Home ›

2012 Fantasy Baseball: Outfield Rankings

Athlon Sports' updated fantasy rankings reveal plenty of options in a deep outfield

By: Athlon Sports | 3/29/12, 11:45 AM EDT

Athlon Sports' updated fantasy rankings reveal plenty of options in a deep outfield

Opening Day is next week and Athlon Sports has all the fantasy baseball rankings you need to get ready for the upcoming season.

Athlon Sports has combined nine fantasy baseball big boards from around the web to compile an updated consensus Top 200 as well as positional breakdowns.

Matt Kemp still leads the way among the outfielder rankings, but Ryan Braun is nipping at his heels. Braun, who was ranked No. 71 overall on the previous Big Board, soared up the Top 200 this time around and now checks in at No. 4.

It's no secret that the reason for the drastic change in his rankings is because his 50-game suspension for violation of MLB's drug policy was overturned in late February. Now that we know Braun, if healthy, will be eligible to play a full season, it's a matter of if the reigning NL MVP can repeat or come close to last season's numbers without Prince Fielder hitting behind him.

Outside of Braun, the only change among the first fifteen outfielders has nothing to do with rankings. Giancarlo Stanton (No. 32 overall, No. 10 OF) is the Marlin  formerly known as Mike Stanton. The 22-year-old slugger announced in late Februray that he wanted to be called by his given first name, rather than Michael/Mike, which he started using in the fifth grade.

Carl Crawford and Corey Hart are the two among the top 30 that saw their stock drop the most as both are dealing with injuries. Hart (No. 104 overall, down from No. 93) had knee surgery in early March, but there's still a chance he could ready by Opening Day or shortly thereafter. That does not appear to be the case for Crawford (was No. 17 OF, now No. 24), whose recovery from offseason wrist surgery has taken longer than initially expected.

Among the top 50 outfielders, Andre Ethier (No. 130, up from No. 150), Martin Prado (No. 140, up from No. 157), Melky Cabrera (No. 143, up from No. 165), Carlos Lee (No. 172, up from No. 200) and Angel Pagan (No. 185, up from No. 213) were the biggest risers.

Fantasy Baseball is coming... and the 25th Anniversary Edition of Athlon Sports' Baseball Preview Magainze is already here. Click here to order yours today!

Rank – Position ranking
OVR – Overall ranking on The Big Board
LR — Last Ranked, where player was ranked on The Big Board that was published on Feb. 20, 2012
NR — Not Ranked, means player did not appear on The Big Board that was published on Feb. 20, 2012

AS – Athlon Sports (updated 3/19/12)
CBS – CBSSportsline.com (as of 3/16/12)
ESPN – (updated 3/13/12)
FOX – FOXSports.com (updated 3/7/12)
MLB – MLB.com (as of 3/15/12)
RC – RotoChamp.com (updated 3/18/12)
RS – RotoSummit.com (updated 2/27/12)
USA — USAToday.com (updated 2/13/12)
Y! – Yahoo! Sports (updated 2/24/12)*

*Yahoo! ranked only 120 players on their list, while Athlon's Big Board contains 200. The aggregated scores of the other eight big boards were used to extrapolate Yahoo!’s rankings to 200 players.

Athlon Sports Fantasy Rankings**: Big Board | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP

