Went over the catchers, 1st basemen, 2nd basemen and shortstops and top 20 3rd basemen for 2017 fantasy baseball. Guess what’s next! No, not pitchers. Read the title, man. In 2010, there were only 5 outfielders that hit 30 homers, in 2011 there were 9, 14 in 2012, in 2013 there were 3, a small bounce back with 6 in 2014, eight in 2015. Last year, 11 outfielders hit 30 homers. This year…DRUM ROLL!….15 outfielders hit 30 homers. Obvious trend. As for steals, there were 14 outfielders who stole 30 bases in 2012, 10 in 2013, 11 in 2014, five in 2015 and seven in 2016. This year: two (!) outfielders stole 30 (Hamilton and Maybin) and only six players overall. So, how about that power, huh? As before, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater with my comments. Anyway, here’s the top 20 outfielders for 2017 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Charlie Blackmon – Chazz Noir wasn’t just the top outfielder, no siree bob, he was the top player in all of fantasy last year. He was also seen on the cover of the romance novel, “Your Mom Calls Chazz Noir ‘Mandinger.'” It’s so erotic that you’re seriously considering whether Mandinger aka Chazz Noir is your real father. He is, call him daddy. Big part of me thinks we just witnessed a career year from Mandinger, but Coors, ya know? Preseason Rank #7, 2017 Projections: 104/21/67/.303/24, Final Numbers: 137/37/104/.331/14
2. Giancarlo Stanton – One thing you don’t hear about with Giancarlo’s year is, “Wow, where did that come from?” Notice spelling of ‘come,’ you sick bastards. What you hear about Giancarlo’s year is, “He finally stayed healthy.” I’ve traversed this landscape mucho nombrero times, but hitters’ injuries are not indicative of anything like pitchers. A pitcher has an elbow injury and he may never be right again, hitters have a wrist injury and they’re okay after a few months. For more, see Rudy’s blurb from his preseason Tout Wars recap (he won his league too by a shizzton). Preseason Rank #9, 2017 Projections: 84/38/103/.253/1, Final Numbers: 123/59/132/.281/2
3. Aaron Judge – This is a recurring theme that I won’t belabor, but, yes, I ranked a bunch of these guys lower than where they finished, but I also highlighted Judge, OZUNA and Domingo in the preseason as guys I want to draft. I even wrote a post dedicated to Judge where I said, “It’s important to watch the players. I bring this up now because I watch Aaron Judge and I see Giancarlo Stanton. I do not invoke my novio’s name willy nor nilly. I don’t say Giancarlo comparisons early nor often. If you saw Aaron Judge’s first major league home run, it was a simple, back-up-the-middle stroke. Only the ball went about 420 feet out in center. Aaron Judge hit only 4 homers last year in 84 ABs in the majors, but three went 419 feet or more and one homer went 457 feet, which was top twenty in the majors last year. If that doesn’t excite you, you have no soul. I don’t mean you have no soul as in you find it hard to get the rhythm of a song, I mean you are kin to the devil.” And that’s me quoting me! I drafted Judge, Ozuna and Domingo in multiple leagues, and I don’t draft players I don’t like, so I know I am on the right side of history. STAY WOKE! Preseason Rank #69, 2017 Projections: 68/28/79/.232/3, Final Numbers: 128/52/114/.284/9
4. Marcell Ozuna – On a real baseball note, it’s insane how much production the Marlins got from their outfield. If they would’ve had an infield, pitching or managing, they might’ve been unstoppable. Honestly, I don’t even know how Ozuna was able to get so many RBIs considering how many Giancarlo got in front of him. If I didn’t know better, I’d think there was a ton of scorer errors. To make one more point on this before PETA gets called in for beating a dead horse, Moustakas had one more homer than OZUNA and ~40 less RBIs. As for this guy, OZUNA had career year. OZUNA had year like Freddie Prinze Jr. in 1998. By the way, still waiting for Freddie Prinze Jr. to denounce Harvey Weinstein. Preseason Rank #49, 2017 Projections: 78/25/83/.256/1, Final Numbers: 93/37/124/.312/1
