Went over the catchers, 1st basemen, 2nd basemen and shortstops and top 20 3rd basemen for 2019 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. 11 outfielders in 2016. In 2017, there were 15. Nine in 2018. Last year, there were only 10. This year…DRUM ROLL!….everyone hit 30 homers. Okay, specifically there was 22 outfielders who hit 30 homers. As for steals, there were 14 outfielders who stole 30 bases in 2012, 10 in 2013, 11 in 2014, five in 2015, seven in 2016, only two in 2017 and five in 2018. This year we’re down to four outfielders stealing 30 and eight players overall, down from eleven. As before, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater with my comments. Anyway, here’s the top 20 outfielders for 2019 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Ronald Acuña Jr. – I’m the first one to admit to being an idiot about some rankings, but, outside of Soler and Antana, I’m not surprised by anyone in this top 20. Also, me ranking Acuña 4th for outfielders might lead people to think I wasn’t all over him. I was. Tildaddy was also my 4th overall player in the preseason. Yes, my entire top four overall were all outfielders. None disappointed. In hindsight, this seems obvious. Let’s just say, it wasn’t. CBS dedicated a whole podcast last preseason to why Acuña shouldn’t be drafted in the 1st round, forget top four. One ‘pert ranked Acuña 31st overall and his ADP was 9th overall. So, yes, I was high on him, and prolly will be for the next ten years. Tildaddy says I can have dessert! Preseason Rank #4, 2019 Projections: 81/30/107/.282/27 in 548 ABs, Final Numbers: 127/41/101/.280/37 in 626 ABs
2. Christian Yelich – I was slow to come around on Yelich. Dot dot dot. Three years ago! I’ve been sold for a while now. Everyone was sold on him, right? Not so fast, Cousin Sweatpants! His ADP was 7th and, according to Fantasy Pros, the highest ranking of Yelich anywhere was 3rd overall. Guess where I had him ranked? If you said 3rd overall, you’d be right. So, again, it seems obvious now that people trusted Yelich. They didn’t. Preseason Rank #3, 2019 Projections: 103/28/111/.306/21 in 589 ABs, Final Numbers: 100/44/97/.329/30 in 489 ABs
3. Cody Bellinger – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
4. Mike Trout – Who? Trike Mout? Am I hearing his name correctly? Could someone sound it out for me? I’m not sure I know this guy. Preseason Rank #1, 2019 Projections: 108/37/111/.305/17 in 517 ABs, Final Numbers: 110/45/104/.291/11 in 470 ABs
5. Mookie Betts – After Mookie Ballgame’s all-world 2018, it was only natural for him to lead to some disappointment this year. How much disappointment is really the only question, and I’d say just a skosh. (Not to be confused with the Urban Dictionary’s skotch.) His average and steals were down, but not like they were ‘bad,’ and his runs went up to historic levels. On the Player Rater, he scored $12 for runs. To grab one rando from this list, Ketel Marte only scored $5.20 in runs. Betts, uh, bested him by more than double. To put this in layman’s terms, if you were in an auction, and drafted just Betts’s runs, you could’ve spent $12 to break even. Preseason Rank #2, 2019 Projections: 114/28/91/.317/27 in 581 ABs, Final Numbers: 135/29/80/.295/16 in 597 ABs
6. Juan Soto – It’s wild to have a 20 and 21-year-old who both appear to be locks for the Hall of Fame after only one full season. I’m talking about Tildaddy and Sexy Dr. Pepper in case you’re slow on the uptake. But, honestly, if Acuña’s speed dries up as he gets older, Soto could have a much better career. Soto hits like a patient 30-year-old who hasn’t even peaked yet. That’s legit crazy. Preseason Rank #11, 2019 Projections: 94/31/89/.303/5 in 541 ABs, Final Numbers: 110/34/110/.282/12 in 542 ABs
7. Ketel Marte – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
8. Bryce Harper – Holy crap balls, my projections on Harper are so money that those projections march themselves into a bank and ask to start an account. Are we sure I’m not a shaman? Sorry, I have to google ‘shaman near me’ to see if I am in the results. Preseason Rank #5, 2019 Projections: 97/35/112/.261/14 in 527 ABs, Final Numbers: 98/35/114/.260/15 in 573 ABs
9. Jorge Soler – I pewed the scrooch on Soler. Didn’t buy him at all. Was not even close. Wasn’t even close in regards to where others were. Didn’t own him. Wouldn’t have drafted him. After googling for nearby shamans, Google said, “It could’ve been you, but you missed on Soler so bad.” His ADP was 311, and I had him 447 overall, which was the lowest anyone ranked him. Mea culpa. He had a high of 12 homers, and never stayed on the field for longer than 101 games. Though, that’s slightly misleading since he wasn’t played by Maddon. Hey, that’s right, Maddon missed on Soler too, so I could manage the Angels team now! *thinks about all the terrible managers the Angels have had* Maybe that’s not a compliment. Preseason Rank #103, 2019 Projections: 52/17/63/.240/5 in 414 ABs, Final Numbers: 95/48/117/.265/3 in 589 ABs
