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Fantasy Baseball 2017 Positional Preview: Outfield

A look at the outfield position for the 2017 Fantasy Baseball season.

The Pirates have the best outfield in fantasy, but how do these three rank as individuals?
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Check out my top 250:
Fantasy Baseball 2017 Top 250

We finished off the offensive side of fantasy baseball today with outfielders. In addition to giving you the top players to draft at the position, I’ll offer up breakout players, sleepers, busts, and an overall strategy of how to go about drafting the position. Here we go with a preview of the outfield.

Top 100 Outfielders

Pos Rank Player Team Age PR League
Pos Rank Player Team Age PR League
1 Mike Trout LAA 25 3 AL
2 Kris Bryant CHC 25 19 NL
3 Mookie Betts BOS 24 1 AL
4 Bryce Harper WAS 24 93 NL
5 Charlie Blackmon COL 30 12 NL
6 Trea Turner WAS 23 59 NL
7 Starling Marte PIT 28 25 NL
8 Ryan Braun MIL 33 33 NL
9 Carlos Gonzalez COL 31 69 NL
10 George Springer HOU 27 78 AL
11 Nelson Cruz SEA 36 42 AL
12 Gregory Polanco PIT 25 99 NL
13 Giancarlo Stanton MIA 27 280 NL
14 Yoenis Cespedes NYM 31 105 NL
15 A.J. Pollock ARI 29 1001 NL
16 Christian Yelich MIA 25 63 NL
17 Andrew McCutchen PIT 30 159 NL
18 Stephen Piscotty STL 26 111 NL
19 Billy Hamilton CIN 26 64 NL
20 Adam Jones BAL 31 130 AL
21 Mark Trumbo BAL 31 60 AL
22 Justin Upton DET 29 125 AL
23 Jackie Bradley Jr. BOS 26 91 AL
24 Kyle Schwarber CHC 24 1262 NL
25 Matt Kemp ATL 32 82 NL
26 Andrew Benintendi BOS 22 823 AL
27 J.D. Martinez DET 29 134 AL
28 Jose Ramirez CLE 24 47 AL
29 David Dahl COL 23 374 NL
30 Khris Davis OAK 29 102 AL
31 Willson Contreras CHC 24 439 NL
32 Adam Eaton WAS 28 103 NL
33 Odubel Herrera PHI 25 75 NL
34 Adam Duvall CIN 28 120 NL
35 Kole Calhoun LAA 29 165 AL
36 Jose Bautista TOR 36 290 AL
37 Lorenzo Cain KC 30 190 AL
38 Dexter Fowler STL 31 163 NL
39 Michael Brantley CLE 29 1137 AL
40 Ender Inciarte ATL 26 181 NL
41 Joc Pederson LAD 24 223 NL
42 Jay Bruce NYM 29 129 NL
43 Marcell Ozuna MIA 26 193 NL
44 Carlos Beltran HOU 39 83 AL
45 Rajai Davis OAK 36 79 AL
46 Ben Zobrist CHC 35 138 NL
47 Ian Desmond COL 31 37 NL
48 Curtis Granderson NYM 36 216 NL
49 Randal Grichuk STL 25 248 NL
50 Melky Cabrera CWS 32 135 AL
51 Miguel Sano MIN 23 313 AL
52 Hunter Pence SF 33 263 NL
53 Nomar Mazara TEX 21 264 AL
54 Yasiel Puig LAD 26 373 NL
55 Jason Heyward CHC 27 435 NL
56 Max Kepler MIN 24 340 AL
57 Yasmany Tomas ARI 26 127 NL
58 Byron Buxton MIN 23 470 AL
59 Jose Peraza CIN 22 255 NL
60 Keon Broxton MIL 26 348 NL
61 Carlos Gomez TEX 31 297 AL
62 David Peralta ARI 29 815 NL
63 Michael Conforto NYM 24 616 NL
64 Jacoby Ellsbury NYY 33 170 AL
65 Brett Gardner NYY 33 231 AL
66 Hernan Perez MIL 26 95 NL
67 Eric Thames MIL 30 N/A NL
68 Kevin Kiermaier TB 26 247 AL
69 Brandon Drury ARI 24 258 NL
70 Chris Owings ARI 25 200 NL
71 Cameron Maybin LAA 29 171 AL
72 Kevin Pillar TOR 28 242 AL
73 Domingo Santana MIL 24 538 NL
74 Aaron Altherr PHI 26 854 NL
75 Jorge Soler KC 24 615 AL
76 Josh Reddick HOU 30 287 AL
77 Aaron Judge NYY 24 N/A AL
78 Hunter Renfroe SD 24 882 NL
79 Leonys Martin SEA 28 167 AL
80 Danny Valencia SEA 32 210 AL
81 Steven Souza Jr. TB 27 314 AL
82 Travis Jankowski SD 25 285 NL
83 Jayson Werth WAS 37 229 NL
84 Jarrod Dyson SEA 32 221 AL
85 Brandon Moss KC 33 297 AL
86 Nick Markakis ATL 32 233 NL
87 Mitch Haniger SEA 26 N/A AL
88 Corey Dickerson TB 27 294 AL
89 Tyler Naquin CLE 25 250 AL
90 Matt Holliday NYY 37 355 AL
91 Alex Gordon KC 33 420 AL
92 Scott Schebler CIN 26 498 NL
93 Howie Kendrick PHI 33 333 NL
94 Denard Span SF 33 220 NL
95 Manuel Margot SD 22 N/A NL
96 Roman Quinn PHI 23 N/A NL
97 Alex Dickerson SD 26 456 NL
98 Shin-Soo Choo TEX 34 648 AL
99 Avisail Garcia CWS 25 388 AL
100 Seth Smith BAL 34 343 AL

*PR stands for 'Player Rater' which is a measure of how good a player was in a standard 5x5 roto league

Breakout players – Gregory Polanco, Stephen Piscotty, Andrew Benintendi
Sleepers – Rajai Davis, Max Kepler, Aaron Altherr
Busts – Andrew McCutchen, Justin Upton, Jose Bautista

Position Overview

We’ve made it to the last offensive position in fantasy baseball. Thanks everyone for checking these things out the past few days and I hope you’ve been enjoying them and also using them.

Outfield is a tough position to describe. Is it deep? Is it shallow? Where are the values? Well, the answer to each of those questions depends on your league context. A three outfielder league, for instance, means that most likely no one past OF #50 gets drafted. This makes the OF position rather deep. A five outfielder league leads to around 75 outfielders being taken. This is where the position starts to fall off. It is filled with platoon players and either less than stellar veterans or unproven prospects.

The fewer outfielders I’m required to roster the less important the position gets. This means the outfield position as a whole moves up or down depending on how many you need. My strategy at the position will be to take the best available player approach until I fill half of my OF spots. At that point, I’ll take a break on OF for a while, depending on how far along the draft is. I like filling out the last few OF spots with high upside players who I can draft in the final quarter of the draft. This gives you a potential top 30 option or someone who is easily droppable for the hot hitting waiver wire add.

Look to find players who can contribute across the board in the early rounds of your draft. Then, finish filling the position based on needs. Grab a player like Hernan Perez for steals or someone like Jorge Soler for cheap power. Also, be aware of your scoring format. Matt Holliday, Alex Gordon, and Shin-Soo Choo make for excellent values in points leagues. Also, don’t over think it, Mike Trout is the #1 player in fantasy baseball! #ExpertAnalysis

Check back tomorrow for a look at starting pitchers! See you then and thanks for the read.

Other positional previews:
Catchers
First Base
Second Base
Shortstop
Third Base
Starting Pitcher
Relief Pitcher