Welcome back! This is the second part of the outfield breakdown for our February ranks.

Brad Johnson, Max Petrie, Kyle Bishop, Harris Yudin, Jeff Kahntroff, Bill Dubiel, and I bring you that straight fire when it comes to helping you prepare yourself for the fantasy baseball season. Let's get right back to it, as we have plenty to dig through.

Editor's note: Be sure to also check out 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 Analysis: Outfield (Part Two)

Tier Five

There are only eight players to be found here, so it's a relatively small tier. I’m the lowest on Michael Conforto as I’m concerned that his playing time gets toyed with. Gregory Polanco could take a big stride this year if he consistently brings his bat to the game. Josh Reddick is a quiet producer, and so long as he stays healthy should be a solid source of counting stats for owners. Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk are both drawing interest as Piscotty appears to be the more balanced hitter, but Grichuk brings the boomstick.

Hanley Ramirez looks to shift to first base, but for us he is an outfielder, and the hope is that he can regain that swing of his in the middle of a very potent Boston lineup. Dexter Fowler has top of the lineup potential no matter where he signs, and if Baltimore grabs him and he hits in front of Manny Machado and Chris Davis, well bully for him. Matt Kemp is by himself in San Diego now, but he is the kind of player who still puts up good numbers even in a “bad year”. He set a career-high in pitches swung at out of the zone (36.9%) while also posting a career-best 83.4% zone contact rate, reducing his swinging strike rate and spraying the ball to all fields with more consistency.

Tier Six

This seems to be where we put most of the non-Hamiltonian speed threats. Here you find Ben Revere, Kevin Pillar, Delino DeShields, Steven Souza, Billy Burns, Evan Gattis (hey, he had all of those triples right?), Ender Inciarte, Wil Myers, Ben Zobrist, Jayson Werth, Gerardo Parra, Khris Davis, Marcell Ozuna, and Melky Cabrera.

Revere, Pillar, DeShields, Burns, and Inciarte are the real speed types. Souza has aspirations of 25/20, but he can’t keep striking out a third of the time he’s at the dish. Gattis, Davis, and Ozuna are the power ponies, but Gattis in Houston is much more palatable than Davis in Oakland, while Ozuna needs to prove he can channel his strength after faltering last year and seeing his soft contact rate jump 3%.

Myers’ durability woes really push him down, but he still has potential for power/speed if he can stay on the field. Zobrist is an all-around guy who is now in a sweet Cubbies lineup. Werth’s 2015 is the epitome of “hitting a wall”, and while he could bounce back a bit it’ll be hard to count on much more than 15/8 with a decent average. Melky’s days of five category contributions are gone, but he still has double-digit pop, good contributions in runs/RBIs, and won’t kill your average (though look out for the cold streaks).

Tier Seven

This has the next layer of “one-category” players and young projects. You’ve got big bats like Mark Trumbo, Jay Bruce, Carlos Beltran, Colby Rasmus, and Brandon Moss. Trumbo gets to hit in Baltimore, Bruce looks to bounce-back with regression in his sails, Beltran can still swing in a great stadium but needs to stay healthy, Rasmus is good for hot streaks but his average can zap you, with Moss also fitting that bill. Then the fleet of foot with Cameron Maybin, Odubel Herrera, and Byron Buxton. Maybin probably platoons with Anthony Gose to open the year, but he is the better hitter. Herrera is the most valuable Phillie hitter after Maikel Franco with his speed and modest power. Buxton needs to take big steps forward with hitting major league level pitching, but his potential is through the roof.

Your all-around types here are Eddie Rosario, Aaron Altherr, Rusney Castillo, and Aaron Hicks. All could quietly also produce a 15/15 year, though 12/12 is more realistic, but that is worth remembering in deeper leagues. Altherr and Rosario need to show that they can make the adjustments with their second cup of coffee that Castillo failed to do last year. Aaron Hicks is probably the most exciting due to his move to Yankee Stadium and if an injury to one of the other Yankee OFs opens the door to regular playing time for Hicks, he could hit at a 18/18 pace.

Tier Eight

Now you're really starting to notice that you’re in deeper waters, but there’s still intrigue. Brad Miller, Danny Valencia, and Brock Holt are probably best utilized with their other position eligibilities. Denard Span could be a great bargain if other owners have written him off thanks to the injuries of last year, but if he hits around .300 with 25 steals atop the Giants’ lineup…yeah you’ll take that. Of course he could never stay healthy again too, hip and core procedures on a guy with his build/skillset are scary. Nori Aoki is about the same as Span, though he brings less inherent risk coupled with dampened speed upside.