10. Starling Marte – How long until the Pirates trade Marte to another team so he can be an ace? Preseason Rank #16, 2019 Projections: 77/17/83/.272/27 in 546 ABs, Final Numbers: 97/23/82/.295/25 in 539 ABs
11. J.D. Martinez – Pretty much nailed my Just Dong — Crosses legs with a high pitched squeal, “You nailed what?” — projections! I nailed his projections! Funny how if Just Dong did this 2019 year in any of the past five years, he would’ve been hailed as amazing. Now, with the juiced ball, it’s Just Dong. Also, it should be noted how he’s shaken his injury-prone label like others before him. There’s hope for you yet, Byron Buxton! (Barely.) Preseason Rank #6, 2019 Projections: 96/34/105/.307/4 in 512 ABs, Final Numbers: 98/37/105/.304/2 in 575 ABs
12. George Springer – Maybe I’m forgetting how much I know (Hey, if you’re not gonna know something, you should not know what you used to know!), but most of these outfielders are very knowable. Not a confusing sentence at all! What I mean is, barring injury, a lot of these outfielders should be known to you. They’re known to me or I’ve forgotten that I know what I didn’t know, ya know? Preseason Rank #13, 2019 Projections: 110/30/77/.262/7 in 587 ABs, Final Numbers: 96/39/96/.292/6 in 479 ABs
13. Charlie Blackmon – The most surprising thing about Chazz Noir’s 2019 is that he wasn’t featured in any five dozen Old Town Road remixes. With that beard? In Colorado? With that name? How could that be? Preseason Rank #15, 2019 Projections: 104/22/61/.278/12 in 567 ABs, Final Numbers: 112/32/86/.314/2 in 580 ABs
14. Whit Merrifield – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
15. Trey Mancini – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
16. Austin Meadows – Here’s something I grapple with all during rankings’ season. (There’s Hot Girl Summer, Fat Boi Fall and Rankings Season. That’s it.) If I say a guy like Meadows is a sleeper, and I did, and is going to break out — again said that — do I rank him crazy high, because I expect him to be a top 20 outfielder, or do I rank him where everyone else is ranking him but say to draft him? The reason why it comes up now is you see his low rank and think I didn’t want him or ranked him too low or whatever the hell you think, but I ranked him above others while saying he was a sleeper. I just didn’t rank him in the top 20 outfielders because then he wouldn’t be a sleeper, even though I wanted him on every team and, God damn it, this is confusing me. Preseason Rank #59, 2019 Projections: 76/15/63/.277/18 in 484 ABs, Final Numbers: 83/33/89/.291/12 in 530 ABs
17. Danny Santana – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
18. Eddie Rosario – You did not go wrong drafting all outfielders in the 1st five rounds as long as you avoided Andrew Bastardtendi, Jerkcarlo and, to a certain extent, Aaron Sludge, their Garbage Pail Kids names. Preseason Rank #20, 2019 Projections: 93/30/102/.272/7 in 594 ABs, Final Numbers: 91/32/109/.276/3 in 562 ABs
19. Kris Bryant – Went over him in the top 20 3rd basemen for 2019 fantasy baseball.
20. Michael Brantley – I’m fine admitting I didn’t want Brantley, and never would’ve drafted him. This reminds me of something, a reason why I hate when people (Fantasy Pros) rank my rankings. It’s BS and completely irrelevant. For unstints, I might’ve been high on Brantley (I honestly don’t know). I just ranked him and said ignore him. Now someone (Fantasy Pros) comes along and says I was high on him and ranked him well (or didn’t, I don’t know), but it’s irrelevant. All that mattered was me saying, “Don’t draft him.” It’s like saying I was low on Max Scherzer and nailed the ranking of him. Maybe I was low on him, but I didn’t nail any ranking of him, I just said don’t draft top SPs. Who the actual guys were was and is irrelevant. You need five outfielders in most leagues. If I tell you to avoid Brantley, it does not matter as long as I and you draft five decent ones from the 100 others. It’s like this, does it matter if someone (still Fantasy Pros) tells us that so-and-so ‘pert from, say, FantasyExpertAnalus dot com told you the right place to rank Jay Bruce? Jay Bruce doesn’t win leagues, so the ranking of him matters how? Preseason Rank #58, 2019 Projections: 66/13/52/.291/9 in 434 ABs, Final Numbers: 88/22/90/.311/3 in 575 ABs
