Welcome to the next installment of our January ranking breakdowns! If you’re like us here at RotoBaller, you’ve been huddled around the stove awaiting that precious heat for a while now. While there are still some free agent dominoes yet to fall, we've seen quite the flurry of moves.

This round of rankings features seven of our experts. They are Brad Johnson, Max Petrie, Kyle Bishop, Harris Yudin, Jeff Kahntroff, Bill Dubiel, and Nick Mariano. Today we'll cover second base. Assume a standard 5x5 redraft league when reading. You can also read part two of my outfield analysis (tiers 6-9).

By the way, be sure to also see our 2016 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard, which is already loaded up with lots of great articles. Aside from staff rankings across all positions, we also dig into MLB prospect rankings, and dynasty/keeper rankings as well.

 

2016 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Outfield

Tier 1

The top tier is a no-brainer-- Mike Trout and Bryce Harper are the clear-cut top two outfielders. Both are on the right side of 25 with an Most Valuable Player award under their belts. I was the only one to rank Harper first - my colleagues all preferred Trout - but you really can't go wrong with either one. Not only are they the best outfielders, but they should the top two overall picks in your draft (although Paul Goldschmidt sneaking in there wouldn't be crazy).

Tier 2

Tier two is made up of eight players. Four of them are seasoned veterans who have earned a spot atop the rankings: Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen, Jose Bautista and Ryan Braun. The other four are young guys battling their way to the forefront: George Springer, Mookie Betts, A.J. Pollock and Starling Marte. The veterans, and Springer, were in the top 11 of everyone's rankings. Betts (14, Bill), Pollock (18, Harris) and Marte (14, Harris) all had one ranking that fell just below.

The guy I really want to talk about is Pollock. Of course, my ranking him 18th is what sticks out the most upon looking at the rankings. Now, I'm not denying that he had an incredibly impressive 2015 campaign, but where did it come from? He hit 20 home runs in 2015. In 2013 and 2014, respectively, he hit eight and seven. Granted, he had much fewer at-bats, but if you prorate those numbers into the 609 AB he had 2015, you get 11 and 16 - even that would've come as a surprise to me. In 978 AB between 2011 and 2012, Pollock hit 11 HR. And it's not like he was a 20-year-old prospect at the time. That came in his 23- and 24-year-old seasons, and it made sense considering he had above-average grades in hitting and speed, but not power.

As far as speed and batting average go, you can find that from Ben Revere, Delino Deshields or Billy Burns further down the line. Pollock is undoubtedly a talented player who can help you in every category, but ranking him ahead of Braun, who was one stolen base shy of his third career 25/25 season in 2015, and Nelson Cruz, who has hit 40 or more homers in each of the last two years, just doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps I unfairly ranked him as an act of rebellion - he probably belongs in the 12-15 range - but I cannot comprehend him being the sixth best fantasy outfielder. Power is far too important to pass up on early - it's easier to find a combination of speed and average than power and average late in the draft.

Tier 3

Cruz, J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton all made an appearance in someone's top 10, but they are typically seen as third-tier players. I seem to be higher than my fellow rankers on Cruz, Carlos Gonzalez and Yoenis Cespedes, and much lower on Adam Jones. He is only 30 but has seen his batting average and on-base percentage drop with each of the last three years. Additionally, he has essentially stopped running altogether, with just four stolen base attempts in 2015. His 0.24 walk-to-strikeout ratio puts him 130th out of 143 hitters with at least 500 plate appearances. Yes, he will still hit 25-30 homers and drive in 80-90 runs, but the rest of the numbers are concerning, and I cannot trust him over someone like Jason Heyward, who, at just 26 years old, brings 15 HR/25 SB potential and an improved ability to get on base.

Tier 4

The biggest story line of tier four is veterans who had off years in 2015. Yasiel Puig, Jacoby Ellsbury and Michael Brantley were all much higher on this list a year ago, and all three are very capable of bouncing back towards the top of the list in 2016. Also in this tier is a group of young bats who could very well break out this year: Kole Calhoun, Christian Yelich, Joc Pederson and Jorge Soler.

