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2013 Midseason Position Rankings: Outfielders

Well, two of the Top 10 fantasy outfielders at the beginning of the season have been busts this year: Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp, and for VERY different reasons. One was not even ranked in our midseason rankings, while the other dropped about 20 spots since the beginning of the year.

By Ray Guilfoyle
USA TODAY Sports

By now, you have heard the news about Ryan Braun lying to everyone, even his teammates, and then accepting a plea bargain for a 65 game suspension, ending his 2013 season. Braun was a top 10, heck, he was a top 5-6 fantasy pick in most drafts this season, and now his season is over with him contributing a triple slash line of .298-.372-.498 with 9 HRs, 30 runs, 34 RBI and 4 stolen bases in just 61 games. Not what you expected on draft day.

Another top 10 outfielder at the beginning of the season, Matt Kemp, has been a huge disappointment for his owners this season, as he just landed on the DL for the third time yesterday. Kemp has played in just 62 games, hitting .263-.319-.382 with just 5 HRs, 30 runs, 27 RBI and 9 stolen bases in 9 attempts.

Braun and Kemp fall into the "bust" category for me for 2013, yet Kemp still has a chance to help his fantasy owners this season. Thinking ahead, I still like both Kemp and Braun in 2014 and see both of them being picked in the Top 20 overall. For those of you in keeper leagues and looking to rebuild, I would make a lowball offer for either of them right now.

There is no surprise as to who our #1 outfielder is for the rest of the season, yet I was the only one to rank him as my #2 outfielder, and I will give my reasons below.

Let's take a look at our Consensus Midseason Outfielder Rankings for the rest of the season:

Rank

Name

Ray

Jason

Zack

Kevin

Daniel

Alex

Dan S.

