There’s a consensus number one, but that’s where the love between our rankers ends. That’s being a bit dramatic, but since we rank 1-105 on these, you’ll see wider disparities in the raw numbers of our rankings. The difference in opinion is about the same.

So when you see the Alex Rios rankings, it might not actually be as crazy as it looks. For one, Alex Rios has had a crazy career. And for two, there are a ton of outfielders to rank and they can bunch together at spots. My 28 might be pretty close to my 20, but I’ll take Jason Heyward over Alex Rios any day. That stolen base bump from Rios last year befuddles me.

Other notable flashpoints were Giancarlo Stanton, Alex Gordon, Matt Kemp, Mark Trumbo, Ben Revere and Christian Yelich. Each brings a different reason for differing opinions — uneven performance across the five categories, change in position in the lineup, change in home park, change in home league, health problems, and the lack of an established true talent level of production.

There are more in there. Who sticks out to you?

Rankings based on 5×5 roto, 12 teams, single-catcher with Middle Infield and Corner Infield spots, 13 hitters and 9 pitchers. Each ranker had their own mix of projections and intuition.

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RG Name Jeff Zach Mike Eno
1 Mike Trout 1 1 1 1
2 Andrew McCutchen 3 2 4 2
3 Carlos Gonzalez 2 3 3 3
4 Ryan Braun 4 6 2 6
5 Jacoby Ellsbury 7 4 8 4
6 Adam Jones 9 5 5 5
7 Carlos Gomez 8 9 6 9
8 Bryce Harper 11 10 7 7
9 Shin-Soo Choo 10 8 15 8
10 Yasiel Puig 5 15 12 11
11 Giancarlo Stanton 6 7 21 12
12 Jay Bruce 14 14 9 10
13 Jose Bautista 12 11 14 16
14 Starling Marte 13 19 11 13
15 Hunter Pence 19 17 13 17
16 Justin Upton 15 22 18 14
17 Jason Heyward 16 12 25 19
18 Matt Holliday 20 16 16 20
19 Alex Rios 17 20 10 27
20 Wil Myers 22 23 22 18
21 Alex Gordon 18 13 34 25
22 Allen Craig 27 21 23 21
23 Yoenis Cespedes 24 29 19 22
24 Matt Kemp 21 18 35 31
25 Domonic Brown 25 26 27 29
26 Michael Cuddyer 31 25 30 23
27 Mark Trumbo 30 42 24 15
28 Josh Hamilton 32 27 28 32
29 Desmond Jennings 28 30 26 42
30 Carlos Beltran 38 24 20 46
31 Austin Jackson 29 28 37 35
32 Norichika Aoki 33 37 38 28
33 Billy Hamilton 26 34 31 47
34 Jayson Werth 40 51 17 33
35 Ben Zobrist 34 32 33 48
36 Coco Crisp 37 35 36 41
37 Martin Prado 46 39 47 26
38 Leonys Martin 44 58 29 30
39 Michael Bourn 36 40 44 45
40 Adam Eaton 35 43 51 36
41 Nick Swisher 45 36 58 34
42 Kole Calhoun 47 50 39 38
43 Khris Davis 55 60 49 24
44 Torii Hunter 57 44 52 37
45 Brandon Moss 61 31 32 67
46 Nelson Cruz 60 33 59 39
47 Oswaldo Arcia 49 47 42 53
48 Alfonso Soriano 42 54 46 52
49 Brett Gardner 48 57 40 49
50 Curtis Granderson 41 46 54 56
51 Chris Carter 39 56 57 51
52 Shane Victorino 51 67 45 44
53 Ben Revere 56 70 41 40
54 Dexter Fowler 23 38 74 74
55 Angel Pagan 54 45 48 63
56 Carl Crawford 65 41 56 55
57 Will Venable 50 49 55 73
58 Michael Brantley 69 72 53 43
59 Christian Yelich 59 85 43 50
60 Colby Rasmus 52 62 61 64
61 Avisail Garcia 63 68 50 59
62 Nick Markakis 70 52 62 57
63 Melky Cabrera 68 55 68 54
64 Josh Willingham 58 65 71 61
65 Michael Morse 67 48 73 70
66 Josh Reddick 64 61 63 71
67 Gerardo Parra 72 66 69 58
68 Cody Ross 66 63 80 72
69 David Murphy 71 59 85 68
70 Carlos Quentin 76 53 78 80
71 B.J. Upton 77 74 72 66
72 Nate Schierholtz 85 64 64 85
73 Matt Joyce 74 77 65 82
74 Alejandro De Aza 75 69 67 91
75 Junior Lake 81 106 60 60
76 Chris Young 79 71 79 83
77 Corey Dickerson 73 106 75 65
78 Michael Saunders 62 106 66 88
79 Andre Ethier 87 79 95 62
80 Denard Span 78 91 70 86
81 Rajai Davis 80 81 88 77
82 Lorenzo Cain 91 73 83 81
83 Daniel Nava 93 80 76 89
84 Kelly Johnson 97 84 82 78
85 Marcell Ozuna 84 106 77 79
86 Justin Ruggiano 53 106 81 106
87 A.J. Pollock 82 106 100 69
88 Peter Bourjos 88 83 94 94
89 Jackie Bradley 94 106 89 75
90 Dayan Viciedo 86 87 101 99
91 Ryan Ludwick 99 88 84 104
92 Dustin Ackley 103 75 102 97
93 Garrett Jones 102 78 92 105
94 Nick Castellanos 95 106 87 90
95 Cameron Maybin 101 86 106 87
96 Nate McLouth 83 89 114 101
97 Robbie Grossman 106 106 91 84
98 Jose Tabata 90 106 98 98
99 Marlon Byrd 100 106 93 95
100 Andy Dirks 106 106 90 96
101 Alex Presley 92 106 96 106
102 David DeJesus 106 92 97 106
103 Abraham Almonte 106 106 113 76
104 Raul Ibanez 104 106 99 100
105 David Lough 106 106 112 92
106 L.J. Hoes 98 106 120 93
107 Eric Young 105 106 106 103
108 Darin Ruf 106 106 109 102

