With the top 40 outfielders for 2023 fantasy baseball, we’ve finished all the hitter recaps. We meaning me, but I’ll include you. No, that’s not a cue to try to hold my hand. Why are you now patting my butt? Don’t muss my hair! The pitching recap will begin next. You can hardly wait. No, you! To recap, the end of the season rankings are based on our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. I felt the easiest way to keep it objective would be to go this route. This way when I say a player finished 30th and I ranked them 23rd in the preseason, it carries more weight than Daniel Vogelbach. Anyway, here’s the top 40 outfielders for 2023 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
21. Bryan Reynolds – Ranked him 29th for outfielders in the preseason, and, although Reynolds might’ve ended up 21st for outfielders, he felt like the 29th best outfielder (I’m kidding). Bry-Rey or Brey, as he’s known in online forums, cut his strikeouts, and ran more, as all hitters did, and, even those stats were just barely different. Brey truly is consistent. Preseason Rank #29, 2023 Projections: 81/24/70/.272/6 in 555 ABs, Final Numbers: 85/24/84/.263/12 in 574 ABs
22. Anthony Santander – Already went over in the top 20 1st basemen for 2023 fantasy baseball recap.
23. George Springer – Said this earlier in my hitter recaps, but, holy crap, there were a lot of 600+ ABs guys. Springer never stayed on the field, but put an asterisk on “never” because he just did, and still managed to run, even at his age. As I said this preseason, I am no longer expecting Springer to stop being productive, because he never stops. Preseason Rank #21, 2023 Projections: 78/24/68/.262/11 in 477 ABs, Final Numbers: 87/21/72/.258/20 in 613 ABs
24. TJ Friedl – This is about this year and not next, but I will say that I could write a Friedl sleeper for next year and basically say, “He was already good.” That’s because no one realizes how good he was. Also, and this isn’t his fault, but it’s a little misleading saying he was the 24th best outfielder, because in most leagues you didn’t draft or roster him all year and get this value. Preseason Rank #103, 2023 Projections: 61/12/41/.246/15 in 405 ABs, Final Numbers: 73/18/66/.279/27 in 488 ABs
25. Ian Happ – Gonna go to this well a few times in this post (notably here and Kwan), but I had Happ all year in some leagues, and he didn’t feel like the 25th best outfielder. So, what is going on a little bit here: If a guy played all year, he accumulated runs and RBIs and ends up in the top 40 outfielders, even if he yawnstipated. Preseason Rank #32, 2023 Projections: 79/19/83/.256/9 in 581 ABs, Final Numbers: 86/21/84/.248/14 in 580 ABs
26. Teoscar Hernandez – Pretty close on his projections, except his ABs, and because he had so many ABs, that watered down his stats and made him so much more boring than he should’ve been. And the Teoscar for Meh goes to…Teoscar. Preseason Rank #17, 2023 Projections: 76/29/83/.264/7 in 517 ABs, Final Numbers: 70/26/.258/7 in 625 ABs
27. Michael Harris II – Yeah, I wrote an overrated post for Megahertz, and seemed incredibly wrong, and I bet some people still think I was wrong, but he was being drafted in the top 25 overall (!) and he didn’t even end up in the top 25 of outfielders. Sawry not Sawry. (Think that means something to Braves fans in regards to Mega, but I haven’t the foggiest idea what.) Preseason Rank #10, 2023 Projections: 93/20/77/.271/25 in 564 ABs, Final Numbers: 76/18/57/.293/20 in 505 ABs
28. James Outman – Saw how many more steals he had than Nimmo, and wanted to make a point about how steals are about ‘wanting to steal’ more than ability, so I went to look at Outman’s Sprint Speed, and, this is becoming a long story, so let me just say Outman is faster than I thought. Didn’t have Outman in any leagues, but his numbers have me very intrigued. Solid power and surprising (to me) speed. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 86/23/70/.248/16 in 483 ABs
29. Jorge Soler – Don’t buy into the theory that a guy in a contract year is going to be better, but Jorge Soler is the exception to the, uh, non-rule. So, he’s the rule to the non-rule? Hmm… I feel bad for the people drafting him next year, and the Yankees for signing him. Kidding (kinda, they will absolutely be in talks about him, but maybe they don’t get him. Someone will overpay though in real and fantasy). Preseason Rank #71, 2023 Projections: 62/24/74/.221 in 481 ABs, Final Numbers: 77/36/75/.250/1 in 504 ABs
