In an incredible turn of events, I’ve done all the infield 2024 fantasy baseball rankings. Less incredible, you’ve read them. It’s like that time your favorite team won because they played better than that other team but you convinced yourself they won because you cheered loudly. When I win the Fantasy Baseball Blogger of the Millennial in 2099, and my frozen head is accepting the award, I’m going to thank you, the readers, but I’m secretly going to be thanking myself. Without me, none of this would be possible. You’re a close second though! Okay, enough ranking of you and me, let’s rank some outfielders! Here’s Steamer’s 2024 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2024 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers.
Subscriptions are up and running, and you can already get Rudy’s Draft War Room. Anyway, here’s the top 20 outfielders for 2024 fantasy baseball:
NOTE: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.
NOTE II: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.
NOTE III: To watch us discuss the outfielders:
1. Ronald Acuña Jr. – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
2. Julio Rodriguez – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
3. Corbin Carroll – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
4. Kyle Tucker – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
5. Mookie Betts – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
6. Fernando Tatis Jr. – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
7. Aaron Judge – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
8. Juan Soto – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
9. Yordan Alvarez – Already went over him in the top 20 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
10. Adolis Garcia – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Bellinger. I call this tier, “Don’t be a Ding Dong Merchant.” You know that moment in a movie when the character is so ecstatic they stand outside in the rain with their arms outstretched? It also happens in commercials when men can achieve a lasting, but not-too-lasting boner. That ecstasy is what I’m feeling when I’m drafting one of these guys. Don’t be the opposite of that, which is to go around and say negative things about these players. People who do that are Ding Dong Merchants. Don’t be a Ding Dong Merchant.
As for Adolis, any reservations that others have with Adolis is them being Ding Dong Merchants. Ding Dong Merchants will attempt to steer you wrong every chance they get. Your job is to ignore them. Don’t get wrapped up in their dopiness. It’s not worth it. Adolis is a 35-homer, 10-steal guy in a great lineup, good park and possessing increasingly better walks. There’s a strong case to be made he could be ranked as high as 7th on this list, so this is a steal. 2024 Projections: 91/35/103/.247/12 in 571 ABs
11. Luis Robert Jr. – Wanna see how I’ll treat Jazz Chisholm Jr. if he stays healthy this year? Look at how I’m approaching LouBob. There’s no reason to not trust a guy after he shows it. My fear with Robert was always that he hadn’t shown it yet. I’ve seen it. To pretend it didn’t happen is just going out of your way to be a Ding Dong Merchant. He just went 38/20/.264. You don’t fall off the turnip truck and do that over the course of a full season. More like a turnt-up truck! Is that something? 2024 Projections: 93/31/91/.269/17 in 556 ABs
12. Randy Arozarena – The Rice Bowl is as rock solid of a 20/20 bet as there ever has been. Go to Lenscrafters, shoplift a pair of glasses and now you’re wearing glasses with one of those things that beeps every time you go into a store, setting off the theft alarm. Now, you and Arozarena both have 20/20 on lock. Just had a funny thought, imagine you shoplifted glasses and you set off the beeping thing in other stores and then said to, like, The Gap security guard, “Oh, I didn’t steal anything from your store, this thing beeped because of these glasses I stole from Lenscrafters,” then you walk into a wall because you have the wrong prescription. Any hoo! If you’re predicting a fall-off for The Rice Bowl, you’re just guessing at stuff, you Ding Dong Merchant. His numbers look fine. In fact, with his walks increasing, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a .275+ year from him. 2024 Projections: 91/22/88/.266/25 in 569 ABs
13. Nolan Jones – Already went over him in the 1st basemen rankings.
14. Cody Bellinger – Already went over him in the 1st basemen rankings.
15. Michael Harris II – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Jazz. I call this tier, “Folding arms suspiciously.” The tier name refers to my body language when I see people draft these players before I’m willing to grab one.