My RotoBaller colleagues have yet to join me on the Yelich bandwagon. The 24-year-old owns a minor league career slash line of .311/.386/.497, and over his two full seasons in the minors in 2011 and 2012, he hit 27 HR and posted 52 SB over 862 AB. While his counting stats haven't quite come around in the big leagues, he has hit over .280 with at least a .360 OBP in each of his three seasons in the majors. He is incredibly athletic and has a smooth, fast bat that allows him to find gaps all over the field. He is a mature hitter who should continue to improve all five of his tools, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Miami Marlins' former top prospect posted a stat line of 15 HR, 25 SB and a .300/.370/.440 slash line.

Tier 5

We start to see a bit of a drop-off in the fifth tier. We have some young hitters with untapped potential, a few speedsters and a handful of troubled veterans looking to get back on track. Randal Grichuk is a polarizing player in this tier, with his ranking varying from 34 to 66. My concern with Grichuk is his alarmingly high strikeout rate (31.4% in 2015), and low walk rate (6.3%). He is a talented hitter with an above-average power grade, which is why Kyle understandably likes him so much, I just feel as though guys like Wil Myers and Steven Souza have more upside, and Mark Trumbo and Khris Davis haven proven more in terms of power.

 

Outfield Rankings for 2016 Fantasy Baseball

Rank	Tier	Name	Brad	Max	Kyle	Nick	Harris	Jeff	Bill
1	1	Mike Trout	1	1	1	1	2	1	1
2	1	Bryce Harper	2	2	2	2	1	2	2
3	2	Giancarlo Stanton	4	3	3	3	3	3	4
4	2	Andrew McCutchen	3	4	4	4	4	6	3
5	2	Jose Bautista	8	5	6	5	5	7	5
6	2	George Springer	6	9	5	6	6	9	7
7	2	A.J. Pollock	7	7	8	7	18	4	6
8	2	Mookie Betts	5	6	9	9	7	5	14
9	2	Starling Marte	10	8	7	10	14	8	8
10	2	Ryan Braun	11	10	10	8	9	10	9
11	3	J.D. Martinez	9	13	11	11	11	14	10
12	3	Justin Upton	14	12	12	12	10	12	13
13	3	Nelson Cruz	15	16	15	15	8	16	16
14	3	Charlie Blackmon	13	17	13	13	19	15	15
15	3	Lorenzo Cain	19	20	14	16	15	11	12
16	3	Adam Jones	20	11	21	14	25	19	11
17	3	Carlos Gonzalez	17	18	19	18	12	22	18
18	3	Kyle Schwarber	16	15	16	19	16	25	17
19	3	Carlos Gomez	12	14	24	20	24	13	19
20	3	Yoenis Cespedes	25	21	20	17	13	20	20
21	3	Jason Heyward	18	19	17	24	17	26	21
22	4	Yasiel Puig	23	22	18	25	27	17	24
23	4	Corey Dickerson	22	23	22	22	33	21	22
24	4	Jacoby Ellsbury	24	25	35	29	20	18	25
25	4	Hunter Pence	28	24	23	21	35	23	23
26	4	Brett Gardner	27	27	27	28	31	24	31
27	4	Curtis Granderson	31	33	28	26	23	33	26
28	4	Alex Gordon	26	30	32	33	28	38	29
29	4	Kole Calhoun	29	28	33	32	34	36	28
30	4	David Peralta	36	31	25	27	39	32	32
31	4	Michael Brantley	46	38	37	23	26	34	27
32	4	Matt Holliday	38	29	30	31	43	31	30
33	4	Joc Pederson	34	40	26	38	22	37	35
34	4	Christian Yelich	30	37	39	34	21	35	36
35	4	Billy Hamilton	21	25	45	51	29	28	34
