Brian’s Top 25 Outfielder Rankings and Projections for ’12
by rotobrian
PEDs or not, Kemp and Braun were roto-studs in '11.
I was rereading my outfield rankings for the 2011 season and, while I had a few players pegged perfectly, overall I’d missed the mark on many occasions. I wasn’t high enough on Jacoby Ellsbury or Curtis Granderson (but who was?). I didn’t give Jose Bautista enough credit (I won’t make the same mistake this year). I was bullish on Carl Crawford moving to Boston. I fell in love with Jason Heyward. I was a mess.
Because there are so many outfielders, it’s tremendously difficult to calculate. In the following rankings, I’m sure some players near the bottom of my rankings will have career years, while some players near the top will have lamentable seasons. As a fantasy manager, you can’t project those occurrences. All you can do is look at track record (most recent stats being most important) and cross your fingers.
My inclination is to take stable outfielders. Those guys who don’t have terribly high ceilings, but their floor is well above sea level.
There are five outfielder tiers indicated by the underline.
1. Ryan Braun- 105, 32, 107, 23, .317
2. Matt Kemp- 98, 33, 107, 29, .286
3. Jose Bautista- 100, 39, 110, 6, .280
4. Carlos Gonzalez- 95, 30, 95, 23, .297
5. Justin Upton- 89, 24, 83, 19, .281
6. Andrew McCutchen- 90, 20, 85, 28, .280
7. Jacoby Ellsbury- 90, 15, 60, 40, .290
8. Hunter Pence- 88, 23, 95, 13, .297
9. Mike Stanton- 80, 34, 90, 5, .260
10. Curtis Granderson- 90, 28, 93, 18, .255
11. Josh Hamilton- 87, 28, 95, 8, .308
12. Jay Bruce- 82, 28, 90, 6, .267
13. Nelson Cruz- 62, 25, 82, 5, .270
14. Matt Holliday- 85, 21, 80, 5, .290
15. Desmond Jennings- 80, 15, 60, 35, .253
16. Michael Morse- 80, 28, 90, 1, .290
17. Adam Jones- 72, 25, 86, 15, .282
18. Ben Zobrist- 88, 18, 83, 21, .254
19. Shane Victorino- 89, 17, 65, 26, .268
20. Lance Berkman- 75, 24, 75, 2, .280
21. B.J. Upton- 85, 20, 71, 39, .239
22. Shin-Soo Choo- 75, 16, 79, 17, .280
23. Alex Gordon- 67, 15, 70, 10, .277
24. Michael Bourn- 89, 2, 44, 50, .280
25. Howard Kendrick- 90, 15, 70, 15, .280
