Fantasy Baseball: Early 2015 Top 50 Outfielder Rankings

Today, I continue with my early 2015 position rankings, ranking my Top 50 outfielders for next season. Sure, it is early for rankings, and we have yet to see any free agent signings or offseason trades, so my rankings may change as a result. But, for now, here are my 2015 outfielder rankings, assuming any offseason free agent signings or trades won't have a material impact on my rankings.

Before we get into my outfielder rankings, here is a link to my 2015 position rankings to date:

Top 30 Catchers for 2015

Top 30 First Baseman for 2015

Top 30 Second Baseman for 2015

Top 30 Shortstops for 2015

Top 30 Third Baseman for 2015

With that said, here is a look at my early 2015 fantasy outfielder rankings.

Angels outfielder Mike Trout is the easy pick for the #1 outfielder off the board and #1 overall pick in 2015 fantasy drafts, but one could make the case for Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton as the #1 pick as well. Stanton had a terrific season at the plate, hitting .288-.395-.555 with 37 home runs, 89 run scored, 105 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 145 games, the most games he has played since 2011. While Trout scored more runs and drove in more runs, Stanton out-homered and hit for a better average than Trout. Trout isn't running as much as he has in the past, stealing "just" 16 bases vs the 13 bases Stanton stole last season. To me, they are closer than you think, and if Stanton is traded this offseason, he could move into the top spot depending on where he lands.

I have already written about how much I like Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp in 2015 here:

2015 Buy LIst: Matt Kemp

There are two young outfielders at the bottom half of my top 10 who could battle for a top 5 spot in my outfielder rankings come this time in 2015. Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper missed 62 games due to a thumb injury, but hit well in August and September and performed well in the playoffs, so he could finally put things together in 2015, assuming he can stay healthy.

Astros young outfielder George Springer performed well in his 78 games played this season, hitting .231-.336-.468 with 20 home runs, 45 runs scored, 51 RBI and 5 stolen bases in just under 350 plate appearances. He struck out 33% of his plate appearances in 2014, but I see him improving the whiff rate as he gets more comfortable with American League pitchers. I see him being one of the several 30 home run hitters in 2015, and see him running more as well.

The Rockies have a couple of outfielders who could be two of the best in the National League and both are ranked in my top 20 outfielders for 2015. Both Charlie Blackmon and Corey Dickerson were fantasy gold in 2014, as both went undrafted in many mixed leagues, yet ended the season as two of the more productive fantasy outfielders. Blackmon was one home run and two stolen bases from a 20 home run, 30 stolen base season, and Dickerson displayed solid power and batting average in his 478 plate appearances. Neither have the track record, so there is some risk in ranking them so high, but get the benefit of playing half of their games at Coors Field in 2015. They team up with Carlos Gonzalez to form one of the more productive fantasy outfields in the game.

Below you will find my early 205 Top 50 outfielder rankings, along with 2014 player stats, courtesy of FanGraphs. Included in the rankings and stats provided below, I have included each players 2014 wRC+, which is defined below, courtesy of FanGraphs:

Weighted Runs Created (wRC) is an improved version of Bill James' Runs Created (RC) statistic, which attempted to quantify a player's total offensive value and measure it by runs.  In Runs Created, instead of looking at a player's line and listing out all the details (e.g. 23 2B, 15 HR, 55 BB, 110 K, 19 SB, 5 CS), the information is synthesized into one metric in order to say, "Player X was worth 24 runs to his team last year."

Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) measures how a player's wRC compares with league average after controlling for park effects.  League average for position players is 100, and every point above 100 is a percentage point above league average. For example, a 125 wRC+ means a player created 25% more runs than a league average hitter would have in the same number of plate appearances. Similarly, every point below 100 is a percentage point below league average, so a 80 wRC+ means a player created 20% fewer runs than league average.

For example, George Springer's 120 wRC+ indicates he created 20% more runs than the league average hitter, or is 20% better than the league average hitter.

I included wRC+ because I think, along with others, that it is one of the single stats you can look at to tell you how good a hitter is vs all major league hitters, and it factors in park effects as well.

Fantasy Rundown

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