**Positional rankings will be updated throughout the week

Rank OVR LR Player Team Pos AS CBS ESPN FOX MLB RC RS USA Y!
1 3 2 Matt Kemp LAD OF 6 4 3 1 1 4 2 1 2
2 4 71 Ryan Braun MIL OF 5 5 4 8 5 2 1 2 6
3 5 4 Jose Bautista TOR 3B/OF 11 2 5 6 3 6 5 5 5
4 8 6 Jacoby Ellsbury BOS OF 19 8 8 2 8 9 6 12 12
5 11 10 Justin Upton ARI OF 14 18 9 14 7 21 10 11 10
6 12 14 Carlos Gonzalez COL OF 12 19 16 18 15 12 11 16 11
7 21 18 Curtis Granderson NYY OF 38 15 23 22 13 23 17 20 22
8 26 25 Andrew McCutchen PIT OF 40 38 26 20 26 29 28 30 27
9 30 32 Josh Hamilton TEX OF 26 46 40 35 36 49 25 27 34
10 32 34 Giancarlo Stanton MIA OF 83 68 25 33 25 22 30 25 25
11 37 39 Matt Holliday STL OF 42 57 30 36 65 45 33 28 36
12 40 40 Hunter Pence HOU OF 45 77 37 66 56 24 29 34 44
13 47 47 Jay Bruce CIN OF 63 90 38 62 34 40 55 38 51
14 50 52 Ben Zobrist TB 2B/OF 93 72 51 41 45 64 43 51 52
15 54 54 Nelson Cruz TEX OF 94 76 44 56 37 95 48 37 37
16 61 65 Michael Bourn HOU OF 80 74 35 72 87 84 51 42 67
17 63 68 Shin-Soo Choo CLE OF 51 75 77 80 85 58 64 49 63
18 64 58 Desmond Jennings TB OF 99 85 104 68 50 54 61 50 43
19 65 69 Alex Gordon KC OF 82 87 50 81 60 73 66 59 66
20 66 77 Shane Victorino PHI OF 102 69 55 65 79 78 58 56 65
21 70 79 Michael Morse WAS 1B/OF 103 83 71 53 82 42 70 83 62
22 80 84 B.J. Upton TB OF 106 99 80 82 73 87 60 64 69
23 83 87 Lance Berkman STL 1B/OF 105 78 59 77 96 52 77 99 86
24 84 67 Carl Crawford BOS OF 79 67 70 29 59 - 71 52 103
25 87 92 Adam Jones BAL OF 86 117 78 102 110 63 83 88 89
26 90 90 Howard Kendrick LAA 1B/2B/OF 85 119 118 79 84 88 91 101 72
27 99 101 Brett Gardner NYY OF 110 109 90 105 104 124 89 78 107
28 102 106 Chris Young ARI OF 117 88 107 110 116 93 81 98 125
29 103 102 Drew Stubbs CIN OF 113 129 112 87 95 136 102 79 92
30 104 93 Corey Hart MIL OF 107 89 100 97 176 114 80 96 93
31 105 108 Ichiro Suzuki SEA OF 116 84 88 120 121 129 90 106 106
32 106 115 Jayson Werth WAS OF 121 140 82 98 94 113 104 100 114
33 112 120 Michael Cuddyer COL 1B/2B/OF 96 152 92 123 156 139 98 121 70
34 113 114 Jason Heyward ATL OF 119 153 109 92 106 182 111 102 85
35 117 104 Nick Markakis BAL OF 88 128 145 111 139 48 112 176 130
36 129 130 Cameron Maybin SD OF 143 139 143 138 99 160 155 81 140
37 130 150 Andre Ethier LAD OF 137 130 140 127 174 100 166 109 120
38 131 132 Carlos Beltran STL OF 128 196 115 135 - 111 120 95 105
39 135 125 Emilio Bonifacio MIA SS/3B/OF 124 114 213 83 - 109 142 172 119
40 140 157 Martin Prado ATL 3B/OF 152 122 168 128 150 115 162 157 150
41 141 149 Nick Swisher NYY 1B/OF 163 170 150 146 115 137 158 114 153
42 143 165 Melky Cabrera SF OF 164 141 149 149 151 102 138 173 157
43 148 142 Logan Morrison MIA OF 146 - 153 118 - 75 171 133 145
44 149 156 Jeff Francoeur KC OF 189 151 180 136 124 133 144 146 164
45 154 154 Torii Hunter LAA OF 172 - 146 159 198 94 149 131 154
46 163 NR Coco Crisp OAK OF - 146 138 167 199 112 153 169 170
47 172 200 Carlos Lee HOU 1B/OF 161 - - 147 - 150 183 123 175
48 176 189 Austin Jackson DET OF 177 148 - 179 144 - - 136 182
49 185 213 Angel Pagan SF OF 187 167 178 187 154 - 163 193 -
50 186 NR Delmon Young DET OF 155 195 - 162 177 177 169 - 200
51 191 187 Matt Joyce TB OF - 150 - 192 - 164 194 163 199
52 192 175 Carlos Quentin SD OF 194 - - 126 - - - 166 183
53 195 NR Josh Willingham MIN OF - - 184 - 183 167 190 158 -
54 204 177 Peter Bourjos LAA OF - 194 - - 155 - 186 167 -
55 207 NR Lucas Duda NYM 1B/OF - - - - - 173 - 143 190
56 209 155 Mark Trumbo LAA 1B/OF - - - 155 - - 177 - 185
57 210 NR Brandon Belt SF 1B/OF - 197 - 190 186 192 - 154 -
58 215 178 Seth Smith OAK OF - - - - - 128 - - 195
59 216 219 Colby Rasmus TOR OF 175 - - - - - - 152 -
60 217 NR Alex Rios CHW OF - - 197 - 175 - 172 186 -
61 222 NR Yoenis Cespedes OAK OF - - - - - 153 - - -
62 223 216 Yonder Alonso SD 1B/OF 181 - - - - 176 - - -
63 227 NR Jose Tabata PIT OF - 184 - - - 178 - - -
64 231 NR Dexter Fowler COL OF - - - 177 - - - 190 -
65 232 NR Mike Carp SEA 1B/OF - - - - - 166 - - -
66 237 223 Jason Kubel ARI OF 169 - - - - - - - -
67 240 221 Jason Bay NYM OF 173 - - - - - - - -
68 249 NR Brennan Boesch DET OF - - - - 196 - - 188 -
69 251 212 Mike Trout LAA OF 188 - - - - - - 200 -
70 254 NR Bryan LaHair CHC OF - - - 189 - - - - -
71 263 NR Ben Revere MIN OF - - - - - - - 197 -
72 264 NR Jon Jay STL OF - - - - - 197 - - -
73 266 167 Alejandro de Aza CHW OF - - - - - 198 - - -
74 267 NR Jason Kubel ARI OF - - 199 - - - - - -

— By Mark Ross, updated on March 29, 2012

Other Fantasy Baseball Content:

2012 Fantasy Baseball: First Base Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Second Base Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Shortstop Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Third Base Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Outfield Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Catcher Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Starting Pitcher Rankings
2012 Fantasy Baseball: Relief Pitcher Rankings
2012 MLB Fantasy Closer Grid
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Infield
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Outfield
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Starting Pitching
2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Closers
Fantasy Baseball Studs to Avoid in 2012
2012 Fantasy Baseball Deep Sleepers

 

For more fantasy baseball help, visit our friends at the Fantasy Baseball Hub.

COMMENTS

Contests & Promotions

Athlon Sports Fantasy Racing!
Enter the Athlon Sports Fantasy Racing game. Just head over to athlon.myfantasyracing.com and register for your chance to win a chance to watch a 2014 race from the grandstands. You'll also have a chance to win other amazing prizes such as an autographed Kyle Busch helmet.

Bracket Breakdown
Take your shot at $100,000 in the Athlon Sports Bracket Breakdown game. Sign up before March 21st to submit your bracket and your chance at perfection.

Authentic Hand Signed Sports Memorabilia
One of the nation's largest selections with over 7,500 in stock items. Guaranteed authentic from the trusted name in sports since 1967.

Popular Links