2018 Outfielders - Early Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings

It's a new year, and with that comes our first set of rankings for the 2018 fantasy baseball season. As a reminder, our first round of rankings comes to you courtesy of Pierre Camus and Jeff Kahntroff, in addition to yours truly.

Today, I’ll be finishing up the hitter side of things with a look at how we ranked players in the outfield. You can see our previous ranking and analysis columns for catcher, first base, second base, third base and shortstop.

Expect a fair amount of adjustments in future installments. These are preliminary rankings and a lot can happen between now and March, particularly with so many free agents still languishing on the market.

Editor's Note: In our Rankings Wizard, you can check out all of our staff's initial 2018 fantasy baseball rankings for mixed leagues, points leagues, AL/NL only leagues, dynasty leagues and more.

2018 Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Outfield (January)

Ranking	Tier	Player	Position	Kyle	Pierre	Jeff
1	1	Mike Trout	OF	1	1	1
2	2	Charlie Blackmon	OF	8	6	4
3	2	Mookie Betts	OF	9	5	9
4	2	Bryce Harper	OF	10	7	8
5	2	Kris Bryant	3B/OF	11	15	17
6	2	Giancarlo Stanton	OF	23	11	13
7	2	Aaron Judge	OF	12	24	21
8	2	J.D. Martinez	OF	28	22	12
9	2	Cody Bellinger	1B/OF	30	25	27
10	3	Marcell Ozuna	OF	32	26	34
11	3	George Springer	OF	33	37	29
12	3	Starling Marte	OF	45	35	31
13	3	Rhys Hoskins	1B/OF	31	42	41
14	3	Justin Upton	OF	34	33	51
15	3	Nelson Cruz	OF	43	48	35
16	3	Domingo Santana	OF	51	68	48
17	3	A.J. Pollock	OF	48	62	61
18	4	Dee Gordon	2B/OF	35	82	58
19	4	Khris Davis	OF	53	58	65
20	4	Byron Buxton	OF	74	57	46
21	4	Andrew Benintendi	OF	81	47	50
22	4	Andrew McCutchen	OF	54	74	52
23	4	Tommy Pham	OF	67	81	42
24	4	Christian Yelich	OF	69	64	60
25	4	Yoenis Cespedes	OF	72	49	94
26	5	Ryan Braun	OF	82	72	79
27	5	Michael Conforto	OF	87	98	69
28	5	Lorenzo Cain	OF	109	104	76
29	5	Billy Hamilton	OF	116	63	124
30	5	Ender Inciarte	OF	85	129	101
31	5	Adam Eaton	OF	110	102	112
32	5	Gregory Polanco	OF	106	105	118
33	5	Matt Olson	OF/1B	130	99	117
34	6	Shohei Ohtani	SP/OF	118	97	141
35	6	Adam Jones	OF	120	88	149
36	6	Chris Taylor	2B/SS/OF	96	175	106
37	6	Adam Duvall	OF	137	117	127
38	6	Ian Desmond	OF/1B	176	138	82
