In case you missed the infield positions or the first part of the outfield list, let’s get you caught up:
- Fantasy Three-Year Projections: Catcher
- Fantasy Three-Year Projections: First Base
- Fantasy Three-Year Projections: Second Base
- Fantasy Three-Year Projections: Third Base
- Fantasy Three-Year Projections: Shortstop
- Fantasy Three-Year Projections: Outfielders, Part One
With that out of the way, it’s time to order another 60 outfielders. If you’ve been following along or you’re familiar with this exercise from years past, you know that these rankings function best as something like a cross between keeper preferences and dynasty rankings for those whose window of contention is open in the immediate future. It’s important to state that these rankings are mine alone. They no doubt vary from the opinions of other writers on this site and that’s okay. Good, even. This wouldn’t be much fun if we all thought the same thing about every player and couldn’t learn from each other in the cases where we diverge.
Off we go:
41. Marcell Ozuna, Miami Marlins
42. Michael Conforto, New York Mets
43. Domingo Santana, Milwaukee Brewers
44. Max Kepler, Minnesota Twins
Ozuna was on his way to a full-on breakout when things fell apart in midsummer and is currently the leading candidate for “how is this guy still in his 20s” on the 2020 list. He’ll be solid in the meantime even the leap never comes. God only knows what the Mets are doing with Conforto. As if there was any doubt he belongs in the majors, Conforto hit .422 with nine bombs in 33 Triple-A games. Santana could take a step forward if he can keep the strikeouts in check. He was a few percentage points better than his career average after he returned from injury last August. That might be all it takes for the power to play up. Kepler surprised in his debut, including a nine game stretch where he had three multi-HR games. It’ll be interesting to see if he runs more, or if the 18 bases he stole at Double-A two seasons ago was simply exploitation of minor league batteries.
45. Dexter Fowler, St. Louis Cardinals
46. Kole Calhoun, Los Angeles Angels
47. Carlos Gomez, Texas Rangers
Fowler and Calhoun are perfectly adequate veterans who should have several years of compiling left. Exicting, huh? Gomez slashed .284/.362/.543 with eight homers and five steals in just 33 games once he joined the Rangers, half of which he hit lead off. That has people justifiably excited. I’m not quite ready to throw away the Houston tenure, recognizing that means I probably won’t have any shares.
48. Manuel Margot, San Diego Padres
49. Ender Inciarte, Atlanta Braves
50. Keon Broxton, Milwaukee Brewers
51. Jarrod Dyson, Seattle Mariners
52. Travis Jankowski, San Diego Padres
Margot should hit atop the Padres lineup and be good for 20 steals right out of the gate. The average will be there eventually. Inciarte is the older, more proven version of Margot. Broxton has a speed-power combo that makes it easy to dream. That strikeout rate, though. His batting average is gonna be brutal. PECOTA has Dyson projected for 60 steals, which, no. Jankowski rounds out this group of rabbits. Playing time in the San Diego grass is tough to figure, but Jankowski only needed 383 plate appearances to steal 30 bases last season. As Dyson has proven over the past five seasons, high-volume steals from part-time players are plenty worthy of an OF5 investment.
53. Adam Duvall, Cincinnati Reds
54. Melky Cabrera, Chicago White Sox
55. Hunter Pence, San Francisco Giants
56. Jay Bruce, New York Mets
Duvall and Bruce could each make another run at 30 homers, just be prepared for a batting average in the .230s if you sign up. Melky’s as boring as it gets, yet somehow at the end of the year you look up and he’s flirted with .300 again and compiled 140 R+RBI. Pence has only played in 158 games over the past two seasons. Expect solid production when he’s in there and at least one trip to the DL.
57. Austin Meadows, Pittsburgh Pirates
58. Hunter Renfroe, San Diego Padres
59. Jorge Soler, Kansas City Royals
60. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
If you read the first part of the rankings, you might remember the section of young players in the 15-20 range. I fully expect Meadows to be there next year. He does everything well, all he needs is an opening. It’s a plus for his long-term development that Pittsburgh hasn’t created one yet. Meadows could use more reps at the upper levels as he tries to complete a healthy season, something he’s only done once in the last three years. I’m not as high on Renfroe’s ability to hit major league pitching as some others, but there’s no denying the raw power. I feel similarly about Soler as I do Puig. The raw tools are all there, and the fact that he sported a .293 TAv in 2016 was completely obscured by his part-time role and the other talent around him. Soler will finally get a chance to show what he can do with a full-time job, which may just be the key to rousing some of that potential out of its current dormancy. I have the same belief in Judge’s raw power that I do in Renfroe’s, with even less confidence about his ability to get to it against major league pitching. 42 strikeouts in 95 plate appearances will do that.
61. Jason Heyward, Chicago Cubs
62. Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees
63. Leonys Martin, Seattle Mariners
64. Tyler Naquin, Cleveland Indians
65. David Peralta, Arizona Diamondbacks
66. Shin Soo Choo, Texas Rangers
67. Cameron Maybin, Los Angeles Angels
68. Corey Dickerson, Tampa Bay Rays
69. Steven Souza, Tampa Bay Rays
70. Josh Reddick, Houston Astros
Guys with jobs now and decent odds they will have jobs going forward.
71. Clint Frazier, New York Yankees
72. Lewis Brinson, Milwaukee Brewers
73. Roman Quinn, Philadelphia Phillies
74. Tyler O’Neill, Seattle Mariners
75. Blake Swihart, Boston Red Sox
Prospects who will have jobs on or before Opening Day 2018. And a catcher.
76. Rajai Davis, Oakland Athletics
77. Carlos Beltran, Houston Astros
78. Matt Holliday, New York Yankees
79. Curtis Granderson, New York Mets
80. Brett Gardner, New York Yankees
81. Denard Span, San Francisco Giants
82. Jayson Werth, Washington Nationals
83. Nick Markakis, Atlanta Braves
84. Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
What’s 100 minus 84?
85. Eddie Rosario, Minnesota Twins
86. Alex Dickerson, San Diego Padres
87. Avisail Garcia, Chicago White Sox
88. Andrew Toles, Los Angeles Dodgers
89. Aaron Altherr, Philadelphia Phillies
Is it just me or would Oswaldo Arcia fit right in here?
90. Raimel Tapia, Colorado Rockies
91. Bradley Zimmer, Cleveland Indians
92. Nick Williams, Philadelphia Phillies
93. Jesse Winker, Cincinnati Reds
This is me saying that I think these prospects are overrated.
94. Matt Joyce, Los Angeles Angels
95. Kevin Pillar, Toronto Blue Jays
96. Melvin Upton, Toronto Blue Jays
97. Hyun Soo Kim, Baltimore Orioles
98. Michael Saunders, Philadelphia Phillies
99. Gerardo Parra, Colorado Rockies
100. Rymer Liriano, Chicago White Sox
No seriously, this is the year Rymer does his thing in the majors.
Thank you for reading
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There's your defense even though, no, I don't NEED to defend the guy ranked 87th versus the guy ranked 94th or 98th or whatever. They're basically the same.