With the top 40 outfielders for 2015 fantasy baseball, we’ve finished all the hitter recaps. We meaning me, but I’ll include you. No, that’s not a cue to try to hold my hand. Why are you now patting my butt? Don’t muss my hair! The pitching recap will begin on Monday. You can hardly wait. No, you! To recap, the end of the season rankings are based on our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. I felt the easiest way to keep it objective would to go this route. This way when I say someone finished 30th and I ranked them 23rd in the preseason, it carries more weight like Jesse Plemons on Fargo. Anyway, here’s the top 40 outfielders for 2015 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
21. Michael Brantley – He actually had a fairly similar season to his breakout 2014 season, just minus 20 games worth of counting stats. I used those clunky modifiers, actually and fairly, because this felt surprising to me. He wasn’t that off from where I thought he’d be, but it took a 10 HR, 6-steal, .335 2nd half to get there. Because I was surprised by his end value, I think he could be underrated going into next year. Let’s call that a tease for what’s to come. Yes, I’m a fantasy flirt! Preseason Rank #12, 2015 Projections: 87/17/92/.301/19, Final Numbers: 68/15/84/.310/15
22. Shin-Soo Choo – Sometimes contributor/commenter, Simply Fred, emailed me the other day and said in my RCL draft (my team that ended up in the top ten out of 1200 teams), I didn’t draft one player over the age of 29. I mention this now, because Choo is 33 years old and his steals the past three years are 20, 3, 4. It’s a young man’s game, and no young man would ever type that sentence. Now get off my lawn! Preseason Rank #52, 2015 Projections: 77/15/49/.271/10, Final Numbers: 94/22/82/.276/4
23. Adam Eaton – I guarantee no one will rank Eaton this high next year, which is funny (not funny) because he ended up this high this year and he didn’t even ‘breakout.’ This will be a case of where people are thinking about two years ago rather than next year. Here’s an illustration of that, I bet Adam Jones is ranked above Eaton everywhere in 2016. That bet was not made at FanDuel or DraftKings, by the way. In case the FBI is reading this. Preseason Rank #79, 2015 Projections: 80/5/38/.281/20, Final Numbers: 98/14/56/.287/18
24. Brett Gardner – Looking at Gardner’s end of the season numbers tell me…Nothing actually, and my ear is pressed against the screen. Looking at his end of the season numbers tells me that if a guy gets 15 HRs and 20 SBs, he’s valuable for every fantasy league. The days of needing someone to go 25/15 or even 20/20 are over. A guy goes 15/20 and he’s a top 25 outfielder. That’s hashtag truth. Preseason Rank #32, 2015 Projections: 78/11/49/.257/25, Final Numbers: 94/16/66/.259/20
25. Jason Heyward – Not sure how many of you are old enough to remember Heyward’s first at-bat in the majors when he hit an absolute rocket into the outfield seats, but if you’re not old enough, it means you’re like five years old, so kudos to your reading comprehension skills. Also, thanks for lowering our mean demographics age into the coveted millennials. So, my point (there is one!), how did the guy that hit that bomb, become a 13-homer hitter in 610 plate appearances? Preseason Rank #21, 2015 Projections: 91/20/75/.274/15, Final Numbers: 79/13/60/.293/23
26. Adam Jones – This was the year Adam Jones got old. Happens to everyone (I’m told; call me Dorian Grey, snitches!). Since Jones got old this year, not sure what the song Me and Mrs. Jones means when he sings it to his wife. That they’re both seniors? A December/December romance is so not hot. Preseason Rank #4, 2015 Projections: 90/28/101/.280/10, Final Numbers: 74/27/82/.269/3
27. Ben Revere – Conspiracy Theory Alert! I’ve long said Revere and Denard Span are the same player. The only thing that separated them was Span would hit four homers and Revere would hit none. What if they split the difference and melded into one person? That would mean Revere would hit two homers. This year…he hit two homers! Preseason Rank #68, 2015 Projections: 68/1/31/.298/35, Final Numbers: 84/2/45/.306/31