Total

1

Mike Trout

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

356

2

Carlos Gonzalez

1

3

3

3

2

3

3

346

3

Chris Davis

3

2

2

2

4

2

5

344

4

Andrew McCutchen

4

5

4

4

3

5

2

337

5

Adam Jones

6

13

6

5

6

4

4

320

6

Bryce Harper

5

4

9

6

7

11

6

316

7

Jose Bautista

10

7

5

10

5

12

7

308

8

Allen Craig

9

10

14

7

16

8

10

290

9

Jacoby Ellsbury

22

14

10

11

8

7

9

283

10

Carlos Gomez

15

9

8

14

11

6

23

278

11

Jay Bruce

8

25

11

9

10

10

13

278

12

Shin-Soo Choo

13

16

7

12

19

9

12

276

13

Giancarlo Stanton

7

6

13

23

18

16

8

273

14

Justin Upton

14

15

16

8

20

15

20

256

15

Alex Rios

20

12

20

15

15

17

17

248

16

Carlos Beltran

30

8

19

17

13

14

18

245

17

Yoenis Cespedes

18

18

12

16

26

27

21

226

18

Starling Marte

21

22

31

19

23

13

11

224

19

Nelson Cruz

16

27

17

21

12

20

27

224

20

Matt Holliday

25

17

23

26

9

22

19

223

21

Yasiel Puig

19

11

29

13

25

25

28

214

22

Michael Cuddyer

17

29

15

18

22

23

26

214

23

Desmond Jennings

11

23

27

32

30

18

14

209

24

Alex Gordon

24

19

21

31

17

24

24

204

25

Domonic Brown

12

21

18

20

42

19

34

198

26

Hunter Pence

31

24

22

24

21

29

30

183

27

Matt Kemp

23

20

25

22

38

39

15

182

28

Mark Trumbo

28

26

32

28

27

26

29

168

29

Matt Carpenter

36

49

30

37

28

21

16

147

30

Dexter Fowler

26

31

24

33

34

33

38

145

31

Jason Heyward

43

28

26

41

31

31

22

142

32

Nick Markakis

35

35

28

35

33

40

31

127

33

Alejandro De Aza

37

30

36

25

44

30

46

116

34

Ben Zobrist

33

45

34

42

32

32

33

113

35

Austin Jackson

27

35

36

28

25

107

36

Josh Hamilton

32

46

41

30

35

47

35

98

37

Wil Myers

34

32

45

27

49

45

40

92

38

Michael Bourn

44

37

34

24

50

32

90

39

Norichika Aoki

45

37

39

44

36

46

39

78

40

Alfonso Soriano

40

41

44

39

50

36

43

71

41

Coco Crisp

38

33

41

41

36

69

42

Brett Gardner

34

40

39

37

50

58

43

Nate McLouth

41

33

49

43

34

58

44

Torii Hunter

47

39

42

38

43

44

58

45

Jayson Werth

29

43

43

46

45

52

46

Carl Crawford

39

48

47

37

47

40

47

Gerardo Parra

42

50

29

31

48

Shane Victorino

43

49

48

37

28

49

Adam Eaton

38

46

42

26

50

Curtis Granderson

29

47

23

Carlos Gonzalez, COL

I was the only writer to rank CarGo ahead of Angels outfielder Mike Trout in our consensus rankings, and here is why. First, let's take a look at their season stats:

Trout: 97 games, 16 HRs, 67 runs, 61 RBI, 22 SBs, .324-.402-.563

Gonzalez: 96 games, 26 HRs, 71 runs 67 RBI, 19 SBs, .298-.368-.602

My gosh these two are so close in every category but batting average. Crazy. I leaned Gonzalez since he plays his home games in Colorado. I guess it makes it even more amazing that Trout has put up similar stats in a pitchers park, when compared to Gonzalez playing in a hitter's haven.

Michael Bourn, CLE

While I am talking about busts, Bourn isn't exactly a bust this season, but I will say he has been very disappointing. You drafted him for his ability to dominate one category, stolen bases, and he has stolen just 13 bases in 20 attempts. Pretty sad, especially since he has never stolen less than 41 bases since becoming an every day player back in 2008.

Carlos Gomez, MIL

Gomez had a breakout season in 2012, hitting 19 HRs and stealing 37 bases in 137 games. Last offseason, there were many words written on how his 2012 season was a fluke. There was probably just as many words written saying that Gomez is for real, and will repeat his 2012 breakout in 2013. Well, the latter group has been right about Gomez, as he is having an excellent follow up season. In 92 games thus far, he has 15 HRs and 21 stolen bases, so it appears he will exceed his 2012 home run total, but will probably fall short in duplicating the 37 stolen bases. For your WAR-friendly owners out there, his 4.7 WAR at this point ranks 7th in all of baseball. He's pretty damn good.

Domonic Brown, PHI

Here is a guy I have been rooting for ever since the Phillies screwed with him by allowing him to sit on their major league bench a few years ago. This offseason, Brown worked with Phillies assistant hitting coach Wally Joyner on his hitting mechanics and they have paid off handsomely. Brown is the poster boy for buying the guy who had a strong spring training, so don't always buy the old saying "spring training stats don't count". They counted for Brown and he made the All Star team in his first full season in the big leagues.

Desmond Jennings, TB

I wrote about Jennings in a recent Roto Roundup, and think he will have an excellent second half for his owners this season. I was the highest on Jennings of the seven writers who participated in the rankings project, as I think Jennings has finally figured things out at the plate. He is hitting for more power and making more zone contact this season. He is on pace for a career high 17 HRs, and a slightly disappointing 25 stolen bases thus far. With the exception of stolen bases, his numbers are up across the board, or are on pace to be up, He is just entering his peak years, so those of you in keeper leagues, should hold onto to him. There is a small chance he turns into a 20 HR-30+ stolen base guy over the next year or two.

In case you missed our Midseason Fantasy Position Rankings, here are links to each of our rankings published thus far. Our Consensus Starting Pitcher rankings will publish on Friday.