Khris Davis being traded means Domingo Santana has an opening to grab the left field job. Santana’s approach reminds me a bit of Souza (albeit with less speed), Steamer has him hitting 19 homers while stealing six bases and hitting .249, but if he holds the full time LF job then he can improve on that. Plenty of ifs for a 23 year old who needs to grow, but the opportunity for a breakout is there under a few layers.

Marlon Byrd is 38, but has hit 23-25 homers in his past three seasons, so I imagine someone will find a roster spot for him and let that power come out to play one more time. Kevin Kiermaier probably deserves a little more love from me, and if he can give you a 10/16/.260 season as an OF5 or bench bat, well you’ll take that. Chris Colabello gets a lot of scrutiny for his otherworldly .411 BABIP last year (deservedly so, as that’s not happening again), and while he’ll be platooning again he’s still a decent hitter with some pop in a great park and lineup.

Tier Nine

Here is the rest of the pack. Let's pick out a few notable names. Baltimore’s Hyun-soo Kim brings a balanced bat over from Korea. Yasmany Tomas gets another chance to prove himself in Arizona’s good environment. Jackie Bradley Jr. has shown flashes, but the bottom always fell out. There are also some buzzy prospects in Adam Duvall, Rymer Liriano, and Nomar Mazara. Don't get too cute here, but for those of you swimming in the deep end, we haven't forgotten about you.

 

Outfield Tiered Fantasy Baseball Rankings (February)