28. Kole Calhoun – I look at my preseason projections for Calhoun’s steals (10) and I have no idea what I was thinking. I’m flummoxed, ya’ll! Maybe it’s because he stole 20 bases in High-A, but that seems like a stretch. January Grey has some esplaining to do! Preseason Rank #27, 2015 Projections: 98/22/53/.269/10, Final Numbers: 78/26/83/.256/4
29. David Peralta – This is about the point where I was picking up and dropping players to waivers in a 12-team-league. That is crazy. The 29th best outfielder in all of baseball was droppable at times. Shouldn’t be, but there it is. Damn, that sounds like an uber-intelligent fortune cookie. Preseason Rank #97, 2015 Projections: 46/11/39/.281/7, Final Numbers: 61/17/78/.312/9
30. Kevin Pillar – This guy was well named because you could always count on him being in the lineup (played 159 games) and holding up his end of the bargain and/or an old building. Okay, so that metaphor didn’t hold up as well as Pillar. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 76/12/56/.278/25
31. Dexter Fowler – Sometime in May, I told you to buy Fowler because he was hitting leadoff on a good team and anyone hitting leadoff should be owned. Now look at how many runs he scored, now look at how many guys had more runs than him in the majors (only six). Preseason Rank #65, 2015 Projections: 89/13/48/.252/15, Final Numbers: 102/17/46/.250/20
32. Josh Reddick – Honestly, I’m shocked by how high he ended up in this rankings. Even more honestly, if I’m going to be shocked by a Reddick, this is how I want it to happen. Preseason Rank #80, 2015 Projections: 67/17/72/.238/4, Final Numbers: 67/20/77/.272/10
33. Jay Bruce – Totally nailed his projections. Like nailed nailed. On a related note, if it was revealed that Bruce was actually 34 years old, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. It would finally explain how a guy enters his prime and gets worse. Preseason Rank #23, 2015 Projections: 77/27/89/.235/9, Final Numbers: 72/26/87/.226/9
34. Stephen Vogt – Went over him in the top 20 catchers.
35. Gerardo Parra – This kinda goes for Peralta, Inciarte and Maybin, too. Okay, it definitely goes for them in one respect, I owned them all in a 15-team league (Tout Wars, where I finished third, barely losing). They were underrated, and my outfield wasn’t as bad at it would seem if you just saw those guys, but — and this is a J. Lo-sized but — I’d argue (as I’m doing) that they weren’t as valuable in weekly leagues. There were so many times I’d cringe when I’d see them benched for no reason or pulled late in the game for a pinch hitter and no one owned and started them every day to accumulate all of their stats. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 61/17/78/.312/9
36. Brandon Belt – Wow, from Bruce to Belt, back-to-back guys I completely nailed now on projections. Well, back-to-back if you eliminate Vogt, who is a catcher, and Parra, who I totally missed. Preseason ranked #26 for 1st basemen, 2015 Projections: 74/18/79/.278/5, Final Numbers: 73/18/68/.280/9
37. Gregory Polanco – Marte is kinda McCutchen Jr. and Polanco is kinda Marte Jr., so what does that make Travis Snider? Michael Morse Jr.? It does actually. Preseason Rank #38, 2015 Projections: 68/14/59/.267/25, Final Numbers: 83/9/52/.256/27
38. Ender Inciarte – It’s just too bad the D-Backs didn’t have four outfield slots. “And free ice cream between innings!” That’s Yasmany Tomas. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 73/6/45/.303/21
39. Cameron Maybin – As I mentioned a few blurbs ago, I owned Maybin in one league (picking him up after about a month of play) and he was solid, but top 40 overall for outfielders? As Oasis would tell you, “Maybin, ain’t gonna be the one to save me. And after all, the only thing you have in common with Bryce Harper is you might run into a wall.” Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 65/10/59/.267/23
40. Billy Burns – Unlike Parra, Ender, Maybin, Peralta and a few others, Burns was more valuable because he wasn’t in the majors to start the year and then, when he was called up, he performed well and played every day. Was he, as Burns would say, egggggscellent? No, but solid. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 70/5/42/.294/26
