2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Fantasy Baseball 2017: Early Top 50 Outfielder Rankings

Ray offers you an early look at his Top 50 outfielder rankings for the 2017 season. Yes, it is early, but once the offseason starts, the fantasy research should begin.

By Ray Guilfoyle@faketeams Nov 14, 2016, 7:00am EST

It has been a few weeks since I published any rankings, so let me apologize for that. The story is the same....work is busy, plus, I went to the Penn State-Iowa game last weekend, so my weekend activities resulted in me not being able to write.

Before I post some quick thoughts on my outfielder rankings, here are my rankings to date, along with Dave's projections for the players I ranked.

Ray's Early 2017 Position Rankings

Top 20 Catchers

Top 20 First Baseman

Top 20 Second Baseman

Top 20 Shortstops

Top 20 Third Baseman

Dave's Early Position Rankings & Projections

Top 35 First Baseman

Dave's 2017 Projections

Note: Dave only projected players ranked in Ray's top 20 rankings

2017 Catcher Projections

2017 First Base Projections

2017 Second Base Projections

2017 Shortstop Projections

2017 Third Base Projections

Projecting Trea Turner

Projecting Gary Sanchez

Quick Thoughts

Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts moves up into the second spot in my outfielder rankings after a tremendous 2016 season where he hit .318 with 31 home runs, 122 runs scored, 113 RBI and 26 stolen bases. He hits in the middle of one of the best lineups in baseball, and barring injury should repeat as a 20-20 hitter once again in 2017.

Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon also made a big move in my rankings. He is proving to be one of the more consistent fantasy outfielders in the game, and put up his best overall season since becoming a full time player. He hit for more power but didn't run as much this season, which I imagine was a conscious effort on his part to stay healthy and in the Rockies lineup. I think he may have a hard time repeating the 29 home runs in 2017, as his HR/FB% jumped despite minor increases in hard hit rate and fly ball rate.

Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen had his worst season as a big leaguer, yet still put up respectable home run, runs scored and RBI totals even in a down year. He struggled through a and first half, but was pretty much back to normal in the second half, despite playing hurt for most of the season. The Buccos are considering moving him to right field in an effort to keep him healthy and in the lineup in 2017. That said, he very well could be playing in a different uniform next season.

As you can see, I am very optimistic on Rockies outfielder David Dahl heading into the 2017 season, ranking him in my top 20 outfielders. He has the bat to put up a 20 home run, 20 stolen base season playing in the friendly confines of Coors Field. He will have to stay healthy to do so, but he is one who could rank in the top 10 outfielders this time next season.

There are several guys ranked between 40-50 that have the potential to rise in these rankings before the season starts, including Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson, Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi and Phillies outfielder Roman Quinn. I might have Quinn ranked too high right now, but my ranking assumes he will be a starter out of spring training. He has the bat and speed to hit double digit home runs and steal 40 bases, but like many on this list, he has to stay healthy, which is something he has had difficulty doing in his minor league career. His best outcome is a better version of Billy Hamilton.

I see Mets outfielder Michael Conforto having a bounce back season in 2017. He makes a lot of hard contact and hits enough fly balls to be a .280ish hitting with 20+ home runs hitting in the middle of the Mets lineup next season. Don't sleep on him in drafts.

I almost forgot to rank Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber but added him earlier this morning, that is why you will see 51 players ranked. Schwarber is a tough guy to rank as we still don't know how healthy his knee is as he wasn't able to play in the outfield in the World Series. He is probably a defensive replacement in many games, thus reducing his number of plate appearances in 2017, so that must be factored into any projections for playing time and PAs.