Ranked by one analyst: Jesus Guzman, Juan Pierre, Chris Denorfia, Chris Colabello, George Springer, Jonny Gomes, Craig Gentry, Jason Kubel, Ichiro Suzuki, Ryan Sweeney and Travis Snider.





 

With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.

36 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
David
12 years ago

Eno looks like you carried over your Zobrist ranking from SS?

0
Eno SarrisMember since 2020
12 years ago
Reply to  David

fixed thanks!

0
Rob
12 years ago

Darin Ruf at the end of the list, trailing like a lazy dog.

1
Ben Suissa
12 years ago
Reply to  Rob

Ruf Ruf! (woof woof)

0
d_iMember since 2016
12 years ago

Zach has two #16 and no #3.

2
Eno SarrisMember since 2020
12 years ago
Reply to  d_i

fixed, thanks!

0
d_iMember since 2016
12 years ago

I’m with Mike on Werth.

3
Eno SarrisMember since 2020
12 years ago
Reply to  d_i

I loved him last year, but I couldn’t push his PA projection into the top 20.

0
Jeff
12 years ago

I’d like to hear a bit more about Yelich. Fantasy owners always overreact when rookies do well in an extremely small sample size (Brett Lawrie, Poster Boy) but I think performances like Yelich’s 2013 are underappreciated. Despite an embarrassingly bad lineup, his plate discipline held strong and he put up reasonable numbers accross the board. His babip was obviously high, but this could be offset by his ability to take a walk and a stronger lineup.

Clearly the knock on him is his age, but he has elite talent and more and more guys are successful now in their early 20s. I would not be shocked by something like 12-25-80-60-.350(OBP). Thoughts?

2
bird3478
12 years ago

An unproven Adam Eaton at 40 is interesting. Moss, Cruz and Victorino could be ahead of him.

1
Big JgkeMember since 2020
12 years ago

Hunter Pence ranking seems extremely high.

3
Mike
12 years ago

Where would Springer rank if he left spring training with a starting job?

0
stonepie
12 years ago

bautista and stanton are very similar players (categories theyll contribute in, risky health) yet when considering the park and lineup around stanton, i cant pick him over joey bats.

1
Jeff
12 years ago
Reply to  stonepie

Bautista is ten years older. I’d say that’s pretty meaningful as Bautista will start to see his decline years while Stanton will begin to peak. Stanton’s lineup is not good, but it should be improved.

