Points Leagues: May Outfield Rankings

I don’t really have much to say by way of introduction this week. So we’ll just get to the rankings.

The Top 12

• Buxton won’t keep hitting homers at the crazy pace he has been recently. That doesn’t mean he won’t be an elite producer if he stays healthy, however. Just look at last season.
• If you drafted Acuña or Tatis, you haven’t gotten what you signed up for, to say the least. The former drops a bit this month partly due to underwhelming performance, and partly due to his current injury. Once he’s back, I still expect better production the rest of the way. I’ve talked about Tatis a couple weeks in a row already. I still don’t feel like I understand what’s going on with him, exactly, but I just can’t envision it not getting better.

The Second 12

• I think I’ve made my feelings on Cruz clear by this point. I still don’t trust him to keep doing it all season. But I can’t pretend like he hasn’t been fantastic this season, even in leagues that heavily penalize strikeouts. I can stubborn, but I’m not that stubborn.
• Pages and Walker are easily the biggest risers from last month. Walker had a little rough patch a few weeks back, but he’s been back on track recently. The whiff rate is at least a little concerning, but it sure looks like he’s becoming the player people were drafting him to be a couple seasons ago.
• PCA takes a bit of a drop this time around. He’s actually walking a little bit more than he did last season, he just isn’t doing anything particularly well. His tools mean he could absolutely go off at the drop of a hat. It doesn’t mean I need to keep ranking him like I’m expecting it to happen, though.

The 12 After That

• Nimmo’s hamstring has forced him to miss some games, but it hasn’t been bad enough to put him on the IL. This has been an ongoing thing for him for a couple seasons now, and he’s produced anyway. Here’s betting he will this year, too.
• This is probably putting too much faith in the prospect rankings and the brief glimpse of Good Anthony we got last season. I’m just not ready to quit him yet. Maybe the time off due to the injury will help him figure out whatever’s been ailing his bat to this point.
• I do like Duran, and this ranking does feel low. However, he’s hitting under .200, has some playing time concerns, and nothing about his underlying metrics says it’s been bad luck. In leagues that count a full -1 for Ks, even this is being generous.
• Will Langford ever actually be healthy? Will he actually be any good if he is? At this point, it’s hard to be confident about either one.

Another 12

• If you say you saw Brandon Marsh coming this year, I won’t believe you.
• Kwan’s K% and BB% look exactly what you want them to look like. His Squared-Up% is phenomenal. He’s just not doing anything with it. At all. He’s been excellent in this format for years, so last month I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he starts actually hitting, he’ll move back up. For now, here he resides.

A Dozen To Go

• I admit, I didn’t pay any attention to Cortes’ debut last season. This season, he’s gotten my attention. Like Walker last month, it may prove that this ranking turns out to be selling him short. To this point, all the underlying metrics say he’s earned the production that he’s put up. It’s just a question of whether that’s the result of a hot streak, or if he’s actually that good.
• Bauers has been very good for Milwaukee so far this season. It’s possible his playing time takes a bit of a hit now that Andrew Vaughn is back from injury, though.
• Marsee’s ranking is entirely dependent on how your league scores steals. I prefer leagues that count them for 2 points, thus his place here. If you play in a league where they only count for 1, you might find comfort in the fact that he keeps playing every day despite the sub-.200 average, but you’re not the Marlins. You can do better.
• I am very interested to see what Waldschmidt does. His profile looks custom-built for the points format, and in a minuscule sample, he’s looked good. Hopefully, he keeps it up and earns a higher spot in the Diamondbacks batting order.