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A Look back at our 2014 Outfielder Rankings

Ray takes a look back at our preseason outfielder rankings to see what we got right and what we got wrong in our rankings.

By Ray Guilfoyle
Andy Lyons

I am in the middle of my review of our 2014 consensus position rankings, having completed analysis of the following position rankings:

Catcher

First Base

Second Base

Shortstop

Third Base

Back in the preseason, there was plenty of time spent determining where to rank a couple of National League Central division outfielders, Billy Hamilton and Ryan Braun. I was high on Braun and he was a bit of a disappointment as he endured his worst season of his eight year career. Hamilton had the fantasy community abuzz in projecting whether or not he could hit enough, or get on base enough, to be a valuable fantasy contributor on the base paths. He was second in the majors in stolen bases, but got on base at an under .300 clip, but led the majors with 23 caught stealing attempts.

Our #9 ranked outfielder, Jay Bruce, experienced his worst season as a big leaguer as well, hitting less than 20 home runs for the first time in his seven year career, after three consecutive 30 home run seasons.

Below you will see how we ranked our top 75 outfielders in the preseason, along with several players we ranked correctly and several who we were wrong on.

Now let's take a look at our outfielders ranked 1 - 25:

Rank Player Team Ranking Points Ray Matt Brian Alex Daniel Joe Jason Zack
1 Mike Trout LAA 616 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Andrew McCutchen PIT 607 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2
3 Carlos Gonzalez COL 597 5 3 4 3 3 3 3 3
4 Ryan Braun MIL 590 3 4 2 4 8 5 4 4
5 Adam Jones BAL 574 4 9 8 6 6 4 6 7
6 Bryce Harper WSN 565 6 5 7 8 10 7 5 11
7 Jay Bruce CIN 555 9 11 10 9 5 6 9 10
8 Carlos Gomez MIL 544 10 16 15 7 7 12 8 5
9 Shin-Soo Choo TEX 540 8 21 9 12 4 9 13 8
10 Justin Upton ATL 537 13 7 5 10 17 8 10 17
11 Jacoby Ellsbury NYY 530 21 10 11 5 12 22 7 6
12 Giancarlo Stanton MIA 522 11 6 12 13 21 15 11 13
13 Yasiel Puig LAD 520 7 8 6 14 22 10 12 25
14 Jose Bautista TOR 506 12 13 20 11 20 18 15 9
15 Matt Holliday STL 501 16 18 13 18 9 17 16 16
16 Hunter Pence SFG 490 17 19 18 17 13 14 17 19
17 Jason Heyward ATL 485 19 12 19 16 25 13 14 21
18 Wil Myers TBR 474 24 14 17 15 15 20 21 24
19 Alex Rios TEX 471 14 22 24 19 11 28 23 12
20 Alex Gordon KCR 470 22 29 16 24 14 16 19 14
21 Starling Marte PIT 459 23 17 27 20 16 11 22 29
22 Yoenis Cespedes OAK 454 20 23 22 21 32 19 18 15
23 Matt Kemp LAD 437 15 15 14 23 24 50 24 22
24 Allen Craig STL 427 31 26 23 29 18 24 20 26
25 Jayson Werth WSN 416 18 30 30 22 19 40 31 18

Here is a look at outfielders we ranked from 26 - 50:

Rank Player Team Ranking Points Ray Matt Brian Alex Daniel Joe Jason Zack
26 Mark Trumbo ARI 414 28 25 21 25 27 25 27 32
27 Domonic Brown PHI 404 29 27 28 27 34 27 28 20
28 Josh Hamilton LAA 390 25 24 29 38 23 23 26 46
29 Desmond Jennings TBR 386 30 20 34 33 29 32 30 30
30 Carlos Beltran NYY 382 26 46 35 30 31 26 25 23
31 Ben Zobrist TBR 376 34 33 25 35 30 35 29 27
32 Nelson Cruz FA 359 38 28 26 36 37 30 35 35
33 Michael Cuddyer COL 354 27 39 36 31 35 37 32 33
34 Austin Jackson DET 353 45 32 31 32 26 21 33 51
35 Shane Victorino BOS 352 40 31 32 26 42 31 36 34
36 Curtis Granderson NYM 313 37 35 33 44 38 59 34 31
37 Brandon Moss OAK 295 36 45 41 38 47 44 42 36
38 Leonys Martin TEX 293 39 43 37 34 41 46 39 52
39 Alfonso Soriano NYY 290 32 47 48 42 43 27 50 45
40 Billy Hamilton CIN 289 41 75 50 28 28 29 37 47
41 Coco Crisp OAK 270 35 53 42 40 48 52 40 44
42 Torii Hunter DET 268 46 52 47 49 50 33 38 41
43 Will Venable SDP 261 44 40 44 37 44 67 47 40
44 Norichika Aoki KCR 258 62 60 38 41 46 39 43 37
45 Martin Prado ARI 242 50 38 56 45 33 44 38
46 Brett Gardner NYY 240 64 48 43 43 40 51 45 50
47 Michael Bourn CLE 234 52 44 40 48 36 60 46 64
48 Christian Yelich MIA 223 42 41 49 51 73 48 41 56
49 Adam Eaton CHW 212 43 49 46 50 52 43 51
50 Nick Swisher CLE 208 57 66 45 47 53 45 48 55

