Top 100 Outfielders For 2024 Fantasy Baseball: Enmity Edition

Intro

This continues to be one of the more interesting seasons as we approach the end of April that I can remember. Between the calamity of keeping up with baseball injuries, coaching my son’s tee ball team, and watching Shogun, I find myself struggling to find time to take a deep breath and retreat into my inner quiet place. An eightfold fence if you will. What I want to talk about today is a pseudo deep dive rolled into the outfield update. Let’s talk about Esteury Ruiz. I assure you though, he is anything but peaceful waters and I’m a hot little potato that Kotsay at the moment is deploying him mostly against LHP in a shot-side platoon. A deep rage boils over inside me with this garbage timeshare.

We all saw how he was sent down to minors and just raked. Then, towards the end of last week Esteury hit a massive homerun in his first at-bat after being recalled, smoking it to the tune of 109.8 mph off the bat. Let’s just say it got my attention. You do a little digging and you see that he showed up to camp a bit more bulked up this season. Okay, now we’re talking—the speed demon added some get-me-over-the-fence strength. But not just that, his hitting looks and feels different. Check this out:

Esteury Ruiz loves hitting in the sunshine. ? pic.twitter.com/xBlg165Lal

— MLB (@MLB) April 17, 2024

First, if that’s not “ball don’t lie” vibes, I don’t know what is. That homer was directly aimed at the front office. Esteury Ruiz has become Enmity Ruiz. But more than just full of spite, he appears to be a man on a mission. His plate presence just feels different. He looks like he’s commanding the zone with a lot more confidence. And after some digging, I discovered that he made some hitting adjustments.

He’s standing a little taller in the box now, less bent over. His base looks stronger and more cemented. More balanced. And perhaps the most obvious his chest/back is less constricted and more straight and firm which allows him get better rotational torque rather than competing with himself. What he was doing before allowed him to make contact but it prevented him from driving the ball with more power. It now seems like he’s trying to actively correct it.

And even more important still… he appears to be improving his plate discipline. Last year in nearly 500 plate appearances (at-bats + walks) Esteury Ruiz only collected 20 walks with 5 HR. In the very small sample of his 21 MLB plate appearances this season, he already has 3 BB (2 back-to-back last night) to go with 2 HR. If he can raise his OBP from the .309 in 2023 to somewhere in the .325+ range that would be a boon to his value in the form of runs. If this approach change sticks we’re looking at maybe 10-12 HR (like he flashed in the minors a earlier in his career) and 70 SB, yes please and thank you. The one barrier is that silly playing time. I grabbed him everywhere I could as I expect him to take the lion’s share of PT eventually. He seems to be putting it all together: power, speed, and plate discipline.

League Notes

Christian Yelich – was placed on the IL after feeling some tightness in his back. Me too bro. He’s elgible to come off the IL today (Tuesday) but there’s no indication out of MIL that he will return after the minimum. He always has battled back issues, and judging from past experience, his average stay on the IL due to this been roughly 16 days.  So I’d make sure to have your roster plans set to weather the rest of this week without him. I expect Blake Perkins to continue being the main beneficiary (at least) for one more week.

Tyler O’Neill – our favorite Canadian is coming off the IL finally to continue his fight against AL pitchers.

Aaron Judge – should be added to the IL, yikes.

Mike Trout – really out here trying to turn back the clock? He has 8 HR and 5 SB, Incredible stuff. It’s just a shame he doesn’t get any support. Wash just finally started making sense with the top 4 of the lineup this week. He probably won’t get the 5-6-7 hitters figured out until the All-star Break, but I digress. If Trout keeps this up he’ll play himself onto the IL.

Andy Pages – was called up to play a near-everyday role in the outfield for the Dodgers. I want just about anyone in the Dodgers’ lineup. There’s plenty to like about him and I’d also grab him where still possible for some easy counting stats.

Bryan De La Cruz – is on a tear. He is hitting the ball extremely hard at the moment, so enjoy the ride while you can. I see some regression in his future with a high K%, Chase% among other things.

Colton Cowser – now has 6 HR, 3 SB in the month of April. Outstanding. It’s so nice to see teams give good players PT regardless of age/contract.

Ryan O’Hearn – has continued where he left off last year attempting to prove to everyone that miracles do exist. It’s not every day you see a true, bonafide late-career breakout after age 30. Is this it? Still undecided, but looks to be trending that way. So far his K-rate is down, he’s driving the ball to center, and he’s hunting fastballs. So far everything under the hood looks pretty legit. He should be rostered until further notice.

Starling Marte – that Marte Zombino season appears to be in full swing now. So glad I rolled the dice with a couple teams. He looked healthy in winter ball, and has carried over those good vibes to this season. Believe it.

Mitch Haniger – continues to show himself as a early season glass cannon. He’ll probably get injured at some point, but he has a career of high-level hitting in April and then disappearing until after August. So for now, keep rolling or sell him before the clock strikes 12.

Lars Nootbaar – has been hitting well and collecting counters since rejoining the roster. I like him for some nice combo numbers in that lineup moving forward.

Davis Schneider – Schneider SZN is in full effect, do not panic. Please put all trays and chairs in the upright locked position and move towards the waiver wire in an orderly fashion.

Brent Rooker – He’s hitting homers in limited use, and somehow feels like he’s due for a hot streak.

The Board

If you need to brush-up on my board’s value system, refer to the preseason post here.

As always, the individual ranks (and to a degree the dollars) don’t really matter, what’s important are the tiers, and more important than that—your roster construction. If your team is starving for steals, it doesn’t matter if Soler is worth more than Ruiz, your roster needs Ruiz more. Simple as that. Any outfielder not listed, consider them tier 5.

If you want more Coolwhip to top off your baseball experience, fantasy or otherwise, you can follow me on Twitter: @CoolwhipRB.