2
wildcard09
12 years ago

So I’m in a 13 team league that only uses 3 OF spots, with 2 UTIL spots and 4 bench spots, and I somehow ended up with 6 of the top 45 players on this list, something seems suspicious.

0
Wut?
12 years ago
Reply to  wildcard09

…

1
PleaseListentometalkaboutmyteam
12 years ago
Reply to  wildcard09

I’m in a similar situation. I’m in a 17 team league with 1 OF, 6 UTIL and 2 bench spots and I drafted 5 of the top 51 players on this list! Something smells funny in here…

1
BenFranklin17
12 years ago

Were these rankings formulated before Cruz signed with the Orioles? Would that even have any change to his ranking?

1
Eno SarrisMember since 2020
12 years ago
Reply to  BenFranklin17

I gave him an extra homer or two after the signing.

0
Ben Suissa
12 years ago

Rios over Puig mike? controversial ;!!!!

0
Pizzabox
12 years ago

Eno,

I love the fact that you ranked Khrush at #24 but why do you like him so much more than everybody else?

P.S. Any good idea’s for a Moss platoon? I’d love to get a good speed guy to compliment his power.

Thanks again.

0
Eno SarrisMember since 2020
12 years ago
Reply to  Pizzabox

I don’t feel like my Khris Davis projection is overly optimistic, obviously. He’ll be a starter!
579PA 508AB 78R 84RBI 24HR 7SB 0.271AVG
That’s great.

Calhoun and Moss would be a fun platoon. If you want to spend less, Moreland okay. Pagan/Pollock?

1
jj
12 years ago

I don’t play roto, but how often has Matt Holliday ended up out of the Top 10 OFs in the past 5 year? what did he rank last year?

I have never him less than top 10 in our linear points league. It seems in general his consistency is undervalued and his ‘decline’ always seems expected to be faster than it likely actually is.

1
Fredward
12 years ago

Cameron Maybin….Maybinnot. HA! He jacked a dong in Arizona once that wound up way out there by the Fatburger. Seems like he should be jackin a lot more dongs if he can whack one up to the Fatburger.

2
Jason B
12 years ago
Reply to  Fredward

“He jacked a dong in Arizona”

That was gonna be illegal but then the NFL threatened to move the Super Bowl and Mitt Romney said “whooooa now” and John McCain said “whooooa now” and Jan Brewer said “man, eff this”.

1
Clinton
12 years ago

Thanks for the comprehensive rankings. Do you guys know when the complete Rankings Spreadsheet will be updated? The current link still goes to the 2013 spreadsheet.

0
exxroxMember since 2026
12 years ago

Question – what is the difference in ranking players in a 5-OF league versus a 3-OF league? It seems to me, you are still just ranking them from best to worst.

0
exxroxMember since 2026
12 years ago

And what’s up with Brandon Moss? 2 rankings in the 30s and 2 in the 60s

1
Sean
12 years ago
Reply to  exxrox

Same idea with Dexter Fowler.

28, 38, and then 2 74s?

0
Shawn
12 years ago

Im right with you on Khris Davis, I have him at $12 505AB .260 70R 25HR 70RBI 6SB

1
James
12 years ago
Reply to  Shawn

So after 150 MLB PAs you basically think he’ll be Domonic Brown?

0
First Time Poster
12 years ago
Reply to  James

After 150 PA people thought Dominic Brown was Delmon Young so you can’t really use that as an argument.

0
Len Bias
12 years ago

Gee, let me think about Oswaldo Arcia vs Nellie Cruz while keeping B-roid in my top 6. You guys are a joke with all the essays about Ryan Braun, ‘merican hero, and how Nelson Cruz, well, his numbers they just ain’t real. But thanks, it’ll help me win again.

-1
willsmith888
12 years ago

Why is Span ranked so low on this list? He will hit for good average, get plenty of runs & steals, doesn’t strike out a whole lot. PLUS, in the leadoff role and more aggressive running on the basepaths, he could be in for an uptick in SBs and Runs. I have him closer to a borderline 4th/5th OF (in the high 50’s), not 80…would anyone seriously take Rasmus (60) or Schierholtz (72) over Span???

0
sweetdickwillie
12 years ago

Matt Holliday is always underrated. Always.

0
Gregg Sanderson
12 years ago

Marte or Myers in a keeper league?

0