2011 MLB Fantasy Rankings

The return of America's pastime is close at hand.

Spring Training is right around the corner, and for us baseball junkies, that means fantasy drafts are, too.

Where has the left side of the infield gone? Should I even draft a catcher? Just how deep is the outfield position this summer? With the thawing of spring every season come unique and intriguing fantasy decisions in March that win championships in October. Like how early should I draft Stephen Strasburg in a keeper league this year? What about Johan Santana?

While we still have over a month until voluntary report dates (Feb. 14th can’t get here quickly enough), it is never too early for fantasy owners to start digesting mock drafts, big boards and keeper options.

With that, Athlon Sports has perused the World Wide Web for the latest and greatest positional rankings and brought them together for a one-stop shop. Big (-ger) media names like ESPN, CBS, Athlon Sports and Yahoo! were incorporated as well as a variety of smaller, yet no less insightful, sites like FantasyPhenoms.com, DeepLeagues.com, RotoChamp.com, HardballTimes.com and RotoProfessor.com.

Each site’s rankings — including Athlon’s own rankings, which will be released early in February — were compiled and averaged into one “consensus” ranking.

Here is the scheduled release plan for nine different positions on the fantasy diamond as well as The Big Board:

Thur., Jan. 13th: First Base
Fri., Jan. 14th: Starting Pitchers
Sat., Jan. 15th: Catchers
Sun., Jan 16th: Middle Relievers
Mon., Jan. 17th: Shortstops
Tues., Jan. 18th: Third Base
Wed., Jan. 19th: Closers
Thur., Jan. 20th: Second Base
Fri., Jan 21st: Outfield

Wed., Jan 26th: Consensus Top 125

Fantasy drafts are still a good month away, so there will be plenty of free agent signings, trades, injuries and more to account for as we head into Spring Training. So stay tuned as we will update our rankings consistently.

As a reminder, Athlon MLB preview magazines hit newsstands Feb. 1 and can be ordered online here.

Where does Holliday rank amongst OFers?

Here are some important dates to keep marked on the calendar (courtesy of MLB.com):

Feb. 14: Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for pitchers, catchers and injured players

Feb. 19: Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for non-pitchers and catchers

Feb. 26: Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for all players

Mar. 2-11: Contracts of unsigned players may be renewed

Mar. 15: Last day to assign an injured player to a minor league club until the close of the championship season (outright or optionally) provided that:

a) The player has less than 3 years of Major League service;
b) The assignment would not be the player's second (or subsequent) career outright since 3/19/90;
c) The player had no Major League service the prior season; and
d) The player was not selected by the assignor Major League club in the immediately preceding Rule 5 Draft.

Mar. 22: The earliest date a club may backdate a placement on the Major League 15-day disabled list.

Mar. 31: Opening Day 2011. All clubs are required to reduce rosters to 25 players.

Apr. 6: First date a player placed on the 15-day disabled list during Spring Training may be reinstated (if placed on or backdated to March 22).

Apr. 10: First date a player optioned during Spring Training may be recalled.

Apr. 15: Jackie Robinson Day

-by Braden Gall