30. Brandon Nimmo – Talk about a guy who refuses to steal no matter the rules changes. Wonder what kind of rules changes they’d need to implement to get Nimmo to run. “The pitcher can only look to 1st base once per inning. If his eyes drift towards 1st a second time, he will be charged with a ball.” Preseason Rank #40, 2023 Projections: 107/17/66/.276/5 in 584 ABs, Final Numbers: 89/24/68/.274/3 in 592 ABs
31. Seiya Suzuki – Pretty close on my power and speed projections, but 100+ ABs off, so that tells me Seiya’s upside is actually way higher than we thought. That’s very promising. Still hate that he keeps getting these out-of-nowhere injuries. Preseason Rank #50, 2023 Projections: 67/19/48/.257/8 in 407 ABs, Final Numbers: 75/20/74/.285/6 in 515 ABs
32. Esteury Ruiz – Rereading Moneyball but instead of being intrigued by Billy Beane talking about how steals are bad and OBP is good, just cackling at how much everything he said has gone out the window. Has any baseball book aged as poorly? Well, maybe that and the “How the Astros became a great team” book from before it was revealed they cheated. Preseason Rank #104, 2023 Projections: 51/3/39/.219/32 in 407 ABs, Final Numbers: 47/5/47/.254/67 in 449 ABs
33. Nolan Jones – Already went over in the top 20 1st basemen for 2023 fantasy baseball recap.
34. Chas McCormick – This is the point where, yes, he was a top 40 outfielder, but, no, he doesn’t feel like a top 40 outfielder. With that said, McCormick was a full-time job from being a huge fantasy asset. He was basically Nolan Jones over a full season, just not seeing full-time ABs. Preseason Rank #119, 2023 Projections: 51/14/53/.252/5 in 397 ABs, Final Numbers: 59/22/70/.273/19 in 403 ABs
35. Whit Merrifield – Already went over him at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2023 fantasy baseball.
36. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. – There is something to be a compiler like Lou-Gu-Ju. They are valuable. You could do much worse than rostering them in fantasy. The problem is: It’s only in retrospect, that they’re solid. You look back in your 20/20 hindsight glasses, and think, “He was great for 550+ABs,” but how do you know a guy is going to get 550+ ABs? It’s impossible to rank or project a guy like that. You can say something in the preseason like, “If this guy gets 550+ ABs, he will be a top 40 outfielder,” but there is no way of knowing. Preseason Rank #66, 2023 Projections: 62/10/68/.281/5 in 477 ABs, Final Numbers: 65/24/82/.261/5 in 551 ABs
37. Masataka Yoshida – Not sure I could’ve done better with projecting and ranking Yoshida (and Senga). I told everyone they both would be valuable for where they were being drafted. Sometimes you have to trust fall into guys who have performed well in Japan, even if they’re new to the states. Preseason Rank #41, 2023 Projections: 81/16/66/.284/4 in 547 ABs, Final Numbers: 71/15/72/.289/8 in 537 ABs
38. Steven Kwan – I wrote his name originally as Steve instead of Steven, and I thought, “That’s so much more friendly, why wouldn’t he go by that?” That wasn’t the only thing that puzzled me about Kwan. Also: How did I roster him all year and want to drop him all year when he was a top 40 outfielder? Actually, that’s perfect encapsulation of Kwan. You don’t want him when you have him, but he’s kinda valuable. Preseason Rank #30, 2023 Projections: 103/7/56/.303/17 in 574 ABs, Final Numbers: 93/5/54/.268/21 in 638 ABs
39. Joey Meneses – Absolutely nailed my preseason ranking of Meneses like I was an Uncle from Red Bank. I hated him in the preseason and he put up one of the all-time most boring 600+ ABs seasons. This also shows a larger problem with preseason rankings. If you were to rank a guy 39th for outfielders, and project him for 13 HRs and zero steals, you’d think I ranked him wrong. Preseason Rank #43, 2023 Projections: 68/20/74/.261/2 in 576 ABs, Final Numbers: 71/13/89/.275 in 611 ABs
40. Jack Suwinski – Someone in the preseason said Suwinski would be the guy who is drafted after 200th overall and returns top 20 overall value and I LOL’d him. I don’t remember who it was, but I LOL three times each year, and that was one, and, while he was wrong and I was right, he wasn’t wrong enough for my LOL. So, whoever you were in March, I apologize. Preseason Rank #111, 2023 Projections: 49/22/56/.206/4 in 377 ABs, Final Numbers: 63/26/74/.224/13 in 447 ABs