39	6	Whit Merrifield	2B/OF	84	111	225
40	6	Steven Souza	OF	148	121	154
41	6	Michael Brantley	OF	190	#N/A	96
42	6	Yasiel Puig	OF	162	125	142
43	6	Ian Happ	2B/OF	114	169	148
44	7	Eduardo Nunez	SS/3B/2B/OF	171	148	123
45	7	Brett Gardner	OF	156	133	157
46	7	Jay Bruce	OF	195	140	111
47	7	Joey Gallo	3B/1B/OF	141	130	191
48	7	Manuel Margot	OF	168	127	168
49	7	Ronald Acuna	OF	155	#N/A	#N/A
50	7	Nomar Mazara	OF	187	134	171
51	7	Marwin Gonzalez	1B/2B/3B/SS/OF	142	221	129
52	8	Corey Dickerson	OF	182	163	155
53	8	Scooter Gennett	2B/3B/OF	170	#N/A	172
54	8	Kevin Kiermaier	OF	161	153	201
55	8	Matt Kemp	OF	154	190	#N/A
56	8	Shin-Soo Choo	OF	198	156	177
57	8	Aaron Altherr	OF	121	280	137
58	8	Mitch Haniger	OF	169	263	122
59	8	Jackie Bradley	OF	194	241	130
60	8	Eric Thames	1B/OF	177	164	235
61	8	Trey Mancini	1B/OF	252	135	#N/A
62	9	Josh Reddick	OF	241	151	195
63	9	Kyle Schwarber	OF	209	179	203
64	9	Dexter Fowler	OF	218	183	190
65	9	Bradley Zimmer	OF	158	#N/A	239
66	9	Nick Williams	OF	206	195	#N/A
67	9	Michael Taylor	OF	#N/A	#N/A	204
68	9	Odubel Herrera	OF	167	181	266
69	9	David Peralta	OF	199	218	197
70	9	Eddie Rosario	OF	174	204	246
71	9	Jason Kipnis	2B/OF	278	188	160
72	9	Mark Trumbo	OF	254	167	226
73	10	Jose Bautista	OF	253	#N/A	179
74	10	Howie Kendrick	2B/OF	#N/A	#N/A	216
75	10	Aaron Hicks	OF	224	#N/A	209
76	10	Max Kepler	OF	263	171	#N/A
77	10	Carlos Gonzalez	OF	213	246	193
78	10	Carlos Gomez	OF	185	#N/A	263
79	10	Avisail Garcia	OF	229	274	175
80	10	Clint Frazier	OF	#N/A	226	#N/A
81	10	Stephen Piscotty	OF	272	202	212
82	10	Chris Owings	2B/SS/OF	220	267	211
83	11	Delino DeShields	OF	300	223	205
84	11	Hunter Renfroe	OF	255	231	#N/A
85	11	Jorge Soler	OF	#N/A	#N/A	247
86	11	Cameron Maybin	OF	#N/A	#N/A	248
87	11	Melky Cabrera	OF	205	#N/A	300
88	11	Scott Schebler	OF	228	#N/A	278
89	11	Gerardo Parra	OF	320	#N/A	206
90	11	Keon Broxton	OF	240	284	268
91	11	Derek Fisher	OF	#N/A	265	#N/A
92	11	Lewis Brinson	OF	#N/A	262	274
93	11	Kole Calhoun	OF	266	276	#N/A
94	11	David Dahl	OF	289	293	237
95	12	Jarrod Dyson	OF	#N/A	#N/A	273
96	12	Brandon Belt	1B/OF	#N/A	287	270
97	12	Kevin Pillar	OF	293	#N/A	277
98	12	Jacoby Ellsbury	OF	#N/A	282	290
99	12	Hernan Perez	2B/3B/OF	297	#N/A	291
100	12	Joc Pederson	OF	311	#N/A	#N/A
101	12	Jose Martinez	OF/1B	318	#N/A	#N/A