36	4	Jorge Soler	40	32	31	30	38	30	33
37	5	Shin-Soo Choo	35	34	38	37	30	42	40
38	5	Gregory Polanco	42	36	41	44	44	27	36
39	5	Michael Conforto	32	35	40	47	37	40	42
40	5	Adam Eaton	47	42	29	35	57	29	39
41	5	Josh Reddick	33	41	36	41	54	41	38
42	5	Dexter Fowler	44	45	43	39	32	49	43
43	5	Stephen Piscotty	37	39	48	36	40	53	44
44	5	Hanley Ramirez	45	48	44	40	45	48	46
45	5	Matt Kemp	39	49	42	43	53	50	41
46	5	Randal Grichuk	41	46	34	42	66	46	45
47	5	Ben Revere	52	51	49	51	42	45	48
48	6	Steven Souza	53	49	47	48	46	54	61
49	6	Ender Inciarte	57	44	46	53	60	52	47
50	6	Kevin Pillar	62	56	51	49	48	47	51
51	6	Evan Gattis	43	47	55	45	62	73	49
52	6	Delino Deshields	65	50	57	50	41	59	53
53	6	Wil Myers	68	60	56	58	36	43	58
54	6	Jayson Werth	48	62	53	55	67	44	52
55	6	Ben Zobrist	51	52	58	54	55	63	50
56	6	Khris Davis	63	61	52	46	49	51	62
57	6	Billy Burns	60	54	54	59	51	55	55
58	6	Marcell Ozuna	67	57	50	56	64	57	57
59	6	Melky Cabrera	54	53	59	57	76	62	54
60	7	Gerardo Parra	56	55	65	64	69	71	60
61	7	Cameron Maybin	70	59	62	60	73	60	59
62	7	Rusney Castillo	69	58	64	68	75	56	68
63	7	Carlos Beltran	61	68	63	62	81	58	66
64	7	Odubel Herrera	55	66	60	72	85	66	56
65	7	Eddie Rosario	58	65	67	69	68	67	67
66	7	Jay Bruce	64	69	68	63	63	65	69
67	7	Aaron Altherr	59	63	61	61	92	68	65
68	7	Mark Trumbo	77	78	69	70	59	39	74
69	7	Colby Rasmus	71	75	66	65	52	70	72
70	7	Brandon Moss	49	71	72	67	77	74	64
71	7	Byron Buxton	75	77	74	76	47	61	70
72	7	Aaron Hicks	76	67	70	66	71	69	63
73	8	Danny Valencia	50	64	79	73	80	81	73
74	8	Denard Span	74	73	86	75	58	64	71
75	8	Brad Miller	66	70	71	77	72	72	76
76	8	Nori Aoki	73	72	80	78	56	75	88
77	8	Marlon Byrd	79	79	73	74	88	80	75
78	8	Kevin Kiermaier	83	84	75	82	74	73	80
79	8	Domingo Santana	80	82	77	85	66	76	87
80	8	Chris Colabello	93	80	84	71	78	90	86
81	8	Brock Holt	78	83	81	80	93	91	79
82	8	Jackie Bradley Jr.	95	96	83	86	79	77	90
83	9	Leonys Martin	94	93	95	95	61	93	-
84	9	Yasmany Tomas	-	74	96	84	82	78	82
85	9	Derek Dietrich	82	95	76	81	-	88	81
86	9	Jarrod Dyson	-	81	94	104	50	94	-
87	9	Mark Canha	-	89	82	89	84	86	78
88	9	Austin Jackson	72	94	88	79	91	87	-
89	9	Anthony Gose	-	97	85	83	87	82	77
90	9	Dalton Pompey	86	76	78	97	86	97	-
91	9	Desmond Jennings	-	86	-	99	70	92	-
92	9	Preston Tucker	-	85	91	90	-	85	83
93	9	Eduardo Escobar	-	88	89	87	-	84	89
94	9	Andre Ethier	85	90	87	92	99	83	-
95	9	Franklin Gutierrez	94	97	90	91	-	79	91
96	9	Avisail Garcia	-	87	98	100	83	-	-
97	9	Alex Rios	88	91	99	96	95	-	84
98	9	Nick Markakis	87	92	93	94	90	100	-
99	9	Michael Taylor	89	98	92	88	94	98	-
100	9	Chris Coghlan	84	99	100	93	-		-
101	9	Josh Hamilton	91	102	97	98	98	89	-
102	9	Adam Duvall	90	100	-	102	89	99	-
103	9	Oswaldo Arcia	-	101	-	103	100	96	85
104	9	Coco Crisp	92	102	-	101	97	95	-
105	9	Will Venable	-	104	-	105	96	-	-
106	9	Seth Smith	-	103	-	-	-	-	-

 

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