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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.

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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