Here is a look at outfielders we ranked from 51 - 75:

Rank Player Team Ranking Points Ray Matt Brian Alex Daniel Joe Jason Zack
51 Khris Davis MIL 202 55 37 57 46 72 42 71 42
52 B.J. Upton ATL 200 33 55 59 59 51 70 49 48
53 Nick Markakis BAL 193 75 59 39 55 54 38 53 58
54 Dexter Fowler HOU 192 53 67 55 57 60 55 57 28
55 Michael Brantley CLE 183 59 52 54 45 36 60 57
56 George Springer HOU 175 51 34 53 65 58 58 52
57 Alejandro De Aza CHW 173 56 54 52 39 72 61 39
58 Chris Carter HOU 169 54 65 51 75 49 41 55 65
59 Ben Revere PHI 166 47 42 62 61 74 47 63 62
60 Colby Rasmus TOR 162 49 63 63 53 56 56 62 60
61 Josh Reddick OAK 159 58 56 65 56 61 57 59 53
62 Carl Crawford LAD 149 60 51 60 64 55 61 58 66
63 Kole Calhoun LAA 146 48 54 64 70 62 34 74 72
64 Oswaldo Arcia MIN 130 67 61 58 69 49 69 43
65 Eric Young NYM 126 65 74 58 66 59 53 54 69
66 Denard Span WSN 83 66 67 64 66 68 54
67 Marlon Byrd PHI 78 61 69 74 63 74 56 71
67 Avisail Garcia CHW 78 50 68 72 68 54
69 Oscar Taveras STL 70 36 73 69 64
70 Andre Ethier LAD 66 70 58 75 72 49
71 Evan Gattis ATL 60 67 60 66 59
72 Daniel Nava BOS 59 73 57 63 75 63
73 Jackie Bradley BOS 48 73 57 69 65
74 Peter Bourjos STL 46 72 70 66 71 73 70
75 Lorenzo Cain KCR 35 67 65 67


What we got right

Mike Trout, Angels

Trout has been one of the most consistent fantasy hitters in the game over the last three seasons, and he is an easy choice as the #1 pick in 2015 fantasy drafts. I am not sure what else I need to say about him that you already don't know, but there are signs of concern. Most notably is the drop in stolen bases and the uptick in his strikeout rate. He changed his approach at the plate, focusing on hitting for more power, while attempting just 18 stolen bases, down from 40 in 2013 and 54 in 2012. As long as he is hitting for 30+ home run power, we can live with the lower stolen base totals going forward.

Adam Jones, Orioles

I was surprised at some in the fantasy community telling readers to stay away from Adam Jones back in March. We ranked Jones as our 5th ranked outfielder in our consensus rankings, and he did not disappoint, hitting .281-.311-.469 with 29 home runs, 88 runs scored, 96 RBI and 7 stolen bases. Like Trout, he is one of the more consistent hitters in the game and should be valued according in 2015.

What we got wrong

Ryan Braun, Brewers

As mentioned previously, Braun put up his second worst season as a big leaguer in 2014, hitting just .266-.324-.453 with 19 home runs, 68 runs scored, 81 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 16 attempts. Coming into the season, many projected his power to drop after serving his PED suspension in 2013, and they were right But, some of the drop can be attributed to his injured thumb that hampered him all season, and required offseason surgery. He could provide a nice profit in 2015 assuming he drops in fantasy drafts, which I expect he will.

Shin-Soo Choo, Rangers

We ranked Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo as our #9 ranked outfielder in the preseason, and all he did was disappoint his owners this season. He hit just .242-.340-.374 with 13 home runs, 58 runs scored, 40 RBI and just 3 stolen bases. His season was cut short due to an ankle injury that required surgery in September, and I wonder if 2014 was the beginning of the decline phase for the 32 year old outfielder.

Bryce Harper, Nationals

We ranked Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper as our 6th ranked outfielder, and while he had a solid second half, and excellent NLDS, Harper disappointed owners in 2014, playing in just 100 games due to a thumb injury. Harper hit .273-.344-.423 with 13 home runs, 41 runs scored, 31 RBI and just 2 stolen bases this season, but if you want to draft him in 2015, you will once again have to draft him in the late second-early third round, especially after his strong second half. With power down in the game, the 22 year old outfielder possesses the power to lead the National League in home runs in 2015.

Fantasy Rundowm

If you are looking for more fantasy baseball, football or basketball rankings, make sure you check out Fantasy Rundown, your one site on the internet for all things fantasy.