Ranking	Tier	Name	Brad	Max	Kyle	Nick	Harris	Jeff	Bill
1	1	Mike Trout	1	1	1	1	2	1	2
2	1	Bryce Harper	2	2	2	2	1	2	1
3	2	Giancarlo Stanton	4	3	3	3	3	3	3
4	2	Andrew McCutchen	3	4	4	4	4	6	4
5	2	Jose Bautista	8	5	6	5	5	7	5
6	2	George Springer	6	9	5	6	6	9	7
7	2	Mookie Betts	5	6	9	7	7	5	10
8	2	A.J. Pollock	7	7	8	8	15	4	6
9	2	Starling Marte	9	8	7	12	13	8	8
10	2	Ryan Braun	11	10	10	9	8	10	9
11	3	J.D. Martinez	10	12	11	10	11	12	11
12	3	Justin Upton	13	11	12	11	9	13	14
13	3	Charlie Blackmon	12	14	13	13	19	15	15
14	3	Nelson Cruz	15	16	15	15	10	16	16
15	3	Lorenzo Cain	18	19	14	16	14	11	12
16	3	Carlos Gomez	14	13	23	19	22	14	19
17	3	Kyle Schwarber	16	15	16	21	17	24	17
18	3	Carlos Gonzalez	19	17	19	18	16	21	18
19	3	Adam Jones	20	20	21	14	25	19	13
20	3	Yoenis Cespedes	23	21	20	17	12	20	20
21	3	Jason Heyward	17	18	17	20	18	25	21
22	4	Yasiel Puig	21	23	18	23	26	17	24
23	4	Hunter Pence	26	22	22	22	33	22	23
24	4	Jacoby Ellsbury	22	24	41	30	20	18	25
25	4	Brett Gardner	25	26	27	31	31	23	31
26	4	Curtis Granderson	30	33	28	28	24	32	26
27	4	Alex Gordon	24	31	29	33	28	37	29
28	4	Kole Calhoun	28	27	31	36	32	35	28
29	4	David Peralta	38	28	24	27	38	31	32
30	4	Christian Yelich	29	37	35	29	21	34	36
31	4	Matt Holliday	40	30	32	26	42	30	30
32	4	Joc Pederson	33	41	25	38	23	36	35
33	4	Jorge Soler	42	32	30	34	35	29	33
34	4	Corey Dickerson	36	29	33	24	37	54	22
35	4	Adam Eaton	35	40	26	25	47	28	39
36	4	Billy Hamilton	27	25	53	52	29	27	34
37	4	Michael Brantley	49	38	37	41	27	33	27
38	4	Shin-Soo Choo	37	35	38	32	30	41	40
39	5	Michael Conforto	31	34	40	48	36	39	42
40	5	Gregory Polanco	44	36	42	43	43	26	36
41	5	Josh Reddick	32	43	36	40	53	40	38
42	5	Stephen Piscotty	39	39	39	37	39	52	44
43	5	Hanley Ramirez	34	48	44	35	44	47	46
44	5	Randal Grichuk	43	44	34	39	54	45	45
45	5	Dexter Fowler	48	42	43	45	46	48	43
46	5	Matt Kemp	41	45	45	42	52	49	41
47	6	Ben Revere	55	51	56	55	41	44	48
48	6	Kevin Pillar	52	55	51	49	49	46	51
49	6	Delino Deshields	65	49	48	47	40	59	53
50	6	Steven Souza	56	56	46	46	45	53	61
51	6	Billy Burns	45	54	47	59	50	55	55
52	6	Evan Gattis	47	47	55	44	57	73	49
53	6	Ender Inciarte	59	46	54	56	61	51	47
54	6	Wil Myers	68	60	65	58	34	42	58
55	6	Ben Zobrist	54	52	58	57	55	63	50
56	6	Jayson Werth	50	61	49	68	67	43	52
57	6	Gerardo Parra	46	50	57	54	56	71	60
58	6	Khris Davis	63	62	52	53	58	50	62
59	6	Marcell Ozuna	67	57	50	61	65	57	57
60	6	Melky Cabrera	57	53	59	62	69	62	54
61	7	Cameron Maybin	70	59	62	60	72	60	59
62	7	Mark Trumbo	78	78	69	50	59	38	74
63	7	Jay Bruce	64	70	68	51	64	65	69
64	7	Carlos Beltran	62	67	63	64	76	58	66
65	7	Eddie Rosario	60	64	67	72	68	67	67
66	7	Odubel Herrera	58	66	60	74	86	66	56
67	7	Aaron Altherr	61	63	61	63	88	68	65
68	7	Colby Rasmus	71	75	66	65	51	70	72
69	7	Rusney Castillo	69	58	64	69	89	56	68
70	7	Brandon Moss	51	71	74	67	74	74	64
71	7	Byron Buxton	75	76	72	79	48	61	70
72	7	Aaron Hicks	77	68	70	66	78	69	63
73	8	Brad Miller	66	69	71	78	71	72	76
74	8	Denard Span	74	73	86	77	60	64	71
75	8	Danny Valencia	53	65	79	75	80	81	73
76	8	Nori Aoki	73	72	80	80	62	75	88
77	8	Domingo Santana	81	77	77	70	66	76	87
78	8	Marlon Byrd	80	79	73	76	84	80	75
79	8	Kevin Kiermaier	83	84	75	85	73	73	80
80	8	Chris Colabello	93	82	84	73	75	90	86
81	8	Brock Holt	79	83	81	83	94	91	79
82	9	Hyun-soo Kim	76	92	98	71	-	85
83	9	Derek Dietrich	82	96	76	84	-	88	81
84	9	Yasmany Tomas	97	74	96	86	81	78	82
85	9	Austin Jackson	72	95	88	82	91	87	-
86	9	Jackie Bradley Jr.	96	97	83	87	77	77	90
87	9	Eduardo Escobar	-	88	89	88	-	84	89
88	9	Dalton Pompey	86	80	78	98	87	97	-
89	9	Nick Markakis	87	91	93	92	79		-
90	9	Leonys Martin	94	93	95	93	63	93	-
91	9	Andre Ethier	85	87	87	90	99	83	-
92	9	Avisail Garcia	-	85	-	99	82	-	-
93	9	Mark Canha	98	89	82	109	83	86	78
94	9	Franklin Gutierrez	95	100	90	81	-	79	91
95	9	Anthony Gose	-	102	85	100	93	82	77
96	9	Jarrod Dyson	106	81	94	97	70	94	-
97	9	Alex Rios	88	90	99	94	96	-	84
98	9	Desmond Jennings	99	86	-	96	90	92	-
99	9	Josh Hamilton	91	94	97	95	92	89	-
100	9	Preston Tucker	107	99	91	89	-		83
101	9	Chris Coghlan	84	103	100	91	-		-
102	9	Adam Duvall	90	104	-	103	85	99	-
103	9	Michael Taylor	89	102	92	102	95	98	-
104	9	Oswaldo Arcia	-	105	-	104	100	96	85
105	9	Coco Crisp	92	106	-	101	98	95	-
106	9	Angel Pagan	102	99	-	107	-	-	-
107	9	Rymer Liriano	105	101	-	105	-	100	-
108	9	Seth Smith	101	107	-	-	-	-	-
109	9	Rajai Davis	100	-	-	108	-	-	-
110	9	Abraham Almonte	104	-	-	-	-	-	-
111	9	Nomar Mazara	103	-	-	106	-	-	-
112	9	Will Venable	-	108	-	110	97	-	-

 

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