As for Harris, Megahertz was 27th for outfielders last year, according to the Player Rater, so I’m asking you, when you see MHII, I see an abbreviation for Megahertz, but are you seeing me and thinking, “I see a Megahater?” It’s fair if you do, if you’re looking at ADP, you would see that. He’s the 11th outfielder off the board, in general. He’s above Rice Bowl, above Adolis, above Bellinger and above Nolan Jones. I just. Dot dot dot. Don’t get it. I think I’m going to like Megahertz, then I see people drafting him way higher than anyone has any right to draft him. He’s not bad, I ranked him still in the top 20 for outfielders, but he’s still only a 20/20 guy. Or at least he has been. Can he be more? Sure, I guess so, but NoJo was 20/20 in two-thirds of a season and is in Coors for half of his games; Cody’s won an MVP previously; Rice’s stolen 30+ bags in past years, hits third and stays healthy, and Adolis below Megahertz? Please stop. Adolis has a case to be ranked above Juan Soto, not below Michael Harris II. Maybe people think, due to his name, they’re getting two players for the price of one. Michael Harris II is one guy. 2024 Projections: 82/21/81/.288/25 in 554 ABs
16. Jazz Chisholm Jr. – I understand excitement for Jazz more than Megahertz, but I also think Jazz has way more injury risk. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, Jazz, and you better stop fooling me, because I will call a personal injury attorney who advertises on a park bench to see if they’ll sue you for a class action for years of killing my fantasy teams. I do think if there’s anyone who can pull off a Luis Robert-type year where he goes from “always injured” to a top 10 overall guy, it is Jazz. I see the allure, but I don’t think I can pull the trigger. Just being honest. See, my nose hasn’t grown. 2024 Projections: 71/25/74/.247/25 in 451 ABs
17. Mike Trout – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until the top 40 outfielders for 2024 fantasy baseball. I call this tier, “Jumping out of the closet on myself.” By the tier name, I mean I shocked myself with how much I liked the guys in this tier. Let’s get right into it with Trout, maybe I’m caca-cuckoo about how much to expect from him, but his ADP is around 75 overall. That’s crazy. No, I don’t like Trout as a top 25 bat, but at 75? We’re just one year removed from a 40-homer, .283 season in 119 games. No, I’m not expecting 162 games. I’m expecting 100 to 120 games. Remember, last year was a fluky injury with a hamate bone broken. I get it, he has a back like a bunch of you in a sportsbook. It’s degenerate. That sucks, and I think he needs at least one day off a week, even if healthy, but has he ever been bad when on the field? He’s a top 20 player overall when healthy, subtract games he misses and he’s well worth a 75 spot in drafts. Worth even more if you can replace him with a bench bat or off waivers with a solid bat. 2024 Projections: 74/30/82/.272/2 in 402 ABs
18. Christian Yelich – Yelich and Bellinger were tied to each other last year, but Cody’s pulled ahead. If I’m being honest, I would’ve never guessed that last year at this time. If I had to bet on one, I would’ve bet Yelich. Ya know what’s weird about Yelich’s career, his Launch Angle went home run-y in 2019, the exact right year for that, because of how bouncey the ball was. Since that seems clearly not who he is, it’s fair to consider him a 20/20-ish player, which begs the question: Why isn’t Yelich in with The Rice Bowl and other 20/20 threats? Well, I like Yelich, so don’t take this the wrong way, but he hasn’t sniffed 20 homers in a season since 2019, and he’s 32 years old, so 20+ homers? Seems unlikely. 2024 Projections: 102/17/64/.262/20 in 539 ABs
19. Spencer Steer – Already went over him in the 1st basemen rankings.
20. Nick Castellanos – He just went 29/11/.272. Last year isn’t everything, obviously, but I just want to point out what he just did because he finished 13th on the Player Rater, in front of Randy Arozarena, Yordan, and Michael Harris II, to name a few who are no-brainers to be drafted in front of him. I’ve even ranked them in front of him, so I get it. They do “feel safer,” whatever that means. So, you have “feel safer” in front of him, but why are people drafting guys like Schwarber or Reynolds in front of Castellanos? Do they feel safer? For what exactly? 45/.190 and 20/10/.260, respectively? Okay, but disrespectively, who cares for that ‘feel safer?’ Hey, if you need big time power, then go Schwarber, sure. If you need, well, whatever Reynolds is giving you, then by all means. The Greek God of Hard Contact now has 27+ homer, .270+ average with a handful of steals for a handful of years, minus the pandemic and 2022, when he was clearly hurt. What’s with the Greek God of Hard Contact hate? You need his mom to put a hairnet on her upper lip and make you spanakopita to convince you? 2024 Projections: 77/27/89/.271/8 in 597 ABs
CONTINUE TO THE TOP 40 OUTFIELDERS