Tier 1

Remember when people were seriously suggesting that anyone other than Mike Trout should go first overall in fantasy drafts? Oh, wait, they still are. Trout is only 26, hadn’t landed on the disabled list before last year, and nobody else in baseball has produced at anything close to his level over the last six seasons. Don’t overthink this, folks.

Tier 2

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of other elite options in the outfield. All three rankers in this round have Charlie Blackmon, Mookie Betts, and Bryce Harper as top-10 overall players. Kris Bryant rounds out the top five outfielders, followed closely by the Yankees’ dynamic duo of Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. I have them essentially flipped in my rankings as compared to my colleagues. While Stanton has a longer track record, he’s also had a tough time avoiding injury. J.D. Martinez has yet to sign, but he’s been roughly Stanton’s equal in terms of offensive production over the last four seasons. Finally, Cody Bellinger’s disastrous showing in the World Series doesn’t seem to have impacted his 2018 draft stock based on early ADP data.

Tier 3

This group is mostly comprised of old reliables – emphasis on the “old” in Nelson Cruz’s case – but includes a couple of 2017 breakouts close to my Phillies-loving heart. Rhys Hoskins’ transcendent debut has a lot of owners excited to see what he can do with a full season. A 50-homer pace is unrealistic, but Steamer projects 36 bombs, with quality run production and a passable batting average. I still haven’t gotten over Domingo Santana being included as the player to be named later in the completely unnecessary Hunter Pence trade (reportedly due to a clerical error, no less!) and last season showed why. The hulking outfielder made good on the George Springer comps he earned as a prospect, contributing in all five standard categories in his first full season. It’s a testament to his impressive raw power that he managed to hit 30 home runs despite a groundball-heavy profile. If he can figure out how to elevate the ball even a little more often, there’s potential for a monster here.

Tier 4

Some divisive players in this tier (in terms of how they’re viewed in the larger fantasy community, if not by our staff rankings). That starts right at the top with Byron Buxton. The former top prospect’s struggles are well-trod territory at this stage, but he “finally” flashed the potential many had long dreamt on in his age-23 season. Buxton recovered from a horrific start to finish the year with 16 homers and 29 stolen bases. Though strikeouts remained a problem, he managed to pull his batting average up above .250 for the first time. I’m less bullish than my colleagues, but I certainly see the appeal.

I’m also the low man on Andrew Benintendi, though I’m likely to give him a bump in future iterations. While he never had a prayer of winning Rookie of the Year with Judge obliterating the league, he still put up a five-category season in his first year. Another all-around performer was Tommy Pham, whose ADP should be one of the more interesting developments this year. He’ll be 30 in March, and it’s fair to wonder how much of his breakout can be sustained. Lastly, Billy Hamilton’s elite stolen base totals are enough to put him at the end of this tier despite his considerable shortcomings as a hitter.

Tier 5

I’m putting more stock into the breakouts of Whit Merrifield and Chris Taylor than my colleagues, even if I don’t necessarily expect them to reach those heights again in 2018. Matt Olson is certainly intriguing, but there might be no more obvious candidate stat for regression than his 41.4(!!!!) HR/FB%. Intriguing might as well be Shohei Ohtani’s middle name, but he’s much more likely to provide value on the pitching side of things than at the plate. I’m fading Ian Desmond and Michael Brantley pretty hard this year, though either could easily make that look foolhardy.

Tier 6

Somehow, I’m the only one who ranked Ronald Acuna in this round. This is admittedly an aggressive rankings, but he’s the consensus top prospect and blew through three levels of the minor leagues last year, improving at every stop. The combination of power and speed here is too enticing to ignore, and it would be surprising if he doesn’t open the year in the starting lineup now that Matt Kemp has been dealt away. For those who don’t want to pay Buxton’s expectant price, Manuel Margot could give you similar production at a much more reasonable cost.

Tier 7

While I’ll acknowledge that my ranking of Aaron Altherr probably needs to be revised downward, I’m lodging a formal complaint against Pierre for barely putting him the top 300. Toss out his injury-plagued 2016, and Altherr has a career MLB line of .261-83-24-87-11 in 578 plate appearances. The Carlos Santana signing might cut into his playing time if the Phillies don’t trade one of their outfielders – two of whom are also ranked in this tier – but his production deserves more respect. Pierre also didn’t even rank Bradley Zimmer, but that may have been an oversight. Elsewhere in this tier, Shin-Soo Choo put together a sneaky useful season in 2017, while Kyle Schwarber looks a lot less appealing after the league-wide power surge and the loss of his catcher eligibility.

Tiers 8 & 9

As you’d expect, the bottom tiers are mostly populated by players with obvious flaws, playing time concerns, or both. A few names jump out. Mark Trumbo, Carlos Gonzalez, and Jose Bautista aren’t far removed from being sought-after commodities, but a combination of recent struggles, age, and the altered offensive landscape have sent them tumbling down draft boards. Youngsters like Lewis Brinson, Derek Fisher, Clint Frazier, and David Dahl have talent to spare but lack track records and/or clear paths to playing time. Otherwise, take your pick of boring vets (Kole Calhoun, Melky Cabrera), SB specialists (Cameron Maybin, Jarrod Dyson, Delino DeShields), or guys who definitely won’t repeat their 2017 performance (Avisail Garcia).