5. Jose Ramirez – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen.
6. Justin Upton – Someone with some time should figure out if more homers were hit this year by guys 30 years old and older than any other year. It feels that way, but maybe it’s confirmation bias, or some other Psych 101 term. Electra complex? Preseason Rank #31, 2017 Projections: 77/27/85/.249/10, Final Numbers: 100/35/109/.273/14
7. J.D. Martinez – It becomes apparent who was lucky and unlucky on counting stats in these end of the year recaps, right? OZUNA has 124 RBIs and Just Dong ‘only’ 104? One was unlucky and one was lucky; both should likely be around 114. For what it’s Werth, I had Just Dong in the top five outfielders in the preseason with 37 HRs projected before the injury that knocked him out a month of the season. Guess I should’ve held tight. Oopsie. Preseason Rank #28, 2017 Projections: 78/25/71/.282/1, Final Numbers: 85/45/104/.303/4
8. Mookie Betts – The average was way off from projections and the previous year (.318), but his BABIP was .268, when he’s more of a .305 BABIP guy, which means he was unlucky to the tune of about twenty-five points on average. If he hits .290, he’d have an extra ten runs and RBIs and maybe a few more steals. Not a huge difference but likely moves him up to fifth or sixth overall for outfielders and this would be barely a down year. I.e., Mookie’s still the Betts-est. Preseason Rank #2, 2017 Projections: 104/29/113/.314/21, Final Numbers: 101/24/102/.264/26
9. Nelson Cruz – Reminds me of Edwin Encarnacion. You can guess Nelson Cruz will disappoint one of these years, but it’s, just that, a guess, and he seems like he’s capable of hitting 35 homers in his sleep. He’s the Ben Carson of power! Don’t stay woke! Preseason Rank #10, 2017 Projections: 88/33/98/.265/1, Final Numbers: 91/39/119/.288/1
10. Mike Trout – I can’t remember an obvious number one in fantasy for this long as with Trout. I’d have to say Pujols during his prime on the Cardinals, but even then he never was a great steals threat, and was challenged by guys like Hanley and Bonds, and don’t think it was as clearcut. Trout is not only the consensus number one year after year, but he doesn’t disappoint. Even this year, he missed 45 games, and only thing he ended up lacking was RBIs and runs. Preseason Rank #1, 2017 Projections: 105/37/117/.326/21, Final Numbers: 92/33/72/.306/22
11. Tommy Pham – You ever wish you could bottle some of your good picks and sprinkle them on future seasons? That’s how this season was for me, namely with Pham. I had so much offense in Tout Wars. I won’t recount how I won, while posting a Tout Wars record home run total that bested the 2nd place team by 60+ homers, other than to say exactly that. I purchased Pham in that league for $11 (out of $1000, which is basically a $1 bid), and this is an NL-Only league so he was the 4th best NL-Only outfielder last year, if you discount J.D. since he spent a couple months in the AL. Damn, Pham, I want you in a league next year where I’ll be struggling. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 95/23/73/.306/25
12. Whit Merrifield – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen.
13. George Springer – You know what the Astros need this offseason? A trip to Ron LeFlore’s Youth Camp. They need to get their steals in order. I hear Ron just hired the Miami Dolphins’ offensive line coach for some reason. Preseason Rank #6, 2017 Projections: 103/32/88/.255/10, Final Numbers: 112/34/85/.283/5
14. Cody Bellinger – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen.
15. Khris Davis – Goodbye Chris Davis, hello Khris Davis. That line really screws up with Siri’s speech to text. It’s hard to fathom Khris Davis not doing exactly the same thing every year until age 33, when he will disappear Mike Napoli-style. Preseason Rank #25, 2017 Projections: 72/34/89/.247/2, Final Numbers: 91/43/110/.247/4
16. Bryce Harper – If you consider a replacement player accumulating stats for Harper when he was injured, he was more like a top ten outfielder, but I say this after (before) saying: Harper is no Trout. Trout had 18 fewer at-bats this year, and is in a much worse lineup. I mean, the Angels’ lineup is worse than some minor league lineups and Trout still did much more than Harper. Preseason Rank #9, 2017 Projections: 96/33/106/.291/12, Final Numbers: 95/29/87/.319/4
17. Kris Bryant – Went over him in the top 20 3rd basemen.
18. Domingo Santana – Couple takeaways from Sunday Santana’s year. A) Don’t ever underestimate how much fantasy value is derived from guys hitting for power and stealing bases. 30/15 is huge. B) Players who are valuable can be found on waivers, all year. C) There’s no C. Preseason Rank #72, 2017 Projections: 64/24/73/.243/8, Final Numbers: 88/30/85/.278/15
19. Andrew McCutchen – Surprised to see how close my projections on The Dreadless Pirate came to his final numbers since I was a staunch proponent of avoiding him. An opponent of proponing him? Meh, you know what I mean. Gonna take the L here though, because I was thinking McCutchen would totally fall apart this year, and he didn’t. Preseason Rank #30, 2017 Projections: 87/21/90/.263/7, Final Numbers: 94/28/88/.279/11
20. Christian Yelich – I’ve taken plenty of L’s on my preseason schmohawk posts, the aforementioned McCutchen and Daniel Murphy, but I’m taking a small, extra-inning victory on Yelich. He wasn’t a complete bust — using bust to mean a negative here, not like his mom’s. He lost homers from last year in a year when everyone hit for power, and he didn’t show much speed, like I warn people about. For a kid who looks like he’s 12? Yeah, he’s great, but no one I know plays in a league with a puberty category. Preseason Rank #17, 2017 Projections: 87/15/92/.303/17, Final Numbers: 100/18/81/.282/16