Early Top 50 Outfielder Rankings for 2017

Rank	Name	Team	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+	WAR
1	Mike Trout	Angels	159	681	29	123	100	30	0.315	0.441	0.550	0.418	171	9.4
2	Mookie Betts	Red Sox	158	730	31	122	113	26	0.318	0.363	0.534	0.379	135	7.8
3	Kris Bryant	Cubs	155	699	39	121	102	8	0.292	0.385	0.554	0.396	149	8.4
4	Charlie Blackmon	Rockies	143	641	29	111	82	17	0.324	0.381	0.552	0.394	130	3.9
5	Ryan Braun	Brewers	135	564	30	80	91	16	0.305	0.365	0.538	0.378	133	3.2
6	George Springer	Astros	162	744	29	116	82	9	0.261	0.359	0.457	0.353	124	4.5
7	Bryce Harper	Nationals	147	627	24	84	86	21	0.243	0.373	0.441	0.343	112	3.5
8	Nelson Cruz	Mariners	155	667	43	96	105	2	0.287	0.360	0.555	0.383	147	4.2
9	Andrew McCutchen	Pirates	153	675	24	81	79	6	0.256	0.336	0.430	0.329	106	0.7
10	Gregory Polanco	Pirates	144	587	22	79	86	17	0.258	0.323	0.463	0.331	108	2.5
11	Christian Yelich	Marlins	155	659	21	78	98	9	0.298	0.376	0.483	0.367	130	4.4
12	Yoenis Cespedes	Mets	132	543	31	72	86	3	0.280	0.354	0.530	0.369	134	3.2
13	Trea Turner	Nationals	73	324	13	53	40	33	0.342	0.370	0.567	0.395	147	3.3
14	Ian Desmond	Rangers	156	677	22	107	86	21	0.285	0.335	0.446	0.336	106	3.3
15	Starling Marte	Pirates	129	529	9	71	46	47	0.311	0.362	0.456	0.351	121	4.0
16	Carlos Gonzalez	Rockies	150	632	25	87	100	2	0.298	0.350	0.505	0.361	108	1.9
17	A.J. Pollock	Dbacks	12	46	2	9	4	4	0.244	0.326	0.390	0.315	89	0.4
18	Matt Kemp	Braves	156	672	35	89	108	1	0.268	0.304	0.499	0.333	109	0.7
19	David Dahl	Rockies	63	237	7	42	24	5	0.315	0.359	0.500	0.367	111	1.2
20	Giancarlo Stanton	Marlins	119	470	27	56	74	0	0.240	0.326	0.489	0.344	114	1.7
21	Mark Trumbo	Orioles	159	667	47	94	108	2	0.256	0.316	0.533	0.358	123	2.2
22	Michael Brantley	Indians	11	43	0	5	7	1	0.231	0.279	0.282	0.238	42	0.0
23	J.D. Martinez	Tigers	120	517	22	69	68	1	0.307	0.373	0.535	0.384	142	1.8
24	Jay Bruce	Mets	147	589	33	74	99	4	0.250	0.309	0.506	0.340	111	0.9
25	Jose Bautista	Blue Jays	116	517	22	68	69	2	0.234	0.366	0.452	0.355	122	1.4
26	Adam Jones	Orioles	152	672	29	86	83	2	0.265	0.310	0.436	0.319	96	1.4
27	Byron Buxton	Twins	92	331	10	44	38	10	0.225	0.284	0.430	0.304	86	1.7
28	Justin Upton	Tigers	153	626	31	81	87	9	0.246	0.310	0.465	0.329	105	1.4
29	Khris Davis	Athletics	150	610	42	85	102	1	0.247	0.307	0.524	0.349	123	2.5
30	Miguel Sano	Twins	116	495	25	57	66	1	0.236	0.319	0.462	0.334	107	1.3
31	Kyle Schwarber	Cubs	2	5	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	-24	-0.1
32	Odubel Herrera	Phillies	159	656	15	87	49	25	0.286	0.361	0.420	0.338	110	3.8
33	Jackie Bradley Jr.	Red Sox	156	636	26	94	87	9	0.267	0.349	0.486	0.354	118	4.8
34	Billy Hamilton	Reds	119	460	3	69	17	58	0.260	0.321	0.343	0.294	78	3.1
35	Adam Duvall	Reds	150	608	33	85	103	6	0.241	0.297	0.498	0.333	104	2.8
36	Carlos Beltran	FA	151	593	29	73	93	1	0.295	0.337	0.513	0.358	124	2.3
37	Ben Zobrist	Cubs	147	631	18	94	76	6	0.272	0.386	0.446	0.360	124	4.0
38	Max Kepler	Twins	113	447	17	52	63	6	0.235	0.309	0.424	0.313	93	1.1
39	Kole Calhoun	Angels	157	672	18	91	75	2	0.271	0.348	0.438	0.340	118	4.0
40	Dexter Fowler	Cubs	125	551	13	84	48	13	0.276	0.393	0.447	0.367	129	4.7
41	Nomar Mazara	Rangers	145	568	20	59	64	0	0.266	0.320	0.419	0.318	94	1.2
42	Michael Conforto	Mets	109	348	12	38	42	2	0.220	0.310	0.414	0.312	96	1.3
43	Jose Ramirez	Indians	152	618	11	84	76	22	0.312	0.363	0.462	0.355	122	4.8
44	Andrew Benintendi	Red Sox	34	118	2	16	14	1	0.295	0.359	0.476	0.357	120	0.6
45	Hunter Pence	Giants	106	442	13	58	57	1	0.289	0.357	0.451	0.349	121	2.1
46	Jacoby Ellsbury	Yankees	148	626	9	71	56	20	0.263	0.330	0.374	0.308	91	2.0
47	David Peralta	Dbacks	48	183	4	23	15	2	0.251	0.295	0.433	0.308	84	0.3
48	Joc Pederson	Dodgers	137	476	25	64	68	6	0.246	0.352	0.495	0.360	129	3.6
49	Adam Eaton	White Sox	157	706	14	91	59	14	0.284	0.362	0.428	0.344	115	6.0
50	Stephen Piscotty	Cardinals	153	649	22	86	85	7	0.273	0.343	0.457	0.345	115	2.8
51	Roman Quinn	Phillies	15	69	0	10	6	5	0.263	0.373	0.333	0.322	100	0.4

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